Security

Wow, it is abruptly getting dark early! The overcast weather is speeding up the year's closedown. I hadn't taken any vaguely interesting shots, so decided to go for a bit of a night prowl. Carickmines came to mind for some reason, mainly because it's an unusually bright-lit, newly urban area. The long, straight stretch of LUAS/tramline running parallel to the road makes it look oddly European, reminding me of Munich. But the housing estates on the far side of the track are pure Dublin.

I noticed this security guy in the hi-vis, walking towards the LUAS stop, so I pulled in nearby then walked back to the shelter where he'd seated himself. I shot a few frames from behind. I think he saw me but didn't seem bothered.

Then I stepped round onto the platform and was almost immediately confronted by a young man who asked, breezily enough, 'What's that for then?' And it suddenly occurred to me that I was a middleaged buffer on my own at night in a strange area with a big expensive-looking camera on a tripod. Not only that, but there were other young guys, maybe two or three, who, like the one who was facing me, had appeared suddenly, seemingly from nowhere (I think they climbed over the low wall behind the shelter on the opposite side).

I stepped closer to the security guard, who was minding his own business, poor man, then made a snap decision and started to walk quickly back to the car, about 50 yards away (though it seemed like a bloody mile). I wanted to run but was afraid this might trigger a pursuit. My heart was racing and about a dozen alarms were going off in my head. I didn't look back in case they were following, but in fact they weren't. I haven't been so relieved in ages.

I must stress here that nobody laid a finger on me, or even said one threatening word. It's possible, and probably most likely, that no one intended me any harm and the young guy was just curious, a perfectly natural reaction to some weirdo with a heavy-duty camera & tripod wandering around a tramline shelter at night. Normally I'm okay with this, and I was about to launch into my old spiel (give him my card, offer to send copies, etc.) but it was the silent, stealthy movements, of both himself and (presumably) his friends, that set those alarms ringing, and I'm glad I heeded them. Better safe.