Bears in the night …

…a brief deviation from the normal plot line

On Friday morning my house plumber/electrician, who I have recently persuaded to also become a carpenter, arrives much later than usual. When he does he is very animated. He had an attempted robbery in the night and has been up for some hours going through the mountain of red tape required to report the incident. He still has to return to the police station for further reporting and asks if he can time off. As if there were any doubt!

He is presently living some two miles out of town without power, making his property an easy target. The thief was a “chancer” (see footnote) who had tried to make off with his bicycle. Fortunately it had movement activated wheel light, which easily pinpointing the thief’s exact location in the darkness, thus allowing my plumber to captured him in the act.

According to the tale the thief is an almost 2 meter tall (6 foot+ as opposed to my plumber who is under 5 foot tall) shoddily dressed chilango with no shoes and unsurprisingly, not a resident of this small Cozumel community. (chilango - a person from Mexico City, not of mayan descent –a term occasionally used on Cozumel to describe “non mayan, no-gooders”)

The next day it turns out my plumber/electrician and now carpinter’s wife has persuaded him to move. She will have no more of this type of trouble and wants to come back into town and into a property with power. So a house hunt is on.

I ask what became of the thief. He was locked up, but it seems a friend had emerged later in the day, paid the equivalent of my plumber's lost days wage and the guy is now free. I am gobsmacked! “But he needs to return for trial later?” I ask. No … its finished, he is totally free and apparently he and the friend returned to the mainland muy rapido as soon as he was released.

My plumber appears to take it in his stride … but I remain frustrated by the unsatisfying, wheel of fortune. In a feeble attempt to put something right, I add a little more to the Saturday pay.

If you, like me, you must watch Crimewatch right to the very end to hear Nick Ross’s reassuring “don't have nightmares” after all the bad stuff. Here is a “don’t have nightmares” Cozumel ending.

Crime on Cozumel is very unusual … if it ever does happen it is usually just a “chancer” taking advantage of easy pickings. Lock up at night (we have a wall safe for extra security) and don’t let your wallet, jewelery, Rolexes, lay around sunbathing on their own, and all will be well.

If you do have nightmares, I suggest grabbing a copy of …”Bears in the Night” and reading it to the nearest child. Its a simple read, but very impressionable on kids. My kids loved it … (when they were kids!), and were totally oblivious to the, surreptitiously delivered, English preposition lesson. They may still not recognise a preposition if it fell into their soup, but I am sure they will still remember the Berenstain Bears’ escapade into the night!

The authors even have their own sweethearts story too … so how can you resist that!


Footnote
regarding the meaning and origin of “chancers”:
I scoured the web for a worthy explanation and found this little snippet from hansard -


Madam Speaker: Order. Obviously I have missed something. Will the Under-Secretary of State tell me what he is shouting about?

Mr. Raymond S. Robertson: Is "chancers" parliamentary?

Madam Speaker: Chancers?

Mr. Robertson: The hon. Member for Dundee, East (Mr. McAllion) used the word "chancers".

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton rose--

Madam Speaker: Order. I did not hear what the hon. Member for Dundee, East said. If the hon. Gentleman said something that might have been unparliamentary, I expect him to develop the point that he made so that I understand completely what he said.

Mr. McAllion: Madam Speaker, I used a word from Glasgow patois--"chancer". It means that we do not really trust the person who is described as a chancer. I think that it is parliamentary.

Madam Speaker: I live and learn every day, especially from the Scots. Thank you very much.