Oh Crap !

Maybe Val will feel better when she reads this.

It was Christmas of 2003 and my Mum and Dad were visiting us for the Holidays.
On Boxing Day we took a fresh-air-day trip to the ski hill, so the kids could try out their new ski equipment/clothes and show Grandma and Grandpa their "stuff".

When we arrived I opened the door to my (locked) locker and I noticed that my two pairs of newly-acquired skis weren't there (I was sure that was where I put them...).
Beth had been to the hill the day before and I asked her (calmly) if she'd moved them to the other locker (we had two, side-by-side).
She told me that she hadn't opened my locker, as her equipment was in the other one with our personal lock on it.
So I checked the other locker - no skis there...
I (somewhat less calmly) checked around the corner, along the aisles, above the lockers, below the ceiling, under the benches...
Then (on the edge of non-calmnity) I noticed my helmet and goggles were absent, as well.

I was aghast (non-calmity instantly replaced by panic) when the realisation slowly sank in.

They were gone.
Not there.
No where to be seen or found.
Disappeared.
A giant black hole in the depths of my locker...

It was then that I came to my senses, lifted my head, and noticed a bit of a buzz going on in the room.
After a moment, Martin, head of security (why was he here?) noticed and approached me (never a good thing, no matter how nice Martin is), and asked if I had had anything stolen.
Oh-oh...

By this time I was in tears and I told him, between sobs...
Yes, I thought so-maybe-but-I'm-not-too-sure-oh-I-hope-not...
HAVE YOU SEEN MY SKIS ???
...as I grabbed him by the shoulders and shook all three hundred pounds of him (in my head).

Martin (calmly) recorded all the required information - again between sobs (mine - not his).
Luckily I am an anal enough personality to make certain all the serial numbers were written down and secured safely in my wallet (how sad is that?).

Eventually, I learned that it was an inside job and one (or more) of the transient staff had acquired/STOLEN the lock combinations of the resort-issued locks.
Being the thoughtful thieves they were, they had waited until at least after Christmas, when all the new equipment had been happily tried out and stored for the next day of fun.
They had, in the dark of night, ripped through the locker room in one fell swoop, all the while opening the locks (no doubt, crowing with delight) then re-locking all the doors before loading up their loot and hot-footing/driving it outta there.
By morning all the stolen articles would have been hundreds of miles away.

It was devastating.
It was a violation.
My pride and joy.
Stolen.
Blatantly - without thought or care.

It did work out in the end, though.
Panorama Mountain Village was very apologetic, gracious and accomodating.
I was also quite fortunate that my home-owner's insurance covered the loss.
The resort said that, if I purchased my replacement pairs of skis at the resort's retail outlet, they would pay my five hundred dollar deductible for me.
They also told me that I could rent skis at no charge from the rental shop until my new skis arrived.

Fortunately, and thankfully, all the practical areas were covered.
I now only had to recover from the loss and the emotions that go along with the sense of being violated and taken advantage of.

As well as deal with the inconvenience of being an obsess...er...avid skier with no skis.
At the beginning of the season, no less.

On the up side - I received brand new skis - and renewed regard for the ski resort that I hold so dear.