Hmm, difficult question.

On one hand we all want to enjoy a peaceful existence, come and go as we please, do what we want, when we want.

On the other hand, we want to stay safe, be able to go about our business without fear of being assaulted or intimidated and in this day and age, that is not an easy task.

I tend to be bloody-minded. I refuse to be intimidated or frightened into not doing something. It's almost 11pm here as I write this and if I decided to go out for a cycle then that is exactly what I'd do. As it happens, it's my 3rd Wedding Anniversary and I'm enjoying a glass of wine at the moment (a rare occurrence for me).

If I'm in a situation which is frightening (and as an ex taxi-driver I had quite a few frightening experiences), I won't show I'm frightened. I put out serious "attitude" vibes and make sure my body language says "Don't mess with me". Body language is a HUGE give away to what someone is really thinking or feeling.

When I was a taxi driver I had one really serious incident. I had been sent to a village some miles out of town to pick up from the local pub. It was a two car booking which got downgraded to a one car booking. Five men piled into my taxi. The taxi I drove at that time was only licenced to carry 4 people, not 5. When I told the men I couldn't take all five of them, one of them got very nasty and started goading the others. To cut a long story short, they decided me being a very small and petite female was easy game. Wrong. What they didn't know was that I am a 1st Kyu Brown Belt in Karate. I thumped two of them good and proper, one limped away down an alley, three stood well back and the fifth, the instigator of the whole thing couldn't take no for an answer so I gave him a corker of a black eye The police eventually turned up and sorted things out. They turned out to be gipsies so they never were charged by the police (typical in our country).

That night, if I had shown fear, I don't really know what would have happened. Perhaps I would not be sitting here writing this now. I don't know.

What I do know is I'm the type of person who tends to get angry - very angry - when someone does something like this. I know what I'm capable of and I wouldn't hesitate to use it again if I had to. Hopefully I won't. Hopefully my body language of "Don't mess with me" would be enough to deter a would-be assailant.

I think part of staying safe is assessing a potential situation and if that means turning back then that is what we should do.

What we shouldn't do is allow the what might happen to rule our lives. If we did that, we wouldn't have any life at all.