06 August 2021

My garage is seperate to the house. Mostly as I live in a maisonette 
which is a sort of house divided into 2 flats and the road is near 
enough all maisonettes. As a result, the garages are in a row down one 
end. I pass my garage when I walk into the village thanks to a short 
cut through the British Legion club. Today I passed it and discovered 
the reason for today's phlog post. I usually give the lock a waggle to 
make sure it is locked. Well today it didn't waggle as usual. However, 
the door opened up unlike usual. Some bastard had broken in. They 
appear to have smashed to frame to be able to twist the 2 anchor 
points at the top of the door. Now it just pushes open. When I opened, 
I sort of experienced the mind trick which shows nothing missing. Then 
suddenly the mind went "the push bikes are missing!" and I finally saw 
it. I had 2 bikes, a Brompton S6L folder and a Whytes Cambridge 
hybrid/big boy bike. I call it a big boy bike as the wheels are proper 
sized compared to the Brompton wheels. The only good thing is that the 
big boy bike had a puncture on the front tyre. I was struggling with 
presta valves as I am daft and so had not repaired it. However, there 
is a special tool required for the tyres to be attached. So they have 
half a useless bike now. The special tool lives in a tool kit which is 
in my pannier bags in the hall. I am slightly impressed with the 
clinical way which they broke in. There are definate style points 
there. However, they are absolute shithead bastards for theft. 

And they took my Brompton.... My poor Brompton. Buddhism teaches us to 
not be attached but I am attached to that bike. It was my main form of 
transport for many years and I went to lots of places on it. I went to 
the Brompton World Championships at Goodwood. It was a lovely weekend 
where I cycled 50 miles to visit Fishbourne roman palace to see 
mosaics which I stared at on a latin text book's cover, to see the sea 
and see how far I could go. At Goodwood, I took it for a few spins 
around the track because I could. It helped me greatly with visiting 
other sites in Derby. They were always a pain to get a bus between and 
the walk was an irritating 50 minutes from the train station. Instead, 
I was able to take the folding bike on the train and zoom across 
through some lovely cycle paths by the river. I even had a go on a BMX 
park a couple of times while early to meetings. I used it for days 
cycling with the Scouts, showing that clever design beats size by 
having sprint races with them. They often laughed at the stupidly 
small bike being ridden by a fat git but I kept beating them. Yet, it 
is gone and I am reminded that nothing is permanent. 

Insurance should cover the bikes but I am not sure if I will replace 
them. I sort of want to replace the Brompton but I cannot with the 
garage. This is the second time it has been broken into in 5 years. 
The first time made sense as it was a dodgy wooden door which had 
already been smashed up. This time, I have a metal door and it looked 
more secure than other garages. That did not work. I am more annoyed 
about the paperwork in many respects. I have contacted my landlord, 
eventually reported the crime and submitted the first part in an 
insurance claim.

Theft is annoying but it does not do to keep dwelling. It has served a 
good reminder of impermanence and letting emotions go. The 4 noble 
truths tell us that life involves suffering but that suffering is not 
permanent. So now I will get on with life. This evening is my first 
scout camp since February 2020 and I have a hammock to try out. Knives 
to play with, fires to light and much fun to be had in the woods! I 
think the leaders are more excited than the kids!! This is with the 
explorers and should be fairly relaxed.