Encounters in my neighbourhood

My neighbourhood has an ability to absorb most collisions. At its worst there are occasional explosions of loud music, bitter argument and violence at which point discrete phone calls are made to police and the local council's ASBO team. But for the everyday grievances of difference we mostly just ignore, tut, or keep objections to the privacy of the home rather than the street.

There are though moments of choice when we have to decide which way we're going to go. For example, after a few weekends of aggravated tension on our street related to the selling of illicit substances, I came home to find the shop had opened, so to speak, literally on the doorstep to my building. Unfortunately, before rational thought took charge, my middle aged self stepped in to berate the young man as he made a sale to a car passenger, with an eye rolling 'Seriously! you're going to do that here, on my doorstop!'

The rational side of my brain finally caught up with me two seconds later as I made it to my doorway, just as the young man also caught up with me and said 'Excuse me Miss, what did you say?'

Now at this point a few scenarios where trying to make there way around various neuronal passages in order to come to some decision on the best possible course of action to take at this point, influenced by the following confounding variables:

1. I was carrying my cello and therefore couldn't actually run very far, very fast.
2. I was almost in the block door but there was only a few feet and an open gate between the young man and me.
3. He was actually being very polite.

So my eventual response: 'I was just saying, have a nice evening', as I disappeared into home. 

The shop's not been back since but I somehow don't think the withering eye rolls of a middle aged cello carrier wearing hand knits and doc martins would really have had any impact on that decision.