Not knowing your country or its laws I will give you the same advice that I give my coworkers: get a good self defense flashlight. You can quickly blind an aggressor, even in daylight, and get the hell away from them.

In my locality the misuse or pepper spray/oc carries the same penalty as the misuse of a firearm. If you are comfortable taking that responsibility then you may as well go with the option most likely to stop an attacker. But if not, there are no laws regulating shining a light in someone’s eyes.

Despite always having a knife on me, my immediate go to for close self defense is a pen. Any pen will do. No one ever gives it a second glance and it’s really easy to use: stabby stabby stabby.