Saturday Night Fever?

I witnessed an act of complete mindless violence when out in Bournemouth last night. 2 or 3 lads laying into each other with their belts buckles, resulting in one lad being smashed from behind (I'm not sure whether it was with a belt or a fist) and immediately hitting the deck face first. Luckily for him police were around and instantly got a hold of the other guys. I have no doubts that if it had happened down an alley somewhere with no-one else around he would have continued to get a beating whilst down on the floor and god knows how it may have turned out.

Like most people I've had my moments when pissed, and there are a few things that I look back at and cringe over. But I simply cannot see the logic of something like that. These guys were clearly out for trouble and how that constitutes a good night is beyond me. It wasn't an emotion-fuelled incident in the heat of the moment - after all it takes a good few seconds to take your belt off and start swinging it around, especially when you're off your face (which I presume they were, if they weren't that's even worse).

And, incidentally, later on that night, someone hurled a glass out on the street. I'm not sure if they were aiming for a taxi or a person, but again it was just a mindless thing to do and just makes you question some of the people out there.

Now my idea of a good night out is a mixture of friends, dancing and alcohol - of which only the latter can ever be over indulged. Walking around the streets at the end of the night beating my chest like a caveman and looking for an excuse to start something, it just doesn't appeal to me. But it does to some. I don't know the specific details of that particular incident, but you see it all the time unfortunately. People arguing at burger vans, in taxi ques. People who kick off 'cause you knock past them in a ridiculously packed club, even when you quite clearly apologise. Personally I tend to find that if you're not out looking for trouble yourself then it doesn't usually find you - but on the other hand there are times when people are just plain unlucky and 'in the wrong place at the wrong time'.

Now I don't ever feel scared or intimidated on a night out. Like I said I'm not looking for trouble so it's going to have to come looking for me, and if it does there's not alot I can do (other than run or give as good as I get - depending how big/fast they look). There are a hell of a lot of things that could happen to me, I'm not going to waste my time worrying about them all. However if I notice these things and find it baffling to think that some people actually choose to be such tosspots just for the 'fun' of it, when I'm a student who's spent a ridiculous percentage of the past 2-3 years going out in that environment, you can understand the unease that some other people feel - the whole 'scared to go into my towncentre on a saturday night' brigade, maybe they have a point.

Interestingly though, and perhaps this is a rather biased theory, I find that I see far more trouble at the weekend if I go out (either in Bournemouth or back home in Swindon) than I generally do on a weeknight out in Bourenmouth - i.e. a typical 'student' night. Don't get me wrong I've seen some right messes out and about in the week, probably including myself from time to time, but in terms of becoming aggressive and violent, I'd say not so much. I think at the weekend you get the 'locals' out who maybe go out once a month or so and get really pissed up and just end up getting lairy. Students drink far more often and whilst I would never claim they 'know their limits' or 'can handle their drinks better' as such, I just think it's all done in a better spirit and they're more likely to end up pinching a traffic cone or a for sale sign than starting a fight.

At the very least that's a rather sweeping generalisation for me to be making and perhaps it's rather inaccurate, but either way, whoever these people are, I personally wish they'd just piss off and leave the people who actually want to have a good time to do just that.