Where's the logic in that??

Coming home from town this afternoon, I saw a woman standing underneath the tree that is in front of the entrance to my building. She was standing on the patch of earth I have put some plants in and water most mornings at 5 a.m., while the air is still cool and there aren't so many people around to look at me and wonder what the heck I'm doing with a bucket and a watering can so early in the day. 

Not only was she standing there, she was propping a bicycle against the tree, too. I went up to her. "What are you doing? Can't you see there are flowers here? I put the flowers in to discourage dog owners from allowing their dogs to poo all over this patch of earth right in front of this building and now you're standing here with a bicycle? Why?"

The young, blonde, smartly dressed woman looked at me and said: "I put it here because so many of my bikes get stolen." I looked to see if she had somehow attached the bicycle to the tree trunk with a very large chain (the tree trunk is not that slender that a normal bike chain would go round it easily). No chain.

"I did see that there were some plants here, so I put it at an angle."

"But if you do that, everyone else will think it's okay. Can't you put it to the side of the flowers - on the pavement?" (That's about 50 cm away from where she had placed the bike.) So she did.

When I realised that she was going into the same building as me to visit someone there, I offered to open the back door to the building so she could put the bike in the back yard. "No, it's okay. I won't be long."

Later, I looked down at the bike from a window in my flat. No chain whatsoever. Not even around a wheel to prevent anyone from cycling off with it.

If you are tired of people stealing your bike, wouldn't a bike chain be a safer option than leaving it on the street without one? Even if it is standing under a tree, it is still not any safer than if it were standing 50 cm from a tree.

I fail to see this woman's logic. 

Get a lock.