Saturday 13 May 2006

Pompey Crime

There's crime .... and then there's Pompey crime.

The story of a man who has been cycling around the world for 44 years caught my eye. His bike already has a place in a museum, but within hours of arriving in Pompey, it was stolen. Well, no surprise there. Except, maybe there is. I cycled round Portsmouth all the time I lived there, and only had one of those cheapie bike locks. I always kept my bike in a state of dirtiness to deter any would-be thieves, that's my story and I'm sticking to it, but I figured that if a thief were faced with a choice of bikes, mine wouldn't stick out as the one to pick. Well, it never got stolen, but I always feared it would. It was probably more of a statistical thing because there were a humungous number of bikes in Pompey. I miss that.

In any case, the bike was returned to the man once the fuss started. I just feel sad because I've missed meeting this celeb. I can visualise SO clearly, the man and his bike arriving at Portsmouth Harbour station, looking out across the water, seeing HMS Warrior.

I can also picture and hear in my mind's ear, the conversation that went on between the thief and his or her little oppos. They have faces in my imagination, kids I have 'taught'.

That makes two big events I've missed in Pompey recently, 'Most Haunted Live' was filmed there a couple of weeks ago. Schade.

In other parts of the country there are some real sickos. Austen had told me about this ongoing saga some time ago. What an utter and abject nightmare for this family. And in what universe do people who claim to have the 'rights' of animals at heart, think it is consistent with that to rob graves? Unbelievable. I hope the family that were treated so badly by these 'activists' can find some peace now. And if I were a sicko just like the terrorists, I'd wish some unpleasant condition on the extremists, one that maybe could have been cured if only medical research had been allowed to progress unhindered.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just read the article about that cycling guy too! Today's Guardian cost 3.80 Euros in Paris, but what can you do. It's amazing what he's doing and I'm surprised no one has publicized it before. It has inspired me, instead of taking the plane home from London, to walk. The Atlantic will be a bit of a problem, but I'm sure I can overcome it. oh, and by the way, your haunted show was on in London last week and I noticed they were going to be in Portsmouth. Did you see it? I didn't. Oh and I'll be back Wednesday afternoon, 12:25 p.m. on Air Transat - care to pick me up at the airport? I imagine with customs et al it will be awhile after that. Anyway, surprise me if you like. I don't know the flight number off hand but it's the only Air transat from London at that time. If not, no big deal at all. I'll be the tired looking one filled with vague rage at the other passengers. I realized I've used this comment to write a whole e-mail. Forgive moi s'il vous plait.

Schneewittchen said...

Are you implying you can't walk on water Karen? Surely not.
Well, you probably read my blog in which I mention Most Haunted Live in Pompey. I didn't see it because I'm actually in Vancouver. Schade.
In all seriousness I would pick you up from the airport were it not for the fact that I have an appointment at BCCT on Wednesday avo. Now, if you could change your flight to Tuesday or Thursday....
Now that we've shared so many intimate moments, (eating) you can call me 'tu'. :)I'm going to copy and paste this into your blog.

Karemay said...

Its amazing, there I am living in my little oasis a few miles from Portsmouth and I know nothing of the two events happening in the city of my birth! I'm glad the cycle was returned but how sickening that it was pinched! Where was the haunting!!!
I'm glad to say that these awful terrorist who took the elderly lady's body have been jailed for 12 years each! Perhaps one day they may need life saving treatment and will they say "no thank you" if animal testing has allowed a cure for their awful illness to be discovered! Good old Tony B has said he will sign a pro-animal testing petition against the extremist and in support of the scientist working in medical research!
See you in Pompey very soon

Schneewittchen said...

Most Haunted Live was filmed primarily around Southsea Castle I think, although since it is a three-day event, or more accurately three-night, I imagine they would have had a few locations in Old Portsmouth too.
I would love to have seen it, but although we do get episodes of Most Haunted, we don't get the live investigations, which really sucks. I would love to see what they came up with from Southsea Castle, although in this instance I can't see that the mediums wouldn't have known anything about it. But just imagine how Henry the eighth must have felt standing there and watching his beloved Mary Rose sink into the Solent with all his gold and the flower of his navy and army. Wonder if it ever occurred to him that he might have overloaded it. Last year when we went to the Mary Rose museum, there was a Canadian guarding it :)