Apologies for the slightly worrying subject name but this short (hurrah I hear) post is just about home alarm systems - well mine in particular - and at least I got your attention !
My system has just had its annual service (Methodist in case you're wondering) and Matt, or maybe Mark as he muttered his name on arrival, left a few minutes ago. Now I don't know how many of you know this, but like a lot of people, I had my system installed a few days AFTER I was burgled !
Yes, yes, I do know it's a lot better to do things the other way round but let's face it, one was my choice and the other certainly wasn't. If I hadn't been burgled, I'd probably not have an alarm system today.......human nature being what it is.
Anyway, one morning about 15 years ago I came downstairs to find all my kitchen cupboard doors wide open. I can tell you it was a "Sixth Sense" sort of moment and it's proof of how movies play a bigger role in my life than crime as I immediately thought.........dead people ! With none around at the time that I could see or who owned up, my next thought was why did I open all those doors before going to bed ?!
Finally it sank in that I'd not been visited by unhappy dead people. Nor had I come down for a midnight feast and couldn't decide what to have. No, I'd had visitors of a different sort and as this knowledge sank in, I have to say I went through a series of emotions from shock, through disbelief to mounting anger. I checked around and thankfully very little had been taken......in fact I couldn't see that anything had been taken. Had I been visited by the notorious Irish Burglars ??!! A lot of my cds had been thrown around the living room but clearly the invaders hadn't thought enough of my musical tastes to take any !
It was disbelief that lasted the longest as I'm a very light sleeper and if anyone had told me that one or more people would break into my house while I was asleep, I'd have told them it couldn't possibly happen. But it had. Then something hit me like a blow to my naughty bits. I went outside and sure enough there was a space where my car had been. They might not have taken anything from inside the house but they'd taken my most valuable possession from outside !
Ok so they'd taken the car keys from inside the house but let's not be picky and ruin the plot here.
Anyway, long story short, I got my car back a few days later when it was found abandoned and undamaged nearby (when the petrol ran out, so did the fun) and I had the locks changed on both it and the house doors.
It was THEN I thought about having an alarm system fitted as clearly I was a heavier sleeper than I thought. Those few nights spent between the break in and having the alarm fitted were the worst of my life. I hardly slept a wink as we're always warned that thieves tend to return so I didn't waste much time. I had motion sensors fitted all over the place and felt particularly happy about the tiny personal/panic alarm box fitted at the side of my bed as I'd already decided that if I DID hear intruders in the house while I was in bed, I'd not be taking up my baseball bat (bought partly for that reason as well as a nice US souvenir) and charging downstairs like some sort of domestic Rambo. Oh no, you never know how many there might be and if they'd be armed to the teeth.
Burglars hate noise, so having the alarm go off would be enough to have them on the run and nothing in this house is worth me getting bashed over the head for.....even my John Denver's Greatest Hits Limited Edition Box Set.
So when Matt, known as Mark, looked like he was packing up to go, I reminded him he'd not asked me to go to my bedroom (stop that now....I'm only on the basic cover) and activate the panic button as part of the test/service. He apologised and said it's because so few people have that part of the system installed these days that he forgot in my case.
I couldn't believe it as, like anyone else who has actually experienced a break-in will tell you, peace of mind is paramount and having the ability to activate the alarm from your bed is wonderful. He said they've actually been asked to remove the tiny box, about 2.5 inches square, from existing installations because the people don't like the look of them.....maybe before having the room redecorated or something !
WHAT !!!???!!!!
I hope those people never have to know what it's like to wake up at 2am to noises downstairs and experience that stomach churning feeling. You can talk big and say you'd grab something heavy (no not your half asleep partner) and charge down the stairs like a rogue elephant to protect your loved ones and loved belongings. You wouldn't do it in most cases. Why would you.....not knowing if a gang of drugged up , tattoo covered airheads were fixing tuna sannies in your kitchen using machetes to cut the bread ?!
No, I love my panic button. I love to press it once a year during the annual service. I love the deafening noise the inside and outside alarms make when I do so.
I love sleeping well at night.
1 comment:
I'm glad to hear the break in wasn't worse - I've heard that many burglars love to smear .. um ... dirt ... around the place, and break things and toss flour and oil and baked beans all over the kitchen. AND that you got your car back. We did, too, when ours was stolen off the driveway.
We had an alarm system fitted - like yours, a monitored one - when we had all the improvements to the house done. They didn't break in to get the car keys, probably because of it.
We keep the indoor horn off, because it would drive the dogs insane if it went off when we were out and we'd come home to that 'dirt' smeared everywhere, except it wouldn't be the burglar who had done it. HE'D probably run off when he heard the demented howling of two large dogs being driven insane by the alarm system.
I think a good monitored alarm system is as good a deterrent as any. I believe, and hope, that the fact that a moderately loud beeping which sounds when the alarm is activated would be enough to convince them to leave pronto.
And we do have that panic button. I can't think why anyone would refuse it - ours is neatly hidden behind a bedside cabinet. Within reach, but out of sight.
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