To Catch a Thief

An old old movie, but not what I'm actually referring to.

CW and I just got back from Barcelona, which was the second of our Christmas short trips (the first was to Hamburg). Will post details and pics, but for now, my story is about a thief.

Everyone says that Barcelona has tons of pickpocketers. There are signs all over the metro as well as at tourist spots that warn of pickpocketers, in multiple languages. I even remember reading in one of the guide books/online sites that it's surprizing the range of people who are pickpocketers, many of whom you'd never guess based on their appearance, as well as truly organized groups of pickpocketers.

We arrived in Barcelona on Wed, and on Friday, me and CW split up -- I hit the tourist sights, she targeted shopping. Along La Rambla there is a huge open market, the kind that sells foods of all colours and shapes (yes I have pics), and draws tons and tons of people. Of course, I wandered in to see the food, and to take pics.

When on trips, I usually bring my EY backpack -- it's small, light, but big enough to fit my camera bag inside. There's also a front pouch part that I usually keep maps and kleenex, a pad of paper, and a pen. Barcelona was no different.

The market was crowded and everyone was pushing and shoving, which is expected. But as I was taking pics of delightfully displayed fruits, something made me turn around. Standing there was a man in his fourties, average looking, prolly working middle class. He has his ipod plugged into his ears and he carried a bag. His right hand, however, was deep within the front pouch of my backpack. No joke. I caught the guy red-handed. If I had half a second longer to respond, I would have taken a photo of the look on his face as I startled him by turning around and catching a thief in action. I even had my camera out, but was too shocked to click the photo.

Since I know what I keep in my bag, versus where I keep my money and important things, I wasn't at all worried about what he might have taken. I was prolly most anxious about whether he took my Barcelona tourist city map haha =D He didn't even take my new pack of travel size kleenex, which was the most expensive thing in the front pouch (everything else was free, including the hotel pen).

All in all, no harm done. When he noticed that I saw him, he yanked out his hand, and walked calmly away, as if to pretend that I really didn't see him with his hand in my bag. But I definitely won't forget the absurdity of actually seeing a pickpocketer at work, seeing how old and (otherwise) respectable he looked, and that it was my bag his hand was in!