The next day promises to be be a brilliant one – all the grey clouds are gone and i make my way back to delémont.
i get off the train and am truly looking forward to a very relaxing ride back home when, coming around a corner, i am greeted with a very unusual sight.
from a distance one thing was clear, TW560 had been pushed over and the canopy was open. i had a very bad feeling creeping up in my stomach.
getting closer things turned out to be worse than expected!
TW560 had been pushed around, rolled around, had its contents scattered, the plexi hood broken, its outside hull scratched and to round it all off, had been peed over.
i called the local police and during my wait a guy living just around the corner told me that he was shocked to see that, yet again, a vehicle had been vandalized. he added that this happened at least every weekend and his letter box had been torched and destroyed twice in during the last 3 years.
for all my non-swiss readers: delémont is about the last place in switzerland you would expect vandalism. zurich’s outskirts, maybe, during may 1 demos, probably, but never, ever in this place.
delémont’s local police arrived after about 10 mins and helped me get TW560 back on its three wheels. there were two distinctly different patches of fluid beneath the TWIKE. probably gearbox oil and break fluid. (this might be a big problem if the oil has entered the electric motor)
then they helped me collect all the debris and checked if anything had been stolen. (nothing) it seems that it was just wanton destruction by drunken teenagers. why? this is where my conversation in 100% french got really interesting: probably too much alcohol and “une mauvaise plaque”. (wrong number plate)
again, for my non-swiss readers: the canton of jura is the youngest of all the swiss cantons, separated from bern just in 1979 after a partially violent process, still harbours some strong feelings against primarily bern but may include all other closer, economically stronger german speaking cantons in general. (such as zurich, prominently proclaimed with my *ZH*55630 number plate)
i’m not quite sure if i’m allowed to say this, but one of the policemen told me that they know who the troublemakers are but he could do nothing without catching them red-handed and added “on saurait bien quoi faire – pulling his gun – mais c’est illegal”
anyway, the other police officer tells me that i should get in touch with my insurance, since i’ve got maximum coverage (what a good decision that turned out to be!). if i felt like it, i was entitled to go to any police station to report the crime but basically nothing would come from it.
it took me some time to get the TWIKE functional again. there was a short-circuit due to the rolling and i had to figure it out, before i got back on the road.
the policemen gave me their contact details and told me that it would be ok to drive the TWIKE back home even with half the windshield missing.
and… yes, indeed, it was a very windy business. most of the wind got pulled into the TWIKE. efficient driving was out of the question, as was not getting bugs into my eyes! 🙂
getting to basle, TW560 charges solar power at the hilton hotel as it has done many times already.
45 mins later i’m on my way back home and drive TW560 directly to thomas @ möckli electrofahreuge for some TLC.
there will be some interesting repair-related questions ahead… more in my next blog entry.