Witnessing my First Catfight

Location: Budapest, Hungary

January 13, 2010

Adventure #3

I do not have any Fight Club-esque ambitions of aggrandizing violent situations. However, this weekend's rendezvous that transformed my street into a Jerry-Springer stage must be mentioned due to the sheer hilarity of the situation, and because I had never seen a cat fight before.

My husband and I were leaving a bar around the witching hour on Saturday night, and we saw a couple across the street from us who looked to either be having a minor fight or being playful - neither which was of concern, that was until we noticed a second woman on the sidewalk about ten feet in front of us. She was staring intently at the couple (who at this stage were touching their hands together above their head - I still have no clue why). Out of nowhere, the gawking woman barrels full speed across the icy street and crashes into the other woman, slamming her into the back of a car. Have you ever seen National Geographic footage in which a hippopotamus ruthlessly charges its foe? Well, now I feel like I've seen it happen in person... *

Next, there was some shoving back and forth between the women and screaming of obscenities in thick British accents, including "I am so done, I am so f**^&n% done with you." Next thing we knew, the victimized woman was splayed out on the snow-covered ground while the man - who did little to diffuse the situation, which I guess meant he liked being fought over - stood over her, trying to pull her off the street. The aggravated woman turns and looks over at us and the other engrossed bystanders and screams, "Don't even look. Don't even look at this!" Sorry lady, but how could we not? 

Once we saw the attacked girl get on her feet and appeared to be injury free, we continued our walk home, chuckling at randomness and rapidity of the situation. But next thing I knew, the adrenaline queen was right behind us, probably hearing us mock her. Fearful of what her retaliation could be, we quickly crossed the street - we did not want to be the unsuspecting, wading tourists when that feral beast charged through the water again.