A story of Karma

[Valiant]

A friend of mine got a bike of the Tower Hamlets Wheelers, it was built up from donated and recycled parts and they only charged him £10, which was for the brand new brake pads. So my friend enjoys the bike for a few weeks. Lovely guy. Anyways, one day he locks his bike up in front of his flat, 3 floors up and behind a communal security door downstairs and then locks it up. He went out for a few drinks and when he came back found that someone had nicked his seat, bottle cage and rack. My friend wasn't too bothered, after all it cost him a tenner and he's from the belief that you don't own bikes, they are lent to you by the Bicycle Karma Gods.

Anyways he couldn't keep the bike indoors due to space, and he was due to go for a weekend away and was worried that the person might come back to pillage more parts. But he trusted the powers and decided to chance it and remove the brake blocks which had cost him, and hence the bike was "free". He left on the Friday night and came back on the sunday and found his bike gone Saddened he asked around and it seemed to disappear around 10am on Saturday.

Later that night he went to a party and met some old friends, inevitably the subject came up and the friend perked up and asked what the bike looked like. Aged, black with worn yellow writing on the frame. The friend burst out laughing saying she'd seen it. "Where?!" He asked. "The big junction in Stepney at 10.30 on Saturday". She then explained the thief was carried away in an ambulance having been hit by a fast moving car when he was unable to stop going into the junction full pelt. Puzzled at first, he then realised he'd removed the brake blocks and smiled.

That's karma.

[andrewc]

 

[fuzzy]

What goes around comes around

[alan]

Luvverly
How refreshing for natural justice to be seen to be done.

[TimO]

Which just goes to prove that thiefs often aren't very smart, only trying the brakes once he really needed them.

Natural justice and evolution in action.

[gonzo]

Which just goes to prove that thiefs often aren't very smart, only trying the brakes once he really needed them.

We'd be rubbish bike theives on this forum - we'd remove the locks, strip the bike down, re-grease it all, clean it and then rebuild it just as the owner returned!

Great story btw! Perhaps QR brakes would be the ideal thief deterrent!?!

[onb]

My belief in a deighty is fast returning

[Deano]

Slightly OT, but I'll share it anyway:

One day, I was en velo, and caught the train home from work.  The train was busy, but there were spare seats around, if not spare double seats.  To avoid blocking the doors, and to spare me from standing with my bike for the whole journey, I had to move people who were seated in the bike space.  Most people moved in response to my charming and polite requests, apart from a blonde lady who flat refused :"I'm not moving" was all she would say.  After a bit of careful negotiation, I moved everyone from one side of the train to the same side as her, which was a bit of a squeeze, but it meant people could get on and off the train without having to edge past my mucky bike.

A few weeks later, I caught the 8 o'clock train to work. It's the last train for over 45 minutes, which is a bit daft at that time of the day, but still.  It's always packed, since it's most people's last chance to get to work on time.

The guard was just closing the doors when I saw someone running to catch the train.  As I was opening my mouth and beginning to stand up to tell him to wait, I noticed that it was the same blonde woman who wouldn't move even when I had asked her ever so politely.

I sat back down.  Waved to her as the train pulled away from the platform.  Smiled at the thought of the 45-minute wait she had ahead of her.

[fred the great]

That's Karma

[woollypigs]

Evil but good karma for both Valiant and Deano's stories

[teethgrinder]

Slightly OT, but I'll share it anyway:

One day, I was en velo, and caught the train home from work.  The train was busy, but there were spare seats around, if not spare double seats.  To avoid blocking the doors, and to spare me from standing with my bike for the whole journey, I had to move people who were seated in the bike space.  Most people moved in response to my charming and polite requests, apart from a blonde lady who flat refused :"I'm not moving" was all she would say. 

It might help you to know that those two long bench seats are exactly where you are supposed to put your bike on those types of train. They are built so that you can pull them up flat against the walls of the carriage for that very purpose. They are also for mail and suchlike as they were put on train to replace the guards van. They are primarily to be used as a guards van and for bike storage and only secondarily used as passenger seating. But because guards vans are seldom used, they are normally used for passenger seating. A bit like we cyclists tend to ride in secondary position most of the time.
A bit of signage making this more common knowledge wouldn't go amiss.
But most people with bikes tend to get on any carriage and stand at the doorway with their bike,or even just leave it ther and sit down. 
That's the trouble with trains in general. There is a system, but nobody seems to know how the whole thing works, so everyone just has to get along and work it out for themselves. You always get awkward people. It's a shame. Trains could be a lot better than they are.

[Regulator]

To avoid blocking the doors, and to spare me from standing with my bike for the whole journey, I had to move people who were seated in the bike space.  Most people moved in response to my charming and polite requests, apart from a blonde lady who flat refused :"I'm not moving" was all she would say. 

I had that on my last trip to Holland.  Catching the train from Liverpool Street with a heavily laden bike, the bike storage seats were occupied.  Everyone happily moved when politely asked, except for one 'businessman', who refused to move and started to get abusive about cyclists generally.  He was egged on by a know-it-all, lawyer.

Luckily, one of the people to get on after me, who was caught by my bike blocking the door, was an off-duty British Transport Police officer.  He had a 'quiet word' with the recalcitrant parties, threatening to remove them from the train.

As it was, he made them move carriage, to a round of applause from other passengers.

 

[Deano]

Slightly OT, but I'll share it anyway:

One day, I was en velo, and caught the train home from work.  The train was busy, but there were spare seats around, if not spare double seats.  To avoid blocking the doors, and to spare me from standing with my bike for the whole journey, I had to move people who were seated in the bike space.  Most people moved in response to my charming and polite requests, apart from a blonde lady who flat refused :"I'm not moving" was all she would say. 

It might help you to know that those two long bench seats are exactly where you are supposed to put your bike on those types of train.

Aye, I know

And since it's well signposted on Northern trains that the space is reserved for bikes, everyone else knows it as well, which is what gives the tale its piquancy.  Everybody else moved without a peep; she was just being an awkward bitch.