I was walking down O’Connell Street at lunchtime the other day. It was busy. A man in a tracksuit was yanking firmly on a bike which was attached to a pole by a spiral lock. The spiral lock was not yielding. Could he be stealing it in broad daylight? He didn’t match the bicycle which had a wicker basket. But who am I to judge what tracksuited possibly drugged people might cycle? Perhaps he had forgotten his key. And surely no one would steal a bike by pulling on it until the lock broke in the middle of the day on the main street of the capital? Nobody paid him and his lock pulling antics the slightest bit of notice.
I hovered anxiously looking at him. The lock held and he walked away. So did I, in some relief. What would you have done?
A man stole my bike in full view of two of my colleagues who only wondered at the last minute if this guy using a lump of wood to twist a lock to breaking point might perhaps be up to no good. Anyway that was the cheap bike I bought after having the dear one stolen.
Oh Eimear – I am just like your colleagues. I was thinking if he persisted I might take a photo and send it to broadsheet.ie. That’s as far as my active citizenship went.
Oh for God’s sake, don’t be silly. He could have pulled a knife on you or punched you.
I think stopping and taking notice is probably enough to spook most people. There are some videos online of some incredibly blatant attempts to ‘steal’ a bike using bolt cutters and so on with people going past completely oblivious. I suppose the sensible answer is to discreetly phone the police and hang about until they arrive.
Jenny, you would hardly think so in broad daylight on a busy street… Disgruntled, with her cycling expertise, is probably right.