by Lindsay Banks
2/1/10
I chose this particular photo today because it has a bicycle and has a melancholy mood that matches mine. Last week, someone stole 4 bicycles from my basement, two of which were mine, one of which was my roommate's, and the other belonged to the woman who left the door to the alley unlocked. It is a terrible thing to have a bike stolen, so I made fliers, talked to bicycle shop owners and mechanics, posted a message with local bicycle couriers and did all that I could think of to recover them, knowing that recovery is unlikely in a city like Chicago. Someone on the Chainlink forum suggested that I investigate the Swap-o-rama over the weekend. So I went down to look for bikes, and found a guy selling a bike that looked very much like my roommate's. We checked her description with the details on the bike and everything fit except for the frame size. We did not check the serial number because we were trying to be inconspicuous, and we thought that that would alert them to the fact that we knew it was stolen. Big mistake. My roommate had given us an incorrect frame size. If it had been the same number, we would have called the police, but we figured that it was a similar looking, but different bike. We called and left a message with her about the bike, but had to leave to attend an event in Oak Park. She went back the next day and the bike had been sold. It was her bike. I can't believe we found her bike and let it slip through our fingers. Terrible feeling in my gut. Perhaps it will turn up again, but what is the likelihood of getting a second chance?
Our Monday Flickr Photos are chosen from the Explore Northeastern Illinois photo pool. Submit your photos!
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