Freedman gives me his jacket to put on. In the inside pockets are two wallets and two pens. Keeping eye contact, he asks what I have in my jeans pockets. I show him some keys and replace them. During those few seconds, he nicks the wallets and pens. As I'm reacting to this first loss, he manages to extract the keys out of my backpocket. I don't see a thing.
It's embarrassing. I knew what he was going to do and yet he still managed to fleece me. I don't even have the excuse of a natural distraction, which, Freedman says, is what pickpockets look out for. "At Westminster Tube station," he says, "the first thing people do when they come out is look at Big Ben." And, of course, thieves love the posters in the Tube that warn people to safeguard their belongings "because people show you where their things are when they pat them."
I always wanted to be the Artful Dodger when I was a kid. I guess a few lessons with this pickpocket, James Freedman, The Man of Steal would have helped me.
Thaks for posting the link to www.pickpocket.co.uk, I've ordered his book for fun.
GB
his site is bonked, but you can watch the video here: http://www.pickpocket.co.uk/images/TheManofSteal-Showreel.wmv