Joking aside the robbery to his home would have been traumatising.
Coming from Ireland two things shocked me when I went to university in Liverpool. 1.Concrete, everywhere. Being so used to greenery I couldn’t get my head around the lack of grass (of course this is natural for a city). 2.Crime. Never witnessed petty crime before. Homes here largely unlocked, while in shops the security is minimal. In stark contrast crime in Liverpool was everywhere, and first seeing bars on ground floor windows was especially shocking (reminded me of Marty McFly in Back to the Future II coming back to an alternate crime riddled Hill Valley with bars in his old home). Grocery stores had a perspex screen covering the food so you felt like you were in a bank...biscuits put through a slot was surreal. Witnessed a lad no more than 12 taunting a cop (bizzy) by smashing a phone box while the cop stood no more than 30 yards from him. Saw a couple of police chases in the middle of town. Our student digs got burgled, and on one occasion we suspected someone was outside and we went out to investigate while carrying machetes (flat mate owned quite a few). It was a shock to the system all this. I wonder how much his own experience played in Carlos decision.
