farewell, amat ciutat

I came down the stairs this morning -- pants cuffed, helmet on, cross strap buckled -- and sauntered around the corner to unlock my bike, but alas, it was not there. Last night they stole my bike.

I knew it would happen some day. Bikes are on loan to us from God, who works in mysterious ways indeed. But I didn't think it would happen this way.

See, I had a dinner on my terrace last weekend. In a fit of silliness, when people would come to the door, I'd just drop them my keys off the side of the balcony. Amusement for all!

But when I went to lock up my bike yesterday evening at a restaurant -- it had spent the weekend in the office -- of course it was the bike lock key that broke in the weekend's antics, and I hadn't noticed it.

Luckily I had the wee cable lock that ran through my seatpost, so I crossed my fingers and used that instead. So it was with pleasure that, leaving the restaurant, I found that my bike was still there.

We had a great ride last night, me and the bike. We hit all the lights, and beat the metro back to my house by 10 minutes. I figured it would last one more evening out with the wee lock, in my relatively calm neighborhood, but no, it was not to be.

So farewell, Amat Ciutat, my friend. We hardly knew ye.

5 responses

  1. Géry says:

    I would almost cry if my bike gets stolen. I feel sorry for you... I will observe a minute of silence for your bike.

    Be brave! Life goes on...

  2. hendi says:

    I know how you feel, my bike was stolen just yesterday. I cycled thousands of kilometers with it, some years ago from Germany to West England. I guess sometimes it's time to say goodbye to your friends :(

  3. Hammerforce says:

    This means war! We'll raise a mob and rescue your bike, bashing in the skulls of all who oppose us!

  4. helen says:

    We have some lovely sturdy brightly blue-painted bike stands at work. Lots of them, in replacement of a bit of wasted space and some old and very rusty racks. I have felt, these last few weeks, ever so much more confident in locking my bike up.

    Today the security guard put a sign up saying that three bikes have been stolen from there in the last 48 hours. Mine, not yet, but I am a little concerned. However there are nicer bikes there than mine. Whether they are also more securely locked I'm not sure.

    Sorry for your loss.

  5. Gregor says:

    My sincere condolences - let this be a reminder to the rest of us to never let the guard down!

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