This post doesn’t contain any photos, in fact, Alison was
most reluctant to allow me to send it. I’m doing so because I think we have to
view everything on this trip in perspective, the good and the not-so-good. It’s
all part of the travel experience, nobody is hurt and we have emerged a little
wiser for the ordeal.
Today, Alison was robbed at the Naples railway station. The
thief must have been so good, she didn’t even know it had happened until we
arrived at our hotel some forty-minutes later. She had been as careful as
anyone could ever be with her bag around her neck and her hand over it at all
times. We are both still struggling to comprehend how it happened, but happen
it did.
Sadly, we lost somewhere between 350 to 400 euro, but
far more significant, we lost our TravelCard, with 400 euro left on it, and a whopping
1200 pounds sterling. Even worse, our debit card was also in the wallet (a new
leather one I just bought for her from Florence). To cut a long story short, we
have just lost a very large amount of money, and have only 300 euro to live on
until we return on Saturday.
Of course, not everything is doom and gloom. On the hilarious
side, we reported the theft to a couple of lazy and totally incompetent Italian
policemen, who before we knew it had us in the back of the most beaten up Fiat
police car you could ever imagine and whipped us off to the police station,
where we made a statement. Honestly, I have no idea how anything ever happens
in this country. They were friendly and even jovial, but couldn’t speak much
English, their computer kept freezing (damn that Windows 7), and the whole
thing reminded me of a vaudeville act. We didn’t know whether to laugh or cry; actually,
we’ve done a bit of both).
Seven hours later, the Bank has been contacted and cards
cancelled; I guess it’s a matter of waiting now to see what unfolds over the
coming days or weeks. You hear some much about identify fraud, it’s a bit
scary. In any event, does the world really need another dozen Alison Evanses
running around? We’re not sure how much of the lost money we’ll recover, but we
are hopeful the bank might come good, if not, that’s what travel insurance is
for.
Without a doubt, we are quite flat and feel despondent, but
tomorrow is another day. Unfortunately, we don’t feel like doing anything in
this city, but I guess you can’t just stay in your room. On the positive side,
they can’t do it again, as there is nothing left to steal (at least they didn’t
steal Alison, although at current exchange rates, that might have been a better
deal).
I must admit, I don’t like southern Italy at all. It is a
grubby little place made up of grubby little people. In retrospect, getting off
the train from Florence you could see a veritable army of seedy-looking men
lined up, obviously surveying their next victim, in this case us. We had only
left the station ten minutes when I felt something in my backpack. Sure enough,
a local had all the zips open and he had gone through just about everything –
if I’d been ten seconds too slow, I’m sure the phone and laptop would have been
ancient history. Who knows, this may even have been the distraction to steal
Alison’s wallet.
Well, that’s about it. I hope when I next report we are
feeling much better. We really just want to return home as soon as possible,
but we’ll soldier on until Saturday.
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