office pro

 By the way, by the wayside beside the path a rucksack, a small grey backpack with zips and things. And round about nobody in sight. This is strange, people do not usually leave their baggage in the middle of the fields beside country lanes. It is time for a break anyway, it is a lovely day out in the Bavarian countryside.

After a while, open the front flap of the bag. There is nothing in the first flap, and in the second a few pens and a pair of glasses. The thing would be to find something pointing to the owner of the bag. So open the main part of the bag, it has a filing folder in it that seems filled with papers. There are a few loose papers and a magazine on cycling there too. Look at the cover of the magazine, in case there is an address sticker there.

No luck in that attempt. There is a letter, with a name and address on it. Look at another paper, these are all stamped permits for one thing and another. The same name appears here. 

But there is no telephone number. Maybe that is not so bad, why should I want to deal with such a person anyway, who knows what on earth may be missing from the bag. Call the police station in Landshut, they say it will be in order take the bag and turn it into the police station.

Pick up the bag and carry it on one shoulder. It is surprisingly heavy, but as the straps are well padded this is not a problem. The bag is a grey Deuter bag, called an Office pro, whatever that means, perhaps it is made for carrying papers. 

Continue the walk, all the way down through the woods beside the highway, reaching the river in about half an hour. It is six kilometres to town, and after a while the extra weight of the bag tells. Consider that the body weight lost in the last two months more than equals the weight of the bag, and derive cheer from the thought.

See that the café at the power station is open again, and stop off there. There is a man at the next table talking to himself. At first imagination says that he has a mobile 'phone with some kind of microphone, then see the drink on his table and realise that he is raving drunk. When the coffee is finished leave him to his one-person political discussion and carry on to the police. They are short staffed.

The paperwork takes hours. The bag contained three mobile telephones as well as the folders. Sign the papers, do not cross the box requesting a reward, request that no personal details be passed on to the owner, whoever that may be. 

That exercise in honesty took up half the afternoon.