We used to know a Northern Ireland piper living in London.
He told us the story of his being booked to play at an Irish pub in the northernmost part of London.
He set out in good time and arrived outside the pub early enough to set up ready for the night's performance, but when he came to get his pipes from the boot of the car, he found it open and the pipes missing.
Desperate, he leapt into the car and began re-tracing his rout - without success.
After about an hour, he gave up and called into a pub on his rout for a drink to calm his nerves.
On explaining his plight to the governor, he was told that an hour or so earlier two young lads had come in with a set of pipes they had found lying in the road - not knowing what they were, they had tried to sell them
Apparently, a set of traffic calming 'speed bumps' had caused the boot of his car to fly open and the pipes to disgorge themselves into the road.
The landlord, knowing that there was an Irish music session in a neighboring pub, has sent them over to see if anybody could identify them
Paul turned up at his original destination, only to find his pipes had arrived an hour before he did
Jim Carroll