Boo and I came home last night to an unlocked door and ransacked house -- we'd been robbed! E is out of town (waaaay out town: Central America) this week, so it's just us. Immediately I thought that I'd been completely out of it (along with wrong shoes) and forgot to lock the door, laden as I was with diaper bag, laptop & baby. But just as I entered,things seemed amiss, although my personal laptop was still on the kitchen table. I didn't stick around long enough to really see the damage. My concern was for Boo.
Medium-level panic later (tracing E through colleagues and interrupting his meeting) I got myself together and drove to a friend's. Another friend joined us and he came back the house with me. Although the kitchen and living room were pretty untouched, our bedroom was completely ransacked -- my office torn apart, all of our clothes out.
I noticed right away what they were looking for: Cash. They took all the euro coins from our hallway jar, broke Boo's piggy bank (approx. 100 euro) and found my stash of dollars that was the other half of our wedding gifts from last fall which we were planning to spend during our upcoming trip. Besides making a mess, nothing else was taken. We discovered that they entered through Boo's bedroom window (!) and left through the door. Thankfully, the glass isn't broken, but the lock is.
My (French) friend offered to call the police - then asked me the number! I understand now the efficiency of having one emergency number. 15? Ambulance. 18? Fire. Finally we got it: 17. The gendarmes came and took a report. They actually dusted for fingerprints! (didn't find any). The gendarme who took my report wrote it in a little diary-like notebook which I then had to sign, like an affidavit or contract. No official looking forms here. Which surprised me, because french bureaucracy loves forms.
I made Boo sleep with me last night, and it looks as if today, instead of christmas shopping, I'll be talking to more police and the insurance company.
No plans yet to "up-armor." We need to get some basic stuff fixed around the house, but we've been too busy in the last few weeks to do so. We have the wiring for an alarm, but never turned on the service, so that might be an option.
After writing here, and telling others locally about the break-in, I've heard a lot of other stories. Apparently, it's pretty common around here. And I guess it could have been worse. My mother-in-law told a story of a friend who went into town for a Saturday morning newspaper and coffee and when she returned a couple of hours later her house had been emptied. Robbers with a moving van came and just took everything away.
Posted by: Mom In France | December 20, 2007 at 03:03 PM
That's pretty scary, MIF; glad you're all OK. Something similar happened when I was eight or so, and my parents responded by installing deadbolts, a front-door intercom, etc. They did stop short of barring the windows. How about you guys--got plans to up-armor?
Posted by: Bill in Portland | December 17, 2007 at 08:07 AM
Oh, that's horrible! We had our car broken into and my purse and our luggage stolen earlier this year, but that's nothing compared to having your HOUSE robbed. I am so sorry. And to have it happen when your husband isn't even in town...
Do make sure that you get all the official paperwork from the police, because, this being France, you'll have to send it to a billion different people (although I had all my identity papers stolen, so it was more complicated). We had to call follow up with our insurance company weekly for months, but it was worth it when they finally paid.
To break open and steal from a child's piggy bank just seems so pathetic!
Posted by: Parisienne Mais Presque | December 13, 2007 at 12:14 PM