Looking Out To Sea

Yesterday on the way to work the train was really busy so I put my rucksack in the overhead storage space… and forgot about it. I remembered at the exact moment that the final carriage was moving past me as I stood on the platform at Linlithgow station.

I reported the loss at the desk in Linlithgow train station and they phoned ahead to Waverley where the train was to terminate. I left my details and they phoned later to say that nothing had been found.

I phoned Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Queen Street lost property offices several times over the day to see if anything had been handed in by a passenger but no such luck. Apart from the rucksack itself I’ve lost:

• A wallet with two bank cards, a driving licence, some stamps and ten pounds in cash; and a coin purse with about four quid in small change. There will be other stuff in the wallet that I’ve forgotten about that will come to light in future when I realise it’s not available.
• A spare battery for my front light and an Allen key multitool to deal with any bikey problems that may arise on my journey.
• A pair of waterproof trousers, borrowed from my mum a few years ago for attending Traquair Fair in the rain and never given back. Sorry!
• Also a gel ink pen, two bananas and an apple. That was for my lunch!

The wallet is a logistical pain because it leaves me without ready access to cash at a weekend when Helen is away. The loss of the battery is annoying because (i) I just bought those lights and (ii) I spent extra on the pack with the spare battery which I never got to use.

A day later and neither lost property office has anything which matches my description so I will have to resign myself to cancelling, renewing and repurchasing various things. I’ve already cancelled the bank cards but now I need to get a replacement driving licence and a new wallet to put everything in. The rucksack wasn’t a great purchase anyway so maybe it’s good that I can replace that with something better for our current needs.

The battery I can do without — it was a spare and they are readily rechargable. (It’s a CatEye Volt300 if you’re interested. As well as being bright it is USB rechargable so I can plug it in at work.) The Allen keys will need replaced because the flat is rapidly filling up with bikes that need maintenance and adjustment. The tool had seven different sizes of key and we have used most of them!

Lack of waterproof trousers will be cold in the short term (I can cycle in shorts if it’s raining) but not something I want to sustain. I don’t have the kind of commute which allows me to get really warm from just pedalling when in the depths of winter.

The loss of the apple and bananas has left me inconsolable.