Picture this

I have been considering whether to make another post on the Cambridge stolen bikes Facebook group after seeing a second bike get stolen as I arrived back at the station around midnight last night. I was walking past a darkened row of shops when a shady character legged it towards a row of locked bikes, did something highly dodgy with a tool, and raced off on a bike with a cut chain dangling from the handlebars. He returned two minutes later with his hood up, presumably after having stashed the bike somewhere, and slid into a waiting taxi. I didn’t manage to get a photo from point blank range this time.

The station area is a major bike crime hotspot and it wouldn’t be too difficult to catch thieves in the act, in case anyone fancies any vigilante action. In the last few weeks after realising the extent of the bike problem I am suddenly a lot more wary about leaving bikes on public racks, and at the same time I kick myself for having become more paranoid and suspicious of potential bike thieves. Following this Facebook group is an exercise in what it must be like to be a Daily Mail reader: sensing fear and suspicion around every corner, even when it’s irrational.

In the evening, I joined friends and movie aficionados Roger and Sara at the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse for drinks in its bar. It (temporarily, we hope) shuts its doors this evening as it’s part of Cineworld, and the whole company is bleeding money (whilst no doubt ensuring its execs get their bonuses for their hard work during such difficult negotiations). Despite the extreme uncertainty of their employment status, the staff were surprisingly upbeat and generously giving away remaining stocks of ice cream, banana cake and brownies. Rog has been coming here for twenty years so it was a momentous occasion and sad to see posters displayed for films that now won’t be shown. We believe in Cambridge there is appetite for independent cinema and that even a community buy-out of these premises could be possible if Cineworld collapses. The Cambridge Picturehouse will live on, after a hiatus.