Well it finally happened. I had something stolen on Salt Spring Island. In all the years we’ve been here, knock on wood, not a single issue to report to the police. Well, not including that one-time I called in a drunk driver who plowed through a ditch and kept right on going after coming out of a local bar at high-speed. I’d say that’s pretty good fortune considering the calamities of life so often reported off-island and here sometimes too.

Sadly, yesterday while swimming with my kids at the pool. It happened.

You could say I should have made better choices, and you’d be right. I checked into the pool without asking for a locker. I left a bag full of clothes, my car keys and ahem, my wallet with at least $140 in it. Including the crisp, if you can call the plastic that our money is now made with crisp, $100 bill that had been given to me as a gift. Strangely, I almost never carry cash.

But there we were, in the family change room right after a fun swim and it became clear, fast, that our bag, which I hadn’t locked up, was hanging in a different spot and looked a little worse for wear. I slowly went through it, checked my wallet and wham. Empty.

The kind thief(s) left everything else. Cheques, credit cards, ID, but had taken every last cent including the change I had in my pocket to buy my kids juice after our swim. Not even my BC Ferries Experience card was taken. That would have been worth money too.

While the money is important, the overall monetary damage was mostly limited, notwithstanding a little heartbreak that you could have your things stolen from the family change room at our wonderful local pool while swimming with your kids.

I take responsibility for not locking my things up but I also learned when I reported this at the front desk, that there was someone in the pool and change rooms that had been caught stealing before and was allowed in the pool again. That wasn't great news. I’ll talk to the pool manager when he is back. I’d advocate for a different policy.

What was most saddening perhaps was what I heard from the RCMP Constable when I was called back after submitting my report. I wasn’t surprised to learn that there was likely nothing that could be done even though staff at the pool had the name of a known thief and a possible accomplice who left just before I did, it was that he told me in the last four years that petty crime was rampant and increasing on Salt Spring and there was little that could be done about it. That was a bit more heartbreaking.

We didn’t move here with any illusions. We know well that this island of ours isn’t utopia, but we have managed to live here with a freedom that our city friends and family envy. You win thief(s). We’ll lock our stuff up from here on out and sadly we’ll probably counsel others to do so too.

Have you ever had your pockets picked at the pool (try saying that three times)?