Hello Internetworld, goodbye bike

So Tuesday was supposed to be a stress-free day out in London for an exhibition on internet marketing but turned out to be a gutting experience. Cycled to Brighton station and locked it in good view of a CCTV camera, all just before my 8:16am train. Internet World was at Earl's Court which had loads of free seminars on CMS, social media, email marketing, etc. plus exhibitors of services and hosting. Some good presentations attended but later double the amount of people wanted to see the same ones as me so missed out on a few. Some of the exhibitors knew their target market very well having leggy models handing out flyers and a F1 car with a driving simulation to try.

Lunch was a joke opting for an off-site cafe and a coronation chicken sandwich which had less chicken than chicken's dandruff. The only highlight in the afternoon was another exhibitor gimmick of what looked like a guy dressed in an inflatable suit but could have been a robot controlled remotely which waved at passers by.


Got back to Brighton around 5:40pm and went looking for my mountain bike which should have still been locked to the rack. 2 or 3 more scans and all I found was the velcro strap my cable lock used to have. Reporting it to the station staff was a slight shambles. The Transport Police office was shut so the station staff member told me to use their emergency public phone. It was broken with no dial tone. Luckily an off-duty officer walked past and gave me a free-phone number to report the theft.


So my beloved and cherished Saracen Zen 3 is no more. Yesterday was a speedy claim process for the 2010 model which is a painful £300 more than the 2008 version. I didn't pay that amount but the insurance excess and another £40 made the order without any extras such as a replacement lock, mudguards, light mounts etc. I've since been watching ebay, Free Ads, Friday Ads, Gumtree and anything else. According to the police it takes 7 - 10 days to get the CCTV footage. Finally, someone suggested I contact all pawn-brokers in case the thief went straight to get cash.