Nothing Like STL

Well, the title isn't completely acurate - there are some similarities to STL - there was a break in in the neighborhood. Another similarity would be the WAY the person broke in - that was pretty common in our old neighborhood too.

Guy goes to front door - knocks - no one is home - goes around to the backdoor - breaks into the house.

The difference - here there is ALWAYS someone walking their dog, standing outside, working from home, noticing that something is amiss. Well.........wait....that is kinda the same as in our old area too. Hmmm........

Well, today when it happened to the family across the street (in exactly the same fashion I described) another neighbor was outside in his front yard getting ready to walk the dog or smoke a cigarette (this neighborhood is often doing both) - and he noticed the stranger on the porch of the neighbor across the street from us. The stranger was not known, the neighbor is good friends with family across the street. He walked down to see what was going on and noticed the stranger walk to the back of the house - the neighbor phoned the police and the person who lived in the house - the police came within a few minutes, just behind the neighbor. The police in STL sometimes took longer, but usually it was a helpful neighbor who tipped everyone off.

The rest of the day was spent watching. And this is where I found things to be different. I watched the neighbors walk around outside - neighbors stop to "check in" on what was happening. People hugged and commiserated over what had happened. People brought brownies! Neighbors sent emails talking about what happened - what next - what to do to protect themselves.

It has been a long time since our house was broken into. It was two houses ago. There is some difference. We did not have neighbors come by to check in on us. We didn't have anyone phone to spread the word. The police didn't hang out for a long time. They didn't bring dogs in to track the person who did the breaking in. Yet the feeling of unrest, being volunerable and violated did come back.

Yet, now that I think of it - it is exactly the same as STL. May happen a lot less here - in our last area it was probably once a week someone was broken into (keep in mind it was a city neighborhood with dense population) - yet a break in is a break in - a violation of your privacy - it is an awful feeling - even if it happens less here, it still happens. Doesn't matter where you live. Same here as in STL.