Bicycle Thief

debeli

I was away for a few days celebrating my wife's birthday. There was a text from middle child, home briefly from University. He'd taken an old fixie into a nearby city and couldn't open the lock when he went to ride home. He'd left it there and taken the train home.

So... when I returned the next day, we put some bolt cutters in the boot and drove to the busy shopping street where the bike was chained to a rack next to a bus stop. The lock was clearly Donald. It appeared that someone had tried to force it....

So out came the bolt cutters and I went to work. These are old, old bolt cutters and had seen many decades of use across many generations, from the Normandy invasion on to the Rhine, through Greenham Common (cutting the perimeter wire to the base) and via many sundry family tasks. They are blunt and there are dents and gaps in the blades.

It took me about three or four minutes to get through the lock, during which time I was gawped at by dozens of concerned citizens. I had my son with me and we both looked the wrong side of reputable. When we'd freed the bike, he took it to our scruffy hatchback and started to whp the front wheel off. I went the other way and threw the cut lock into a bin. Not a soul spoke to us or made any sort of fuss. As we drove home, my boy said he might buy some bolt cutters and take a new career path.

I am still slightly surprised that no-one even approached us.

supermurph09

2 men wielding heavy metal objects, criminal men at that, it's probably not a wise thing for anyone to approach you tbf. But if you're on CCTV you'd really expect a call.

rafletcher

Having seen "tests" where a motorcycle was bodily lifted off the ground and into a refrigerated van (the insulation deadens the noise of the alarm going off) and no-one lifts a finger, I'm not surprised.

wishitwasallflat

As Maggie said society is dead we are all individuals looking out for our own selves and our families.

andy_wrx

wishitwasallflat wrote:

As Maggie said society is dead we are all individuals looking out for our own selves and our families.

Not quite, Maggie actually said that when there was something wrong and people expected 'Society' to do something about it, this wouldn't happen because "there is no such thing as 'Society'"
ie we should all take responsibility for things and not sit back whinging because noone else has done it for us

chris_bass

When me and my housemates were moving out of a house when I was at uni we thought we would set the alarm off as we were carrying all our stuff out to see if anyone would do or say anything, No one did.

wishitwasallflat

andy_wrx wrote:

wishitwasallflat wrote:

As Maggie said society is dead we are all individuals looking out for our own selves and our families.

Not quite, Maggie actually said that when there was something wrong and people expected 'Society' to do something about it, this wouldn't happen because "there is no such thing as 'Society'"
ie we should all take responsibility for things and not sit back whinging because noone else has done it for us

Mmm... may not be verbatim but the spirt and intention is as stated. She made a major significant contribution to legitimising selfishness and eroding any sense of community, belonging and sharing society and altruism which has led us to the dreadful state we find ourselves in.

" ... there is no inside ... "

EDIT Just seen the clip of people getting together to shift that bus to free the uni cyclist so maybe there is still hope ....