Friday, February 04, 2011

Lost and Found

Welcome home pearls!

Here's the gorgeous bracelet Mum made me and gave me for Christmas. My sisters got matching bracelets with different coloured stones, but all with the natural fresh-water pearls. It's beautiful, so I was of course THRILLED when it came back to me after getting lost recently. I wore it out to dinner at a restaurant nearby, but when we called them, they said they didn't have it. I also called the taxi company and reported it to the police in case someone picked it up on the street. I was just telling Kanji that yesterday morning when he suddenly remembered that the restaurant had called him, as they had found it! (There was something else really important that he had to tell, but he couldn't remember that one, and I still don't know!)

The same bracelet, showing the fateful catch at the bottom left - it's a magnet, which makes it SO easy to get on... but very, very easy to fall off. I won't be wearing it again until I get Mum to put a safety chain or a new catch on it. On Christmas Day, we were debating who would be the first to lose theirs... now have that dubious honour. Mum told us not to wear it to the supermarket, as the magnets stick to the trolley, but mine just fell off when I removed my jacket. DON'T WEAR YOUR BRACELET SISTERS!

This all got me thinking about things I've lost, and found again, and things that have remained lost. As time passes and you give up on the item, you think you'll get over it and forget about it, after all, it's only an object, right? But I've found I don't forget, and I still recall several things I've lost over the years, including where and how!

Signet Ring No.1: I was about 13-14, stupidly shaking my hand, and it flew off, into the gutter outside Forsbergs' house on Glover Rd. We searched, but couldn't find it.

Signet Ring No.2: on a plane to Japan. I think it must have slipped off my finger and rolled backwards away from me under the seats, or else it fell in the toilet (ouch!). The cabin crew very kindly helped me search the plane after everyone had left, but the ring was gone by then.

Engagement Ring No.2: A sapphire and diamond ring that looked just like Lady Di's. Last I saw it was on the cabinet above the TV, back in 2001 or something. Most likely explanation is that it got swept up with rubbish and thrown away, though I am still hoping that one day, when we finally get the tatami mats changed, it'll just pop out at me.

Green G-shock watch: the first birthday present Kanji got me, and I LOVED it. So why don't I know where it is?

All of Kanji's long-sleeved tops: left in a drawer in a London hotel.

My camera!! Left/stolen in a toilet in Hong Kong Disneyland. I was so annoyed because I was back at the toilets not ten minutes after leaving it there, but by then it had gone. I often wonder how the person justifies keeping that sort of thing - congratulating themselves on their luck? Berating me for my stupidity - "serves her right"? Did they not feel even the slightest twinge of guilt when they saw my photos? Or did they know they would and threw away my memory card before even turning it on? Or did they just sell it, leaving some unsuspecting buyer in possession of some VERY cute Disneyland shots? They could at least have handed in the memory card...

There are also things that came back:

LV wallet, genuine, blue leather, no logo : Kanji bought me this after Amy was born. I lost it, or rather it was stolen out of my handbag while I played with Amy at a baby playpen in a mall. It was found, gutted of all content, and grubby from the elements, about six months later in some bushes, and returned to the police, where I had earlier registered the theft. I still think this is a pretty amazing return story!

LV wallet, fake, white leather with logo: bought for me by Kanji on a club trip to Korea. Suspect it's not the genuine article. Lost in New Zealand, and a policeman brought it to my door! I had left it in a dairy, so they had obviously taken it to the police station. He said he was on his way home and brought it... it was around the time of my Dad's funeral, and a friend of the family worked out of the police station with Victim Support, so I wonder if it wasn't her idea.

Phone chargers: left in the Disneyland Hollywood Hotel in Hong Kong. I called from New Zealand a week later, found out they had it, and they took my name and room number and assigned the cords an ID number. They said they would only send it to a HK address, so I had to go back there on our way back to Japan. Luckily we had an 18-hour layover and nothing much else to do, so after breakfast, and before hitting the hotel pool, we took a leisurely taxi ride over to Disneyland and picked them up!

I'm not the only one who leaves her phone chargers at the hotel, it seems:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/australia/4614930/The-weird-items-hotel-guests-forget

3 comments:

shinshu life said...

What a beautiful bracelet and how great that it was a boomerang! I lost my first ring when I was a baby. My dad had put it on my baby finger while he was fiddling with the car engine ad holding me. The end.

And I had to re-read the green watch. I thought you lost a green g-string that was your first bday present from Kanji! *^_^*

gaijinwife said...

LOL - heather and the g-string. Priceless.

That article is funny - leaving mate in closet and that guy who left his hearing aids and then couldn't hear hotel staff when they rang up to tell him.

That bracelet is lovely. Glad Kanji finally remembered to tell you! Hope the other thing he's forgotten isn't too important :)

Clare Maree said...

Although I don't think I can top Heather's story, of the many, many things I have lost over the years, the following two are probably the most memorable.
1. The opal ring my grandfather MADE FOR ME with an opal he DUG UP HIMSELF, lost when I wore it on a jumping castle at a school fete (it was a bit big for me). Silly, silly girl. (My mum still doesn't know that I lost it, 30+ years later)
2. The very pretty goldesque (that is so a word) watch with a heart-shaped face that my mother bought for me in London, lost THE DAY AFTER I RECEIVED IT, on an overnight bus from my hometown to Brisbane. I didn't notice that it was gone until I got to my Uni residence the next morning. Phone calls to bus company and taxi company were fruitless. I don't know if it fell off or someone took it off my arm while I was asleep, but I was very sad about that one.
I'm so glad you got your lovely bracelet back. Your Mum is very clever. Clare