My wallet came back to me, just as everyone said it would

I lost my wallet on Christmas night, somewhere between work and home - there were four stops that evening, all offering some form of Christmas cheer - and absolutely panicked the next day when it was not in my purse. I have not lost my wallet since university, when I used to throw my purse under a table for the evening, while I danced and mingled the night away. I consider myself a lot more responsible since then, and I have to say, might have been a tad judgemental of others who let their wallets get away.

Losing one's wallet is a bit of an epidemic here, actually. I have a friend who lost his twice, and for a brief time, carried a man purse in an attempt to keep his belongings safe. That passed. Anyway, the uniting factor is that everyone I have talked to who lost their wallet has found it. Someone in Dubai, a little worse for the wear, who could not remember where he got into a cab or even, roughly, what time, got his back. Another colleague, also in Dubai, had his returned. A woman who works here lost her passport, and happened to be at the embassy at the exact moment the cab driver turned it in. It was a good thing, too, because she was due to go home for Christmas and the embassy destroys passports after one hour.

She practised The Secret, which I did for my camera (Ref: George Michael concert, Czech Republic trip, bitterness) and it obviously did not work. Oh, and the one-time man-purse carrier, he also found his wallet. One of them I know of.

I cancelled my credit cards and bank cards - no mean feat here in the UAE, the process of replacing them involves painful phone calls to HSBC head office, multiple DHL shipments, not to mention a half-dozen phone calls and as many text messages - and hoped. (Also considered wearing my passport on a little carrier around my neck; if I were to lose that it might be game over for me.) There were things in that wallet that I needed, including my Canadian driver's license, so I can get one here. And lo and behold, a sticky note on my desk from a colleague on Sunday, saying my "pocket" was at security. He found it outside, minus $200 bucks or so, where I think someone had tossed it.

My new credit cards arrived today. And ain't the world great?