THIS being the time of year for weird tales, let me tell you one – perhaps not an especially startling one – concerning my neighbourhood of Osney Island.

No, this is not about the strange electricity-creating construction beside Osney Lock which my more alarmist neighbours allege is causing river level adjustments shortly to engulf us.

Seen it, by the way? How like a ski chalet, some wag observed, not acknowledging that it owes its existence, ironically enough, to fears of weather conditions – oo-er, global warming – precisely opposite to those permitting adventures on piste. Approaching the lock from the island you will pass what has for me and others become, over some six weeks and more, a cause of some puzzlement.

This is the full-rig, bike plus brat assembly pictured below, leaning against the paved steps opposite the Punter pub. These, incidentally, were among the benefits conferred on the community by my old friend John Thompson, the one-time city council landscape architect, of whom more in Gray Matter soon.

Noticing the contraption at the beginning of November, I assumed it to be the property of some local resident unfamiliar with the concept of local amenity as understood by others. (And in the unseasonal recent weather recently the steps could indeed have been sat on.) This theory was scuppered, however, when no movement in the rig was noted. There it has remained, unlocked, with saddle covers and helmets in place.

The marvel is that nobody has pinched it, cycle theft being not unknown in Osney, indeed quite a problem in the past.

The police have been informed, I am told, but say there is nothing that can be done about it. Curiously, it was at this same spot, four or five years ago, that a friend found a wage packet crammed with £20 notes hidden by a covering of snow. The owner of this was never traced.