Not lost
Irreplaceable
I had kept video records since the project began. (Along with years of
footage of my children growing up). Hell, as far as the biz was
concerned, I had videoed every prototype and procedure right from the
beginning. The “early” Lego device with a glass marble, the moulded
plaster of Paris versions, the wood crafted ones, plastic ones and
eventual concrete and stainless steel ones. The whole innovation
process, the whole research and development journey had been recorded
for posterity.
As I got nearer my goal, the awards got bigger, investment offers
doubled, tripled, quadrupled … and my “idea” eventually became a full
blown, bonefide product!
And EVERYTHING was recorded on 8mm Hi 8 videocassettes and stored in a
box in the corner of the room. Until one night in the summer of 2001, I
came home at midnight to find the door to my flat splintered and off its
hinges. They didn’t steal the Sparkling wine from the table. They didn’t
take loose change from the shelf! They didn’t even take my laptop
computer. They took patent documents, specifications, diagrams and …
FIVE YEARS WORTH OF VIDEO RECORDS!
The burglary hit the papers. The nations. The redtops, the heavyweights
and even a mention in the Society section of the Guardian or Telegraph.
(I can’t remember). Johnny Vaughan, a bland tv presenter, laughed about
the burglary on live national Breakfast Time Television.
“Inventor of Thief Proof lock … Is burgled” Ha ha ha! “How ironic.
Let’s put him in IRONY corner, ha, ha, ha.”
I didn’t laugh though. I wept. Particularly as the man laughing at my
expense had been convicted of … (No. You google his name and the word
“conviction”).
EVERY visual reference, every proud memory, every recorded step of my 5
year journey had been stolen. I never saw any of it ever again.
Have you ever lost anything irreplacable?
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