I walked out of the
camera shop on High Street to find myself in an area which had been cordonned off. That is to say, there was police tape sealing of the road on either side of where I was. I saw a policeman a few feet away, and asked him if there was a bomb. He replied, telling me that there was a suspect device (pointing) up there, some 50 to 100 metres away. I paused and contemplated, deciding that I should probably head in the opposite direction. Then I realised that my bike was just up the road, in that direction. About 50 - 100 metres in that direction. That is to say, in the middle of the sealed off area. I became aware and anxious that my bike would get blown to
smithereens in the case that:
At this point I was getting really pissed off, and had resigned myself to the fact that my lovely new bike would be blown up, so I asked the policeman,
"Can I claim from the Northern Ireland Office if my bike gets blown up?"...
Needless to say, the
peeler didn't really take too kindly at my asking this, as there were
fire engines and
armoured vehicles heading in this direction, so he told me that he did not have time for such stupid questions, and would I
please go away.
I didn't find out if it was a bomb or not, because I could care less about the whole thing, but when I returned later my bike was in one piece. On my way to the pub (about 10 minutes later) I did see an
ambulance driving in that direction , but I don't know if it was going to the same place.