Intruders

Very early this morning we were awoken by the sound of squirrels dancing on  the conservatory roof - well that was what was going through my head at the time.  I got up and looked out of the window to see a darkly clad and stocky figure with a pale face climbing out of next doors garden over their back fence.  It was difficult to see any more in the dark, even with our neighbours garden light on.  I looked at the clock and it was 04:29.

By the time it was light we were able to see what happened.  Our front trellis fence was in a state of collapse and the garden bench was upturned.  The tracks of two people were seen across the garden and it is clear that they ran diagonally across our side lawn and top lawn.

The footsteps could be seen in the dewy grass leading up to the corner of the garden where they clambered over our dividing fence into our neighbours garden and then over their fence into the nature reserve at the back of the local school.

I called the police to inform them of the incident.  We now have to call 101 to access the local police service and I met a computerised answering service.  After pressing the appropriate keys and going through the procedure a second time I was put on hold and informed that I was tenth in the queue. Twenty minutes later I was spoken to by a human (highly trained telephone operator - according to the computer).  My name was not requested, my address was asked for by street only and I was informed that no crimes had been reported in my area.  OK;  we are dealing with some severe cutbacks in the policing budget, but I felt I was being dismissed.

This was essentially a very minor incident and there was no threat to life, only a small amount of inconvenient property damage.  next time it may be better if a knock on the door of my local police station - if it is still open!

Postscript

 I have just removed the broken panel and replaced it with a spare panel that I had at the back of the garden shed.  That will do for now.  The panel near the gate has also been damaged and will soon need replacing, but it still looks good at present.

Under the fence debris was a woolly hat.  If the owner wants it back, they just need to pay for the repair to the fence and the hat is theirs.