Your bag could disappear anywhere, in London, Singapore or Russia, whether you are a tourist or a business visitor or a resident. If you see a warning sign, take extra care.
At The Volunteer pub near The Sherlock Holmes museum (see other posts) the ladies toilet is upstairs. My companion said to me, "Leave your bag here. It'll be all right with me." He was eating breakfast. We'd just finished.
I said, "Will you stay here?"
"Yes," he said. "Where would I go? I'm not leaving until you get back."
Upstairs in the Ladies a sign warns you to watch your handbag. A bit late for me. I had just left mine downstairs with my companion.
When I go back he said, "I'm glad your back. I want to go outside to smoke a cigarette."
Fortunately I was not away long and he waited for me to come back.
He was a friend I already knew. I've known him years. I know his home address.
But he wanted to go outside and smoke a cigarette.
What if he had been a new friend? A new group of friends? And one of them had assured me my bag would be all right with them?
I would not trust strangers. I don't know them. I do not know their honesty. I do not know their home address.
They might leave without my bag if there was a fire alarm, a fire, or a bomb alert.
What if my acquaintance is OK but goes to the bar to get food and one of the others is not to be trusted? Or they are busy talking to each other and a stranger takes my bag and they don't notice?
Unlikely?
It has already happened to me.
1 I was a teenager in a disco in the South of France. I met a boy and we danced not he dance floor. He said leave your bag. My bag went. The following week I went back to the disco. He was still there. He admitted that his acquaintances included a bag thief who was always on the lookout every night for somebody who left a bag. I never found out whether the boy I fancied was part of the group and it was a set-up. I suspect it was. His desire to dance with me never turned into a long-term relationship.
2 On a train across Russia with a group of students on a holiday, at a station a girl got out to buy a sandwich, leaving behind her bag to be watched over by Boy 1 who was with Boy 2. Boy 1 was supposed to watch the bag. Boy 2 had not been asked. Boy 1 decided to get out and get a sandwich. He claims he assumed boy 2 would watch the bag. Boy 2 decided to follow the others and get a sandwich. The bag disappeared. Including her passport.
She and the organiser were delayed, missed their flight, and both had to wait for than 48 hours for her to get a new passport. (We travelled on without the escort who was supposed to be looking after the whole group. So now Boy 1 was in charge of group tickets, etc etc. I didn't know the others, because my return had been swapped with somebody from a group on a longer holiday, because I wanted to stay longer, whilst he decided to take a shorter trip. That was another hoo-ha.)
She had no money to get her train ticket in the UK and hotel overnight in London and bus or taxi to hotel or home. So my last souvenir money had to be loaned to her. Everybody in the student group loaned what little they had left to her and she took our names and addresses and promised to write and tell us what happened and return the money. By now I had lost faith in everybody and had no expectation that she would. But she did return my money and tell me the end of the story. She never got her bag back.
I have other friends who have lost bags. Even when the bag is next to you. Another group of people sitting close by.
I lost my bag earlier this year in Singapore. It was gone moments after I got off a bus. I thought I'd left it behind on the bus. However, I was jostled by people behind as I walked from the bus stop towards a hawker centre. Afterwards I read that it's a common ploy. You are jostled from the right and somebody take your bag from the left. Or somebody knocks you from behind and another takes your bag from in front. Three of them and one of you. You might decide it's not worth fighting. You can't take a photo of them if they've just stolen your camera or camera phone.
Keep your passport and credit cards separate from your visible bag.
The moral is. Watch your bag. Keep it attached to you.
I said, "Will you stay here?"
"Yes," he said. "Where would I go? I'm not leaving until you get back."
Upstairs in the Ladies a sign warns you to watch your handbag. A bit late for me. I had just left mine downstairs with my companion.
When I go back he said, "I'm glad your back. I want to go outside to smoke a cigarette."
Fortunately I was not away long and he waited for me to come back.
He was a friend I already knew. I've known him years. I know his home address.
But he wanted to go outside and smoke a cigarette.
What if he had been a new friend? A new group of friends? And one of them had assured me my bag would be all right with them?
I would not trust strangers. I don't know them. I do not know their honesty. I do not know their home address.
They might leave without my bag if there was a fire alarm, a fire, or a bomb alert.
What if my acquaintance is OK but goes to the bar to get food and one of the others is not to be trusted? Or they are busy talking to each other and a stranger takes my bag and they don't notice?
Unlikely?
It has already happened to me.
1 I was a teenager in a disco in the South of France. I met a boy and we danced not he dance floor. He said leave your bag. My bag went. The following week I went back to the disco. He was still there. He admitted that his acquaintances included a bag thief who was always on the lookout every night for somebody who left a bag. I never found out whether the boy I fancied was part of the group and it was a set-up. I suspect it was. His desire to dance with me never turned into a long-term relationship.
2 On a train across Russia with a group of students on a holiday, at a station a girl got out to buy a sandwich, leaving behind her bag to be watched over by Boy 1 who was with Boy 2. Boy 1 was supposed to watch the bag. Boy 2 had not been asked. Boy 1 decided to get out and get a sandwich. He claims he assumed boy 2 would watch the bag. Boy 2 decided to follow the others and get a sandwich. The bag disappeared. Including her passport.
She and the organiser were delayed, missed their flight, and both had to wait for than 48 hours for her to get a new passport. (We travelled on without the escort who was supposed to be looking after the whole group. So now Boy 1 was in charge of group tickets, etc etc. I didn't know the others, because my return had been swapped with somebody from a group on a longer holiday, because I wanted to stay longer, whilst he decided to take a shorter trip. That was another hoo-ha.)
She had no money to get her train ticket in the UK and hotel overnight in London and bus or taxi to hotel or home. So my last souvenir money had to be loaned to her. Everybody in the student group loaned what little they had left to her and she took our names and addresses and promised to write and tell us what happened and return the money. By now I had lost faith in everybody and had no expectation that she would. But she did return my money and tell me the end of the story. She never got her bag back.
I have other friends who have lost bags. Even when the bag is next to you. Another group of people sitting close by.
I lost my bag earlier this year in Singapore. It was gone moments after I got off a bus. I thought I'd left it behind on the bus. However, I was jostled by people behind as I walked from the bus stop towards a hawker centre. Afterwards I read that it's a common ploy. You are jostled from the right and somebody take your bag from the left. Or somebody knocks you from behind and another takes your bag from in front. Three of them and one of you. You might decide it's not worth fighting. You can't take a photo of them if they've just stolen your camera or camera phone.
Keep your passport and credit cards separate from your visible bag.
The moral is. Watch your bag. Keep it attached to you.
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