Remember yesterday, when I couldn't say enough good things about Amsterdam? I mean, I even forgot about the cupcakes which were just one more selling point for me. Well, on his way to the airport to come home, M's work bag got stolen. Gah!
Phone, wallet, USB stick with last few presentations and passport were all in his jacket, thank heaven. But a new book for Baby A, the house keys, the mailbox key, and his work notebook were all in there. And we're talking professional job, complete with distractor guy spilling coins on the ground while someone else must have grabbed the bag from the luggage rack and gotten off in Amsterdam. Jerks.
So yes, I'm a bit cooler on Amsterdam, but not much. I mean, that is something that could happen in Chicago, Toronto, New York for sure, half of Europe at least. My mind went more to thoughts of why Switzerland isn't like that and what is the social cost of such safety. I mean, here if you lose this kind of thing, you get it back. Cash intact. Granted, not if it is stolen. But so far we've had many things returned to us that have lost their way. But there is still something about the society that doesn't feel as warm in connection with this phenomenon of things always being returned. Maybe the phenomena is due to fear of repercussions. That would make things less warm and fuzzy. People being nice to you so they don't get in trouble. Japan felt a bit like that, too. Safe. Very safe. At the cost of what, though? Meaning, is the safety worth whatever the cost is? Or would I rather live somewhere where my big city radar needs to be turned up a bit, but that is more vibrant perhaps?
Anyway, there it is. A stolen bag and a dog with an itchy skin condition upon our return home. Those pancakes sure were good, though. I'll leave the 24 hours in Amsterdam for tomorrow. I need to go call the rental company to report the stolen keys, and we're low on clean clothes, too.
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