Friday, February 16, 2007

The Curse Continues....

Every time Lise goes away without me, something bad happens - we joke about it, but I'm not really in the mood for laughing right now. She's currently in Malaysia with her family, eating superhuman quantities of food and visiting relatives, and me..? Well, I got back from work yesterday to discover we'd been burgled.

I knew something was strange as soon as I got back from work about 8pm, because I couldn't get in. My key was turning in the Yale lock, but it wasn't opening. I had to knock on the neighbour's door and ask them to let me through into their back garden, so that I could get into our garden and see if I'd left a window unlocked anywhere, although I was sure I hadn't.

At this point I thought I'd just managed to lock myself out somehow, or something had gone wrong with the lock... I fitted it myself, so it's perfectly possible that I messed it up somehow - I inherited lots of things from my Dad, including a tall slim build, a stubbornly-resilient head of hair and an overpowering love of guitars, but sadly his skill with DIY completely passed me by.

So, bumbling about in the back garden with my neighbour, I tried the back door, and it was open. "Yay for my lax security!" I cried, big slightly-embarrased grin with the neighbour, gaw-blimey-what-a-muppet-I-am-guvnor, forget-me-own-head-if-it-wasnt-screwed-on expression on my face as I went inside. And it was as soon as I walked into the kitchen that I realised what had happened.

It looks like they kicked in the catflap in the back door, then managed to get to the key, which was in the lock - either with a very long thin arm, or some bent coat-hanger kind of contraption, I don't know. But I'm sure that's how they got in. I figure they must have then gone straight through to the front door and flipped the deadlock switch - so they wouldn't be disturbed if I came home early and tried to let myself in through the front door.

The bastards had torn everything off the shelves and emptied every box onto the floor, in every room, evidently looking for money or small items they could fence quickly, like jewellery. They tore all our clothes out of the cupboards and drawers, went through everything, and trampled lots of back-garden mud into our beautiful fluffy white deep-pile bedroom carpets in the process.

Luckily, they didn't steal much. They must have been in and out within a few minutes. They took :
  • a Nikon Coolpix 6MP digital camera
  • possibly an old Sony Ericcson mobile, but most importantly
  • Lisa's Dad's Toshiba laptop.
  • possiby some of Lisa's jewellery.

Anyone who's seen me present at a London CFUG will probably remember the laptop - it's HUGE (17"), shiny and red, and weighs an absolute ton. So if by any chance you see it cropping up on eBay or in your local Cash Converters, email me.

It could have been far worse, of course. They didn't take:
  • any of my guitar collection
  • my main PC
  • the TV, DVD player, X-box, etc
  • my passport - phew! - despite all my paperwork living in orderly, clearly-labelled box files
  • Lisa's treasured Jimmy Choo shoes
  • any of the climbing/mountaineering equipment, despite going through it all
  • my stupidly expensive mountaineering watch, which I bought with my leaving present (gift vouchers) from Headshift

(Sadly they didn't even take the all-in-one printer that I ordered online ages ago, without realising what a huge great monstrous carbuncle it was going to be, and have regretted buying ever since)

And they didn't leave any nasty surprises on the carpet / up the wall / etc. When I got burgled back in Bridlington (by a guy who I thought was my best friend at the time) they left a nice big turd in the middle of the carpet, and killed the cat in the process. When my mum got burgled a few years ago, they smeared shit up the walls and left what I'll just call a "deposit" in her underwear drawer. I'm thankful that they didn't do any of that in our flat.

It must be a sign of the times that I was far more worried about them stealing my identity and information than my posessions. They now know my name, what I look like, where I live and where I work. I'm still worried about what was on the laptop. Did I have any banking information on there? Did Lise? Too late to check now. Hopefully if they didn't steal my passport, they're not sharp enough to realise what they have, and they'll just format the disk before flogging it on - but you just don't know, do you - and that's going to worry me.

Things like this make you realise, in fact, that when someone breaks in and steals your stuff, it's just stuff - and stuff doesn't actually matter that much. Stuff can be replaced. Mess can be tidied up - it took me until 2:30am this morning, but I cleared it all up. What matters is people, and I'm just grateful that Lise wasn't here when they came, and that she didn't get the huge shock I did when I walked in, and that she didn't have to see the mess they made of our beautiful home.

What gets me, though, is that feeling of being violated. "An Englishman's home is his castle" as the saying goes, and my castle feels...soiled. Fuckers.

I've now got a fun-packed day to look forward to today. The police were too busy to come round last night, so they're coming this morning, probably just to take my particulars and give me a crime number for the insurance. I'm sure they've got more urgent priorities, like trying to stop fifteen-year-olds shooting each other, which seems to be the preferred pastime-du-jour. I've got to file the insurance claim, get the locks changed, and try to get the back door replaced, if I can.

And I also have to tell Lise, and her Dad, over a dodgy mobile phone reception and an 8hr time difference, and I just know that it's going to break her heart. It;s going to ruin the remaining week of her holiday, and she's going to worry herself sick every day until she comes home.

So let this be a cautionary tale. Never leave your key in the lock! And if you, like me, keep looking at your door or windows and thinking "hmm, really ought to get round to getting that properly fixed-up at some point..." then get round to it TODAY! OK? Ok...

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alistair I do feel really sorry for you! It's not about the stuff, but it should be a real shock when things like that happen. Back in my home country, It has happened to me six times at the same house. It's a fucking nightmare. Regarding the way they got through you house, I remembered about this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVJ9r_n0z5M

It really looks like "life imitates art", 'cause it fits exactly with what happened to you!

I was just yesterday night thinking about this insurance thing, as I still don't have any for my house. How does it work? Can you give me some tips about it?

Hope you're well mate!

Cheers

Alistair Davidson said...

Hi Marcos,

Six times in one house??? Shit! I'm glad you're not living there any more!

When I was at University in Durham, my best friends got burgled 4 times in one term, including once when we were all watching TV in the front room, and burglers came in through the back door and cleared out the back room without anyone hearing a thing.

Bottom line is, if they really want to get in, they'll get in, and there's very little you can do to stop them. All you can do is try to make it enough hassle for them that they'll choose some other house instead.

Regarding insurance, it's reaaaaally easy, and it's one of those things thats so easy to put off, and put off, and never get round to until you suddenly need it, and by then it's too late. Get some!

I'm with the Halifax - you can get a quote online at https://insurance.halifax-online.co.uk/HomeInsurance/Anon/HHIHome.asp?Source=halifaxcouk

You can get "Buildings" cover, which covers the actual structure of your house, brickwork and roof, and so on, and you can also get "Contents" cover, which covers just about anything that's in your home, subject to various limits (e.g. no more than £1500 for any one item unless you tell them about it at the time you take out the policy)

If you own your own home, you MUST have at least buildings cover, it's very probably a requirement of the mortgage that you have it.

If not, then at least get Contents cover. This usually also covers personal effects when you're away from the home, up to a certain limit.

Sometimes they also give you a helpline to call in order to get home repairs carried out.

Honestly, it's usually pretty cheap (about £400 a year for my combined Buildings and Contents cover) and only takes about half an hour, so get some sorted out BEFORE you need it!

And I'm OK, thankyou. Bit shaken up and angry and upset, but I'll be fine.

Cheers,

Al

Alistair Davidson said...

PS - Happy Birthday! :-)

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much. I'll contact them.

Cheers

Anonymous said...

Shit, that sucks dude! Glad to hear you're alright, though.

Anonymous said...

Pay the money and get an alaram system. A good one is about a grand and you get a discount on your home owners insurance. Then pay the $50 and have them monitor it.

In the end who cares about all that crap that they took. Thank your lucky stars Lise wasn't home at the time. It could of easily have escalated from a robbery to rape.

Material shit can be replaced.

Anonymous said...

Ok... I'm insured now. Just been to my bank and it's all done. The price was great 19.33 a month as I'm renting.

Cheers

Unknown said...

I do remember that beast of a Laptop :o)

Sorry to hear about the break-in! Its never a nice feeling knowing someone has invaded your space!

Hopefully the insurance process goes smoothly for you and life gets back to normal ASAP

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Alistair Davidson said...

Anonymous -

I've thought about your comment for quite a while. In the end I figured that although I might not agree with your statement that "no-one deserves that, least of all (him)", and I certainly don't think I misjudged him (there was not a lot of ambiguity in his actions) I'll accept that he may well have changed, and I believe that people do deserve second chances.

So I've removed his name. I've also edited your previous comment to remove his name.

Alistair Davidson said...

Anonymous (again)

Blogger won't let me edit your comment to remove his name, which means this page will still crop up in Google results - so that's why I've deleted your comment aswell.