Should be Packing

So I should be packing for our trip tomorrow to the wildlife reserve.

I hope this trip helps us all regroup. Lately we've been stressed, and really struggling. Ever since that robbery we experienced last year, it's been so difficult for us to feel safe and relaxed at home. Peter in particular has had a massive reaction to the incident, to the point where he would be quite happy to move to one of those secure elitist estate-type places.

Shudder.

But, from his point of view, anything to protect his family.

His anxiety has become extreme.

It doesn't help, that, just as we are trying to settle down and relax, other incidents (almost) happen, or happen to other people. In the last month, friends of ours and their tennant were burgled while they slept. A brick was thrown through a window pane - bars are standard on opening windows here, but most un-opening centre panes don't have bars. Now people in our area are gradually starting to move towards bars on all windows, and everywhere you look you see fences and walls going higher, electric fences going up, and wall spikes and razor wire appearing on fences. Also in the last month, our driveway gate was malfunctioning and was slightly ajar, and some opportunist squeezed through - driven off by our cleaning lady hitting the alarm button. And also, a couple of weeks we were returning from a school function at about 7pm and found a truck parked in our driveway. So naturally we circled the neighbourhood for a while, called the police, and the alarm company, and ten minutes later, as we were circling the second or third time, the mystery truck roared past us going extremely fast in the opposite direction (the driver had clearly realised he'd been noticed).

Unfortunately the alarm company came too late (they went to the wrong address %##$%^%^&% !!!!!), as did the police.

So we carry on, and rationalise. (The robbery last year was due to the fact that we had new patio double doors with no security gates, the driveway gate, ajar, was a clear invitation, the truck parked in our driveway was due to our closing the curtains, too early, at 5pm before going out for the evening, someone noticed and came back later...)

Practically asking for it, we were.

And we carry alarm panic buttons in our pockets at all times, and spend a large portion of the evening putting sections of the outside alarm on and off as the animals (who set the damn thing off) according to whether the dogs need to go out or if the cat has given us the slip), and lurch awake at 2am to false alarms (as wind, or maybe geckos, set the alarm off), and spend depressingly large amounts of money and time on extra security measures.

Sigh.

There is nowhere else in the world I would really like to live.

I can't imagine taking my kids away from their extended family.

This is home.