House marked by burglar?

[TheLightSideOfTheMoon]

Bit anxious.

A third of a box of chocolates was left on my doorstep. Weird.

Google suggests that burglars use this trick to see which houses are empty. I was in all day but upstairs as I was watching Maid upstairs.

We’re currently without a boiler so curtains are closed to keep in heat.

All of us are at work/college tomorrow so the house actually will be empty.

What to do? Worried.

[marplemead]

MrsWooster

[TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]

@bebarkered

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles
Are you on drugs?
P. S. the curtains are closed

Well that's a bit weird, you're not the first person to ask that today, and they were one of my patients.

[bebarkered]

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles
Are you on drugs?
P. S. the curtains are closed

[TheLightSideOfTheMoon]

I’ll just leave them the Quality Street…

[TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]

@bebarkered

ALWAYS leave lights on when you're out OP. And, leave a radio on quite loud in one of the rooms

Yes, this way burglars can easily see without having to drain the batteries in their torch.

The radio is a nice touch, as it will help the burglar get through their rather soulless and mundane task as they can hum along to it!

Why not leave a plate of biscuits and a small sherry too - it's not just Father Christmas who gets a bit peckish going about his business.

[bebarkered]

ALWAYS leave lights on when you're out OP. And, leave a radio on quite loud in one of the rooms

[2021namechanger]

My bio accidentally left chocolates and flowers outside my neighbours for me once. Was super awkward trying to get them back (I wasn’t fussed but neighbour is elderly so didn’t know where they’d come from and was a bit confused).

[TheLightSideOfTheMoon]

No, not pissed her off. She’s just bonkers.

Both of my parents are hoarders by proxy and don’t like throwing anything away. We often get brought little gifts of unwanted foodstuffs, elderly stationary and things they saw in charity shops that they thought was ‘so you’! (It’s never so me).

[Sparklfairy]

Wow I thought it was someone who didn't like you much but felt obligated to give you a gift, because only the shit chocolates were left. Hate to say it but have you pissed your mum off recently? Its the ultimate passive aggression, "fine you can have this box of chocolates but I'm eating all the good ones first"

[Skysblue]

I think probably someone got the wrong house.

But yes I’d bin them.

And J don’t think you’re ridiculous worrying about a burglar, it sounds like your house looks unoccupied and perhaps someone is checking it out. Maybe leave a light on overnight for a couple of nights.

[CarrieMoonbeams]

That's an excellent update OP, really made me smile.

Bless your wee mum, shoving chocolates down her neck "in secret".

My uncle is a "secret smoker" - he's 82, thinks that everyone believes he gave up smoking 20 years ago, but everyone in the street sees him lighting up just at the end of the garden path when he's going out to the shop. People like to piss him off by appearing out of their door as he's passing, giving it all the " Hi George, how are you? How's the garden? Grandkids? Dog? Allotment?" etc etc, while he stands there having to hide the cigarette behind his back and answer politely 🤣

[HalfWomanHalfMincePie]

So, yeah. No burglars. Just a family of weirdos.

From one family of weirdos to another... that almost sounds worse

[TheLightSideOfTheMoon]

Update: They we’re left by my mum.

I don’t know why she didn’t knock (or just wander in like she usually does).

I don’t know why she ate two thirds of them.

I certainly have no idea why she didn’t leave me a green triangle.

She’s a secret eater. She eats chocolate, hides the wrappers from my dad and throws away the rubbish at my house.

I have no idea why she does that, either. My dad doesn’t give a shit what people eat.

So, yeah. No burglars. Just a family of weirdos.

[MrsWooster]

@marplemead

Lockheart They were in a bag for life, so definitely not a fox.

Are you implying that foxes aren’t eco-conscious?! How rude.

[SW1amp]

@Billybagpuss

Our local police put out a report about white marks outside houses being marks for thefts. A senior officer had his photo taken next to one, it was all taken very seriously and lots of people were very worried

And then a few days later, the water company issued a statement to say that the marks were made by them as part of a local water meter upgrade programme

One mark meant ‘new meter needed here’ and the other meant ‘meter already upgraded’

Why on EARTH the police didn’t look into it before issuing their stupid scaremongering report, I’ll never know, but please don’t assume that just because the police say it is a scam, that it’s true

They got it spectacularly wrong in our area and made a lot of people unnecessarily worried

[HalfWomanHalfMincePie]

Not trying to tease the OP but I really enjoy the collective idea that the world's technology has moved on in such sophisticated ways but that burglars still use 'traditional' methods like a bit of chalk or a box of chocolates

And why 2/3 eaten? Who can tell that from a distance and why not just eat them all?

It's rather charming really.

[Billybagpuss]

@AlternativePerspective

A mark was chalked on my wall coincidently the day after some very strange character came round trying to sell me some kind of energy contract, “because we’re aware that there is an energy crisis and many companies are going bankrupt, ah, you knew about this? So many people we’ve spoken to had no idea, well, let’s see, I can sign you up here and now to .”

I am visually impaired and to all intents and purposes I am considered vulnerable, esp as I spend a lot of time here on my own even at night as my DS works late hours.

I spoke to the police and they did take it seriously although there isn’t really anything they can do.

So I bought a ring doorbell, and I have a dog who will bark if someone comes to the door and I don’t stop him.

He’s a Labrador who would probably beat them to death with his tail, but if they only hear his bark they don’t know that, and no-one in their right mind would break in if they heard him.

We’ve had a spate of chalk marks, targeting houses with dogs followed by dog thefts, so it could be your dog they were after.

The police came around and confirmed it, it’s no urban myth in this case

[665TheNeighbourOfTheBeast]

I would guess a part used small gift type thing is the remnants of an illicit meeting. No public bins means people can leave a debris of flowers, chocolates and used condoms as people meet up in their cars.
And they cant take them home.
Just be glad it wasn't the condoms and move on.

[SequinnedShawl]

@Fleurty

My mum is a member of a WI and a few years ago was organising a Christmas food collection. She was bemused as to why so many WI ladies had mentioned that they'd left something in her porch for the collection but she hadn't had many donations.

Turned out that another lady in the WI was trying to be helpful by giving out the address to anyone who asked, but had the wrong road. The family in the house she was giving details of were equally bemused as to who was leaving them boxes of biscuits and other treats, but not so bemused that they hadn't already eaten them all by the time they worked out what had happened.

[TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]

@TheLightSideOfTheMoon

I once thought I was being targeted by a gang. I kept finding bread goods on our driveway. Croissants, bagels, that kind of thing.

Turned out the pigeons who lived in the trees in my garden were dropping them.

No idea where they were getting them or why they didn’t pick them back up.

Could it be that it exceeded the 5 (or sometimes 10) second rule?

[marplemead]

Lockheart They were in a bag for life, so definitely not a fox.

[TheLightSideOfTheMoon]

I once thought I was being targeted by a gang. I kept finding bread goods on our driveway. Croissants, bagels, that kind of thing.

Turned out the pigeons who lived in the trees in my garden were dropping them.

No idea where they were getting them or why they didn’t pick them back up.

[Fleurty]

My mum is a member of a WI and a few years ago was organising a Christmas food collection. She was bemused as to why so many WI ladies had mentioned that they'd left something in her porch for the collection but she hadn't had many donations.

Turned out that another lady in the WI was trying to be helpful by giving out the address to anyone who asked, but had the wrong road. The family in the house she was giving details of were equally bemused as to who was leaving them boxes of biscuits and other treats, but not so bemused that they hadn't already eaten them all by the time they worked out what had happened.

[Lockheart]

@marplemead

How strange. It reminds me of the time someone left a bag of rotten apples on our doorstep a few weeks after we moved in to our current house

Someone, or a fox?

[Lockheart]

You haven't been marked by a burglar OP...

The vast majority of thefts are committed by opportunists.

Unless you live in a fuck-off huge mansion or are known to have many easily-portable valuables inside, no-one is going to be casing your house.