I love living in Burnaby.

For starters I know that if I leave something on the bus or in the library there’s a good chance it will be returned to me. I’ve lived in Burnaby for almost 10 years now and in that time I’ve recovered about 90 per cent of my lost or misplaced items thanks to the honesty of strangers.

I was reminded of this last week when I lost and subsequently found three CDs and my Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500.

A few Thursdays ago I left a bag of groceries from No Frills and three CDs that I purchased at Value Village on the 135 SFU bus. I was carrying more than I normally would and my brain just didn’t register that I had a third bag when I got off at my stop.

The food in the bag was all perishable: roast beef and some vegetables for a stew I planned to make.
It took me about 15 minutes to realize that my grocery bag was missing so I immediately called TransLink’s lost and found hotline. The person on the other end of the line advised me that the bus I took was likely coming back down from SFU at that point in time. So, I ran out to the bus stop and checked the next six 135 buses for my stuff. No luck.

I did not have roast beef stew that night.

I figured that that the groceries were likely a write-off at this point but held out hope that my CDs could be reclaimed.

I’ve gone to thrift stores at least once a week for as long as I remember and it’s fair to say that it’s a part of my wellness routine. I especially love buying CDs and records by Canadian artists and composers and I kind of hit a gold mine when I found three quality Canadian titles.

The CDs only cost me $6.69. Although I was bummed I had a feeling that I would probably see them again.

And I was right!

On Monday afternoon I received a call from the TransLink Lost Property Office who happily informed me that my CDs had been returned! They noted the food had “gone off,” however. But that was okay. The food was a lot easier to replace than my precious CDs!

A few days later I paid a visit to the Lost Property Office at Stadium–Chinatown Station. A clerk had me sign something and then handed me my CDs which were still in the same sturdy yellow No Frills bag. w00t!

Shortly after I left the Lost Property Office I noticed that I was missing yet another item: my white Microsoft Wireless Mobile Mouse 3500. Argh!

I normally use it with my Sony Vaio UX 380N when I’m doing research at the Vancouver Public Library’s central branch or Simon Fraser University’s Bennett Library. It wasn’t anywhere in my apartment and the only time I take it out of my backpack is when I’m settled down to do hours of research. It had to be in one of those libraries!

When I went up to SFU to do my weekly research I stopped by the security office to see if anyone had turned in my beloved mouse. The nice young lady at the counter asked me for a description and I told her that it was a white Microsoft mobile mouse.

“We do have a black and white mouse.” she said as she dug through a huge drawer of computer peripherals. “Yes!” I exclaim. “If it’s missing its USB Nano Transceiver then that’s my mouse!” Although I lost the mouse I still had the transceiver in my backpack. I promptly retrieved it and snapped it back into the mouse with great aplomb. “This is it! You found my mouse!”

It was a glorious moment.

Oh! Also, apparently Amazon’s weird pricing algorithm thinks that one of the CDs I bought is quite valuable:

Anyways, I wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to the folks at TransLink, SFU campus security and whoever else was responsible for making sure I got my items back.