So i had my phone stolen out of my hand at a red traffic light yesterday.
Not my finest moment and followed by a combination of feelings of sad and angry and maybe embarrassed. But there are a billion worse things happening to a billion other people [like Nick who just had his house robbed and a whole lot of expensive video equipment stolen, or my mate Napoleon who it seems has been wrongfully arrested and in prison for close to 50 days and who goes to court today] and so in context, ‘Tis but a scratch!’
Albeit one where i didn’t lose any limbs whatsoever and possibly it is quite healthy when that particular extension to the limb is physically removed from you for a few days…
So there were some bad decisions made and it could definitely have been avoided, but at the same time it really does seem like a series of unfortunate events that all unfortunately aligned in that one moment to result in the diminished phonality of my person.
# i was doing an errand for The Justice Conference [you should totally go!] which i’ve only been working with for two days and the irony of receiving my own little injustice while doing so is not lost on me at all.
# i was picking up something from an area i never go to, so had my phone handy as it was directioning me there.
# It was a super hot day but because i’m not a fan of the aircon and was trying to save money i had the window open.
# i pulled up at a red traffic light having just heard on the radio that South Africa had just performed the first ever prosthetic ear transplant and that is a significant point in all this as i thought it was something worth sharing with tbV… cos prosthetic ear… that’s the great irony cos til then my phone was either i my left hand away from the window giving me directions or on the seat on my left with a closed window and locked door. Bionic ear cost me my phone.
# But the real culprit was perhaps Autocarrot Autocorrect frustratingly enough as i remember having to type Groote Schuur three times and i think it was while i was doing that when suddenly a hand appeared in the window, grabbed my phone, and ran away before i had any idea of what was going on… [just to be clear the hand was attached to an older teenage, younger twenty aged body, it wasn’t just a floating hand cos that would have been you]. Had i finished the message in one quick swoop the phone would have been back on my seat and i would have been good.
PERSPEX-TIVE TIME
It could have been worse though.
# i was two roads away from my destination and so while it took me four stops to find the actual place [i just had an address, not a name of organisation i was picking up corrigated card from and a name Olivia which i was not 100% sure was actually the right name being remembered – it was – but all the info was on my phone] if it had been any earlier i would have not have been able to make it to the place to pick up the stuff i was after in the first place…
# When i found the place and was telling my story, Olivia [told you!] told me that they had a client who had had an incident at that same spot earlier in the day [apparently it’s a hot spot – thanks SAPS!] where the guys had opened his passenger door and tried to pull his passenger out of the car. That is freaky. tbV will at least be glad that i had all the doors locked [which i had checked earlier] so that was not possible, but that is a little scary.
# It’s a phone. And a few people have offered back up phones, at least til i get sorted. But it’s a thing and that’s a great perspective to keep. It’s frustrating and it’s time consuming and it’s annoying when you’re trying to block the sim and the security questions they are asking require you to have your phone pretty much to answer them… but this too will pass and life will continue.
Urgh, but the sense of violation, and really probably the least aggressive way of having something stolen as opposed to being mugged or held up or having people in your home… but there is definitely that sense of OH… NOT NICE… DON’T DO THAT… which i imagine will fade as time goes on…
i did hire Star Trek: Beyond to make myself feel better and combined with a chocolate crouissant and some Diddle Daddle sweetened popcorn it pretty much did the trick. Plus experimenting with a new pumpkin homemade dish in the oven which turned out great and later watching The Big Short with tbV.
And now it’s a brand new day and i’m just bummed cos we lost the cricket…
It really is ironic that one who does so much for other races has this happen to them by a coloured/black guy.. Such a pity. I hope you continue to do good work.
i’m not sure that i said anything about it being a coloured or black guy… #Assumptions
Ronelle, i am not going to post your other comments as i find them quite racist and offensive. It is not enough to look at the statistics of crime in isolation from looking at where people live and why they live where they live and so there are many contributing factors to why the people with nothing living in absolute disgusting conditions end up being the ones committing the majority of the crimes. A lot of this is still as a result to both apartheid and the lack of change that has happened since apartheid. A poor person who lived in shocking conditions robbed me and that is all that matters – would have likely been the same whether he was black, white or coloured.
When you refer to another race as “these people” that is completely dehumanising and offensive and you should really stop. To broad brushstroke an entire race based on your opinion or experience of some of the people of that race would be like looking at what Hitler did and saying “all white people”… i’m interested if you every report WM in your whatsapp group [which is a thing i find to be most racist across South Africa] but i assume not because the assumption is that if there is a White Male in your neighbourhood then they must belong and be good, right? i completely disagree with the kind of profiling that assumes the worst of a particular race and sees itself as better for some reason.
You also wished for people to die in one of your comments, i hope you realise that. i hope you can say those words out loud while you look in a mirror and still think of yourself as a decent human being because wishing anyone’s death to me is completely abhorrent, no matter how evil or messed up that person might be. Cos at one time they were someone’s child and possibly someone’s brother or sister and may now be someone’s mother or father and whatever happened to turn them into the person they are doing the things they are doing, had to be a bleak and broken thing and we should be wishing their redemption and transformation and maybe giving our lives, or part of them to being part of a process that invites that… i am friends with a guy who found Jesus in jail and is now out and managed to find a job and is studying and it is amazing to see the change in him because someone and a group of someones gave him a chance… From what you’ve written here you would have completely given up on and likely discarded him.
That is the real crime here. Giving up on anyone just because you’ve had it so much easier than them…
Thanks for sharing that story. I had similar thing happen to me in Joburg a few years ago. I had my hands free kit on and the phone was on my lap. As I got to the red light a hand came through the window and my phone was gone. My first thought was hey, I should ask him for the sim card (for a second I contemplated turning around, but rethunk that idea as I alone and well it was night time, so I laughed at my crazy thought). And yes, it was annoying and not nice but life went on.