News: http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_485321.html
The latest piece of news on today's Straits Times (Prime A11) showed how this British angmoh Greg Browning got his bike stolen on Saturday, and got it back today. It's a wonder how good our law enforcement is, but perhaps it's also because of his luck too. There was security footage outside Ngee Ann City to use as a lead, he was an angmoh, he was high profile (London to Oz... sibeh garang), we are a wayang nation quite interested in our image, and perhaps due to other factors that I have not thought of, the police decided to do something instead of dismissing him, as I have heard all so often when a thief strikes a regular plebeian like you and I. More than anything else, this guy is sibeh lucky.
He made a few cardinal mistakes that one should never do in Singapore. Not his fault, he's new on the block, and what's more WTF is that he managed to get by all sorts of countries with more dubious crime stats, but over here he met with crime.
First off, Browning used a seriously cui cable lock. Don't play play. Cable locks are only there to keep honest people honest. Dishonest people, however, see them as easy targets. So if you try to lock your bike with anything less than a sturdy U lock, you better hope for honest people to be around. I wouldn't blame him, a touring cyclist seriously doesn't need anymore load than he already carries.
Second off, Browning locked too expensive a bike outside. Not his fault, who wants to ride a clunker around the world?
Third off - the mistake that Singapore is a low crime city. It is - but where bike theft is concerned, it sure isn't. Empirically speaking.
I admire Browning. I am damn gian. I don't know how one can tahan so much uncertainties to travel around the globe on a bicycle. There are just too many "what if's", of course, what Charley Boorman of Long Way Round fame said... the what if's are what keeps the trip interesting. Atta Greg!
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