RAPE RAPE...
Disturbing Title right....
Ponder on this small tale..it is a true one and happened to me.
Some years ago I was living in a very upmarket apartment block in the centre of fashionable Chelsea, London.
At that time I was shooting a very popular TV show...the Studios were a tube ride from my nearest tube station which was at the South Kensington Underground and the journey took about 45 minutes.
As usual the Production company had hired a run down warehouse,which had been abandoned for several years and was in a filthy dilapidated state..the sort of place where you didn't want to touch anything.Accordingly the entire crew and myself wore really tough old clothes,torn jeans, boots, baseball caps..in case the everpresent pigeons in the rafters decided to relieve themselves...and really tough old jackets..... we looked like a bunch of hobos .
Ok..you have that image...let us move on..The working hours were from 8am until 7pm and we were shooting in the winter months, so when I was finally released I would walk across to the Tube station in the dark and of course it was dark when I exited at my station in town.
Walking home in that part of London was always a pleasure..Elegant white painted terraces..home to the privileged and wealthy..and me.
The entrance to my apartment block was through some large glass doors and then to get to the elevators there was a thirty yard walk.As I crossed the wide pavement and approached the front door a woman who I would have placed in her late fifties,early sixties approached the same door from the other direction and we both arrived at the same time.I held up my keys and offered to open the door for her...she completely ignored me and opened the door,went in and closed the door behind her.
Maybe she was having a bad day...that's fine..I then opened the door and went into the long hallway to reach the elevators...she was waiting halfway down the corridor and stood facing me
Her.."Do you live here"
Me.."Yes"
Her "I don't know you"
Me.."Thats ok,I don't know you either"
We both walked to the elevators as she continued her questioning.
Her.."Which flat are you in"
Me...holding up my keys.."I live on the 7th floor"
Her.."But which flat...what number"
I pressed the button for the elevator which was showing to be on the top floor...the indicator showed it had begunits journey.
Her.."I don't think you live her at all"
At this stage she began to become rather agitated and backed away from me and the elevator and pushed herself into a corner where she slid to the floor and then burst into screaming at the top of her voice..."Rape..Rape he is raping me..help help"
The loud shouting continued and she began to pull at her clothes,ripping her blouse out of her skirt as she now laid down on the floor.
So here I was..a nutty distraught woman yelling rape and murder..the lift was approaching and was just a couple of floors away.
Then the horror of it hit me...If the lift had anyone in it and the doors opened on this scene..or if other residents came through the front door..what would they see..a rather scruffy man in very rough clothes..a middle class woman down on the floor and screaming RAPE....what would they have thought..
The police would no doubt have been called.and in all probability I would have been arrested..taken to a police station and questioned....no doubt kept in overnight.
My non arrival at the studios and the reason why would have soon been broadcast around the very small business in London and even if I could prove my innocence the smelll would linger..It would have been almost impossible to work in the industry again...and I was completely innovcent...what would you have thought if you had been in the lift or walked through the front door.
Anyway the lift arrived...thank heaven it was empty....no one in it...the woman was still screaming and her screams continued to echo all the way up the lift shaft where I leapt out on the 7th floor and ran to my apartment.
That woman could have completely ruined me.
I continued to live there for a long time and never saw her again.
Could make a nice small Budget Horror movie
And all true.
Ponder on this small tale..it is a true one and happened to me.
Some years ago I was living in a very upmarket apartment block in the centre of fashionable Chelsea, London.
At that time I was shooting a very popular TV show...the Studios were a tube ride from my nearest tube station which was at the South Kensington Underground and the journey took about 45 minutes.
As usual the Production company had hired a run down warehouse,which had been abandoned for several years and was in a filthy dilapidated state..the sort of place where you didn't want to touch anything.Accordingly the entire crew and myself wore really tough old clothes,torn jeans, boots, baseball caps..in case the everpresent pigeons in the rafters decided to relieve themselves...and really tough old jackets..... we looked like a bunch of hobos .
Ok..you have that image...let us move on..The working hours were from 8am until 7pm and we were shooting in the winter months, so when I was finally released I would walk across to the Tube station in the dark and of course it was dark when I exited at my station in town.
Walking home in that part of London was always a pleasure..Elegant white painted terraces..home to the privileged and wealthy..and me.
The entrance to my apartment block was through some large glass doors and then to get to the elevators there was a thirty yard walk.As I crossed the wide pavement and approached the front door a woman who I would have placed in her late fifties,early sixties approached the same door from the other direction and we both arrived at the same time.I held up my keys and offered to open the door for her...she completely ignored me and opened the door,went in and closed the door behind her.
Maybe she was having a bad day...that's fine..I then opened the door and went into the long hallway to reach the elevators...she was waiting halfway down the corridor and stood facing me
Her.."Do you live here"
Me.."Yes"
Her "I don't know you"
Me.."Thats ok,I don't know you either"
We both walked to the elevators as she continued her questioning.
Her.."Which flat are you in"
Me...holding up my keys.."I live on the 7th floor"
Her.."But which flat...what number"
I pressed the button for the elevator which was showing to be on the top floor...the indicator showed it had begunits journey.
Her.."I don't think you live her at all"
At this stage she began to become rather agitated and backed away from me and the elevator and pushed herself into a corner where she slid to the floor and then burst into screaming at the top of her voice..."Rape..Rape he is raping me..help help"
The loud shouting continued and she began to pull at her clothes,ripping her blouse out of her skirt as she now laid down on the floor.
So here I was..a nutty distraught woman yelling rape and murder..the lift was approaching and was just a couple of floors away.
Then the horror of it hit me...If the lift had anyone in it and the doors opened on this scene..or if other residents came through the front door..what would they see..a rather scruffy man in very rough clothes..a middle class woman down on the floor and screaming RAPE....what would they have thought..
The police would no doubt have been called.and in all probability I would have been arrested..taken to a police station and questioned....no doubt kept in overnight.
My non arrival at the studios and the reason why would have soon been broadcast around the very small business in London and even if I could prove my innocence the smelll would linger..It would have been almost impossible to work in the industry again...and I was completely innovcent...what would you have thought if you had been in the lift or walked through the front door.
Anyway the lift arrived...thank heaven it was empty....no one in it...the woman was still screaming and her screams continued to echo all the way up the lift shaft where I leapt out on the 7th floor and ran to my apartment.
That woman could have completely ruined me.
I continued to live there for a long time and never saw her again.
Could make a nice small Budget Horror movie
And all true.
