Leave it out

Leave it out

The other day I was walking home past a fancy sports car I hadn’t seen in the neighbourhood before.

On the front seat sat a large designer handbag.

“Crikey,” I thought to myself.  “That won’t last long.”

It’s not that we live in a bad neighbourhood, it’s just that there are certain folk about who will remove your bike, your wallet, your power tools, etc, if you happen to leave them out, or indeed even if you happen to leave them in your garage, front garden or your house.

It’s best not to advertise your valuables if you can help it.

A few hours later I was walking down the street again and the car was still there.  This time however, the door handle was poking out, rather than being flush with the side of the car, which I took to mean the door was unlocked.

The handbag was still on the front seat.

“A miracle!” I thought.  Perhaps I should knock on the door of the nearby house and tell them that their bag was there, and someone – not me obviously – might take it. Rest assured the neighbourhood was safe, but still, best to be careful.

But then I got suspicious.  Who leaves a fancy bag on the front seat of a car with the door unlocked?

I looked around.  Was this some kind of sting operation? A candid camera event to see who in the neighbourhood was honest and who wasn’t?

I tried to act normal as I scurried away.

The Victoria Bowling Club found out the hard way that it pays not to leave anything out for miscreants to get a hold of.

Some time last year people with too much time on their hands did some burn outs on the lovely bowling green and then found some bowling balls that were not locked away.

Realising that they were not far from one of the most brilliant slopes in the city  – Pirie Street – they let them loose, and presumably watched them roll with increasing speed through Mt Victoria and into the city.

The next day, bowling balls were found as far away as Taranaki Street, and someone from the Bowling Club then had to walk around central Wellington with a trolley trying to retrieve them.

It’s a great story as long as (we are assuming) no one got hurt.  I can’t imagine my reaction if I were crossing Pirie Street by the KFC and saw a bowling ball hurtling towards me.

You like to think your neighbourhood is safe and your neighbours are kindly people, but are they really?

A reader recently alerted me to an interesting phenomenon she has noticed: someone has been leaving Lindt chocolates at various houses.

She writes:  “I've been left a single chocolate at least three times and have seen many more on the fences of other homes too. 

 “I was wondering if anyone else has noticed this and if it's happening on their street too.”

I have to say my reaction on reading this was the same as hers however: delight + suspicion. She wrote: “It's a lovely gesture but at the same time I am reluctant to eat them just in case they have been spiked with anything - lol!!”

Indeed no one will be laughing out loud if there’s a mass poisoning event, but by the same token it’s a bit sad that our reaction is instinctively one of apprehension, when someone out there is probably just trying to brighten our day.

I am not sure what happened to the designer handbag in the end.  I haven’t seen that sports car around here recently either.  Perhaps it was stolen.