they're still out there!

last thursday, my web team at work was supposed to go to the island for an afternoon of team building exercises, while bbq'ing and tossing around a frisbee at the same time. it had been rescheduled from the week before due to threat of rain. there was a chance of rain again, so we finally decided to take the money and go see the new batman movie on imax.

after the movie, we still had a couple of hours left in the work day, and rather than go home we decided to go and have a drink on the black bull patio. my friend artur had his bike with him and for decided to put it in the bike cage at the front of the patio. for some reason or other, he didn't lock it up, but thought he could just sit in sight of it.

at one point, he noticed that he couldn't see his bike and got up to check. it was gone! he came back and said as much, but was very calm about the whole thing. we started to raise a ruckus, and a guy named mark at the next table heard us and said he'd seen someone taking the bike. he pointed out a disheveled looking man walking back into the patio from the street. he sat down at his table and continued drinking his beer. at that point, nearly all the guys at our table, all 11 of them, went and confronted him. everyone was in very vigilant state of mind, still coming off the batman high. he denied taking anything and said he'd just come back from the washroom, while we'd all clearly seen him come back in off the street.

this confrontation went on for a long time. the police were called. he relented and said the bike was down the street locked up. three people went to investigate and sure enough, artur's bike was locked up in front of mexx, with artur's own lock still wrapped around the base of the seat. after artur double locked it with his own, they came back and demanded the thief give up the key. he said he didn't have it. fine, we said, either give it up, or the police will deal with you when they arrive. his own friend who'd been with him at the table hovered nearby. the fool even used his name "jim" and tried to deny they knew each other when things began to look bad (even though they'd just been drinking beer together!).

finally he pulled the key out, artur got his bike back and jim took off. soonafter, the police arrived, one of our guys jumped into the cruiser and they pursued him to a short distance away. the guy was pinned to the car and arrested! take that bike thieves! unfortunately, we are guessing jim has since been released and is probably out there at it, looking for his next chance for a drug high.