Plan B Forum

Today was a birthday day - we took two of the boys from Bolokanang, one whose birthday is next week and a friend of his choosing to Mimosa Mall. I wanted to go to Loch Logan so the bakkie could be cleaned while we were having our fun - but Mrs. M wanted to look at a particular shop in Mimosa. So the boys chose to eat at the Spur restaurant and we had lunch. They chose to watch "Khumba" - an animated feature about a zebra trekking across Africa to find the Magic Lake - not bad. Better than watching Smurfs 2 for the 3rd week. I sat with them in the movie while Lynn took off to do her window shopping. She was supposed to meet us in the amusement arcade about 4:30 pm but was there when we came out of the movie - so we helped the two boys spend oodles of money riding fake motorcycles - it was fun.

"Did you buy anything?" I asked. "No" she said quietly.

We drove back to the sticks and I dropped her off at our house then took the two boys back to the Centre and said goodbye.

Got home. Mrs. M says "I didn't want to tell you but in that store, I was bumped by a large woman - she was right in my face, on a cell phone - and then a young man bumped me and then a shop assistant asked 'Did you know your backpack is wide open?' "

So Lynn's wallet is gone along with R100 which is only about $10 so that's nothing and we've stopped our two credit cards. Biggest loss is probably her driver's license and some personal stuff. Now we will have some difficulty accessing our funds but it's not immediately critical as my SS is paid in to our SA account for which I (fortunately) was carrying the only card.

Even if the wallet shows up, minus the cash and the cards, it's unlikely we'll get it back - because nothing in it indicates where we live other than Twinsburg OH.

Oh well. How was your day?
Meade

Well that certainly sucks...

Probably not a great idea to keep a wallet in a backpack...The good news is that there wasn't more cash lost, and you found out about it soon enough to stop the cards....(Of course I imagine getting a driver's license replaced in SA is probably not a day at the beach...)

How was your day?

Well, since you asked, I had a lovely lunch with our own Kristina a little while ago, and then ran a few errands while enjoying the weather we're having, and with Kelly and the kids being out with Little Sister and her two getting Halloween stuff, I'm now planning to put my feet up, watch a little TV, and maybe take a little nap...

Sorry for your inconvenience

Believe me, I understand the awful feeling you (and especially your wife) must have felt after an encounter like this, but I trust you'll be able to put it into perspective as a small blip in the grand scheme of things. (Don't pet the sweaty things.) Still, in the short run it sucks, and you have my sympathy.

My wife and I had almost exactly the same experience in Madrid a few years ago. And as in most such situations, we were angry at ourselves for failing to recognize what should have been clues that we were being targeted and victimized.

Walking in an outdoor pedestrian mall, we suddenly noticed that there were three "gypsies" walking beside and slightly behind her, and the closest one was pretending to read a newspaper. I was irritated that they were "invading our space," so to speak, and thought that if they wanted to pass us in this crowded venue they should just pass us and be done with it. But they shortly faded away into the crowd.

When we got to our next venue, my wife discovered that her wallet and some other stuff was missing from her backpack. A significant bit of cash, driver's license, credit cards, etc. fortunately, we had left our passports at the hotel. Later that day in the police station, we were sitting in a waiting room with several other couples, all foreign tourists like us, all with unique stories of having been ripped off BY GYPSIES, in every single case. Remarkable. Most of the other stories were scams that were more clever than the one that nailed us. Which made us feel even worse.

It was irritating but didn't significantly spoil the vacation.

Meade, you have my sympathy.