Slow painting

Saturday 3 April 2010

Again


Arriving at the plot on Sunday, it took us a few moments to realise that although the shed door was bolted shut, the padlock wasn't to be seen, and the ring that it had been fastened to had been cut off. Yes, another shed break-in. This time we were one of about 20 sheds to be 'done'. Inside, everything was very tidy, except that our petrol strimmer was gone.

This is the second strimmer we've lost to theft, and I suppose it means we'll have to keep the replacement in the garage at home. For me this is less than ideal, as the garage is where we hang clothes to dry on a pulley when it's too wet to use the outside clothes line. Having made it through 19 years of children's washing without a tumble drier, I'm not about to cave in now. So either I have to reconcile myself to a faint odour of petrol around the clothes (my husband swears he can't smell anything), or we risk having the new strimmer stolen.

Annoying.

14 comments:

Peggy said...

Hi Linda, sorry to read about the break in, allotments seem to be targeted for theft as more people become aware that things are there for the taking especially power tools like yours.
I have to say I don't smell the petrol from them either!

Kris said...

Sorry for your loss. What's an honest soul to do these days? Last winter someone broke my shed lock too and gone unnoticed for days. I was so upset, then saw that nothing was taken. I guess my 'stash' was of such poor quality - a mixed blessing, to be sure. :-|

L. D. said...

My father in law's house is abandoned and had a lock on it. Someone came cut the lock off, helped themselves and then put their lock on the door. Yes, they left their lockcutters behind too. People? They are all alike all over the world.

Jo said...

I totally sympathise with you, it makes my blood boil to read of thefts on allotments. I debated whether to get a shed or not on my plot, but decided against it as I wouldn't leave any tools in it anyway. If only the punishments fitted the crime, they might think twice then.

Johnny said...

Hello, sorry to hear about the break in. Our shed at saughton allotments has been broken into twice in the last year. We've actually stopped locking it because we felt it was a waste of time. According to the police they're looking for power tools so best not to store anything of any value on site. Personally, I think they're looking for something homegrown and it aint veggies.
But, check out local car boot sales, you never know where your strimmer might turn up.

Jacqui said...

What a shame Linda - it always seems to be at this time of year too. Hugs.

donna said...

Oh, Linda, I'm so sorry. I always hoped that wouldn't happen to your shed. You know how I luv it. Dirty, rotten thief/thieves.

The photo is great...if only it wasn't your padlock that was cut.

donna

Pat said...

I'm so sorry to hear of the break-ins at your allotment. Being an American, I'm curious about what an "allotment" is. Is it a community area where you can have your own individual garden plot? Sounds like a great idea, but it's a shame about the proliferation of 8th commandment-breakers.

Thanks for stopping by by blog.

Neil Allison said...

What about hiding your new strimmer at the back of the shed, and having a dud on show for next time the thieves break in? :)

Anonymous said...

What a pain ... so annoying!!!!

We're in the process of getting land for allotments in the area where i live. One of the things we are constantly discussing is security!

Sylvana said...

Can you hide the strimmer in the shed? Under the floorboards or behind a fake panel/wall?

The Allotment Blogger said...

How rotten! I'm so sorry this has to happen to you. Have you reported it to the police?

Linda said...

The sympathy of fellow bloggers goes some way towards dulling the pain of the stolen strimmer. The annoying thing was that it WAS well hidden. The thieves seemed to know just where to look.

Sylvana, we could think about a false wall - if we ever get round to it! Meantime the new strimmer is safely in the garage at home.

Lynda, I hope you manage to get some good security in place for your site, but I don't think anything can be 100% certain.

The Allotment Blogger: the 20 break-ins were reported to the police, but there's very little they can do.

PurestGreen said...

I live in a flat and behind this building there is a huge bit of unused space that would make the perfect communcal garden. However the knowledge that anything I start would be ruined by vandals is what keeps me from even trying. It makes me sad.