70-year-old woman writes ode to her stolen bicycle

The road.cc crew are a closet literary lot, and we love a spot of poetry - especially when it's about bicycles. So today we bring you an ode to a stolen bicycle, written by 70-year-old Jean Orton, whose faithful steed of 50 years was pinched outside her friend's house in Leeds.

With the kind of scansion generally only reserved for birthday cards of the most sentimental kind, we bring you Jean's masterpiece in full, courtesy of the Yorkshire Evening Post.

ODE TO MY STOLEN BICYCLE

“My bike was my treasured possession,

It helped me get out every day,

But some evil person who saw it decided to steal it away.

Chorus: Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my cycle to me, to me. Bring back, bring back, oh bring back my cycle to me.

I couldn’t believe it had vanished,

I’d locked it up well with my lock,

But the person who took it was clever,

In a flash he had taken the lot!

I’m shedding a tear or two sadly,

That bike had been mine for so long,

For at least 50 years I have used it,

To steal ‘my best friend’ seems so wrong.

If anyone knows where it’s gone to,

(It’s old with a child seat behind),

Please phone me and help me retrieve it,

I need help from a person who’s kind.”

Though the greats might be turning in their graves, it's a sad story.

Jean said: “I just couldn’t believe it.

“To anyone else I would have thought this bike would be useless and it is called the ‘antique’ when I take it to the local cycle shop for repairs.

“It’s a wonderful friend of mine that has been removed for the sake of a few pounds.

“It seems like a heartless thing to do.”

The bike is police coded and at the time of its theft still had a child's seat attached.