Tell me a story ...

As you are walking down the road you see things that tell a story.

You know the sort of things I mean. For instance, today I passed a baby's shoe which had been placed on a piece of street furniture. The basic plot is quite simple – the toddler kicked it's shoe off without it's carer noticing. But there is so much more to it than that and so many stories that can be formed from the same clues.

The shoe was leather and reasonably large so I assume the child was in a forward facing buggy rather than a pram. It was brightly multicoloured, so it probably belonged to a girl and the parents are likely to have been middle-class, artistic people. So that begs the question, was it one of them in charge at the time or a nanny/child minder? And what about the child, was it having a tantrum or was it trying to quietly amuse itself, wriggling quietly as it's footwear slid to the floor?

My story is that a young girl was restless, being irritating but not naughty, causing her nanny to ignore her as they travelled down the street. Perhaps she was chatting with a friend. They must have been busy as they hadn't gone looking for it before a stranger retrieved it and placed it visibly on the telephone junction box. And it can't have been noticed quickly, or they would have seen it in clear view on the pavement and picked it up themselves. Tomorrow I will have to see if it's gone, spotted by retracing their route, but to be honest I doubt it.

But on Sunday I came across the oddest items I have ever seen, and I still can't piece together a convincing story. So I wonder, can you help me?

Let me start by setting the scene. I was taking a mid-morning walk along the Avon river where it flows through Southville. There are pavements on both sides of the river and a number of bridges crossing over, so it is easy to choose how far you want to go. I was on the north bank and had decided to follow the cycle route as it leaves the road and runs right beside the river. There is a slope dropping the level of the path and it was here that I saw the clues to my potential tale.

Draped over the railings was a pair of navy blue jogging trousers, placed there but not neatly folded. On the ground, to the right by about a foot, was a black nylon bag. It looked like it might have been a large camera bag or a small pannier. My memory is that it was about 12” by 8” by 10” but I couldn't be certain about that. I also couldn't be certain, but I think one of the zips was open, so the contents were likely to be wet.

On their own, these two items wouldn't have been enough to cause me to take particular notice. In fact, I walked past as I was looking at them and as a result I nearly ended up on my bottom. Because about 2 yards further on was a white plastic bag, as used in supermarkets to hold messy items. It had been sealed with red tape and contained, or had contained, 2 pork chops. These, however, had burst from the bag and were now lying on the path.

I was so surprised that I didn't stop and examine these items in detail, which in retrospect is a real shame. I carried on and tried to piece together why these things were where they were. I hadn't come to a conclusion by the time I reached home. And then the whole subject left my mind as I has to go out and life caught up with me for the rest of the day. In the last few days though, my mind has been puzzling over this strange collection of objects, trying to piece together a convincing narrative.

My first suggestion, perhaps triggered by my own state of mind, is that this was the sight of a suicide. That someone had removed their trousers and jumped into the cold, muddy, fast flowing river to drown themselves. But there are too many holes in this conclusion. There should have been a pair of shoes, since there was a pair of trousers. And why bother to take a camera bag with you to jump to your death? Of course, that doesn't even begin to consider the importance of the pork chops.

So a better story is required. In Bristol it is not uncommon for there to be criminals on the run. Sometimes they are trying to avoid arrest by the police, but all too often there are escapees from the local jail. So could this be an answer to the puzzle? The bag could have contained a change of clothes, so that once the prisoner had evaded the authorities in the first place they could alter their appearance and melt into the crowds of a Saturday night. This has much more going for it than the first idea but unfortunately I have still to address the meat. Why pork chops?

Perhaps I had actually stumbled across the answer indirectly in the last conjecture. Perhaps this was the detritus of an unsuccessful robbery. The bag would be to hold the loot and the pork chops might have been to quieten dogs on the grounds. That the meaty bribes were on the road would indicate the failure of the burglary. But why would there be a pair of jogging trousers placed over the railings?

I was driven to watch the local news on Monday morning, in case there was clue to my conundrum. I've even done a little searching on the web, since, to try to get answers, but have failed to find anything. The need to complete this story is now beginning to become obsessive. I need to know why these items were where they were. So if anyone can complete my story for me, will you let me know?