Here's a tale to brighten up your day.... Nearly 2 years ago
my son was mugged and had his dream bike stolen...It was a
MTB that he'd saved, scrimped, sweated blood 'n' tears and
done deals to build. Based on a very distinctive Planet X
Jack Flash metallic red and gold frame, he knew every
component intimately and had only completed it about a month
before it was stolen. It was his pride and joy and he hadn't
yet used it in anger, i.e. off-road. It was duly reported to
the police and an insurance claim was made. £500 was
forthcoming to cover what was, in effect, a £1200 bike. I
did the parental thing of cruising the local area where it
was stolen, looking for the scumbags and ready to become
'The Law' in an instance if I came across it, all to no
avail. My sons view was that it was such a distinctive bike,
that it would've been shipped out of the area that day and
he'd never see it again. He was heartbroken!! Fast forward
to last week. We were returning from my fathers funeral to
the wake at our house. My son suddenly pointed out that we'd
just passed a lad riding his bike. I know my son knew this
bike intimately and aside from the frame, it was made from a
very readily identifiable components. I believed him but we
were on the way to my fathers wake and I had to get there
first to let everyone in and supply food and drink, so there
was no way I could stop. - Ah well, he'd had the insurance
and a couple of years out of a replacement Trek. Fast
forward to Tuesday night. He had been out on a bit of an
epic BMX'ing day with friends. Whilst riding back to one of
their houses he saw the bike again, resting against the
front of a house. He called me for assistance. I was about
to go charging in "a la cavalry", when I thought it might be
a good idea to pop into the local constabulary on the way
over. They advised that I went and waited with my son, made
no move on it and they would get someone over asap. I stated
that it was a couple of years ago and an insurance claim had
been settled. They said that this made no difference and we
should progress with recovering the bike!! Upon arrival, my
son and his friends were getting very excited, working
themselves up in to a right old lather about raiding the
house and recovering the bike. I said that the police were
on the way and we should just hold back and wait. I
eventually managed to convince them to go as it was getting
a bit embarrassing, and just leave my son and I to wait for
the police. The police arrived after an hour and a half,
took a detailed description and crime report number that
they'd issued us with. They sent us on our way and
approached the property.
They have since called and asked us to go and identify the
bike at the local police station on Monday - HURRAH!!! My
son is very philosophical about it and realises that he may
not get the bike back as strictly speaking it now belongs to
the insurance company. He reckons it was worth it just to
ensure the scutters that had it no longer have it. I hope
the insurance company will be impressed by his belligerence
and allow him to buy it back for a couple of hundred quid,
if that. After all, if it wasn't for him, it'd still be AWOL
and they wouldn't be any better off.
The cop who came to rescue it said he'd never heard anything
like it, a pushbike after 2 years!!
Personally I am absolutely gobsmacked. Don't see hide nor
hair of it for 2 years then twice within a week, on opposite
sides of town....c'mon, really, what are the chances of
that?? I don't believe in all dat dere afterlife stuff, but
I can't help feeling Grandad was involved in it somewhere
along the line ;-)...RIP Dad...and thanks.
Dave.