Christmas, family, friends, fieds, oh and a burglary...

[the_leander]

Yes it has passed, that glorious time of year, where family come together to meet up and discuss the year over enough food to feed perhaps twice the amount of people at the table...

Only this year, at least for me it wasn't quite what I wanted, the conversation was of my Parents ever more embittered divorce, the food though nice, left a sour taste in my mouth...

And then, on the 27th at 11:30pm GMT, I got a phone call from my father in law - our house had been burgled whilst me and my wife were in Plymouth (we live in Sheffield).. Not much was taken, but even so...

So all in all, this year for me has ended on a pretty {bleep}ty note, Cecilia, the darling that she is, has been kind enough to buck me up a bit and get me to see a silver lining (in that no one was hurt and not a great deal was stolen)... (I don't think I've thanked her for that, but then how can I adiquately thank her for putting up with my ramblings?)

I admit I was livid when I first found out, but after a walk around Plymouth's city centre a few days after getting that call, I had what I can only describe as an ipifiny (sorry spellings a bit off I know). A moment of pure clarity, in which I realised that the anger was useless, and that I should move on... With a few relapses into wishing inordinate amounts of harm to befall the ba$stard son's of motherless whoremongers who broke in.. I've pretty much decided to accept it.

As for the divorce, well tbh I can see this doing my mother a great amount of harm emotionally and physically... I'm hoping for another one of those moments to strike...

Here's hoping that this new year is better then the last  :pint:

[that_punk_guy]

Bummer, dude. But I'm glad to see the glass is half-full.

Epiphany, I believe. :-)

[gizz72]

Greetings Leander,

Bummer! What a way to start the year. Anyway, just be thankful there was no one harmed during the burglary and friends willing to help. :pint:

Cheers!

Gizz72

[Wilse]

@The_Leander:

Sorry to hear that mate. Hope things pick up for you soon.

[the_leander]

well so far looking through all that was nicked we've worked out that we've lost about £1200's worth of gear... and thats still rising as we go to get things that are no longer there...

I think the most irritating thing so far is that when they took my missus's wallet they also took (unbeknownst to them) my son's milk tokens... which took some time for me to chill out about..

And for reasons best known to themselves, they also took most of the frozen food out of the freezer... very odd.

[Vincent]

Sorry to hear about it, a break in is a bad thing, but even worse at Christmas :-(

And for reasons best known to themselves, they also took most of the frozen food out of the freezer... very odd.

Would you want to go out shopping for food after a hard day's work? :-P

(couldn't resist that, sorry :-D)

[bloodline]

Vincent wrote:
Sorry to hear about it, a break in is a bad thing, but even worse at Christmas :-(

And for reasons best known to themselves, they also took most of the frozen food out of the freezer... very odd.

Would you want to go out shopping for food after a hard day's work? :-P

(couldn't resist that, sorry :-D)

A Scotsman who knows the word "Work"!?!?!

(couldn't resist that, sorry :-D)

[Vincent]

:lol:

I know the word, I just don't do it :-P

[redrumloa]

Sorry to hear about your break in and other troubles. A couple years ago the same thing happened to me, the only difference is they broke in while we were all home and sleeping. They didn't get too much. My wallet with ~$50, a digital camera, a nextel phone, that's about it. What it did do was make me a raging f***ing bull, took me probably a month to calm down. It happened X-mas morning, Dec 26 I spent the day mounting motion sensor flood lights all arround my houuse. I still get angry thinking about it :pissed:

[the_leander]

And just when we'ed pinned down just what was taken - I found something else that is gone - my beloved Apple Newton message pad 120... So we're now up to £1700.

[bloodline]

the_leander wrote:
And just when we'ed pinned down just what was taken - I found something else that is gone - my beloved Apple Newton message pad 120... So we're now up to £1700.

You insured the Newton for £500 :-o You can get a lovely new VGA iPAQ for that and still have change! :-D

-Edit- I'll bet the guy who stole the Newton is really pissed off :-) look around the local canals you my find it discarded...

[the_leander]

Its based on new for old insurance - remember that they want the price not for the item itself, but for a direct replacement that is available today... which is where I get the figure I just produced.

If I could get a brand new Message Pad for a fraction of that then I would - the insurance company won't even look at supplying money for a second hand piece of kit as they are liable should something break on it.

[bloodline]

http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/hardware/pdaandhandhelds/productView.htm?quicklinx=380L

That's yer puppy!!

[the_leander]

The wierdest and perhaps the coolest thing has just happened as a result of all this - the guy downstairs just popped around to see how we were going, now this alone may well have warrented a post but this was even more extraordinary - he'd got hold of our old door before the council replaced it, and stripped off every last piece of brass, the door handles, the letter box, hell the locks and bolts, everything!

I've now got a bag with enough brass to keep the brasso company going for quite a while.. I'm tempted to repaint the new door to match the old one and refit the brass fittings onto it...

I know it may seem a bit sad, but that kinda touched me :-)

Going to have to get them a bottle of wine or something as a thankyou :-)

What a wonderful day this is turning out to be!

[PMC]

That's what I meant in my pmail about you being an ispiration Leander.  I'd be furious and no doubt wanting to Black & Decker the kneecaps & elbows of the perpetrator/s to the pavement.

If the food's gone then it's either someone hungry or someone too lazy / skint to shop.  Possibly some skag head or something, trying to sell whatever they can to feed their habit?

Meanwhile the Police will be focussing on punishing every single speeding motorist with the full weight of the law, so less serious offences like burglary or assault which require actual detective work and possibly more paperwork too are ignored.  

I hate to troll (yes, am guilty as charged) on about these things and get all down on society, but I take a great deal of comfort in your ability to get your anger go.  I wish I was able to do the same.  So I'll end this post on a very positive note by saying it's an inspiration that someone can have {bleep} befall them, but remain optimistic.  

:pint: