Burglar alarms
Monday, July 24th, 2006 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lethargic_manI got woken up last night by a bugler burglar alarm going off outside my window a little short of two o'clock. It went on for quarter of an hour, then went off again for another ten minutes shortly after stopping, and possibly for a third time too. When my alarm clock went off this morning, I was so tired I collapsed back into bed... then five minutes later the burglar alarm went off again, for about ten seconds. Well, at least it stopped me falling back asleep again.
What do people here think of burglar alarms? My old landlord in Hendon, Avromi, refused to get one, even after his place had been broken into. He said they don't do any good; they just go off all the time and annoy people. His attitude towards having things stolen is to just buy them back with the insurance.
Now me, I'd prefer not to have the hassle. But I'm not sure an alarm would save me from that. My Grandma's got broken into about ten years ago; the thief somehow squirmed in through the small pane above the (alarmed) French window, and had managed to make off with all her silverware before setting off the motion sensor and triggering her burglar alarm.
OTOH, if I don't get an alarm, well, I've been present in my parents' place during an attempted break-in; my brother's bike also got nicked from the locked garden shed in my parents' place (now they alarm the shed even when the house is occupied, as it was then); there was that time at Avromi's (Avromi came home when the burglar was in my room; he assumed the burglar was me); there was the above incident involving my Grandma; and there was the time a year ago when, during my Friday night meal, there was a lot of banging and bumping from above, which turned out to be the flat upstairs getting burgled. It's not a case of whether I'm unlucky and get burgled; it's more a case of when it's going to happen. I frequently come home and express gratitude that my possessions are still there.
But possibly a burglar alarm is over the top and not worth it, money-wise, for the amount of wealth and goods I have in my place.
So what do you think?
* ObLinguistics: "Burglarised" might be technically correct, but that doesn't stop it being a blot on the language.
As if to prove the point, the shop around the corner is missing its glass front door today: it had a break-in last night.
What do people here think of burglar alarms? My old landlord in Hendon, Avromi, refused to get one, even after his place had been broken into. He said they don't do any good; they just go off all the time and annoy people. His attitude towards having things stolen is to just buy them back with the insurance.
Now me, I'd prefer not to have the hassle. But I'm not sure an alarm would save me from that. My Grandma's got broken into about ten years ago; the thief somehow squirmed in through the small pane above the (alarmed) French window, and had managed to make off with all her silverware before setting off the motion sensor and triggering her burglar alarm.
OTOH, if I don't get an alarm, well, I've been present in my parents' place during an attempted break-in; my brother's bike also got nicked from the locked garden shed in my parents' place (now they alarm the shed even when the house is occupied, as it was then); there was that time at Avromi's (Avromi came home when the burglar was in my room; he assumed the burglar was me); there was the above incident involving my Grandma; and there was the time a year ago when, during my Friday night meal, there was a lot of banging and bumping from above, which turned out to be the flat upstairs getting burgled. It's not a case of whether I'm unlucky and get burgled; it's more a case of when it's going to happen. I frequently come home and express gratitude that my possessions are still there.
But possibly a burglar alarm is over the top and not worth it, money-wise, for the amount of wealth and goods I have in my place.
So what do you think?
* ObLinguistics: "Burglarised" might be technically correct, but that doesn't stop it being a blot on the language.
As if to prove the point, the shop around the corner is missing its glass front door today: it had a break-in last night.
