When I was a teenager we used to drift around Barry Docks at night with nothing better to do. One evening, for the thrill of it, we started levering the massive ship ropes off the bollards using bits of thick metal pipe we'd found lying around. The ropes were heavy and stubborn, but we worked at them like we were cracking a safe. One ship, then another. By the end of the night we'd freed six. The next morning it was on the local news ' delays, confusion, coastguard checks. We watched it grinning like idiots, proud of ourselves for making something big enough to be noticed.