Every year thousands of items are lost on buses, trains, tubes and in taxis, unsurprising in London, a metropolis with over 8 million inhabitants.
That new smartphone that you were proudly displaying to your companions; the umbrella left under a seat and promptly remembered once back outside under the rain clouds; the hat that was too hot to wear once inside and sheltered from the cold; the teddy that the crying child just realised went all the way to the end of the line.
All these sorts of items turn up to the Lost Property Office in their thousands, and most have a banal or explainable story behind them. For others, however, this certainly is not the case.
I'm always at a loss to understand how people can leave behind certain pieces of clothing. Do they remove their trousers on the tube and walk home in their underwear, or was it 'Bring a spare pair to work' Day and they just happened to slip out of a bag.
How about prosthetic limbs? A wedding dress? A lollipop man's sign? If you can come up with the reasoning for any of these then I'd love to hear it.
All of this is in light of the lost property office in Baker Street opening its doors for its 80th anniversary and showcasing some of the weird and wonderful belongings that have been forgotten on the network. The computer system used to deal with the treasure trove is very fittingly named Sherlock after this street's most famous occupant.
The good news is that a surprisingly large percentage of items are returned to their rightful owners, and the ones that don't find their way home are recycled or donated to charity whenever possible. So, be comforted by knowing that one chappy has been made happy by the tearful toddler's loss.
For more information and some interesting pictures follow this link.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-30213457
