Up in the Manchester suburb of Didsbury over the weekend, a whole bunch of people were hanging out in the Costa Coffee when they thought they were the victims of a terror attack. It turned out though that it was just some kids banging their trays around – the commotion was so convincing thought that one guy jumped out of a window and broke his arms.

Images VIA 

One woman who asked to remain anonymous told the story of what happened:

I was sitting having a coffee when there was a really loud shout.

At first I thought it was just someone messing about, but then I heard some massive bangs.

It sounded like shots were being fired. It was not just me who thought that.

Other people were running around trying to get out on to the balcony but the door was locked.

I think that’s why the man went for one of the front windows.

When I looked round I could only see his feet hanging from the window.

He was climbing out head first.

To be honest I wasn’t surprised by his reaction because we all thought an attack was happening.

It sounded like there was a shooting downstairs. I was expecting people wearing balaclavas and carrying guns to come upstairs.

Afterwards one woman said the first thing she thought about was the Paris attacks.

Someone came up and said it had been a group of students messing about, throwing their trays about downstairs.

Hmmm. I mean this does sound really stupid to us reading it back now, but I suppose in the current climate where terror attacks are happening semi-regularly around Europe it’s not that outrageous to think that something like this might happen somewhere like Costa Coffee in Didsbury? And judging by the reaction of this woman and the guy who jumped out of the fucking window, it’s unfortunately an attitude that seems only too prevalent these days. I hope we all sort that out soon, preferably by shutting down all terrorists, although I feel like it’s going to be a long time until that happens.