My route to the train station took me on a short cut through the back streets, near where one of the canals passed. The cemetery was in front of me, across the busy road. I was concentrating on the traffic too much to notice the two men approaching me.

'Gissya bag,' the taller one commanded.

'Tie a knot,' I replied, still looking at the traffic so that I could cross the road.

'Gissit!' he said again, and flicked open a knife in his left hand. So I knew he was left-handed. I just looked at him.

'I can't be bothered today. Go away.'

The shorter man made a grab for my bag, so I made a grab for his arm, and stood aside, letting the momentum pull him forward into the wall of the house behind me. Then I put my left arm around his stomach and pulled him to the ground, and landed on my back next to him. A quick elbow in the stomach and he was gasping for breath as his friend came towards me with the knife. I hate knives.

I hooked my foot around the back of his knee quickly, and he hit the tarmac. I scrambled on top of him, and quickly punched him on the right side of his face, and grabbed hold of his left wrist to knock the knife out of his grip. He began struggling, so I kept hold of his left hand as I punched his face again twice. The knife fell out of his hand. I punched him again.

'Never do that again,' I said, calmly, and got up, taking the knife with me as I crossed the road, and dumped it in a rubbish bin where it belonged. I didn't think twice about anything. I had a train to catch. That was my reason for existing today.