Even this harsh labour is not without its fun moments though. One of my favourite at the moment is enjoying the sheer number of Romanian and other East European scam artists who are trying it on. Now this is of course illegal, and the picture to the ledft here, courtesy of this article, shows The streets re teeming with these types and in a way I quite like them, given I know what they are doing it's kind of like playing a 15 second role in a Derren Brown show.
Yesterday I had a new one tried on me as I was walking down Holborn not far from Hatton Gardens. 10 yards in front of me a man looks down and picks up a gold ring - a man's wedding band a bit like the one in the picture below. He starts looking at it and weighing it in the palm of his hand.
As I walk past I casually remark, "good spot!",
As I do so he turns to me and says he is just a tourist and has not need of it and offers it to me for free (at this point the penny drops for me, so to speak).
"Ahh, How kind I say - but really it is of no use to me"
"Take it for your family" he says.
I push it back into his hand, but he give it to me.
"Fine then, thanks" I say as I move to walk away.
"How about some money for my lunch?" he says.
"No cash I am afraid"
"Well, cash machine then" he points vaguely over the road. Now at this point I do consider if he is likely to get too shirty or violent, but it seems unlikely given his size and the busy street we are in.
"Really, have it back, if you need some money go over to Hatton Gardens with it"
"No" he implores "You must take it."#
"I have to go" and with that I turn and walk away. As I do I see the puzzled look on his face. Clearly no one has actually walked yet with the ring whilst not handing over a decent sum of cash - his face is quite a picture.
Anyway, that is a first for me, the 'ringer' - any other stories like this? I have a few more and I can't believe its just me who keeps bumping into these street conmen.
