The Good News......and The Bad News

As you know I am battling against nicotine.The good news is that I haven't had a cigarette for 6 days.The bad news is that yesterday, DH and I went out to a Cottage Garden Nursery to look for plants for my new garden bed.....the one that I am making entirely from the money that I save from not smoking.When we arrived home the house had been broken into, and the 3 burglars were still inside...we walked in on them.I wasn't frightened.... I was angry....I grappled with one (I'm 50, and quite small) They escaped, of course.What really scares me is my own reaction.I know it isn't wise to 'have a go'....but I know I would 'fight to the death' to stop someone taking what is mine.
Marigold.

How do Marigold!

Well done for staying off the smoke especially after grappling with a robber!

Good for you standing up to those utter scum. As you say its never wise to 'Have a go' but maybe they will think again when they try and tackle a small woman. You've worked hard for what you have, and the police don't really have much chance of recovering your stuff so why should we all stand back and let them get away with it?

Did they take much?

Hello Marigold! How awful. I've had a bad few years as well. I had burglars at Easter. They stole my purse from my handbag. I'd just been to the bank as well... It's taken me weeks to get all my cards sorted out and replaced.
And I was mugged last November. A teenage girl tried to grab my handbag off me. I had the same reaction as you. I put up a fight. The strap broke, but she didn't get my handbag. I'm like you, small. I should just have handed it opver, she might have had a knife. But instinct plays a part in these things. I was just furious and I wasn't going to let her have it.
I hope they didn't take much. Have the police been and taken a statement?
Feel welcome to talk about it here. You'll feel shocked for a few days I'd think.
Could do with a cup of tea I expect. Well, I'm having a tea-party at the UK Forum, so you and your husband pop along to it. I'm having a Cream Tea. I've made the cucumber sandwiches and the scones are all ready.
Keep in touch.
Diane

How awful, Marigold. It's happened to me, so I can well appreciate how you must be feeling.
Keep up the good work on not smoking.
Ruth

Well done Marigold on both counts, sorry you had that tho, its been said dont mess with someone who is trying to quit smoking, it makes them really bad temperd lol, as some little scum bag thief just found out, i hope you are ok now and you have gotten over the shock of it, but well done.

Wow Marigold Good for you on both counts. Only don't every do that again you scared me to death. The thief thing not the smoking thing. You just keep right on quitting every day. I have never had and hope never to have the experience of being robbed Thank God!! I know you are not suppose to do anything to stop them in all honesty I probably would have reacted the same way. Glad you are doing good.

I have never been robbed or mugged but I had a stalker. I had had a breakdown and he stopped to help. Later, he said he had a garage and would help with my car repairs. I said I would call when I got some money together. (I was quite young and broke with my husband overseas). Then one day he showed up at my apartment, outside, and I told him not to bother me anymore, I didn't have any money and the car was fine. The next time I saw him, it was in the middle of the night and I was asleep. My 1-year-old son was asleep in his crib in the living room. I woke up and this guy was standing by my bed. I had a derringer and shot him in the hand. He ran. I still had his card for his garage and had him arrested. When we were in court, the judge said I had the right to kill him. I never had trouble with him again.

Good for you Marigold. That will teach them never to mess with a woman's belongings, especially a women that hasn't had a cigarete in 6 days. LOL Glad to hear you're ok.
PS. Day 2 for me :)

Wow it is a wonder that they got out alive, having not smoked in 6 days,I know I was a bit on edge after 6 days. Really sorry for your problems with lowlifes, but good work not smoking,man now thats a test of your willpower.
jack

That's awful Woodspirit. I'm not surprised you shot him though.
My Dad and I had some gardening work done (my Dad was in his 80s and very frail). The man we got was a cowboy (he ended up robbing and threatening us in our own home). My Dad let him in to use our toilet one day. I was lying on my bed - I was still ill and had been violently sick again. I heard this man standing outide my bedroom door. I was petrified. Luckily he didn't come in. He robbed us a few hours later.
After that I asked my Dad if I could take a knife into my bedroom to protect myself. I think we have a legal right to protect ourselves.
I went four times to the police to get this man put away, but they weren't really bothered, even though my Dad had a heart attack followed by a stroke only two days later. I blame my Dad's heart attack on what this man did to us. He passed away three months later.
Amercian laws seem diferent from Britsh ones. Our laws seems to take quite a different slant on owning guns.

I'm 6-6 and 238 and I learned a long time ago desperate people will do desperate things. They had just as soon kill you to stay out of jail as give you a drink of water. Never put your life at risk to save a material item. When violence actions happened to you of someone you love the first reaction is to fight back and that is normal. One of my sons was shot 9 times in 1985 at a school shooting so I have a little insight into violence. Luckily he didn't die but was a year or so getting over it. Before that I would have fought any body over anything at the drop of a hat if it was something to do with me. The better part of valor sometimes is to drop back and punt. Let the law enforcement do the dirty work. They are trained and they still get killed so what chance do we have with no training going up against desperatate people. They are more desperatate to stay out of jail so they can feed their drug habits than we are to keep them from stealing our belongings. Sort of got caught up in this posting. Brought back bad memories that I don't like to discuss but maybe my experience will help some one else. Jim

This message was edited Sunday, Jul 29th 11:57 AM

Wow - what a story, Jim. Was your son a student? Who was the shooter? We forget that school shootings are not new, don't we?

Yes, The shooter was a student and he and my son had a confrontation the day before. He wrote a note during the day at school to his girl friend and told her he was going home and get a gun and come back to the school and kill my son. This note was found by one of he teachers and not acted upon and the reason was they find notes like this all the time and didn't think he would actually do it. It was on May 23rd one week before his graduation from high school. He did get to go to the ceremony in a wheel chair and was able to stand to receive his diploma but was not able to walk across the stage. They brought it to him at the end ot the stage and he received a standing ovation that lasted about 5 minutes. I was so proud of him and still am. I have 3 sons. One went to college on a football scholarship and another on a baseball scholarship and he would have went on a basketball scolarship if not for the shooting. The other student was of course suspended and later was convicted and served 18 months in prison of a 10 year sentence. It would have been a longer sentence if he had tried to rob him before the shooting. Meaning that we place more value on material things that we do life itself. Just the thing I was trying to point out in my first posting. Sorry Marigold didn't mean to get to preaching this morning but we do need to think before we risk our lives. They are to precious to the ones that love us. Jim

I hear what you say, Jim.I didn't have time to think....it was an instant reaction.A neighbour had seen them climbing in the kitchen window after moving my mini greenhouse.They couldn't get out of the kitchen because of a secutity lock, so they kicked the panels out of the door, breaking a very large mirror that my late FIL had made for us in the process.We walked into the house as they were unplugging the video.One ran upstairs and jumped out of the bathroom window on to the flat roof of the kitchen...he put his foot through the roof.The second one ran off and I grappled with the third one before he pushed me up the wall and also ran off.I am still in shock, but I will not live in fear and let these scum have my life.
Marigold

Way to go Marigold!! Brave lady, brave heart!! Even though a trifle dangerous!!

I think the problem, Jim, is that sometimes our instincts run ahead and we just react. In the natural environment an ability to defend ourselves is probably a sound one. But obviously if we're up against guns or knives or a weapon of any sort then caution is the keyword.
These people are just scum, most of them are not in any work or training, and I think many of them are just trying to finance their addiction to drugs. I live in a town in the north-east of England. We now have a drugs and crime problem here that the police seem unable to tackle. I don't know the answer to it and I don't think anyone else does either.

Oh Marigold, Thank God you're okay!! And I'm sure those bad guys will think twice for awhile!! I probably would have done the same thing- unfortunately . I'm glad you;re okay and know how you must feel- i've been broken into years ago- they took all the mother's jewlry I had - she had passed away two weeks before that- so I lost everything. But... considering the others events that were just tld- expecially Georgiaredclay's- the loss of the jewlery is nothing compared to the attempted loss of his son. Wow. Why isn't life regarded as somethingprecious anymore?
I'm glad to hear that your son made it thgout, Georgiaredclay- I don;t think I could have handled that very well as a mother- if something happened to one of mine.
_jss

Hi Folks, I am new here and in reading this thread wanted to share what happened to my 75 yr old father. He lives on the outskirts of a small friendly texas town. He gardened on a couple of acres about a mile from the house, and was used to people stopping to talk about plants & gardening. He was in his garden working on the fence one day when he was approached by two young men (late teens or early twenties)who came inside the open gate. He had some stacks of wood he had cut and they approached him about purchasing some for a BBQ party. My Dad doesnt sell wood, just had it for his own personal use. Being the generous person he is, and always wanting to help others, he told them he had more than he could use, so they could have what they needed if they would load it. While talking with the two men, one of them circled around behind him and grabbed him from behind while the other one tried to get his wallet out of his pocket. My guess is these two men thought that this elderly man would be an easy target out here alone in the country. Boy were they wrong! Luckily they did not have a weapon or the outcome could have been much worse. My Dad had a fence tool in his hand & was able to stab the one who grabbed his arms in the leg and he let go. They wrestled around a little bit then decided this old man was more than they wanted to deal with so they fled without his wallet. Law enforcement was unable to find them and they are still out there. Then things started happening around the garden such as his owl statue got shot up, things were moved around, etc. It got so bad that he sold his gardening property and relocated his garden to his own yard. I just want this to be a warning to everyone out there especially the elderly to be very wary of anyone approaching them outdoors for any reason. This kind of thing DOES happen in little rural hometown areas. And to remember that there is nothing worth risking your life for. I am glad my Dad was not hurt, but the outcome could have been much worse if the bad guys had a weapon. Thanks for letting me share this on your great site!