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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to be curious about abandoned suitcase across road?

111 replies

Dalint · 03/08/2022 20:54

No this is not a clickbait thread. There is a suitcase across the cross from me all day today. I wouldn't have noticed it but that just beside the suitcase (across the pathway), on the path, a bright orange traffic cone is sitting on top of a bollard. I wandered over today as I was annoying my friend with possible explanations and to provide proof that I'm not hallucinating. It's sort of the middle of nowhere in a residential area The suitcase is pushed against the innermost wall of the path and obviously the bollard is on the outermost edge of the path, adjoining the road. I recorded a video of me going to investigate it and it looks empty but secured with a strap and no I did not touch it. There is a faint number written in paper on the handle which is an 8 digit number in two sets of 4 digits. Any guesses? Would you report it? It's directly opposite my home and I'm being pretty sure that I am Victor Meldrew at this point.

OP posts:
TimeToGoUpAGear · 03/08/2022 22:36

In all likelihood, someone will steal it by morning!

PriamFarrl · 03/08/2022 22:38

I’d call to report it, but then I grew up in the 70s and 80s when stuff like this was always reported.

EllenWaiteourkid · 03/08/2022 22:38

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Casual racism, I have reported this post.

Beepbeepenergy · 03/08/2022 22:42

@TedMullins
Where in London? I’ll come and open the damn thing! 😂😂😂

Beepbeepenergy · 03/08/2022 22:43

What if it’s full of cash 😃

Onlyhereforthebatshitneighbours · 03/08/2022 22:44

Beepbeepenergy · 03/08/2022 22:42

@TedMullins
Where in London? I’ll come and open the damn thing! 😂😂😂

Please do!

Beepbeepenergy · 03/08/2022 22:45

This reply has been deleted

Post references deleted post

alnawire · 03/08/2022 22:51

Nothing to add except I could tell it was London from the photo. Those are London type railings.

Surely they are a common type?

Original poster
Dalint · 03/08/2022 22:54

It's gone. Orange traffic cone still there though. Suitcase is gone. No, I didn't see who picked it up.

OP posts:
twoandcooplease · 03/08/2022 23:12

You should have checked while you had all afternoon a min

twoandcooplease · 03/08/2022 23:12

You should be arrested for wasting MNers time

Stravaig · 03/08/2022 23:58

I'd have called the police non-emergency number to report it.
Depending on your area (and imagination) it could be:
a security risk;
decomposing remains;
a drug/cash drop, marked by the cone;
abandoned property, with the owner incapacitated nearby;
fly tipping.

Loungingstevens · 04/08/2022 00:04

I saw this in north London recently.
a quiet road. I see an old crappy suitcase chained to a lamppost. I stand around a few minutes thinking about what it could be. I walk to local shops having decided that I would take a bit more time to work out if I should do anything. I come back and it’s gone. So bizarre

Original poster
Dalint · 04/08/2022 07:55

SomethingAboutNothing · 03/08/2022 22:30

I'm more confused by the fact you posted saying it was a public building not in use at this time of year, but that was all you were prepared to say, then in the next sentence say its a primary school Grin

Because in typing the first sentence I realised that if it was a danger, the drug-runners or whatever the fuck were not likely to be on Mumsnet! I didn't want my location identifiable.

OP posts:
Original poster
Dalint · 04/08/2022 08:07

Loungingstevens · 04/08/2022 00:04

I saw this in north London recently.
a quiet road. I see an old crappy suitcase chained to a lamppost. I stand around a few minutes thinking about what it could be. I walk to local shops having decided that I would take a bit more time to work out if I should do anything. I come back and it’s gone. So bizarre

I had good reason for not wanting to report the damned thing, namely, that I did not have time to be hauled in for questioning and that the casual racism alluded to isn't actually casual and also, nobody ever thinks the worst without sounding like a lunatic. That the dog wasn't particularly interested and that people have been walking by it all day long without incident (with the odd exception of a few who were looking at their phones almost tripping over it) made me think that maybe it was just an abandoned suitcase. What makes me suspicious now, is that it was in fact picked up. I don't have CCTV so I can't look at it and I can't now ring police and tell them well, there was an empty suitcase there and now it's gone. I'm pretty sure they would deem me certifiably insane.

OP posts:
Original poster
Dalint · 04/08/2022 08:09

The traffic cone is still there.

OP posts:
alnawire · 04/08/2022 08:14

You were never going to be 'hauled in' for questioning. I think this is one of those threads written in the hope it will make it to classics but the reality is it is not at all interesting and the more you try to dramatise the worse it gets.

MumofSpud · 04/08/2022 08:15

You think you would be 'hauled in for questioning'
Confused

Original poster
Dalint · 04/08/2022 08:15

Plus who the hell is going to just do a drugs drop by abandoning a suitcase on the side of the road?

OP posts:
Original poster
Dalint · 04/08/2022 08:16

alnawire · 04/08/2022 08:14

You were never going to be 'hauled in' for questioning. I think this is one of those threads written in the hope it will make it to classics but the reality is it is not at all interesting and the more you try to dramatise the worse it gets.

Well that's put me in my place!

OP posts:
Original poster
Dalint · 04/08/2022 08:21

I did not waste police time, I came on here. I'm not sure what the problem is.

OP posts:
MrsOwainGlyndŵr · 04/08/2022 08:28

alnawire · 03/08/2022 22:51

Nothing to add except I could tell it was London from the photo. Those are London type railings.

Surely they are a common type?

I don't know, but I thought "that's in london" just from the photo.

Original poster
Dalint · 04/08/2022 08:39

I can't get a still of the number on the handle but I recall thinking that it's a European way of writing the numbers. If you've never lived outside of the Uk, it is surprising that some digits, like a two, are written somewhat differently to how we would write them. I have the number as I was reading it out while recording the video footage for my friend. Is there a telephone number that would be written in the format of 4 digits, dash, 4 digits? Beginning with 22?

OP posts:
alnawire · 04/08/2022 08:44

With kindness OP, it's gone. Stop fixating on it and get on with your day.

Scepticalwotsits · 04/08/2022 08:44

Most likely either a fly tip or a drug drop. Either you call 101 and report it or you don’t.

just seen it’s been picked up. No longer an issue then

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