I just want rant about bike thievery. I understand that it is a thing that exists in London, and that there always were warnings and precautions heralded by the gov, the uni, the media.... about keeping your bike safe and secure. But well... to put it in haiku:
Listen all you like,
If advice is not heeded,
Bye-bye to your bike.
Yeah, I lost a bike. RIP bike. I don't have a name for you; I'm a shitty owner. But if I did I'll be even more upset to find out you were taken. To the bike thief: I don't know who you are, or what you want, but I do know this. I will find you, and....
Oh who am I kidding. Last year 381,000 bikes were stolen, and only a fraction of them retrieved. Chances are my old bike had already been sold off to some unsuspecting student needing a cheap second- (maybe even third- or fourth-, who knows?) hand bike. I even bought it second-hand; chances are it was already stolen.
But it is difficult to find a good bike. Even in games it costs 1,000,000 PokeDollars. This is why there is such a good market for used bikes. There is a demand, so there will be a supply. No exceptions.
I suppose I go on a tangent on how I'm supporting the market by buying potentially stolen bikes. But, if the alternative is spending 4 pounds everyday waiting on the tube, I'm willing to live with the consequences.
To illustrate, the second second-hand bike I bought the second after the week I lost my bike cost me 43 pounds. It means that after commuting with it for 11 days, the price already evens out. That sounds like a really good deal.
In the ideal society, we would live literally 5 minutes walk away from wherever we need to be. Alas, this is London. Hence, cars, trains and bikes were invented, and none of them cheaply. As a student, I am forced to take the cheapest, and least pollutant-producing, of the evils.
BUT NOTHING IS AS EVIL AS STEALING THE BICYCLE THAT BELONGS TO SOMEONE ELSE!!!
Honestly it was locked to a pole and everything too.
I guess shit happens. Thus, new old bikes are bought. Out of necessity, and for the love of my wallet, whom from now one I shall name Hairpins. Because they turn up even if you don't try.
You know, just in case.
Cya on the roads!
