A couple of days ago I had a (friendly) discussion with a friend on how dangerous is Lisbon versus Porto and even Braga. I already mentioned a few times here how peaceful Braga is, nonetheless, it has it’s caveats and dont’s and I consider myself a careful person on avoiding exposing myself to robbery and such.
Since I bought a Zen, I became extra-careful – the ipodish white headphones are very revealing so a must will be to eventually replace them by some discrete ones. I don’t fancy the idea myself, but some use a more imaginative solution like the cute altoids case for this effect.

Nevertheless, earlier this week I believe I’ve been quite lucky. Near to my place, there’s a shortcut to the nearest shopping mall which I use frequently, but when it’s getting dark it’s not very nice place to be.
Despite already being dusk, I used the shortcut, happily hearing RUM on my Zen. Two african blokes smoking pot and with a german shepherd dog on a leash wasn’t something I was very happy to see, but I’ve kept going my path and when near them, I’ve tried to cuddle the staring dog. Today I think it was a very foolish thing to do, but I also believe it saved me from being robbed. No prejudice intended here, but they really didn’t seem wanting to be left alone – me not showing apparent fear might had done the trick.
Either way, I’m aware of how lucky I was, and I don’t intend to push it. No more dark shortcuts with my Zen from my now on.