In a world that looks a little different

I interrupt my daily list of favourite things for an unfortunate announcement: someone stole my scooter.

I got a phone call at 4.15am this morning from a constable asking if I own a black Vuka. He then told me they had found it lying on the road after someone stole it from outside my house! Ten minutes later, two cops arrived to take a statement.

Madness! They were telling me it was stolen before I even knew it.

Now it’s in a police station and I have to go and identify it (like a body?) later this morning. Hopefully I can still ride it or I’m in a bit of a transport pickle.

This is the first time I’ve been a “victim” of crime directly. My family has had an insane number of cars stolen, my friend has been hijacked, I had a boyfriend with bad luck when it came to white Golfs disappearing, but it’s never been me before. And as I lay in bed trying to get to sleep again, after a hot cuppa and some chocolate, my overwhelming feeling was that I was hurt. Why would anyone want to steal my scooter from me?

Now, of course, this is ridiculous. It’s not personal, how could it be personal? But it feels personal. And I feel vulnerable — as if a total stranger has stepped into my happy little bubble and burst it, just for the fun of it.

Was it for fun? Probably not. Was it an honourable theft, like stealing a loaf of bread for your hungry children? Probably not. Is there ever a worthy reason for stealing? I don’t think so. But then, I’m an extremely lucky and privileged white girl living in a charming garden cottage and able to make a living doing what I love.

Perhaps the scale would look a little different if I actually couldn’t get a job and had no way of making money. I still don’t condone stealing, or begging, but maybe our middle-class excuse of, “He could always pack groceries at the supermarket,” isn’t so true.

How would we know?

So here I am this morning, in a world that looks a little different. Funny how it all becomes more topical when it leaps off the newspaper page and into your life, isn’t it?

PS — I would like to say that the police have been fantastic in all of this. Polite, courteous, helpful and on the ball. We only ever hear bad stories about cops, but they’re actually doing a pretty good job out there …