I hate stealing, and I hate people who steal. It goes against everything I believe in.
Many years back, I bought three of these plastic 'trugs', they were reasonably cheap, very useful, and perfect for the kitchen garden. One of them was always kept at Haddock's.
Yesterday morning I was weeding my beans, and turned round to where the trug permanently sat, and it was no longer there! Some thieving bastard had stolen it, and emptied it's previously held weeds on the ground. In the country we are so used to trusting people that such things are never locked away, but sadly some people can't resist their urges.
OK, it's nothing of great value, but it belonged to ME, and it'll now be ME who forks-out to replace it; not dissimilar to paying for our smashed water meter.
I wrote recently that we will soon have to lock things away, due to the influx of tourists in our tiny hamlet. Well it seems as if that day has already arrived, and, frankly, I'm not surprised. I'm certain that we can expect much more of this kind of thing in the future.
So, whoever you are, enjoy my trug, and if I ever find out who you are, be warned; I'm not someone you'd want to know when I'm angry!
Did I mention how much I detest thieves?
Not guilty Your Honour. What a pain. Since moving to civilisation I am more careful although we have not had a problem. On our piece of Paradise up north everything was trust.
ReplyDeleteThis is the third time things have gone missing from Haddock's. A knife and a garden fork were stolen; but both eventually returned. And now this. It's unpleasant not knowing who you can trust.
DeleteDisgraceful, you would have thought they could have taken the weeds away too.
ReplyDeleteAdding insult to injury; thieves these days have no morals!
DeletePerhaps Boo Boo borrowed it for his toys when he was in a hurry.
ReplyDeleteThat was amongst my first thoughts, but sadly no. Someone's nicked it.
DeleteIt seems a very odd thing to take.
DeleteOdd, but useful. Maybe they filled it with my apples before running off.
DeleteA sad refection of our times, there seems to be a number of people who will steal anything.
ReplyDeleteI share your hatred of thieves. And liars, although they tend to be the same people?
We've lived here for 47 years, never locked our doors, or taken the keys from the car. It's very sad that all that will now have to change. We have no idea who is around any more.
DeleteIf it's not nailed down...
ReplyDeleteSadly that is so. Nails at the ready!
DeletePerhaps permanent marker with 'This belongs to and your name' might have been a deterent on such an item. But you are absolutely correct that times they are, or already have, changed.
ReplyDeleteIt was quite an old trug that I used to use many years ago for grape picking etc, and it was marked so I knew which was mine at the end of each day. Sadly not with name etc, but if I saw it again I would know at once that it was mine!
DeleteThey also invaded a space that is yours. We've had experience of this - a low-life coming over a hedge from the lane, walking up our long garden, breaking the door (not just the catch/lock) on our big shed, but just finding run of the mill garden tools and a lawn mower that had seen better days. He left through a side gate, leaving it open, went around my neighbours, broke into a summer house, found nothing, and was never seen again. All in one very moonlit night, when I was here alone and asleep. It's very unnerving.
ReplyDeleteThat's dreadful. I'm afraid that garden tools and machines have now become a target for thieves. They'll steal anything. I've just replied to a comment above by Rachel, and the more I think about it, the more I think it could be what happened. Someone possibly saw my Apple tree loaded with fruit, and stole the trug to carry them away. It's as good a theory as any.
DeleteIt leaves an uncomfortable feeling to know that someone has been looking around your home to steal things. A few years back we awoke to find that the row of small solar lamps we use to guide us down our drive at night had been stolen. They left the stalk of one that they apparently couldn't lift from the ground, plus the one nearest to the house as we presume the security light would have triggered at that point.
ReplyDeleteLike your trug, it was nothing of value that had been stolen but I felt quite sick for some time afterwards.
Yes, it's a horrible feeling knowing that someone has been creeping around. If (as I now believe) it was someone wishing to take Apples, I just wish they'd have come to ask for some; I'd have given them all they wanted, plus something to carry them home in.
DeleteWhen my parents came to visit when I first moved into this house in 1990 they couldn't believe that we left the kids' bikes on our driveway. I was stunned to think we shouldn't. I NEVER lock my front or back garage doors either. I'm having my heating system replaced at the moment and when the workmen went off for lunch yesterday they left all their (very expensive) tools lying around my driveway and the garage door open. I thought that might be tempting fate so I put them all back in the garage and shut the door just in case. I now also lock the front door if I'm in the back garden - shame though isn't it!
ReplyDeleteBack in the UK, I wouldn't even leave the cat flap open; the whole country is full of thieves.
DeleteI think corporal punishment would be an appropriate punishment for the thief. How very dare they.
ReplyDeleteA damned good thrashing! And another the following day!
DeleteThat would infuriate me, especially because of its practical value. (We love our gardening items that we use every year, don't we?). -Jenn
ReplyDeleteIt's infuriating on so many levels, and so unnecessary.
DeleteWhen this has happens to me, I feel such a disappointment in people. Why, I ask, would someone want to hurt another for an item of little consequence. When large items (tires off my car), are taken, I get furious and frightened that a crime like that had happened to me. Thievery has always been part of society and some are done in desperation but most are done from selfishness and greed and complete disregard for the rights of others.
ReplyDeleteI think 'disappointment' is the right word; one loses faith in one's fellow man.
DeleteThe trouble is that this kind of incident when it affects oneself does mean that a distrust of people tends to build up and this is such a shame.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it's because Haddock's is away from the house that it tempts people. I can't really lock the gate; I'll just have to bring everything back to the house at night.
DeleteFile a report with the local gendarmerie. They'll maybe increase patrols in your area. O I forgot, they're too busy.
ReplyDeleteWhat Gendarmerie? We NEVER see any.
DeleteWhen we bought a new washing machine a couple of years ago, they delivered and connected it to the existing water feeds, so after a while we put the new hoses that came with the machine in the dustbin. A few days later (before the dustbin was emptied) we were puzzled to see they had gone.
ReplyDeleteThey are probably now part of someone's shower unit.
DeleteI am still discovering - and re-buying - tools that were stolen from me. Sometimes it makes me want to give up.
ReplyDeleteIt's depressing, even though my trug only cost a few €'s; no doubt your tools cost an awful lot more.
DeleteThe Irish say, May his spade never dig, may his sow never pig, may his door have no latch, may his roof have not thatch
ReplyDeleteAnd so on and so forth.
That's how I feel about such people... may they rot in hell.
Delete