This is a story that was sent to me. Our crew had a layover in Paris and that evening four female flight attendants and myself went out for dinner and some sight seeing. We took the Metro (Paris Subway) because it’s the easiest and cheapest way to get around. On the way back to the hotel my four companions were sitting together and I was across the isle from them. They were in a happy mood and were having a lively conversation. Among the few people in the subway car were two guys sitting about halfway down the car from us. Hearing that the women were speaking English, one of the two, an American tourist in his mid twenties, approached my companions and struck up a conversation with them. He thought it was so neat that they were all Americans in Paris and had by chance run into each other. (Meanwhile, there are thousands of American tourists in Paris on any given day – big deal). He began insisting that they all should go out for some drinks etc. My colleagues were tired and had no interest in hanging out with these guys and they made it known but “Casanova” was obviously a little drunk and kept insisting that they all hang out together. From my seat across the aisle I watched this exchange for a while and after the guy kept on insisting that they hang out together I spoke up saying, “Hey, they don’t want to hang out with you guys”. The guy turned around to me with a venomous look and said “Who are you?”. I said, “You don’t want to know who I am, they don’t want to hang out with you, leave them alone”. He really looked annoyed and embarrassed at this point. Our stop was coming up so I stood up and got myself ready to get off. My four colleagues got up and the train pulled into the station. They turned toward the door. I was between them and “Casanova”. As the train was coming to a stop I saw him set his feet. It was a very subtle move but from so many years of kumite it was obvious. He set his feet ever so slightly. I said to myself “Uh Oh, here it comes.” As the doors of the train opened and my colleagues moved out of the train he rushed towards me. Luckily I had seen his preparation so I was in a good position. I turned toward him and delivered a full force front thrust kick right into his groin. He actually went up in the air and his arms splayed out like a bird’s wings and then he fell flat on his face. I’ll never forget the look of surprise I saw on his friends face when I glanced toward him. I jumped out of the train and the doors closed with Casanova still on the ground. My colleagues apparently had heard something happen but it happened so fast they didn’t see anything. They asked me what the commotion was to which I answered “Nothin at all”. My Takeaways were: 1. Keeping distance from a potential attacker is usually a good thing. 2. A subtle movement may indicate impending attack (in this case a minor adjustment in the attackers footing) 3. Fighting until the fight is over but no more is usually a good thing. The martial artist didn’t drag the guy out of the train to continue fighting. Neil
