I was six at the time, heading home before Christmas with my sister and parents after along, snowy car journey. Our house was unusually cold when we arrived: the back door was swinging on its hinges, and drawers and cupboards had been turned out. We'd been burgled. Soon the house was swarming with police. To my sister and me, it was incredibly exciting, but not so for our parents: they'd lost heirlooms as well as everyday, replaceable objects. Some of the things taken were a little odd, such as Mum's collection of perfumes.
Over the next few days, Dad turned detective. He was into motor racing and found tyre tracks in a nearby lane: by measuring the distance between them, he worked out the make of the "getaway" vehicle – a sports car. A husband and wife were arrested. It turned out they had burgled nearly 70 homes in our area, storing the loot in their cellar: furniture, silverware, jewellery and antiques. The case made national news, and the couple got five years each in prison.
Mum and Dad, along with other victims, were invited to reclaim items from the couple's home, including a gold locket given to me by my grandmother. On the wall was a photograph of a genial-looking man leaning over the open bonnet of a sports car, covered in oil; it was hard to believe he was a criminal.
Fast-forward 30 years. Mum invited me on holiday with her and Dad – two weeks on a friends' boat cruising in the south of France – and Ithought,Mulberry sale, "Why not?" Isunbathed and read on deck, ate well and often stayed on board to hang out with the crew, a nice English couple called George and Sylvie, rather than go ashore. Alittle younger than my parents, well-dressed and chatty, they made me feel really welcome. He was bright and friendly,Mulberry uk, and they made ahandsome pair. I felt we were on the same wavelength.
One day,ghd hair straighteners, the boat wouldn't start. Dad, his friend and George were all competent engineers and set to work. Mum and I went for a wander and it was as we were returning that she stopped in her tracks: George was peering into the boat engine, covered in oil. It was him, our burglar, just as he was in the photograph she'd seen of him years ago. It was a hunch, but her hunches were usually correct.
Mum,ray ban wayfarer, Dad and I were determined to see if she was right. Dad got George talking about his love of cars and discovered he had indeed owned that particular make of sports car. Mum found out that Sylvie was unusually knowledgable about perfume. I just chatted with them, trying to gather bits of information.
It was bizarre and exciting – aproper adventure. Iremember sleepless nights on the boat, thinking about it all. Mum and Dad weren't bitter: after all, the burglary had been 30 years ago. They always had agood sense of humour and definitely saw the amusing side of it.
We didn't let on to our friends – we wanted to get home and dig out the cuttings from the case, which my parents had kept,Mulberry sale, to check we had remembered their names correctly. We had: there they were, George and Sylvie, younger but the same couple.
We told Mum and Dad's friends a few weeks later, when they got home from their boat, and they were incredulous. "How are you going to face them again now?" we asked. "We may not have to," they replied – apparently, the day we left, George and Sylvie left, too, saying they had to care for a sick relative. They were never heard from again.
Looking back,Mulberry sale, I think that,Mulberry bags, in our excitement, Mum,hogan rebel, Dad and Ioverdid it, asking one question too many. They started to withdraw and spend less time with us all. We'd rumbled them and they knew it.
It's a mystery to this day why they did it. They seemed completely the wrong type: educated,[/url], middle-class, well-off. They picked on large houses and ransacked them – why? Did they just do it for kicks?
The story, of course,[url=http://www.benshawsdrinks.co.uk/member/41133]Welcome to Toytown what life is like in new-build, entered family folklore. "Mr W",cheap ghd straighteners, as we christened George,Mulberry bags, became arunning joke. Every time we returned home, we'd say, "Iwonder if Mr W has paid us a visit?"
I sometimes wonder what would have happened if we had confrontedthem on the boat. Iexpect they would have laughed it off. I also wonder if they were biding their time, waiting for us all to go ashore so they could do a runner with the boat.
,[url=http://www.wztd001.com/bbs/home.php?mod=space&uid=824][/url]? As told to Hannah Booth.
Some names have been changed.
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