The Flight of the Intruder

We know my position regarding an intruder in a home from my previous Blog entries. It’s not the protection of the property that matters; but the fear that unwelcome intrusion brings. The majority of people can only imagine how they would feel when faced with an unwelcome intrusion that has breached security. When someone is somewhere where they shouldn’t be, then it’s a case of vulnerability and the fear that goes with being vulnerable.

We also know that I have a position regarding the possibility of the existence of what we term ‘ghosts’. Long term readers of the Blog will recall my experience in Africa when I stayed for a short while near Accra. I mentioned in a Blog entry at that time that I am a realist, and can accept that I may have inadvertently eaten something that was hallucinogenic, or maybe I had been unwell and was delirious. That doesn’t mean that I believe that Ghosts don’t exist, but rather that I am wise enough to understand that for every occurrence there may be one or several valid reasons, and that these reasons are not the validation that we tend to cling too when something occurs that is a bit different than the norm.

We also know that I have a position regarding superstition. So when we arrived at the nice cosy and warm hotel and the nice man said “Room 13 is ok, isn’t it?” we agreed to being assigned that room without hesitation. Things as you know tend to go in three’s so it came as no surprise half an hour later when we were sat in seat 13 on the train for a short hop between Newport and Cardiff. The room was intact when we left, and thankfully the train did not derail. I was even more grateful that the seat numbered 13 did not spontaneously combust or otherwise bring out our doom.

All in all it was a great night out and a lovely opportunity to dine with our eldest. I didn’t clock the seat number of the return journey, and nor did I count the number of steps from the Railway Station back to the hotel. I mean, yes, things do go in three, but why chance your luck by adding to the systems and knowledge? I am a nervous sleeper, and given my position on intrusion, that should come as no surprise to the reader. I always drop the dead bolt, and where available also close the door chain. The other thing that you may not know about me is that I used to be a firefighter and I used to work nights. Now seconds before the alarm sounds the lights go on, and I would be awake before the alarm sounded. This as well as my mental health is probably why I am such a light sleeper. I also know that sh*t tends to happen around 4 a.m. when people are asleep. It’s sort of a witching hour of doom and despair. Rubbish if you wake up, but far worse if you are slowly suffocating because you haven’t checked your smoke detector recently. I suppose that it's also a great time to do some breaking and entering.

So why do I tell you the time and the combinations of the number 13? Well, because at 0404 precisely an intruder opened the deadbolt on our hotel room and entered. Bad luck for them because I’m no Mr Sleepyhead and within an instant I was bolt upright and knew that someone had entered the room. Wifey asked me if there was a ghost. Not a surprising observation given that she was half asleep and had also felt a presence, and knew like I, that I had secured the deadbolt before retiring to bed. I was dressed before you could say ‘Crackerjack’, checked the bathroom, my wallet and wifey’s purse and the off to reception.

The conversation went thus “Do you have CCTV?” to which came the reply, “Yes”. My next move was to define the location, “do you have CCTV in the corridors?” to which I was told no, there was only CCTV outside. To which I explained that we needed to call the Police as someone had entered our room even though I had closed the deadlock. “It was me”, came the reply. Now folks get your head around this, its just gone 4 a.m. and how many people would be at reception at 4 a.m. in the morning asking about CCTV. So why did the conversation go around the houses? Did she think that I was an unhappy customer, who was board with the range of television channels and in this gloomiest of hours, needed some CCTV footage to satisfy my small screen yearning?

It appears from my dialogue with the manager many, many hours later when I was in a state of exhaustion prior to my drive back across Wales; that this crazy company check on all empty rooms from 0100 hours to ensure that they are ready for the next customer. And that the Intruder was going about her company directed business. Well here’s a message from me, you can stick your company up your backside, as I have never ever been as terrified as I was the night that the intruder opened my deadlock and entered my room.

If I lived in the United States of America I would sue your Arse for several Million.

You need to change your procedures, and you need to ensure that people booked into room 13 are checked in correctly. You could also do with fitting a door chain in every room because I ain’t coming back in a hurry, even though the intruder scurried off as I woke up.

More 3's

Yep, some more 3's and again it's all good.

I managed to track down my entry in the 19th Edition of Burke's Landed Gentry Volumes III and IV. It's not a huge entry, but then again it isn't insignificant either as there are only 7 Bennett's listed. I have partially read the entry on-line, but I managed to obtain a copy of Volumes III and IV and was able to peruse at leisure. I will add the full listing details to my Biography page on this Blog.

I also managed to track down a photograph of my father when he was serving with the Auxiliary Fire Service in 1940 in Swansea during the Second World War. The family oral history is that dad served with the AFS, but I have yet to acquire any physical evidence.

Sidney Allen Douglas Bennett had volunteered for the infantry and was based in France on the outbreak of War. Unfortunately Sid Bennett fell ill with Scarlet Fever and was given a Medical Discharge from the Army. However, determined to do his bit 'for King and Country' Sidney Bennett joined the AFS in Swansea. It was great being able to track the image down in a book that I read at the National Library of Wales earlier today.

The third thing is that the lovely Mr Tister is back home for upwards of 12 nights.

More three's - But good ones!

Of course it is so easy to think of the negatives when considering The Trio. But of course good things can happen in three's just as easily as bad things. The Trio doesn't distinguish, it sort of just happens. With this in mind it's nice to comment about a trio of good things that happened to me today.

Well most of you know that there's been a fair bit of sh*t in my life, but far more really good stuff. Indeed the balancing scales certainly weigh in my favour. Now today was one of those days when i sort of had the Midas touch if you know what I mean? Not with money, as money is money, but good things don't necessarily have or even require a value.

First off there was the letter. Not any old letter mind you, but an important letter, about an important matter. This has been ongoing for quite some time, and it was nice to see that the author has retained their position and as a result of that stance, my position (and in my opinion quite rightly) has not weakened. Next off there was the Dolphins. Not any old Dolphins mind you but two groups of two in the Bay and one of which was a complete show off and done the 'completely out of the water and dive back in thing'. Nice one, Mr Dolphin. The chap swimming along the waters edge obviously though that we were all watching him. Alas my friend we were looking right past you and out into the bay. That dear reader is the joy of living next to the sea. You get to see sea stuff.

"Pretty good so far" I can hear you thinking. Well of course it was pretty good. There I am having metaphorically speaking digested the letter, and I am stood on the promenade looking out into the Bay and enjoying the company of my eldest for our walk and coffee. The special bit being that Jodi has lived here for some 22 years and has never seen the Dolphins, and tomorrow she returns to the City. So thank you Mr Dolphin for a faultless display. I enjoyed the walk, enjoyed the display, and enjoyed the Costa Coffee.

Now this should be as good as it gets. But it gets better and better. Having done some DIY at 0730 this morning instead of my swim, I took inspiration from the Dolphins and went for a swim lunch time. Nice one, both the swim and the sauna and the chat with our eldest. Great, great stuff and the making a great day. An afternoon snooze led me to look for my phone to contact a dear friend and check that his health was OK. A bit like the blind leading the blind with that one. I can't really dish out good advice, but I can reflect upon my circumstances and what has and does work for me. I found the phone and he had sent a text while I was sleeping telling me what had happened. Phew, it was really good news and I have been truly concerned for him. Especially in a week that I buried a friend, it would have been really careless to have lost another.

"So all in all a great day" I hear you think. Well not quite, I would rather say that it was a superb day. One of my brightest in a long time. And to top it off I have just sat down and eaten a Homemade Fresh Cream Cup Cake made especially for me by the Cup Cake Queen Jodi. Wow, wow, and triple wow. But good things come in three's, so why did she only make me two?

Three's

That three's thing has happened again.

We buried a good friend yesterday, and I found the service quite difficult and emotional. He had been ill for some time, and maybe the length of the illness makes you sort of think that it will all come good in the end. Even when you are told that there is nothing more that can be done, faith helps us believe that it will somehow work out. I must admit to thinking that he looked well when I popped along to the hospital. Maybe be was just at ease, at peace with what was about to happen, and what after all faces each and every one of us irrespective of background, ethnicity, social status or any other irrelevant factor.

I suppose that death is very much a part of life.

Death however is all around us at the moment. Our neighbour who was admitted with a not too much to worry about illness, does in fact have the big 'C', and one of our extended family has been given a terminal prognosis. This takes me back to the early 80's when we lost three close family within twelve months. The first was too young, but the second and third were younger still. Well I have said a prayer for each and every one of them, and on reflection, maybe life isn't that bad after all

Superstition Stuff

All of this splashing about in the water made me think about 'superstition'. Why is it that whenever something goes wrong; it happens in three's? I mean it was bad luck that my Xperia X10 starting drifting off here and there and I am unable to change the software as it constantly fails to upload onto the phone. You know, these sort of things happen and for every bad example of a product there are many thousand of A1 prime examples of hassle free usage.

But I was a tad annoyed when my 'few weeks old' Canon 600D fault was noticed. The shop tried to blame me and initially wanted £175 for the repair. Thankfully I am a bit methodical and used to putting across the odd argument or two. So armed with four bits of masking tape to mask off an area on my laptop screen; I was able to identify where the smudge in the photographs kept appearing. Better still I was able to show that it was irrespective of which of the two lens were being used. And best of all I was able to clearly show that the 'smudge' (for want of a better word) appeared with absolute clarity in at least 11 of the first ever 33 shots on the Canon 600D camera. Plus on the less visible images, you could move them into Corel Photopaint and change the hues to find the defect. And most importantly, I was able to prove without doubt that the smudge appeared on the first ever shot that I took with the Canon 600D camera. Which is great news as the shop assembled the lens to the body and hey ho, they are now paying. But that still leaves me without my Canon 600D for the next three weeks.

So two out of the dreaded three bad things done, and more importantly, what as this got to do with the last post? Because most of you realise that I try to link the posts so that there is some kind of sequence or story to follow. That of course is the challenge.

Now I can't ramble on about the 'Voodoo Doll' that I mentioned to two sisters when they were chatting to me a few days before my run of bad luck. Well I can mention that I mentioned about not saying something to someone in case she got out her 'Voodoo Doll', but unfortunately that doesn't link to the last post. Nope, the real link is that the third thing has happened. Given the last Blogging session about water; it may come as no surprise that I managed to tip a glass full of the stuff over my laptop. And when I say 'glass full and over', I mean 'glass full' and 'right over' the keyboard and electronics.

Now a lesser person may have panicked, but not me. No, I calmly held the mains connected laptop upside down to let the water pour out. Or is that gush out? And when the gush, became a dribble, and then an occasional spot, I turned the laptop back into its correct position and left it turned on and plugged in for 24 hours. The theory being that the heat would evaporate the water, and by golly, my laptop gets hot!

Footnote: please don't touch electrical equipment that has come into contact with water without first and safely isolating the power supply. Gosh, three things went wrong, but thank goodness the last thing went right or this Blog would have come to a standstill!