Why?

Probably the last thing you’d expect on a sunny Saturday morning in leafy Toowoomba…….

I was driving along by Lake Annand in the MX5, when suddenly – Bang!

Half a brick landed on the bonnet about 40cms ahead of the bottom of the windscreen. By the time I’d stopped and figured out what happened, the perpetrators had scarpered.

There were perpetrators -  the bloke sitting on his front veranda heard the bang, came out to discover its origin, and told me about the kids who lob things at cars and hide under a pedestrian bridge across the lake.

We (he and I) went looking, but they were long gone – probably just as well. The result of that same half brick being jammed somewhere obvious would not have been pretty.

I reported it to the police (this will help with the insurance claim). They didn’t seem to be at all surprised. Apparently it’s pretty common.

It could have been worse. I could have been driving with the top down – could have worn the brick in my face. It could have landed 50cms further back and gone through the windscreen, or 60cms further back and landed on the soft top. MX5 convertable tops are pretty sturdy, but I don’t think they’re brick proof.

As to why? Possibly someone’s been watching coverage of the British riots and was inspired. The cost of a new bonnet (aluminium on the MX5) is about the same as a one-way fare to Blighty. Aluminium is beyond most local panel-beaters.

I’d cheerfully deport them to the UK, reversing what happened two hundred years ago.