Just caught some bugger snooping around my house.

[octatonic]

Just found a guy snooping around my back garden.

There is no way he could get there by mistake- he was obviously trying to break in.
I went out and he made up some story about looking for 'scrap' whatever that means.
I told him in no uncertain terms to f off or I'd call the police and that I better not find him around here again.
He ran off saying 'don't worry I know where you live now'.

I went outside to make sure he'd gone and I flagged down a police car that happened to be going past.
He had buggered off by this stage so they didn't catch him and indeed if they did they couldn't do much- he didn't actually break in.

Very, very angry right now.

[thedude]

hell, protect your gear!

[DSD_Mastering]

Trunk Monkeydfegad

[heathen]

Should have invited him back for a gear shootout, with real ammo. You need a big dog.

Insurance is good too, I hope someone steals my O2R, then I get 10 grand.

[Kadden Heart]

ALARM SYSTEM MOTHER FU***

and buy a pistol, get a concealed weapons permit.
i'da egged him on then blasted his ass in the knees.

stay away from my shit.

[Jeff Juliano]

Reason to own guns right here.

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by Jeff Juliano

Reason to own guns right here.

Note to my American cousins- I live in the UK- we can't buy guns here, at least not legally.

[Kadden Heart]

WHOA,...REALLY?!?!?!?1

i didn't know that.

wtf,...
here i am saying, shoot the bastard, but you can't evne legally own guns.
maybe america should adopt that policy,...
i hear the UK has like, less than 25 percent the crime rate we do.

i say we shoot all the americans with guns.
then melt the guns and sell all the steel for oil, thus lowering gas prices, thus guivng us more money to spend on gear

[Jeff Juliano]

Originally Posted by octatonic

Note to my American cousins- I live in the UK- we can't buy guns here, at least not legally.

No guns.... Ok, Time to get yourself some huge pissed off one-eye'd dog from the local pound. Burglers don't like dogs very much.

[mdme_sadie]

Actually you can buy guns quite legally in the UK, it's the same as America. You need to fill out paperwork, have a license etc but it's the same, the only guns you cannot legally own in the UK are Rifles, these are solely the domain of the Army.

Sorry just had to step in to clear up a common misconception there. Farmers and game wardens in the UK wouldn't be very happy if they weren't allowed their shotguns.

Oh and +1 on getting an alarm installed and maybe a friendly doggy for the back yard. Don't forget insurance for all your stuff while you're at it.

[octatonic]

Originally Posted by mdme_sadie

Actually you can buy guns quite legally in the UK, it's the same as America. You need to fill out paperwork, have a license etc but it's the same, the only guns you cannot legally own in the UK are Rifles, these are solely the domain of the Army.

Sorry just had to step in to clear up a common misconception there. Farmers and game wardens in the UK wouldn't be very happy if they weren't allowed their shotguns.

Oh and +1 on getting an alarm installed and maybe a friendly doggy for the back yard. Don't forget insurance for all your stuff while you're at it.

Well sure- what I meant was it tends to be less common for people in the UK to own guns- and by people I mean people who don't need them for their jobs.
Farmers/Game Keepers/Police (well those that carry) etc of course have them- but I'm not sure I could justify it as a musician.
There certainly isn't the same gun culture here in the UK as there is in the US.

[Jay-]

Buy a dog, your new best friend.

I recommend a Doberman pincher girl. Very loyal and obedient.
I have a rotty now but he is to aggro. German sheppards are GOOD but tend to be biters and to much hair.

Go dobie girl and your kit wont ever get taken, not even your USB lock not nothing ever plus you wont have to argue with the insurance guy.

+1 protection K9

[aeonsound]

damn man.

alarm, dog & insurance ftw!

[Professor HiFi]

Put some Millwall FC stickers in your windows...

[pjplayer]

Originally Posted by mdme_sadie

Actually you can buy guns quite legally in the UK, it's the same as America. You need to fill out paperwork, have a license etc but it's the same, the only guns you cannot legally own in the UK are Rifles, these are solely the domain of the Army.

hand guns are banned in the UK, aren't they? is your information from before the ban perhaps?

[orange]

Originally Posted by pjplayer

hand guns are banned in the UK, aren't they? is your information from before the ban perhaps?

yep...and semi/automatic firearms...in fact only a few types firearms are legally allowed in the hands of civillians.
Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 (c. 45)
Thank goodness I say.....somebody's life has got to be worth more than a U47 (ok bad example, maybe a U87 ?)

I second the dog idea, recently bought a doberman myself....

[psycho_monkey]

Originally Posted by orange

yep...and semi/automatic firearms...in fact only a few types firearms are legally allowed in the hands of civillians.
Firearms (Amendment) (No. 2) Act 1997 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Firearms (Amendment) Act 1988 (c. 45)
Thank goodness I say.....somebody's life has got to be worth more than a U47 (ok bad example, maybe a U87 ?)

I second the dog idea, recently bought a doberman myself....

And I think after the massacre at Dunblane, any privately owned guns have to be kept securely - like at a shooting club or something. Not sure how this applies to gamekeepers - presumably they have a licence.

You definitely CAN'T have any sort of gun at home in a bedside drawer.

My cat's not ferocious enough to deter anyone - the goldfish on the other hand...he's a mean f**ker...

[heyman]

Try this one out..

[octatonic]

I already have a dog- she is still in the US until her quarantine period passes- she is always a good alarm system.

So after a not very good nights sleep and a day of thinking bout it I am being philosophical about it all.

If he really was a hard case then he would have tried something when I sprung him.
If he was really a tough guy then he'd be robbing banks rather than doing break and enters in his late 40's (is that a pikey career development program?).

I'll keep my eyes out, of course, and double check all the locks- and lock the studio of course.
I have to make a conscious decision to not it let get me paranoid and afraid in my own house- then they win.

Interestingly I found a spare guitar neck in the basement.
I'm not sure it is going to be destined for any guitar project any time soon if you get my drift.

[majortom]

Swords are legal right?

A couple of friends of mine who recently moved to Norwich just got burgled. 15 years of living in New York City... nothing. Not even a run in with an aggressive panhandler. Then they move to Norwich which seems like a really peaceful, low-crime kinda place and they get burgled. Life is strange.

The funny thing is, the thief only ended up taking some electronics stuffed in the garage, all of which were 115V US stuff. I would have loved to see the look on their face when they plugged them in.

[nandoanalog]

The truth...

If you have a real gun, you will not shoot until you have a damn good reason.

That means that you will never shoot. Wich means no fun.

But...

There is this miracle thing called paint ball.

Get a high quality, rapid fire paintball gun, some frozen ammo, and shoot.

warning

Shooting people with paintball weapons is prooven to be too much fun. The human brain is not ready for such fun. Your funny fuse may blow. So, please don`t abuse drugs.

[drmmrboy]

Could he see inside? See your studio gear? If there's no obvious incentive for him to come back, he may leave you alone. But yes, alarm system.

Originally Posted by octatonic

I already have a dog- she is still in the US until her quarantine period passes- she is always a good alarm system.

I met this girl.
I have a Chow myself. If anyone comes near the house he'll bark. (alarm) He doesn't look like the kinda dog you want to mess with either. (fear factor)

[gregohb]

If you stuff gets stolen, don't expect the police to do much. My experiences with the police indicate they are not going to try very hard to solve the crime.

You can do these things :
- move (seriously!) and then don't sell things where people come to your place
- get insurance
- alarm system
- heavy duty locks, doors, deadbolts, etc
- when you catch a guy like that, let him know that you are on to him, ask him what he is doing, call the police from a cell phone so he sees you doing it, follow him to his car and get the license plate.
- you might get a safe for the most valuable things
- make a list of all serial numbers, take photos of everything, scratch an id number into the inside areas (e.g. on a guitar, the back of the pickguard), then burn to a CD, and keep it in another location.
- make a full backup of your software to an external disk and keep that in another place too.

[l9821518]

[l9821518]

save yourself alot of stress and move your gear or seriously upgrade your security.i got 5 dogs all tosa and pit types.anyone breaks in i guarantee that they get ripped.if thieves think im gonna hang around like a nob for a crime reference number they got another thing coming.im not gonna let it get to that stage.police are clowns.tell them that i said so.lol.no really act on it.

[henryrobinett]

Double deadbolts. Locks on windows. Then they can't leave through any doors and whatever they tried to take would have to come through broken shards of window pane.

And a very loud alarm system, by all means.

[Spookym15]

I know what you mean. I had the same thing over the past few months of people snooping. Finally I insured all my equipment and moved into a studio space across town. My neighborhood was once very nice but in the past few weeks we had:

1. A drug dealer get kidney punched repeatedly by the police
2. Someone broke into my neighbors house
3. Someone got sent to the hospital for being in their car while a gang was walking down the street.
4. I had someone threaten to kill me for walking to my car. (walked out of my house to my car some guy was walking down the street and said if I did not get back in my house he would stab me. I walked to my door and said that my friend did not agree with his logic...my friend is a 3 foot long steel pipe, he ran off, then I called the cops on him).
5. We had the police and swat raid another drug dealers house... separate occasion then the police incident listed above.

That is all the stuff that happened in a fifty foot vicinity around my house. This is a suburban neighborhood in a college town outside of Nashville. I just put chain locks and dead bolts on all the doors and I am debating about arming myself (I hate guns).

Seems like the whole world is falling apart.

[henryrobinett]

Can someone tell me how to insure my gear? As a musician/professional I thought it was virtually impossible to get insurance, at least reasonable insurance. I used to get covered by the musicians union, but since our symphony folded that's no longer covered.

[wreckd]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Can someone tell me how to insure my gear? As a musician/professional I thought it was virtually impossible to get insurance, at least reasonable insurance. I used to get covered by the musicians union, but since our symphony folded that's no longer covered.

I've got mine under my home and contents insurance with my regular insurance company

[henryrobinett]

Are you a professional musician?