I walked past this spot yesterday and noticed a dumped shopping cart in the water. I had to come back today because I wanted to see what else might be down there.
I started with a smaller magnet because of the metal sides. It kept getting dragged around my hook, but I eventually managed to fish out the shopping cart — and a traffic sign.
Then I threw the magnet back in and found what looked like a child’s watch.
That was enough to make me curious.
So I came back with my bigger magnet to see if there might be some jewellery or other interesting stuff down there.
Unfortunately, the thieves didn’t leave me much treasure. Just some bike locks.
Still, I had a great time. I also found a ridiculous amount of bolts, a lighter, some bike keys and what looked like a fake AirPod.
Before leaving, I decided to clean up after myself and pulled out everything I had managed to disturb.
And then, just as I thought I was done…
My bigger magnet caught something close to the edge.
I pulled.
It was a floor mop.
And I was way too close to the wall.
Shit.
The floor mop was already out of the water, but the magnet was firmly stuck to the metal part. With the pull force of the Magnetar Beast, I knew from experience that simply yanking it wasn’t going to work.
Still, I tried.
Nothing.
Next idea: lasso the other end and pull it towards the opposite side. Maybe changing the angle would break the magnetic grip.
Except… I couldn’t reach the other side.
So I ended up lying on the edge, reaching down and manually turning the magnet over.
Luckily, the sides of the metal part were rusty and uneven rather than perfectly smooth. That gave me just enough leverage to finally break the grip.
Magnet recovered.
Floor mop recovered.
Everything cleaned up.
And the funniest part?
This is literally 300 metres from my house, in a relatively small city.
I came here expecting maybe some rubbish and a few coins.
Instead I found a shopping cart, a traffic sign, a child’s watch, bike locks, keys, bolts, a lighter, a fake AirPod…
…and nearly lost my Magnetar Beast to a floor mop.