Lost


We've only twice left belongings on city buses. The first time we did (or rather, I did), it caused hysterical laughter among the staff at the Lothian Buses lost property office. I still don't see what's so funny about leaving a chair on a bus, but apparently it was the best thing they'd heard in years. In my defence, I should mention that it was a small chair, in fact a very small chair from IKEA's children's range that was just the right height for my daughter to sit on when playing her clarsach. And that we were en route to a music festival class and I was preoccupied with getting the clarsach safely off the bus in the morning rush hour. It was only after we were standing on the pavement with the clarsach, and the bus was lumbering up Dundas Street, did we realise that the chair was not with us.

I phoned the lost property office during their customer-unfriendly opening hours (see the notice on the door), endured much ridicule, but a day later was able to collect the chair amid a final burst of laughter from the staff. And here it is - looking larger than it is, I realise now, but you just have to think small.

The second time we weren't so lucky. My son left his score of Carissimi's Jephte on a city bus recently. I phoned the lost property office every day for over a week, and then gave up. We still wonder why a cute little white chair was handed in to lost property, but the choral score of an early Baroque oratorio was snaffled by another passenger. While I can't show you the score, you can listen to the performance by his school chamber choir. My son is singing bass, and my daughter is playing violin in the accompaniment.

Comments

  1. Embarrassingly, the only thing I remember dropping on a bus is a memory stick. Fortunately I am not a civil servant or a politician!!

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  2. I couldn't help but smiling at the left behind chair. :-)

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  3. Thanks for commenting on my blog and the resulting bit of excitement when I saw your Hopeman beach photos! It's such a small world. I'm most surprised that the weather wasn't good when you visited because it's always sunny here!!! ("Aye, right", I hear you say). I just hope the last few weeks of good weather extends into the summertime.

    Whereabouts did you grow up? I see you have Speyside mentioned.

    Enjoyed looking at your photos and will look out for your next sky. Leaving a chair on a bus is funny....makes a change from all those umbrellas and false teeth!

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  4. You should be pleased to have been able to bring so much joy to your fellow humans. You probably made their day - no their whole week in an otherwise quite boring profession.

    The second loss was really not funny at all but quite sad. You have very talented children. You must a very proud mom.

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  5. That is so funny. I love the references to their laughter at recovering any lost property. (We have an little IKEA natural pine chair - I would hate to lose it.)
    Do your children get their musical talent from you? That is so impressive - it's kind of impressive that a score should be the one that goes missing. I love bass - in fact, my fave piece is by Mahler that I 1st heard in the movie The Music Teacher (Ich Bin Der Welt Abhanden Gekommen - Jose Van Dam - my fave Van Dam too.)
    RE the heat wave - 104 at the base of Palos Verdes, 88 deg F high today in the shade by the ocean. It wasn't so bad because it was really dry. Record was at 90 deg F in 1958.

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  6. I should say now that I have no musical ability whatsoever, but inspired by my children I'm now taking classical guitar lessons. Better late than never!

    Gennasus, I'll be posting more photos from 'home' shortly. See if you recognise where it is.

    Tash - here are we getting excited because the temperature has climbed into the very low 60 degrees F.

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  7. That music is beautiful - how proud you must be! I'm belatedly learning how to play the piano (picking up from lessons I took when I was about 9!).

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  8. The performance is awesome! We hope that your son will be able to replace his loss without too much output.

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  9. *smile* IKEA is the clue:))
    One of my many sisters has two daughters who go in for music too. Great thing!

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