Daniel just called me to tell me that his bike was stolen from our garage. They�d cut the chain and taken the bike. Firstly, that�s $400 we�re now out. Daniel said, �that�s OK, we�re insured, aren�t we? Contents?� but we�re not. I mean, we�re covered, but our excess is $1,000 so we wouldn�t get anything anyway, so if we tell the insurance company, all that�s likely to happen is an increase in our premium next year. Secondly, that thief came with a purpose. They knew there was a bike in our garage, and they showed up with bolt cutters to cut the chain. You don�t just wander round the streets, or happen to stroll into an underground garage, with a bolt cutter. That means that someone has been watching us, and looking into our garage when we weren�t there. And that part makes me really angry.

Why are some people like this? Why are some hearts and souls just� black?

I can only hope that in some way this will come back to the person who did it. Maybe they did it because they have no money, which means that to some extent they have already had a miserable life. Good.

I know it really doesn�t matter, but I�m a person of principle and sometimes it just takes me a while to calm down. It�s not really the money that bothers me so much. It�s the fact that someone broke into our property and stole something that did not belong to them. They didn�t care that somebody else had worked hard and paid for that bike. They didn�t have any problem with entering somebody else�s garage. And they didn�t have second thoughts when they saw the chain keeping the bike attached to the wall. They just cut it out of the way.

So� it�s only Tuesday morning and this week we�ve already had: a potentially-overpriced-by-thousands kitchen, a cheque dishonour fee, and a stolen bike. I swear, next week had better be an improvement. Any Greater Powers up there, I expect to find a parcel full of sunshine and rainbows in my letterbox on Monday. And a written apology. And a cheque.

Anyway, Daniel is going to call the bike store that sold him the bike and the chain, partly to see whether they had any sort of guarantee on the bike chain (we only bought the bike a few months ago so who knows, maybe they can do something about it), but mostly to get the serial number of the bike so that he can report it to the Police. At least that way if the thief tries to sell it to a pawn store, there�s a chance they�ll know it�s stolen. Presuming they check serial numbers.

Update: Daniel called me not long ago to inform me that the Forensics Unit will be coming round to our place to take fingerprints. This makes me feel better. Not because I expect it to achieve much, but rather because I find it highly entertaining that the Forensics Unit is going to bother to come over to fingerprint our bike chain.

So, let�s see, thinking happy thoughts� oh, yeah. My sister�s dog, Coco. Another potential candidate for digital camera fun. Imagine that a Gremlin � say Gizmo � got lucky with a bat. Try to picture their stunted love-child, with a body that is slightly too small for its head. Now paint it light brown, but leave its toes white as though you�ve just run out of paint. This is my sister�s dog. It is part Chihuahua, which gives it an air of hilarity on its own, and when it barks, the sheer force of shouting �YARF!� is enough to lift its little legs off the ground.

Okay, I�m going to try to do something productive and not think about strangers in our garage.