Wednesday
The other day Mike was in the back garden and he noticed some plastic in one of our trees. “Hmm,” he thought, “I wonder if that is the wind or something more suspicious.” Today, now the rain has finally stopped, he took a ladder out and clambered up to take a closer look. On inspection, he discovered that a long strip of old plastic had been purposefully tied around a branch. It’s so strange when a ‘marker’ is put in place by a thief. They have been intentional about marking our home as a potential port of call and have placed a guideline to where the best place is to get onto the property.
There were no fresh footprints the other side of the wall and it looks like this may have been put there a while ago, but today Mike jumped into action. He will not sleep until he has done something to prevent access. He went and bought some of this stuff….
And carefully positioned it where someone scaling over the wall would unhappily get snagged by an unexpected hazard. Hidden in the tree so it’s not an eyesore.
Our wedding anniversary, 9th August, is the day that, two years ago the first of our spate of burglaries happened. As we approach that date and we have the benefit of two years hindsight, there are a few of things about them that I feel have changed.
- I’m not afraid. At the time, we were caught off-guard and unprepared, resulting in us scrambling to secure our very vulnerable property. I was scared. Our house was so easy to get into and we had no idea as to the violent potential of these thieves. We lay awake at night listening. Now we are not quite Fort Knox, but with lots of additional security measures in place, we feel comfortable.
- We still remain vigilant. When beggars come calling, Mike only ever speaks to them over the fence. I’m aware of him being outside and keep an eye out and ear open. He never gives money – is always polite. We are careful to alarm the house when we are out. We are careful when returning home to keep a look out for any people hanging about.
- Living with compromise. I’m a great one for following the news and seeing what is happening elsewhere in the world. Crime is everywhere. Everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. You can be in the wrong place at the wrong time and your life can be cut short by a drug filled criminal whose brain lacks any form of conscience. If you are to live in South Africa today, you need to protect yourself – that is one of the compromises. It’s not a safe society and while it’s not 100% safe anywhere on the planet, the increase of crime and the frequency of it in this country leads to the need for extreme vigilance. It is what it is and for me, to live in Cape Town, it’s worth the compromise. We are hardwired now to be careful and if we went anywhere else in the world, we would do the same.
Point 1 is most important. I don’t live in fear.
This blog is really early because Julian arrives early and we will be doing the airport run earlier than usual and we can enjoy the evening off. I’ve been doing some work. Also nipped over to Echo to open up for the cleaner and trimmed some bushes while I waited. I helped Mike a little with the barbed wire.
Job 34:21
For His eyes are on the ways of man, and He sees all His steps.
These are the days.
Keep the smile going.
God bless you.
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂
Gym
I haven’t been to gym yet, but I may go down in a short while.
Braces:
Day 253. My bottom teeth are moving – I’ve got mouth ulcers from braces nicking my lower cheeks. Need teejel! 😀