Dennis Hollingsworth

Picaros

Mom was robbed as she was checking in at the Barcelona airport!

A thief napped her purse as she was paying her overwieght fees at the ticket counter. She was wrangling several large bags stuffed with antique fabrics she bought here recently, and I think she was targeted as she exited the taxi. I also think that there was probably a networked affair since the security guard (who was standing close by at the time) did nothing to help her, denying that he saw anything amiss at the time. The whole incident happened in the instant mom turned to pay her fees.

Losing jewelry, important baggage documents, house keys and a priceless address book; she struggled onto the aircraft only to succumb to a paralysing migrane for which her pills were also in the stolen purse. She was lucky to have had her passport in hand at the time. A connection at Heathrow gave her the chance to make several telephone calls to stem the damage done, she arrived home over 24 hours later only to have to have a locksmith drill through the three locks in her front door to get her inside.

She's been robbed twice before here, on the street in Tossa and in Barcelona (where she sported a decoy bag that was ripped from her shoulder as a successful precaution). A warning to visiting friends and family: keep your eyes open, your guard up, lower your victim profile and keep the most valuable stuff as close and as tucked away as possible. This place is beautiful but the street is wilder than it looks, even inside the airport.