Hi Crumpet
Years ago in Scotland we had a break-in. My parents heard noises downstairs (two storey house) My dad (elder ), grabbed the shotgun from under his bed, (lol unloaded). He ran downstairs to confront the thief who made out through the window with mum's handbag, dad chased him down the street in his Y-fronts, with the shotgun, hehe, but lost him. Meanwhile my I was woken up by the banshee's wailing, my mum yelling ring the police, as she dialed 999, I rang over the top of her and disconnected the call.... the "poliss" eventually got there! Long story short, no burgler found, one broken window, we all felt violated.
I live now in a small town in NSW, Australia, and I'm in a rural setting. I feel safe to leave the doors unlocked at all times, even when I go out. Crime is around, but not rampant. A couple of years back we were in Sydney and I foolishly left the mobile phone in the car still plugged in the the charger. We returned to find the car window smashed and the phone gone.......rang the police and reported the event, all done over the phone. End of story.
Tij......(you owe me an email!).........I remember staying at a friends from work, on the second floor, 12am my parents arrived and started smashing down the door to rescue their daughter. She was mortified cause she said everyone in the close would be talking about her