By 9am this morning as I was on the phone to the British Consulate in Lyon the Swiss police had left a message for me at home to say that my bag and the passports had been found at a railway station. Amazing. It is safe at the lost and found in Geneva. The charming man on the phone told me there was no cash left in it (funny that) but that the wallet was there along with some other personal belongings.

Which type of thief?So when I go to collect it next week I will see if this is a literary thief (in which case the pink Montegrappa and pink Moleskin will have gone), a thief who cares about his or her hair (evidenced by missing Mason & Pearson brush, also pink), a pouting thief (my beloved lip glosses, mainly pink) or a myopic thief (my sunglasses).

I am hoping this thief was just after cash, which seems to be the case as we already know he or she has rejected my beautiful handbag and rather smart wallet.

Or maybe he or she just doesn’t like pink. In which case they will have left my passport in its gorgeous pink Smythson leather cover. Talking of which the most amazing thing about this whole mishap apart from the reappearance of the handbag has been finding out just how difficult it is to get a replacement passport, not to mention expensive. Bea would have had to miss out on her flight to Italy, and we would probably have ended up not going to Sweden in July. Despite the fact that I have scans of all the passports and a police statement.

So you are the victim of a crime and then made to suffer and feel like a criminal. Good work from her majesty’s service consular services. Maybe the Swiss should run them?
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008