Robbery

edited November 2012 in Sinclair Miscellaneous
Argh.

My backpack got nicked in Barcelona yesterday. It had inside 5 Spectranets (I think 5, anyway) as well as the only ZX Breakout that I've completed. While it's most likely the cabrones who stole my bag will have no idea what they are and will probably just toss them in the bin, there's an outside chance they might try to sell them on ebay.

There are only 2 Spectranets that I know of that are legitimately in Barcelona and I know who owns them. If you see anyone selling these boards on ebay, please let me know.

(When looking for how to file a police report, I discovered that Barcelona's reputation for thieving scum makes Liverpool look like a robbery-free city... the lady at checkin at the airport said it makes her feel embarassed to be from Barcelona it's so often a passenger arrives having had their boarding pass stolen - guess where my online check-in boarding passes were...)
Post edited by Winston on

Comments

  • edited November 2012
    Agh - did you see the little feckers?

    I always try to make sure I put my foot through a strap if I put my bag down anywhere. Though I see Eastern European tourists in London wearing their bags on the front, wary of someone slicing the back open from behind whilst they're still wearing it.
    Joefish
    - IONIAN-GAMES.com -
  • edited November 2012
    Awful news I suppose the crime rate in spain is higher atm because of the economic problems. I hope you have success in finding whoever done it. Need to read up but does the spectranet allow loading snapshots from net in to memory to cut loading times if so wouldn't mind adding that bit of kit to my spectrum setup, if there are any left :(
  • edited November 2012
    Awful news I suppose the crime rate in spain is higher atm because of the economic problems.
    The petty crime rate in Barcelona has been high for a lot longer than that. Went to the Formula 1 there about 8 or 9 years ago and was warned about it, and in fact witnessed more than one person walking behind someone in the crowds, deftly unzipping their rucksacks to see if there was anything worth pinching from it. It seemed to be largely culturally acceptable for this to be happening.

    Beautiful city, but a lot of scum about :(

    Hope you have some success in getting your nicked stuff back winston.
  • fogfog
    edited November 2012
    I looked up that phrase

    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cabrones
    it comes back on another page as something very rude..

    scroll down to the end.. and who'd have thought I'd see a speccy game get a mention

    it's probably someone from eastern europe who was behind it, London is full of them who go "on the rob" day-trip FROM spain. Living where you do, I guess you are have your guard down a bit.. but backpacks are rip picking for such folks in capital cities.

    unless you had zx spectrum etc.. on the interface, they are probably clueless what it's for and it not being money maybe they chucked it.
  • edited November 2012
    That sucks.

    Maybe next time put a note on the outside "Dirty underpants inside" as a deterrent.
  • edited November 2012
    fog wrote: »
    it's probably someone from eastern europe who was behind it

    It's possible. I couldn't place their accent - it didn't sound Spanish, but Barcelona for me is just a place where I catch the train to go somewhere else so I'm not especially aware as to what they *should* sound like. There had to be two people involved, but the one I did see was about as nondescript as they come. Same build as me, same height as me, looked pretty much like any white European.

    But I'm going to tell the next stranger who tries to interact with me in Barcelona while I'm carrying stuff "vete a la puta mierda" and then be VERY vigilant.
  • edited November 2012
    I'm sorry, pal. I hope you can retrieve your goods. I feel somewhat ashamed.
    fog wrote: »
    I looked up that phrase
    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cabrones
    it comes back on another page as something very rude..

    In Spain, "cabrones" is as bad sounding as "bastards", but the meaning is different. A "cabron" is the man whose wife has cheated on him and everybody knows. A "cabron" is a male goat, and, supposedly, when somebody is cheated on, he or she's been "put the horns on". So men become "cabrones".
  • fogfog
    edited November 2012
    I dunno , you speak z80 I only know 6502 ;) hehe

    I did see another meaning for the word.. which was about 3-4 rude names combined

    I just found it ironic "chav-os" was on that page.. and of course cholo

    http://www.worldofspectrum.org/infoseekid.cgi?id=0000942
  • edited November 2012
    Man thats sucks! Hope you get them back.
  • edited November 2012
    Sorry to hear about that, Winston.
  • edited November 2012
    That must be extremely frustrating.
    I hope can keep your cool Winston and I hope you can get your stuff back somehow.
  • edited November 2012
    Oh, sorry for this, Winston.

    The only positive thing is you've improved your spanish! ;)
  • edited November 2012
    Awfully frustrating. You must feel like a missionary that got eaten...
  • edited November 2012
    The only positive thing is you've improved your spanish! ;)

    I've even starred on Radio Arag?n :-)
  • edited November 2012
    Next time just stick them in a box with lots of Russian on it and some radioactivity symbols. That should keep prying hands at a safe distance.
  • edited November 2012
    Matt_B wrote: »
    Next time just stick them in a box with lots of Russian on it and some radioactivity symbols. That should keep prying hands at a safe distance.

    Or get him arrested at customs :D
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited November 2012
    That's bound to backfire. They'll be really pissed off when they find that the warhead they've stolen is actually just a box of used pinball machine parts...
  • edited November 2012
    guesser wrote: »
    That's bound to backfire. They'll be really pissed off when they find that the warhead they've stolen is actually just a box of used pinball machine parts...

    You'll be fine as long as they don't have a VW Camper.
    Every night is curry night!
  • edited November 2012
    Argh, that sucks. Did they ever turn up?

    Like you say, probably went in a nearby bin. Makes me angry.
  • edited November 2012
    So sorry that happened, its so ****ty.

    I was in Barcelona in February and was fully forewarned about the problem and thankfully had nothing nicked. Two people tried though whilst I was waking into the subway. I quite litterally jumped out of the way and the man put his hands up as if to say 'no no I wasn't honest'. The second incident was attempted distraction. I just did not look and walked briskly on my way.

    I was at a technology conference/expo so they knew we were ripe for the picking.
    Calling all ASCII Art Architects Visit the WOS Wall of Text and contribute: https://www.yourworldoftext.com/wos
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