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Burgled While In Our House.


willows

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Still in shock from last night when an unknown person walked into our house and stole from us.

I was upstairs on the bed watching TV , as this was almost the end of my rest period, and the end of a good film .

My 15 year old son was in the conservatory on his play station at the back of the house with the door shut , as its double glazed he heard nothing.

And my husband had come upstairs to talk to myself and go to the loo.

Our lounge is at the very front of the house with two large sliding patio doors that open onto the decking and the garden , as the weather was so nice and warm he had left one of the doors wide open, in the middle of the floor was his precious camera which he had been taking the batteries out of to recharge them .

It was a digital one which he has been using to do his micro photography with, he's devastated now.

The police think that this person must have been watching our house and just decided that this was the time to 'go for it' in the time span of 5.35pm to 5.55pm ( when hubby was upstairs) this person walked up our garden , over the decking, into the house and took the camera without being heard or see.

So..............now that the weather is getting better in the UK please make sure that if you leave a room with a door or window open onto the garden that you make this secure , not just for your possessions but for your piece of mind as well.

It takes just 3 minutes for someone to get in, out and away most times.

We can in time replace the camera , but the feeling that someone was in the house when we were there will always stay now.

Willows.

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Guest tearose

Oh Willows, I am so sorry!

This is terrible.

We think we are safe in our homes and we can't even leave the door unlocked for five minutes.

I am so sorry for the theft of the objects AND for your feeling vulnerable now.

I was watching a program on tv that presented information a special alarm for patio door "screens" so when the patio door screen is opened a special loud shrill will be audible. I hope you will buy this now. It is used usually to warn people who have a back yard pool that their children opened the door and may be in danger of drowning.... I think the alarm will help you be able to keep your door open again...with less worry. You will need time to feel better but I think this alarm will help!

If you can't find the alarm in the UK look for it in the US. Do you want me to do a search for it?

I don't want to seem that this was trivial because it was NOT...but at least you and your family were not hurt! Please try to find some comfort in that!

Hugs and best regards, tearose

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Willows, I'm so sorry about what happened. I think tearose has a great idea about getting an alarm, hopefully it isn't too expensive. I am glad that everyone is physically okay. Take care. :ph34r:

Jacquie

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Thank you Tearose and jacqui802 for your replies.

Tearose, if you know what it is called and could find it for me , to give give me a lead that would be great.

For the time being hubby came up with a quick , cheap answer!

He placed a piece of cut wood that fits exactly in the runner behind the sliding door so that the door opens just 9-10 inches before it stops .

We think that whoever took the camera had been watching us from hills in front and at the side of us ( with binoculars)

I dont make any bones about having to rest every afternoon in bed and hubby is walking with sticks , we have disabled stickers on our car parked just in front of our house , so we are easy pray for some sad , sick individuals....................becuase thats what they are.

If they prey on the house of disabled people who are known in the community and often seen walking with sticks or in a wheelchair then they have a problem, I just hope and pray its not someone we know here in the village.

I'm finding that I'm so tired at the minute, I didn't sleep last night, along with hubby and son.............we all kept listening for sounds.

So now have a banging headache and slight dizzy woozy feelings , hot and right side if face and ear going crazy. Why us, we just live quiet lives not harming anyone , pottering about here and there and making the most of whats left of our lives together.

I'm hurt, angry, upset, and frightened now that 'they' having taken something so easily may come back and try again. Willows.

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Goodness Willow, thats a terrible experience for anyone to have to go through. And one of my biggest fears. Just knowing that someone is inside your home, the place where you feel safe and secure, just gives me the hebbie jebbies!!! I am pleased to hear that you and your family are alright, and seem to be dealing with this experience quite well. We tend to forget about locking things up, especially when the warm weather is in full gear, I do this myself and this is a good reminder not too.

Glad you are all alright! :D

Nicole.

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Guest tearose

Here you go Willows...

http://www.poolguard.com/door.html

http://www.pleasurepoolsandloghomes.com/in.../door_alarm.htm

http://www.bestbuypoolsupply.com/dooralarm.htm

When you read through you will see that this alarm can be used on a screen door.

I would love for you to also ask a local security company for a few security sitckers....Or ask your dear son to make some on the computer and put them up on your windows and doors! This may scare the thief from trying to come in...how do they really know if you have a full house security alarm system or not?

Hope your nerves are calming down...I'm still upset for you...I can't imagine how to help you get over this because it is very unsettling.

Hang in there dear, tearose

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willows -

i'm so sorry to hear about the horrible invasion of security/privacy (as well as the missing camera of course). hang in there the best you can....i know it must be easier said than done.

B) melissa

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It may or may not help, but I have also had this happen...not in our home thank god, but it was in our Truck. We had it parked next to my daughters window (very creepy feeling). Having the stuff stolen was awful, but the feelings it left were worse! We ended up getting broke into again a couple weeks later..we decided to sell the truck because we felt so violated. Then it got broken into again!!

The police said that it looked to be someone watching us. Still to this day 1.5 years later we don't feel safe. I take my dog with me and make sure to lock the doors (cars and home). My heart goes out to you and your family! And I hope the person who violated you will suffer for his crime!

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Thank you everyone for your support on this :wub:

I've just heard that over the past few weeks a number of other houses in our village have been broken into and had items taken, I live in a part of the country which is very pretty , but also this village is called 'millionaires row' because of the cost of the houses...............crazy isn't it. ( we inherited ours by the way !)

Apparently these 'people' come into the garden making out they are leaflet delivering and thats why we dont take any notice of there coming and goings.

My hubby is still so angry and upset over the loss of his camera, I know it may sound silly to some of you, as you have said ' we are all OK and thats the main thing'

BUT...................this is a man who was an ice climber and mountaineer, who has climbed every mountain in the UK, a outdoor man who loves all things 'wild and windy' the sea, the mountains and the moors around us.

As he has lost the ability over the past year or so to walk, climb, run and even pootle about for any length of time becuase of his joints and the terrible lack of energy, he has spent many hours trying to find something to do as a hobby.

A couple of months ago this macro photography came into his head..................he bought his camera, lenses and loads of other bits and hasn't looked back since, he drives me mad sometimes with the 'whats this dear'................eye of an ant <_< or 'here, come and look at this one'.......leg of a spider :o

So in losing his camera and the ability to keep himself doing something he loves , he's slipped back into the 'down in the mouth mode' and 'cant sit still for 5 minutes' or rest mode.

Hopefully we should be able to get another one next month if we are very careful. Willows.

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Last night a envelope was posted through our door ( sometime around 2 am)

In this was a piece of paper with the typed words on;

From a friend...................please replace the camera, plus ?500 + in cash.

We do not know who this was from as not all the village know of the burglary, we feel it more than likely to be from one of my hubby's old mountaineering pals or from one of the many photographers he has been exchanging photo's with on the net ( some of them know our address now)

My hubby didn't quite know what to do or say...........he still cant believe how someone could be so generous to him, so thoughtful and kind to do this .

You see we couldnt claim on our insurance policy for the camera, as we had not included this item ( total costing over ?1000) in the individual section, and as we are both retired and on our pensions, although I write for a living, at present I ( we ) have no extra money floating about for this replacement cost at this time, and more than likely for sometime to come.

The police have now discovered more and more 'walk ins' in the area ............... the police say that the way this group act is to make out that people are 'posting leaflets through your door ' if caught , they claim they are just 'looking for you'............clever or what ! :)

Willows.

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Guest tearose

What a wonderful surprise!

I hope it won't be long before hubby is taking photos again.

I think he should go around the neighborhood snapping pictures of surly people with leaflets in their hands. :) ....maybe muggins can scare those leaflet degenerates away.

best regards, tearose

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What a terrible ordeal! Thank heavens everyone in your family is ok.

A number of years ago, our house was burglarized. You really feel violated knowing that someone uninvited entered your home and stole your belongings. I was ready to move out of our house which was only a couple years' old at the time.

Here is a suggestion: Put a piece of wood or a steel rod in the track of your sliding door from the inside. That way, someone on the outside cannot easily force himself/herself in.

I am convinced though, that if some one wants to get in, he(she) will.

Hope the police can figure this out.

Lois

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Guest tearose

Willows, any luck with the links to door alarms?

Maybe the wooden pole in the bottom of the door is working well enough.

Hope hubby started looking for a replacement camera and is feeling better.

best wishes, tearose

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Hubby ( oh wisw one :) ) has been looking into the door alarms so I'm not sure what he is doing at this time as I seem to be one of these sleep, sleep and more sleep weeks.............. :(

But thank you kind person for the information on the subject :)

Personally I think a 12 foot crocodile on a chain in our pond would be a better preventive measure for would be burgerlers , but the cost of the food for the thing excludes us from getting one .....although I hear that 'man traps' are now on the increase and I've just dig a huge pit in the garden and covered it with sticks and leaves. ;)

I'll get the next one who thinks they can take our stuff.

Willows. B)

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Peace heavenly peace, is now once again in the willow household as hubby is out in the jolly old garden with his 'new replacement camera'..................Ah :rolleyes:

Now I'm wondering what he will do with it tonight at bedtime :unsure: hope he doesn't bring it to bed with him.

Last time he brought something to bed I woke up with the handle of the toilet stuck to the cheeck of my bottom :blink:

He sleep walks at night and had been up to the loo , broken the handle off the system and somehow he managed to bring it back to bed .

Not the sort of thing you think you'll find at 4 a.m. in the morning stuck to you :P

MMMMMMMmmmmmm we'll see...........willows.

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Willows, thank you for sharing your story. It gave me a wake-up call. Now that the weather is warmer, many strangers walk our streets with flyers, etc. Your message has changed my and hubby's behavior. I won't even go out to pull weeds now without locking the door and taking a key along. I also take more care to shut the overhead garage door and always lock the car doors if they are parked outside in the drive.

A few nights ago, I saw a cop driving very slowly down our street. I stopped him to ask what he was doing. He told me that 2 young men had gone through the neighborhood the night before. One was driving and one was riding on the hood of the car. The diver would pull up in a driveway, the boy would jump off the hood, try car doors and if one was unlocked take everything loose, hand it in the window, jump back on the hood, and on to the next driveway. As they progressed through the neighborhood, the driver threw anything they did not want out the window. The cop was cruising, looking for discarded things, collecting them, and returning them to the owners.

So people are out there, looking for opportunities all the time. We are being more careful. I am happy that your hubs has a new camera. How nice to get that envelop under the door!

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Thanks for your reply Michiganjan...............unusual name ?

You must be in the USA as we dont get cops driving around here like that, we are lucky , being such a small village if we see one in a blue moon..................except..................when they want to make some money for police funding.

Then they sit for hours with a speed gun hiding on the outskirts of our village just before the national speed limit of 60 miles an hour, waiting for someone to be 'just ' over the speed limit.

Our local vicars daughter came out of the village in her 'little car' doing 32 miles an hour...........the speed limit is 30, she was ticketed <_< which in my book is just so stupid.

If they can afford police to stand and do this for hours on end why cant they have a policeman on foot patrol every few days going around our village.

Well hope your house is safe, ours is like fort knocks here now. Willows.

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  • 1 month later...

Now that the village has become aware of the walk in villains who will stop at nothing to 'nick' something, the local neighbourhood watches are being more alert to the problem, and have set about informing all inhabitants of our wonderful little village of the distress it as caused to a member .

Yesterday we received a letter from them informing us that a resident of our street ( that resident being us ) was broken into while they were upstairs in the house and a number of items were taken ....................including a valuable camera :rolleyes: talk about 'Chinese whispers' !!!!!!!!!

We hubby has another new and 'interesting' strategy to add to the 'anyone come in my house again' syndrome...............as the weather has been so hot and I've been a bit unwell and unable to sleep , he's taken to sleeping downstairs in the front window opening of the lounge , where its cool .............in the 'natural state ' :unsure: if you get my meaning ?

So burglars beware as hubby is a very light sleeper when downstairs , and you are libel for a bit of a shock if you attempt to enter the house ..........................unless you want to be greeted by a stark naked man wildly brandishing a walking stick his glasses askew ......................not a pretty sight :angry:

Willows.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If any of you would like to see jus what hubby's been up to with his new camera , take a look at this link to his macro web site;

But be warned its a spider and very close up , I found it on my washing yesterday and well...........you have to read what he said ...............huh! men , dont we just love them !!!!!

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=191633

Willows.

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  • 4 months later...

Well .........................the story continues, as you may or may not know my husband gave up ice climbing and mountaineering because he now has ; Fibromyalgia, M.E. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome , only one hand and the other one is giving him problems :lol:

So the idea was he would choose a new hobby , he started off with a small cheap digital camera which came from one of those electrical stores , just to learn the ropes.

He then bought the camera which was stolen ..............this was replaced and he has been doing some wonderful shots in MACRO anything with more than two legs is ponced on OMG the spiders are gross.

NOW ..................on christmas day Mark is in for the surprise of his life.

He has for sometime been literally drooling over a SLR camera which keeps being advertised on the telly..................want to know a secret :D ?????

I've manged to get him not only this but a macro lens , flash and other bits as well :) he thinks I'm going to put some money into an envelope for him , so he can start to save for it ................. :lol::lol::) .

So on Christmas morning at about 9 am if you here a scream of 'OMG ..........and a yipppppeeeeeee' coming from the west country you'll know he's found it .

We all have our off days and moan about our 'other half's' at time's, but all said and done they are the one's who bare the brunt of all our everyday illnesses and problems, so this is my way of giving him a big 'thank you dear' mind you he's having no birthday or fathers day from my son or I until next year , so he wont feel to guilty .

I cant wait to see his face ........ bet he gets all emotional and cries :lol: ........hopefully this will make up for all the summer when he had camera problems.........................please no more spiders !

Willows.

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Willows,

That is a very thoughtful and great gift idea...I bet he is going to enjoy it! :(

Jacquie

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