I walked out of the door into a lovely morning. and I noticed a chunk of concrete down by one of the cars.

It was about 8 inches by 6 inches and I looked up at the house to try and see whether it had fallen from somewhere.

Nothing.

Then I walked to the top of the driveway to see if there was any clue up there. And at that point I noticed that the MPV’s windscreen was crazed all over, with a rather large hit mark on the passenger side.

I’d heard a noise the previous night and David and Kay thought they heard a noise about 2am. So we think it must have happened at one of those two times.

But really, we’re none the wiser as to when it happened. Or even why!

We also discovered that the back door to the MPV had been stoved in with what looks like a tool (maybe a crow bar?) or something. So it’s looking a little sick at the moment!

Our cars are all quite a bit down the drive and our neighbours whose front car is in line with the edge of the pavement had had no trouble at all.

I’m getting the windscreen replaced but I’m a bit of a loss as to what to do about the door…

It makes you understand why people are anxious to leave cities and live in the countryside.

Tweet This Post  Digg This Post  Stumble This Post 

Kay, my wife was woken about 4:00am in the morning by a noise. She didn’t know what it was so went downstairs to check in the sitting room and kitchen. She looked around and saw nothing. Then she came back upstairs to bed and noticed that 3 fence panels from our drive had been taken away.

Obviously we phoned the police who were sympathetic but obviously held out no hope of getting them back. That’s the downside of living in a fantastic spot to get anywhere – so can thieves.

What had really surprised us was that this yob, or yobs, had taken 3 panels, seemingly at random. Kay then suggested that maybe they’d only taken those three because the others were more difficult to remove from the posts. I check them and of course she was right, the other panels were immovable.

So at least we were spared the annoyance of having to buy 10 panels, rather than 3.

The thing that gets to me about this is that whoever did it obviously thinks that whatever someone else has can be used as if it was theirs to do with what they like. And yet, of course, if someone was to do the same to them they would be angry and incensed that someone had stolen from them.

And with this sort of casual unconcern for others property is it any wonder that people we know who live here are considering moving away?

Anyway, looking on the bright side this area does tend to have lots of police driving past so at least it wasn’t any worse!

Tweet This Post  Digg This Post  Stumble This Post 

Copper thieves broke into the Heaton Park sub-station, about 150 yards from where we live and stole the copper neutral bars on Wednesday last week.

Unfortunately even though they must have made a noise kicking one of the grills in no one was around because of the football match.

Electricity Spikes Start Happening

Around 9pm I noticed that the Internet was no longer available but didn’t think anything of it as that sometimes happens, even on fibre optic cable broadband.

For those who don’t know removing the neutral bars means that you get voltage spikes, and those spikes can damage appliances and other electronic gadgetry.

Anyway, on waking late the next day I realised the radio/alarm was dead, even though the lights still worked. I checked the broadband – still no Internet. So I checked the wireless router – dead as a Dodo. So I went off to Maplin with the router and discovered the power supply had gone to the Great Electronics Store in the Sky. So I bought a new one and went home – to discover United Utilities had turned off the electricity because it wasn’t safe!

Workmen Drop Bombshell About When Electric Returns

When I wandered over to the sub station to ask the workers how long it would be I was told the sorry story and also that we wouldn’t be getting it back for two days, plus even when we got it back the house electric wiring needed testing before they could put supply back on for us!

So…

What Were The Consequences?

Freezers! We needed to empty 2 freezers of food that was going to thaw fast. We also needed light to see by when night came. And of course all my PCs, with all my notes on were completely unavailable. Plus all the phones, which of course are wireless, had their transformers destroyed by the voltage spikes.

So off we went to get lights and a wired phone so we could at least talk to people. My mobile phone gradually lost power and went off so it had to go Kay’s mum to be recharged.

I had to postpone a number of coaching sessions, luckily Hannah was at a sleepover and David stayed with one of his friends which made looking after the rest easier somehow.

Things that Went Pop

Here’s a list of stuff that the voltage spike killed:

• Router and power supply
• Broadband modem and power supply
• 3 wireless phone power supplies
• Combination Oven/ microwave oven
• Oven
• Electric shower
• Doorbells
• Radio Alarm

Yet next door was hardly affected because they’d been on holiday during the spikes and had turned off the electricity at  the plugs. So all their appliances were fine.

Back On The Electric 

We finally got the electricty back late Friday night.

When I came to look at the computers on Saturday I discovered that they were working fine. Unfortunately my Virginmedia broadband modem was dead. When I rang Virgin said that I could get a new one and it would be with me in 5 days. Well it’s Friday and the posts not arrived yet but I’m not holding my breath.

In the meantime I borrowed my next neighbours modem and bought 20 metres of cable to connect the wireless router to my desktop PC.

The reason? The cabled bit of the router was still working but the wireless bit had been destroyed.

Unfortunately I then spent several hours trying to get the cable connection to wrok. I eventually took it back and we discovered that although it tested OK it didn’t actually send data down the line between computers! I got another 20 metres and found the same problem.

So I had to move all my computer equipment near to the first floor entry point for the broadband – the girls bedroom. That means I can’t do anywork after 8pm as they’re in bed.

The good news is that there is a nice warm library where I can type, which has a great Internet connection and where I’m currently sitting typing this.

When I go back shortly I’ve got to sort out why my desktop PC doesn’t display any icons or the taskbar.

It’s fun here in Manchester! 

Tweet This Post  Digg This Post  Stumble This Post 

It’s funny, you think you live in a relatively crime free area.

The suddenly…WHAM!

You get stuff stolen and children threatened and beaten up.

It started when my brand new Walkman mobile went walkies by itself from the house. Hmm…

Then the eldest child (EC) borrowed my brand new replacement phone and unbeknownst to me goes into Manchester to play in the fountains at Picaddilly Gardens. And of course he puts his coat down on the side so the phone doesn’t get wet. The inevitable happens and a yob grabs it and legs it. The EC gives chase and the yob hares of, first ditching the coat. Of course in the first few seconds the phone had gone!

Then that night I inadvertently leave the garage door open. I hear an unusual noise outside and go and investigate. And find two bikes are missing and one is strangely on the other side of our six foot gates. Of course a lout had scrambled up over the gate and half-inched the bikes and put them over the gate. Which must have taken a bit of nerve.

Finally some days later the EC tells us about his friend (she’s a girl) who gotten beaten up by some other girls at Bowker Vale station. We listened politely and thought that sounds a bit excessive.

The later that same day said friend and EC bump into a few more friends in the village and these girls go for the friend. The EC lifts them off and puts them to onside, because they’re girls. Except they’ve got friends too, who are two boys with knives. The EC sees them and wallops them with a punch in the face even though he gets a knife scratch for his trouble.

And did we report any of this to the police?

Well we reported the bikes, and nothing happened.  And with little to no proof about anything else it seemed pointless to report the other stuff.

And so we avoid becoming yet another crime statistic. So that means the number of crimes reported is missing our few. So if we don’t report crimes and there are others like us, does that mean Manchester is a heaving, seething mass of criminals?

Tweet This Post  Digg This Post  Stumble This Post