My encounter with a young bike thief in Camden

Hello everyone. When strange or disturbing things happen to me, I like to write it down on my blog so as to be able to make sense of it through the process of writing. Otherwise, I have all these thoughts in my head bouncing around in a fairly random, illogical manner and that's why I like blogging. So this evening, I was going to my gymnastics club as I usually do on a Monday. I always use the Santander Cycle hire scheme to get to my gymnastics club and the journey was uneventful until I got to my destination at Castlehaven Road, Camden NW1. As I tried to dock my bike, this young teenage girl came running up to me and asked me, "Hey there, are you done with your bike? Can I use it please?"

Camden Market is a famous London tourist attraction.

She is a thief. Oh yes she is a dirty little thief and she was hoping that I was a naive tourist who didn't understand how the bike hire system works. You see, I needed to properly dock my bike at the docking station to 'complete' my journey on the system, so I would be charged only for the time that I had used the bike. If she had gotten her hands on the bike before I had docked it, I would be liable for a £300 (S$634) charge for a missing bike. That's how the hire system works - there are stiff penalties for people who do not dock their bikes at the end of their journeys, I have used this system for quite a few years and am very careful to always dock my bike carefully to avoid any excess charges.

Here's my mistake thought. I should have just ignored her. But instead, I engaged with her. I actually replied to her question. I told her to get her own bike, I was going to dock mine. She then asked me, "why can't you give me your bike?" I then answered her question (bad mistake) - I told her, "You think I don't know what you are going to do with it? You're going to steal it. Nice try, but you're not getting this bike." As I said that, I made doubly sure that I had docked my bike properly and that there was no way she was going to get it out of the docking station. I then noticed that she had three friends with her, but they hung back, watching her, waiting to see what she would do next. I should have walked away at this point, but she had grabbed the bike at this point, desperately trying to wrestle it out of the docking station. Note that a properly docked bike cannot be pulled out by force - such is the safety features of this system to guard against theft. I said to her, "Go home, go home to your parents. You shouldn't be hanging around the streets like that." Why did I say that? I suppose I did it because they were kids - they looked around 12 to 14 years old only, they were not old at all. She then yelled back, "My drug dealer stepfather is rotting away in jail and my mother is a useless crack whore. I have no one at home for me. I have nothing! Are you gonna let me have this bike or what?"

I adopted the tone of a teacher and replied, "Well I'm sorry to hear about your situation, but you shouldn't be trying to take the bikes from here in the first place. You're trying to steal the bikes and that's a crime - go home or I'll call the police." She then yelled a whole string of abuse at me, nothing all that original, it was all fuck you mother fucker, you fucking fucker go to hell you fucker, fuck off back where you came from you fucking China fucker etc. It wasn't even intelligent swearing - she used the word fuck a bit too much, like a petulant teenager keen to demonstrate that she wasn't afraid to use a bad word to prove how grown up she was. She was clearly neither articulate nor intelligent and struggled with the English language despite clearly being local. I couldn't help but burst out laughing at her attempt to swear. "Go on, is that all?" I asked her, laughing. "That's disappointing, is that the best you can do? I can imagine how frustrated your English teacher must be, trying to teach you how to use the beautiful English language and that's the best you can do when you try to express yourself. You must go home and read the dictionary tonight, you might learn a few new words. I am assuming that you do have a dictionary at home, or has your mother sold it for crack?"

She then screamed, "Fuck you, mother fucker! If you don't let me have this fucking bike, I am gonna fuck up it real bad!"" She then started kicking the bike and punching it - but as she landed a punch on the handlebars, she must have forgotten the bicycle was mostly made of metal. She let out a scream and held her fingers with her other hand as I could only imagine what is must have felt like trying to punch something made of metal like that. It was practically slapstick, even her friends laughed at her when she did that and I guess that must have made her even more angry. At which point, I decided enough was enough. I said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you, that looked painful." I then walked away, she was screaming more abuse. More fucking this, fucking that, fuck you fucker etc - but I walked up the road and turned around, she wasn't following me and I couldn't see them anymore. I kept looking back every few steps, I then realize how hard my heart was pounding. I was just relieved to have gotten away from the situation.

Could I have handled the situation any better?

The first thing I did was to call up the Santander Cycle hire helpline to report the incident and the lady I spoke to was very understanding. She explained to me that I was not liable for the bike the moment I had docked it - for anyone could vandalize the bicycles at the docking station (and it does happen from time to time) and I was only liable for the bicycle during the duration of my journey. She then checked if I was alright, "Sir, did the teenagers harm you? Are you physically hurt? Are you in danger? Do you need the police or an ambulance? Are you need in of help?" I replied, "No, no... I'm fine, really, I'm okay. Some angry words were exchanged when they tried to steal the bike, but there was no physical altercation." The lady explained that they were only too aware of kids trying to steal the bikes but until a bike was actually stolen or if someone got hurt, they usually don't get the police involved. "The kids can try all they want to try to get the bikes, but our security systems are designed to make sure thieves cannot easily steal the bike. The system doesn't look at the complex to the naked eye but trust me, the security system is actually extremely robust."

I didn't talk to anyone at the gym about it - as it was Monday night, there was a group of cheerleaders using the facilities to rehearse for a competition. Everyone was just working so hard and I didn't find anyone who wanted to sit down and talk about it. I was inspired by just how hard they were working to master a very ambitious routine and it was just nice to be surrounded by young people who are so driven to achieve something amazing by working hard. The cheerleaders were the complete opposite of those four youths who hung out at the rental bike docking station  I identified with the cheerleaders - especially this one cheerleader called Natasha who worked harder than anyone else. Like Natasha, I know what it is like to work hard to achieve something you believe in. And as for the young bike thief, well I don't know whether I believe what she claimed about her step father rotting in jail and her mother being a crack whore - but it was clear that she had so little to live for that she didn't consider the consequences of her actions. Heck, when I was her age, I was so busy with school, sports, tuition and music lessons that I would have never hung out in a street corner like that, much less tried to steal a bike. I didn't film Natasha's training, but here's a clip of cheerleading to show you what cheerleading training looks like. As you can see, it is very hard work that requires so much cooperation.

As I cycled home, I realized that I was lucky. People like Natasha and I have been given a talent in life, well in my case, I am extremely blessed with a whole range of talents from my business acumen to my flair for gymnastics to my uncanny ability to learn foreign languages with ease.  I should make the most of that talent and do as much as I can with it, compared to that young bike thief in Camden, who felt as if she had so little to live for she had nothing better to do but to try to steal a bike and pick fights with strangers. I'm not saying that she is devoid of talent (who knows what she may be capable of) - but people who are aware of their potential would be busy trying to make the most of their talent (as Natasha and I did during our training tonight). People who hang around street corners, trying to steal bikes and pick fights are clearly not interested in making the most of their talents and skills. You know I pride myself in being able to think on my feet and deal with tricky situations like that, but an encounter like this is never nice.

Why am I still talking about it? I find the whole situation confusing: I am conflicted. On one hand, a part of me felt sorry for that young bike thief and let's assume that her step dad is indeed in jail and her mother is really a drug addict, then surely our first reaction should be sympathy. Some compassion would be the decent thing to offer this girl, who is a child after all, at just about 12 to 14 years old. She is a very troubled youth and needs help. On the other hand, after the way she verbally abused me, I took joy in antagonizing her. I denied her the pleasure of stealing my bike and laughed at her when she hurt her hand. When she tried to provoke a reaction from me by swearing at me, I denied her the response she wanted by laughing at her attempts to swear instead and I in turn, made fun of her inability to express herself - which really upset her. She clearly didn't know whom she was trying to pick a fight with and perhaps I was somewhat unkind in antagonizing her like that, but under the circumstances, well, I daresay she asked for it.

The incident left me in two minds and conflicted.

I guess I want life to be simple and straightforward, not confusing. I want to be able to feel sorry for the troubled youth who has a difficult family situation, I want to think of myself as a sympathetic and kind person even in challenging circumstances. But this is one troubled youth that I simply cannot feel sorry for and I must say, I took great joy in antagonizing her. She is not only a thief but a racist. And when I saw her hurt her hand by punching the bicycle, I laughed out aloud at her sheer stupidity. It takes a certain amount of intelligence to be able to steal successfully - crime should only be attempted by intelligent people with a very good game plan. People who steal because they cannot afford to buy something else up doing something as stupid as punching the metal handlebars of a bicycle and breaking a finger or two like that. It would have been so easy to mock this young thief and condemn her - if not for one troubling fact: she is incredibly young. Gosh, she is about 12 to 14 years old only. Even I find it hard to harbour such malice against someone that young. So that is why I am conflicted: part of me wants to condemn her, part of me feels sorry for her. Such is the messy nature of real life, when there are no straightforward solutions.

Camden is a neighbourhood I know very well and as my gymnastics club is in Camden, I have been spending a lot of time there and this was the first time I have had any kind of trouble on the streets of Camden. What would I do the next time I encounter this young thief and her gang? I would not engage her. What was the point? The whole act of trying to tell her to go home, like a teacher was misguided at best - as if she was going to listen to me and go home just because I told her to do so. No, in such a situation (and take my advice pelase), the best thing to do would have been to have said as little as possible to them and not engage them at all. Any kind of conversation or discussion would have been pointless and would only lead to a more heated confrontation; you cannot possibly reason with anyone like that and I don't know why I had attempted to do so, but I have learnt my lesson. I hope by sharing this story here that you will feelmore prepared to deal with someone like that should you find yourself in a similar situation.

So. What else could I have done? What would you have done in this situation? Do you think I did the right thing? Please leave a comment below, thank you very much for reading. It is great to be able to share with you guys.