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Thursday 1 November 2012

Stealing from a cripple

I have been overwhelmed by the kindness of almost everyone I know since I had my accident and so the news I have just received has quite upset me. My friends Jan and Graham went to a lot of trouble to get several bags of coal put onto my mooring so that I don't have to worry about keeping warm while my leg continues to heal. Jan has just discovered that someone, either last night or today, has helped themselves to two of the bags!

I have always been so impressed that you can leave stuff on the roof of your boat and it will still be there when you return. However, if I had lost the coal off the roof while the boat is on visitors I would be less shocked than I am that they have actually stolen them off the mooring itself! I am assuming it was someone on foot as, if they had brought a boat onto the mooring, they would have taken all the coal. I also think they would run a much bigger risk of being noticed in a boat. Also the mooring is very silted up at present which would make it difficult for a boat to access the mooring.

It really is mean stealing someone else's coal at any time and something that, as far as I know, is mercifully rare on the canals. I am really hoping that whoever stole it was not aware of my situation, as stealing from a cripple really is beyond the pale and if whoever stole it ends up reading this, be assured you will receive your comeuppance, whether in this world or the next!

Jan hugely restored my faith in the rest of humanity when she said I would owe her £20 less because the two bags had gone! Needless to say I will not be leaving her out of pocket, but what a lovely thing to say! The nice people still out number the nasty ones - at least in my world!

3 comments:

Lynda Alsford said...

What a horrid thing to do. Such a shame. But I am so glad you have such lovely friends though. Jan and Graham sound like really good friends to have.

Nev Wells said...

That's not good. It happened to me as you know with a bag of coal some while ago but it was returned as I suspect it was borrowed in an emergency.

My two diesel cans never reappeared, stolen. I think you need to write a strong letter to the mooring officer to demand that the locks are improved and replaced from a BW one to one for just the Hunts mooorers. Plus make sure you report it to the police, shamefully I did not !

Nev

Mandy Wright said...

Thanks Lynda for your comments. Neville - I've sent you a copy of an email I sent to the mooring officer - I really don't think the police would be interested though!