There and Back Again

“From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!”
From One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish By Dr. Seuss

This morning I took the bus to campus with Anni,  per usual.  It was a quick and uneventful trip.  The same can't be said for the rest of my day. 

Almost as soon as I got off the bus I realized something was wrong.  As I went to get my morning Mocha it hit me - I didn't have my wallet! 

Immediately panic set in.  Since this realization had occurred within moments of getting off the bus I hoped against hope that it would still be at the stop.  No such luck.


By the time I returned to Anni (always the prepared one), she had looked up the number for Lost & Found for National Express Coventry. After a quick conversation with a nice gentleman sharing my situation,  I was told to call back in a half hour. Anni kindly paid for my coffee,  we set up in our usual place in the PG Hub, and I waited.

The time dragged.  I tried my best to not think worst case scenario. Honestly the odds of my wallet being found weren't good. Finally it was time (I might have checked what time I made the first call to ensure it was 30 minutes). At first, their questions confused me. Why did they need to know my name, I hadn't given it last time?  What did they mean when they wanted to know if there were any forms of ID in it? Clearly my brain wasn't functioning properly because it wasn't until they asked what color it was that it clicked that they were trying to identify if the wallet they had found was mine. They said that it should be at Pool Meadow by 11:30. I looked at my watch - it was 10:15 - I had an hour to wait before I could catch a bus to City Centre and pick it up. I felt relieved, but again, the time dragged.

At last it was time. Anni loaned me bus money (she's an angel,  right?) and I headed into town.

You'd think this is where the story gets boring, right? Oh, not the case. I reach Pool Meadow (the central bus station) and get in line at the National Express Information Centre - this would seem to be the logical place for my wallet. But no, that was not the case. I was informed that I had to go to the bus garage and 'follow the signs to the Lost & Found collection point.' The lady seemed just as surprised as I was that it had been found (what does that say about our expectations of the goodness of human nature?).

I trudged around the station to the garage, followed the Lost & Found signs, and presented myself to the lady behind the sliding-glass window. I explained, again, my situation. After finally grasping the difficult fact that I was collecting something I'd lost earlier that same day, I was told that my wallet was being held int he garage itself and I needed to go there to collect it. This part I don't get. How many people wait days after losing something to go pick it up? I guess if it hadn't been my wallet I wouldn't have been in such a rush but, seriously, why have a clearly marked section for Lost & Found if most of the time people aren't going to go there to get it? Anyways, there's my rant on that. Back to the story - so I made my way around the build past the "Employees Only" sign and at last collected my wallet. I've never been so relieved in my life!

After getting a Mocha Cookie Crumble from Starbucks (I was stress eating, okay!) I went to catch the bus back to campus. Not surprisingly I got very little work done the rest of the day. Oh, well.