Open letter to a thief,
I am moving. That is clear from the storage containers in the driveway, and the boxes that can be seen piling up though the living room window.
It is an emotional time, selling my parents home, there are many regrets and memories and emotions. (The current debate about housing is another topic.)
Several days ago, I came home from work, and stood in the street in front of the house crying.
It was the day the new recycling containers were delivered. But that was not the only thing out of place.
There was the storage containers, as already mentioned, but one of the plastic patio chairs had been moved to the front of the house and my heart sank.
Someone had stolen my wind chimes. They were the large Westminster chimes with a deep musical tone.
I have had them for 18 years. They were weathered and grimy, but they made beautiful music.
They were a birthday gift from my mother, the year my boyfriend passed away (far too soon). My mother passed away in 2014 and my father five months after her. And so I stood there in the street, crying.
I wrote an angry sign to the thief and put it in the window. With the faint hope that the person might feel guilty and bring them back.
I kicked myself, because a few days before, I was going to pack them.
But the sound of them as I go to sleep at night was comforting, and I need all the comfort I can get in a stressful time.
A friend said that this is apparently a common thing, with so many houses being demolished, the items on the properties are fair game. The house is run down but not abandoned; lights are on and, as I said, boxes and such can be seen through the front window.
When I was hanging my angry sign, I noticed another thing missing, a little fairy decoration from one of the plant pots.
She had a broken wing, the piece is packed to be glued back on at a later time. Another gift from my mother, certainly not something that one would think would have any attraction for a thief.
I will be gone from here in a few days, and so the hope of these items being returned is all but non-existent.
But perhaps this will make others think twice before randomly stealing something on a dare, or vandalising property.
Karen Axford
Richmond
