Assumptions are not facts

You might recall that several weeks ago our three-week-old car was stolen from our locked garage. Tap this link to read the story. The incident threw a spanner into our relatively comfortable lives. We’d felt secure here, and that illusion was dealt a blow.

But life goes on.

We ordered a new car which will arrive some time next year, and we bought a second hand car to tide us over until the new vehicle arrived. The settlement with the insurance company took a lot longer than it should have, due to one person’s intransigence. But finally, that was concluded: we signed the agreement, so did the insurance company. Since there had been no sign of the Pajero in the weeks since it had been stolen, Pete and I were quite sure the theft had been a professional job and that the car was on its way to the Pacific islands or something, where controls and checks on ownership are not so stringent.

We were having dinner one evening this week when there was a knock on the door. It was the police. A member of the public had noticed a white Pajero that had been parked on the verge in a quiet street for around two weeks. The number plates didn’t match our car, but they had been stolen. Pete went with the police to take a look and it was, indeed, our stolen car. By this time it was dark but Pete could see it was in good condition, with only a scratch on the rear bumper. In the time since the theft it had travelled a little under one thousand kilometres. The vehicle has been taken away for forensic testing – but it now belongs to the insurance company, not us. Judging by the price of four-wheel-drives in the second hand market, it will be easy to sell.

UPDATE: The police have told us that the inside of the car was full of graffiti.That’s spiteful vandalism which means the culprits were more likely to be entitled low-lifes. Maybe my idea that they couldn’t get back to the car because they were in jail wasn’t such a bad one.

Both of us had the same thoughts. Where had the car been? To do what? Maybe it had been to Brisbane and back, but the thieves had used stolen plates, which should have been picked up as it went under the gantries on the highway. It seemed absurd to steal a brand-new car and then abandon it after a couple of weeks in a quiet Hervey Bay street. But somebody did it. Maybe the pereptrator planned to come back for it but something happened to him/her? Maybe they’re in the lockup for some offence? Maybe they felt guilty? Feel free to add your own speculations.

I suppose we’ll never know the answers. It just goes to show – assumptions are not facts.

Many rude things are said about Facebook, often quite justified. But sometimes I find interesting bits and pieces amongst the dross. One such was Duolingo. It’s a site that teaches foreign languages. It has a free version and (of course) a paid, premium version but so far I’m happy with the freebie. I selected Dutch as the language to learn. I’m not exactly a rank beginner, but I was only four when my family came to Australia and I’ve forgotten much of what I did know on account of not using it. So far, the lessons are fairly basic so easy for me, but it will become more challenging. And I’ve already learnt quite a bit. Here’s the link to Duolingo’s site. I might have a go at reviving my German, too. Lessons can take as little as 5 minutes a day. It all builds up.

Meanwhile, that storm that has swept across most of the country finally brought us some much-needed rain. We’d been expecting (another assumption) that the rain band would do the usual and skirt around the Island but no. Thunder woke me not long after midnight and I listened to a succession of showers rattling the roof. I was just about to go back to sleep when a massive thunderclap almost jolted me out of bed. It was as if Thor was banging on the roof with Mjolnir. The next morning, we found twenty-two very welcome millimetres of wetness in the rain gauge. The garden said thank you and absorbed every drop.

We’ve been promised more rain than usual this spring. It had better hurry up.

Storms can be quite spectacular here in Queensland.