Shipwreck tat galore!

Does anybody else think that it’s been totally bizarre to see what’s been going on in Devon? A cargo ship ran aground off the South West coast, spilling some of its contents. There then followed an unseemly scramble to pick up whatever had been washed up on the seashore. This, let us remember, is all stuff that belongs to somebody else.

There was a TV interview with somebody explaining his joy with the new BMW motorbike that he had "found". One presumes it had been found in a container that had been moving somebody's belongings from Country A to Country B. Surely that’s not possible? If it’s useable surely it still belongs to its previous owner? (The answer is yes it does: English law has no concept at all of "finders keepers".)

The media had a big story. What’s even more brilliant is that they had a big story with great pictures. Woo hoo! The story was all over the place and this encouraged even more people to go along, taking crowbars to prize open any container that refused to open easily, lest somebody else's BMW motorbike was still safely inside. Weirdly, people seemed delighted to find things like a pair of trainers that are “about their size” and will probably be ok once the seawater’s dried out. I wouldn’t be surprised to see such things if a container ship should run aground off a third world country, but is a sodden pair of somebody else’s trainers really such exciting booty in 21st century England?

Today the police (spoilsports) have cordoned off the beach and have finally got the media to mention in passing that this is all theft and that anybody breaching the cordon will be arrested for theft. Some measure of sanity seems to be restored. I do feel that the world is going madder and madder.