About 3 weeks we had an attempted burglary here. They tried to open the gate using a crowbar. This time a new approach, and like all the other times, our guy comes to weld another piece of metal to improve and make sure that the same trick won’t work again.

Yesterday, our neighbor got robbed during broad daylight whilst we were at home. Again, they used a new method to open the gate. I am major impressed with these guys! They have a huge register of ways to break in. The creativity is amazing and the seemingly impossible (to me at least) is piece of cake. Houdini could not have done a better job I believe.

On a business trip to Sweden recently I was in a shopping centre with a colleague. The shops had no burglar bars or anything at closing time. Several places they draped a thin rope across the entrance like a symbolic hindrance. I made a sarcastic joke to my colleague; “...this is the Scandinavian equivalent of the South African Trellidors!” 95% of private homes in South Africa have Trellidors. It’s the top quality burglar bars that will make you feel like a jailbird in your own home. An armored car in full speed will not get through, and the lock system is high science. How empty wouldn’t these shops have been with a couple of South African thieves? The shop attendants would hardly suspect anything before they were left in only their own underwear.

Given the latest tricks, we’re welding on another bracket, chain and lock… so now we’re waiting in anticipation for the next approach. It reminds me about my own grandparents. During the harsh Norwegian wintertime they hung out some food for the small birds in a tree. From the kitchen window they could watch the small birds eating. This is every Scandinavian pensioner’s favorite pastime activity during winter. It’s just that a couple of squirrels chased the birds away, and ate up all the food. They were actually so greedy that they transported the food away… probably for storage like squirrels do!

To stop the squirrels now, my grandfather invented new ways to try and stop these squirrels from coming down the thread and to the food. Each time of course, the squirrel got more and more clever, and always made it to the food. My grandfather eventually had to accept his defeat but the squirrel’s impressive acrobatic struggles had become the new favorite entertainment. Only the positive entertainment value is the difference when we are now waiting for the next move, coz 100% sure, the thieves will be back and find their way somehow!

I’m just thinking how hopeless it would seem for a Scandinavian thief in South Africa. He would starve to death! The other way around though, would be Eldorado, Timbuktu and the promise land all in one, almost too good to be true! Now I’m thinking about starting up a security company and employ some top criminal minds from South Africa. It simply can’t fail! It will be a hit worldwide! I have left business proposals for the thieves by the gate and all imaginable entrance ways to the house!