Up Close & Personal

The Cat is now officially fed up being my model...

I have had great fun this weekend playing with the "new" functions on my camera. They are not new at all. I just didn't know my camera despite having had it for about 4 years... Well, this is one of the "side effects" of having started this blog - I have become really keen on taking pictures again ;-)

Another not so pleasant up-close-&-personal encounter is that I woke up this morning to find the garden gate wide open. There is no way I can open it myself from outside. But somebody has... some time between 11.30 pm and 7.30 am... I tiptoed out in my nightgown and saw that they have been to at least two other neighbours' gardens as their gates were also wide open. It doesn't look like they have broken in anywhere, but the upsetting thing is that I slept (on the 2nd floor) with the windows wide open and heard NOTHING! We were broken in to last summer in broad daylight and had an alarm installed in the house so I am not afraid even if I was alone last night, but I am very ANGRY!

I am getting on with the task of having a new and better garden door installed!

Some tips:

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  Don't leave any garden tools out that can be used to force open windows/doors
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  Don't draw all the curtains shut as it makes the house look un occupied
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  I keep the garden light on in the night to remove the advantage of working unseen and so I can see if there is anybody "lurking" about
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  Have an alarm installed. Most of the time they don't bother if they see an alarm - but not always as a friend of mine experienced...
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  We have sliding patio doors and I had a piece of wood cut that I put in the little sliding groove when the door is shut. This way the door can only be opened 5-10 cm even if they have managed to break the lock.
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  Don't keep your keys hanging in the lock on the inside. We have a letteropening in our front door and some might try to get the keys by putting their hands through this opening.