Chi-chi Nwanoku, Double Bassist | London Double Bassists.

During my visit to Margaret River, WA, Australia

I had an extraordinary experience yesterday.

There had been a storm the night before & our water & electricity had been cut off. Exciting… but not convenient. I had some admin work to do & both iPhone & iPad were flat.

So, I headed out to one of my favourite cafes in Margaret River. I was advised to sit on a particular sofa next to where the only plug socket was. Picture two 2-seater sofas, facing each other, upon which each were seated one man, albeit splayed. I asked whether one of them might allow me to take one of the seats on the inside, in order to charge up my phone. “Ah,  you can leave yer phone ‘ere” one of them said with cold eyes & through gritted teeth  (“but we’re not moving over to let you sit here” was overwhelmingly implied!). In disbelief I stood there for a few seconds trying to comprehend what I’d just experienced, giving them the benefit of the doubt they might have been pulling my leg. Their body language & rude, gruff manner made it clear they were not joking. They did not want me near them. I recoiled & went to sit somewhere else, slightly shaken. A couple of staff noticed & commented to me how unpleasant the men had been.

40 minutes later the men got up & left. I immediately went over to take the seat & plug my gadgets in.

Winking at me on the table was a wallet belonging to one of the rude men. I had a split second to decide what to do with it. My sense of injustice won, and I decided to put the wallet into my bag & carefully plan my next course of action. It took my heart about 15 minutes to stop pounding, knowing I had someone else’s wallet in my bag, & that they might walk back in at any moment looking for it. I knew that if they did, I would not be able to lie convincingly. By the time I was ready to leave the cafe, they had not returned for the wallet.

I now had a few options. I could give the wallet to the staff at the cafe… no that was too easy. I could drop the wallet down a drain or into the ocean… but then no one would benefit from that. I could hand it in to the Police and give the full story of how it came to be in my hands. . I decided to take it to the local Police station… but not just yet.

I took my time doing other errands around town for a few hours. When I later strolled into the station, the Police emptied the contents & filled out a form, also taking my name & contact number, should the owner want to call me to thank me… hah. I emphasised that they should let the owner of the wallet know that it was found at the cafe & handed in, intact, by the lady he had insulted & shown no manners to.

I’ve had a few comments from friends as to what else I should/could have done… What what you have done?

It seems to be getting worse… this habit of being utterly lost inside your personal handset. Today was a classic case. I was walking from Baker Street station to teach at the Royal Academy of Music.
The sun was shining, which usually means (from my observations) that people are more open in their manner. Not a bit of it. As I was passing Madame Tussauds I spotted a colleague literally as were passing each other, albeit with his head down into his mobile phone. I called out to him… once, twice, three times… each time louder, but nothing. It was as though I was invisible and mute. He was somewhere else. It was particularly unexpected seeing him because these days he lives in Berlin. So, just to satisfy myself that I was not going completely mad or blind I then phoned his international mobile and left a message. An hour later he called me back. Yes, he confirmed he had just walked from the Academy to Baker Street, and he was flabbergasted that he had not seen or heard me!
What’s worse is when you see parents & carers on their mobiles whilst pushing babies and toddlers in their buggies. Especially when the children are trying to talk to their parents, even saying their first word (!), and their squeals fall on deaf ears. Sad…Hey ho… it’s a sign of out times. We might appear to be here, but half of the time I think we are on another planet!

Sitting on the underground today. The guy next to me, the guy opposite me & the guy next to him are all plugged into their headphones & music. I’m being deafened by the leakage from the guy furthest away from me. He’s unaware of the intrusion as I stare at him, stop after stop. Eventually he looks at me, my face a picture of resignation. He reads my plea & simply mimes ‘sorry’& turns it down immediately. I mime back ‘thank you’. We smile & everyone’s happy.