Once upon a time the house where we live might have been the site domain of one family unit.
These days it is split into three separate apartments. As is the limited area outside, which in very German style is divided up between the three apartments in a fairly ordered fashion.
Our bit comprises what would be space to park a very small car if we had one, and at the back of the house a small uncovered area - home to my wife's potted plants - and a small covered area which contains a device for hanging washing (almost impossible to describe the contraption without a photo) and is also used by my wife to park her bicycle (or used to - the relevance of that comment will become clear in the next few minutes).
The other residents also have their odd bits and pieces outside, bicycles seem to be the in-thing here and the young guy who lives alone in the top apartment with his young son often leaves his kid's toys and the like outside.
The front is fenced off by a metal barrier, which a very fit young person might get over with considerable difficulty and a gate that is invariably locked. Not the easiest place to get in, and why would you bother?
Thieves are people with an often weird set of values, though.
Yesterday evening between 1800 and 1900 (6 PM and 7 PM if you must), at least two villains decided that it was our night for an uninvited visit.
Quite how they got in is an interesting question.
Looks like they did not try to enter the house (too many locks to get near anything valuable) and stole what seems to be a fairly modest series of items - three pairs of jeans (one of which would have been replaced a long time ago if we could have afforded it), and two of my wife's tee-shirts. These items had been hanging out to dry as had a pair of her trousers that they dropped in the pouring rain outside the front door when leaving
And then there were her bicycle and the one of the young man in the top flat, the only things resembling anything close to valuable that they took.
The curious thing is though that they then forced an entry in the garden of a house further down the road, and stole a bicycle that was there, leaving behind my wife's instead. Two discussions with the police later, and we had the bicycle back.
You know though how bad your life has got when thieves decide that the items that they have stolen from you are not worth keeping! Meanwhile my wife's bicycle has made its way to its new home in the cellar. Which will require two extra locks to be broken the next time someone thinks that it is not worth stealing!
No comments:
Post a Comment