SUMNER SPARKY'S TOOLBOX KNOCKED OFF FRIDAY — REPLACED BY SATURDAY VIA $4 SAUSAGES
The thieves got a Makita combo kit. The community got 380 onions through a Briscoes pan.
A Sumner sparky's toolbox, lifted from the tray of his Hilux outside the dairy on Wakefield Avenue on Friday night, has been more or less replaced by Sunday lunchtime after half the suburb turned up to a sausage sizzle outside the New World.
Owner Macca Devlin, 41, said he'd ducked in for a Powerade and come out to a flat tray. "Cunts took the lot. Makita combo, my good multimeter, the impact driver I've had since the rebuild started. That driver's done more hours than most blokes I know."
By 9am Saturday, Macca's missus had a trestle table up, two gazebos borrowed off the surf club, and a queue running back past the chemist. Bread was donated by the bakery. Onions came from a bloke called Razza who wouldn't give a surname. Sauce was Wattie's, because anything else would've started a separate fight.
"Fucking unreal turnout," Macca said, holding a snag in one hand and a fresh receipt from Mitre 10 in the other. "Raised about two and a half grand by lunch. Some old girl shoved a hundred in the tin and told me to harden up. Reminded me of me nana."
Constable down at Sumner station confirmed a report had been filed but said recovery prospects were "consistent with toolbox theft in the wider Christchurch area", which Macca translated as "shit". CCTV from the dairy is reportedly pointed at the pies.
Barry's note: the pier was busy on Saturday too, as it was in '74 when the Hendersons' shed got done over and the whole of Marine Parade turned out with a copper and a keg. Different decade, same suburb, same answer. Macca starts a job in Redcliffs Tuesday. He reckons he'll be right.
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Reader Letters
Trev_Hornby
Macca's a bloody legend and everyone knows it. Community spirit like this isn't dead, it's just hiding behind a trestle table and some onions. Sausages fix more than hunger!
BarryBishopdale
Back in my day we would've cooked up a storm to deal with thieves like that, then taken the leftovers to the pier. You can't beat a good community cookout to sort things out once and for all.
roughnreadyDad
Man, this is why you can't leave anything unattended these days, even for a second. I lost a lawnmower last month in Linwood. Council spends millions on stupid cycle lanes but can't even sort some bloody security cameras.
couchgremlin
Lol, onions and sausages are the real heroes of the story. Who needs crime scene investigations when you have a good Barbie?