I arrived at my workshop today to find that thieves had broken into it the hard way. They smashed a toughened glass window, removed the frame, then bent four 3/4 inch steel bars to 90 degrees rather than simply cutting off the door lock to the right side of this photo.
They took all of my power tools, but - and this is a big but - did not touch the pair of bronze sculptures in the same room which were waiting for me to take them away this morning to reinstall at the client's house.
This confirmed two things at once for me.
One was that a small number of nasty cunts make life so difficult for ordinary people who are just trying to get on with their lives without harming others, and the other was that my glass is, indeed, half-full after all.
Yes, it is going to cost me a lot of money that I do not have to repair the workshop and replace the tools so I can carry on making an honest living, but if they had stolen the bronzes it would probably have finished me off for good by bankrupting me.
I am strangely grateful for their incompetence.
Cunts.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't have put it better myself.
DeleteRachel beat me to it
DeleteBeing cheeky, and leapfrogging on Tom's blog . . what's happened to your blog? What did I miss? Cathy
DeleteJust enjoying a break Cathy. You didn't miss anything.
DeleteEnjoy the peace Rachel. ☺
DeleteThat is awful - I am so sorry to learn this. I do hope that you had insurance.
ReplyDeleteNope.
DeleteThat's awful news and what a shocking sight for you. You must have had a near heart attack expecting the to be bronzes gone. Haven't you been robbed before?
ReplyDeleteYes and nope.
DeleteIt seems power tools convert more easily to drugs than do bronze statues.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry. Bastards.
Yes, and they have changed the law here about scrapping metal. It is now difficult to scrap anonymously.
DeleteIt's fucked up that this sort of thing happens. Glad the thieves were too stupid to steal the bronzes.
ReplyDeleteThey will sell my tools for bout one tenth of the cost of replacing them.
DeleteI'm so sorry for you. Glad, though, that the sculptures were not touched. Still, this is a rotten situation.-Jenn
ReplyDeleteIt's not good. I will never be able to trust my workshop again.
DeleteMonstrous. And I always imagine where you live to be a very crime-free gentle place. I'm probably about 100 years out of date. I am glad the bronzes were not taken, but, oh, I'm so sorry for the theft of your tools.
ReplyDeleteIt has always been the same I think. Only the frequency of rural crime has increased. Farms have a real problem these days.
DeleteBastards. A good case for CCTV, and/or some dastardly device that would never make them burgle again! Maybe even a simple recording of a vicious dog set off by outdoor movement.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things they stole was a fake CCTV camera with a red flashing light. My friend had a real one and when he played it back after a break-in, the first and last thing he saw was a bucket going over the lens. The police don't care about CCTV in any case. They don't want to spend the time looking through it and even if they do, they can seldom use the footage as evidence, even if the perpetrators are caught.
DeleteSo sorry to hear this but thank goodness that you still have the bronzes. You seem to be handling all this very well.
ReplyDeleteShort-term it is a good outcome, but long-term it will cause big problems.
DeleteSo sorry, what a bummer! Don't let the bastards beat you down please.
ReplyDeleteI am having to think hard about my future.
DeleteSo sorry to read this.
ReplyDeleteThis is a commonplace event in Britain.
DeleteWretched luck. Obviously a crime that took awhile in an out of the way place. Perhaps you need to be in town...
ReplyDeleteI used to be in town but got priced-out.
DeleteWould it be worth coating one of your replacement tools with superglue? A cheap one that is no use to you but attractive to the scroats who try to nick it but get very sore fingers instead? Or maybe wire one up to the electricity supply and switch it on when you leave?
ReplyDeleteYou could try putting a Hell's Angels sticker in the window. Their legendary methods of revenge can be a good deterrent.
They didn't touch my cheap tools. Revenge would only make it worse for me. They would burn the place down.
DeleteThey would probably recognise the sculptures as unsaleable do you think?
ReplyDeleteYes, but the sculpture is now gone, so I can breathe out.
DeleteOh Tom .... that’s horrible and it seems to happen a fair bit. I can’t really say anything positive about it as you are doing everything that’s possible to keep them out. .... and, I guess it’s not practical to take all of your tools home with you every night . Have a nice glass of wine when you get home and think of a plan. XXXX
ReplyDeleteA nice glass of wine and a plan is something I have every night Jack@ but thanks for the support!
DeleteMe too 🍷 XXXX
DeleteUnbelieveable. Cunts, indeed!
ReplyDeleteI'm almost over it now.
DeleteThat's just awful. I hate thieves. They really are cunts.
ReplyDeleteStealing tools is the worst.
DeleteWhen I was in the army I remember an NCO saying to me, "I would call you a cunt, but they at least have uses - you don't!"
ReplyDeleteWe need other pejoratives, Tom
Yes I remember that story. I'm sticking to the tried and tested description of super cads.
DeleteShit stains. That's what thieves are. Shit stains.
ReplyDeleteAgreed.
DeleteGenuinely sorry about your loss Tom. Onwards and upwards! Cathy
ReplyDeleteI am now in the process of buying new power tools.
DeleteI'm so glad that the bronze sculptures were left intact but totally agree with Rachel's comment.
ReplyDeleteI am very lucky really, Moll. It could have been so much worse.
DeleteWe were burgled badly in 2015 after many smaller skirmishes. The police of course were useless. I lost a lot of inherited stuff and my wife lost jewellery and the house was trashed.
ReplyDeleteIt was the final straw, we sold up and moved out of London and bought a house in Somerset. We are living off the difference in house prices until my pension starts.
Burglars are cunts, the police nearly as bad. You have my sympathy, I suggest that you change workshop or negotiate a rent reduction, the thieves know they can come back in a couple of months when you have repaired it and help themselves again. The only advice I know that works is to make it so difficult that they will go and wreck some one else’s life and not yours. Hidden cctv is more useful but most of these microbes know enough about DNA, CCTV etc to wear baseball caps and gloves.
A claymore mine and pressure pad would solve their problems for them but I believe this could be illegal.
Yes, all of this is milling around in my mind right now. I have decided on a policy for the future. Just carryon and try not to make it too easy for them. If they are going to break in, nothing will stop a determined cunt. I am too old to do anything else and I cannot afford to give up.
DeleteWell I admire your stamina and keep my fingers crossed.
ReplyDeletecoming late to this...commiserations, but at least you can get more tools (and not keep them in the workshop?). Keep working and creating..you need to
ReplyDelete