Beavermead Park, Peterborough Ontario. Remember that name and do not go there.
To all appearances it is a fine place, leafy and green and park-ish, right beside the Trent Severn waterway. Locks, ball parks, etc. But, according to some of our neighbors here, it ceased being a fine place post-covid because the park was used to accommodate a large influx of homeless people from Toronto and elsewhere during covid. When covid subsided, that population was reluctant to relocate. Much like Beacon Hill Park, and, I’m sure, places all over the world.
So, now, the surrounding parks and waterways are full of tents, and Beavermead, their formerly approved location, is full of RV’s once again. RV’s, it turns out, are full of thievable stuff.
There is a long hedge of trees between the ball parks, which are empty at night, and the RV park, which is full of thievables at night. We are backed up against that hedge, and right behind us is a sort of path between us and the park. Perfect cover for thieves.
A few days ago, one neighbor alerted me to this. He had lost a cooler and a Bluetooth speaker during the night. First time in all his years of camping, he said.
The next day, another neighbor said he was awakened by whispering outside his unit, one person counselling another “don’t run”. I guess that a casual appearance is a good thing, even in the middle of the night.
Hearing this, I upped our security. Went to Canadian Tire and got a better bike lock. Locked the bikes onto the car rack and backed it right beside our bedroom window. Which worked.
The next night, I did not. Instead, I used the new Canadian Tire lock to secure the bikes to the trailer hitch on the back of the moho, which was maybe 20’ from the big hedge. A new lock from Canadian Tire should do the trick, shouldn’t it?
This morning, there was only one bike and a snipped bike lock. They took my new bike (new last year) and left Gail’s bike, which, being a step through model, is presumably unfashionable in their world. Never heard a thing.
So, a sadder but wiser man, I offer the following :
Don’t go to Beavermead Park in Peterborough.
Don’t take things personally. I do all the time, and it is ridiculous. These guys are doing what they have always done and always will do. They don’t know who I am and couldn’t care less.
Don’t hang onto it. Let it go. All over the world, all the time, people are being murdered, raped, stolen from, betrayed, and you lose one lousy bike? And, in my 7 decades here, I have had very few things stolen..a couple of bikes maybe, a pair of sunglasses out of a suitcase in an airport, but not much. So get over it. In the scheme of things, you’re lucky. Insurance will probably cover it anyway. We hope.
In the spirit of getting over it, we are going to go out for dinner yet again tonite. There’s been a lot of that here in Peterborough, together with a couple of good concerts, some fine bike rides, good discussions, etc. And it is Father’s Day, not the right time for pouting.
But no more Beavermead for us. Bah. A pox upon it.
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