Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Burglars aren't what they used to be ...

Sunday morning was going to be a nice gentle ride with He who shall remain nameless. I was just waking up when I received a message informing me that He would be late as they had had an attempted burglary. Although we do live in a crime ridden environment it still isn't an everyday affair so it was a relief that everyone was fine and the would be burglar was languishing in jail.

During the ride the whole story came out bit by bit. It started at 04:00 with the fence alarm going off and loud noises at the door or window. He, obviously, called the security company and the cops and they arrived in due course to catch the miscreant who was still on the property. They knew this because He had re-armed the fence and it hadn't gone off again but after 30 minutes of searching they couldn't find him and this is not a big piece of ground we're talking about here. The mystery of the vanishing burglar was resolved as dawn broke and he could be seen perched on the top of the water tower - an ingenious place to hide but one entirely lacking in an escape route.
An hours worth of trying to get him down was eventually brought to an end by the promise of a cigarette which he gratefully accepted and started to climb down. It took him an inordinate amount of time to climb down and the reason for this became clear when he reached the ground and picked up his crutches and hobbled over to get his cigarette. I had to concentrate on staying on my bicycle at this point as images of the burglar gaping it over the veld with a TV on one shoulder, crutches flying ... You get the picture I'm sure.

By now, He - the would be victim, was starting to feel quite sorry for the burglar and asked the burglar what he was trying to steal. The burglar didn't really know but said that he was really hoping to get shot in which case he would've ended up in hospital. At least there are beds there and food every day but it gives you an indication just how utterly desperate sections of our society are becoming.

Of course, the burglar could be lying through his crutches but somehow I don't think so. I think that we are going to see more and more people that are utterly destitute in our society and it is incumbent on those of us that have the wealth to spread it around.

1 comment:

Heidi and Darrell Bergesen and kids said...

Perhaps He should have made the burglar happy by shooting him, and then paying for the consequential disability, thus the wealth would have been spread and everyone would have been happy...