A Sad Day – Dampener for Holiday Enjoyment

It was a sad day indeed. A Saturday and we had just left the apartment to go into the city by using the metro. Metro was crowded. I had my wallet picked from my pocket on exiting the metro train. I realized that the wallet was gone as I got out of the crowded train. I was sure I still had it with me while standing amongst the crowd in the train. I shouted “my wallet” several times and some people were pointing towards the train and speaking in Spanish which I do not understand. Fahrul and I rushed forward to see…… what? I wasn’t sure what to look for in the crisis of the moment but I tried to observe the behaviors of the people walking out and none showed any signs of guilt or awkwardness.
Several thoughts ran in my mind then. My wallet was definitely gone. My credit cards, identification card, driving license, etc., police report but how? I do not speak Spanish. Then Fahrul and I started looking into the rubbish bins around the station to see if it had been discarded, hoping to recover at least the wallet and documents. Gone, the wallet was gone……

We got directions to go to the police station to report the crime. Meanwhile Sita helped to call the credit card and bank numbers to stop charges on the cards. At the police station I was given a queue number and asked to call a certain number on one of the phones provided where I can report my case in English. The person on the other end of the line was very helpful and patient, prompting me with questions on what happened while at the same time I could hear him typing away on his keyboard, apparently typing my report. At the end of it he gave me a reference number to jot down and asked me to wait for my queue.

There were many people in the waiting room, all with the same predicament, victims of pick pockets. One lady from Ireland lost everything, passport, money, identification cards, credit cards, and she was scheduled to leave Madrid the next day, back to work. Another was luckier as she only lost a wallet containing only money she had ‘rationed’ for the day. All her cards, passport and other documents were kept separately. Sita asked why bother to report if only it was money she lost, she said that she wants to add to the statistics. How civic minded this lady from Belgium was. My queue number was 100 and after me more were coming in to make reports. It was then 2.30 pm, so this petty crime seems to be a daily occurrence in Madrid and the number of cases seems to be large!! And they say in the travel brochures that Spain is one of the safest countries in the world……. phhttttt…!!

One officer came and called out my number. I followed him into another room where there were several cubicles available for report making and confirmation. This officer took my report reference number, checked it out on his computer, printed it out and had an interpreter to read the report, written in Spanish, to me. I was allowed to make corrections of the facts but I only needed to correct the spellings. He then produced several copies of the report, asked me to sign each of them and he countersigned them as well and put the official chop on. He gave me a copy of the report and I was on my way out then. If they find my wallet they will contact me at the address given and on the telephone number given, he said. I do not put much hope in that.

It was reflection time for me while waiting for my queue number to be called. One of the safest countries in the world! hmmm indeed. Admitted, I was careless and I should have known better, having traveled extensively around the globe. I was too complacent. I was initially feeling annoyed with myself, peeved at having made the mistake but when I saw the big crowd of people with the same predicament as mine, some losing a lot more, one crying incessantly too, the negative feeling slowly went away. So, I lost my credit cards, my documents and some money, so what? It is not the end of things. Life goes on and I am on holiday. This misadventure should not dampen my holiday enjoyment. We were scheduled to move on to Marrakech the next day and I should leave the incident today behind me. Yes, I will have a lot of things to do when I return home, to obtain replacement id cards, driving license and all, but that’s part of life. For now, I look forward to Marrakech……






We had late lunch at one crowded vegetarian outlet and spent the rest of the day going round the city. Took some more pictures and observed the crowd as we went along. There was a large crowd everywhere we went. Perhaps being a Saturday and good weather at that the crowd chose to come out, just like us. After a while, Ram and I, feeling a little tired, went back to the apartment on our own while Fahrul, Sita and Najla continued going around the city.



No prize for guessing who this dancer is!!




MKI Ramblings Unlimited,
Old Town Apartments,
Madrid, España