Happy Theftmas

I was about to cancel my home contents insurance in October when what must have been in hindsight, my subconscious intuition, I decided at the last minute not to cancel, little did I know that two months down the line my flat would be burgled for the first and only time I've lived there in 8 years. I came home that fateful friday afternoon to find my door ajar. I had had nightmare scenarios of this happening before but it never came to past until last Friday 20 December 2013. The police were very helpful, but forensics could not find any evidence of whodunnit as they must have worn gloves. Anyway my room was overturned and my main laptop, Ipad which in hindsight I should have taken out with me was stolen along with my Belkin Ipad keyboard case and all the Christmas presents I had bought for friends and family. Luckily I had my Nexus 7 and Chromebook on me.  After discovering the crime I called the police. I have since been philosophical about it, after all this is London and these things do happen, particularly around Christmas time. Desperate people take desperate measures.

You can't legislate for where theft and burglary can take place, in theory some areas of London are safer than others, however in practice this is just an assumption as most burglars apart from drug addicts, do not target their home turfs but would usually go to wealthier patches to operate.  Places like Notting Hill, Clapham, Battersea, Balham, Dulwich, parts of Hampstead, Ladbroke Grove, Islington, Camden and all of Hackney Borough are primary examples of affluent but naked neighbourhoods surrounded by less affluent or deprived neighbourhoods. I'm not saying people living in less affluent areas are more likely to produce burglars and thieves, however neighbourhoods with a higher than average level of social and economic deprivation often have higher crime levels than more affluent areas with high employment levels. With London's population of affluent, less affluent and poor living cheek by jowl, the chances of burglaries occurring locally can be higher than imagined.