Damnation! Last night while I was waiting for a bus I put my briefcase on the ground for a moment, got my Pocket PC out to check a phone number and then put the Pocket PC back into the back and got a mobile out to look up a number. Then I noticed that the bus was arriving, so I turned round to pick up my briefcase. Only it was not there. It had disappeared into thin air. I neither heard no saw anything, and neither, apparently, did the other people waiting for the bus. I could not believe it. I rang the police, but since I had not seen anyone, they would not send anyone to me. Not a great surprise, I suppose.
In the bag was my highly useful Axim x30h pocket PC, a useful dictionary, all my teaching cards and a text book, plus a register for a course I am holding at the moment. Boy am I miffed. But what really gets me is that a did not notice a thing. I was distracted for no more than five minutes. Heaven knows who took the thing.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
Afterwards I went to a local police station to make a statement, but I doubt I will see the bag ever again, and as for the Pocket PC, well, that may as well have been eaten by an elephant. I will not see it again.
Unbelievable. Whoever it was must have been close by and must have noticed the Pocket PC, as I doubt whether and Italian/English financial dictionary will fetch that much on the black market. I did notice a guy at the bus stop who was on his mobile, but I don’t think there was any connection between his call and my loss, but you never know.
Moral of the story: Don’t flash hi-tech gadgetry around and keep tight hold of your possessions while you are in Milan. You live and you learn.
