Unit 1
Text
A young man finds that strolling along the streets without an obvious
purpose can lead to trouble with the law. One misunderstanding leads to
another until eventually he must appear in court for trial……
A Brush with the Law
I have only once been in trouble with the law. The whole process of
being arrested and taken to court was a rather unpleasant experience at
the time, but it makes a good story now. What makes it rather disturbing
was the arbitrary circumstances both of my arrest and my subsequent fate
in court.
In happened in February about twelve years ago. I had left school a
couple of months before that and was not due to go to university until the
following October. I was still living at home at the time.
One morning I was in Richmond, a suburb of London near where I
lived. I was looking for a temporary job so that I could save up some
money to go travelling. As it was a fine day and I was in no hurry, I was
taking my time, looking in shop windows, strolling in the park, and
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