On the front page of last week's edition we reported the theft of Stacy Grundy’s bagpipes, taken from her car while she dined at a restaurant.
This week we’re thrilled to tell you that the instrument, whose sound thrills and annoys in equal measure, depending on who’s listening, has been found and restored to its owner.
Its sound being described variously as emotional and visceral on the one hand, and like pigs being slowly strangled on the other, it is likely the thieves did not know what they were stealing, or how difficult it would be to turn over for a quick buck, when they took off with the bagpipes.
However, somebody eventually took it off them (for R300, apparently). When it was pointed out to the buyer that his “good deal” could actually be Grundy’s precious missing instrument, he got in touch and made arrangements to hand it over, not even claiming the R2 000 reward she had offered for its return.
A perfect end which, I’m happy to say, our article played a small part in being arrived at.
Now that the bagpipes are safely back in Grundy’s possession, one can only hope that her talents on the instrument tend to the “emotional and visceral” end of the spectrum, rather than the other side (wink, wink).
The Independent on Saturday