The Lowest Of The Low

Last night about 9.30 we had a phone call from our middle daughter (she is a single Mum and the mother of our oldest grand-daughter) to say someone (I could use really bad language here) had broken into her house. She had left at about 9 am that morning to firstly help her eldest sister out with some more unpacking - A & C played with my baby grand-daughter so C & M could unpack the last of their stuff to make sure nothing more had been broken in the move from Sydney. They had then all gone to watch the little one at her swimming lesson before A & C went to help another friend, also a single Mum, who was trying to earn a little extra cash by taking on a cleaning job on top of her normal Mon-Fri work.

So while they were away, helping others, some low-life and probably that should be in the plural, thought that it was okay to break in and help themselves to whatever they felt like.

Now I don't understand, and never have, how anyone can contemplate doing this, no-one in this country should be under the pressures of people in third world countries who sometimes have no other option but to steal and beg. There have been times when we have been on the bones of our arse financially, my children have also been in this situation, but never ever would we think of doing this, so please tell me why some Australians think it is okay. It is not like you can't get assistance from the Government and other organisations.

Luckily my daughter has insurance, but she has not kept all the receipts - so please if you have insurance keep your receipts - so it will be harder for her to prove what was stolen. And while it was not too much taken overall - my grand-daughter's Wii, Playstation 2 (and all the games she had) and her iPod Shuffle and my daughter's digital camera, a couple of memory cards, a DS with her favourite game inside and a carton of cigarettes, they also rummaged through every drawer and cupboard in the house, tipped out boxes of creative memories stuff and stole coke from the fridge. But above all it was the feeling of being violated that my daughter is struggling with the most - strangers have gone through her underwear drawer looking for cash or jewelry, they have sat on her lounge, rummaged through her linen, sat on her daughter's bed and been in her fridge.

For a non-violent person, if I ever find them, I will promise you, I may just beat them into a pulp - and I think there will be a line - my husband will be heading up the queue!