The devil makes work for idyll hands

Slightly abrupt end to the French idyll today. We were burgled.

Our house here is an old mill, so it is tall and thin (three storeys) and built into the side of a hill. This gives us exterior doors on all three levels. The top floor (where we're sleeping) is accessed from the first floor by an external staircase - with two lockable but (during the day) unlocked doors.

So today, between Mr B popping up there to shave and the kids going up to watch their iPods after lunch, someone popped in to the top floor, rummaged through all the drawers, helped themselves to a stereo and Conor's iPod before (on hearing the kids coming) making off through the garage.

On the one hand I was mightily p'd off. Conor's iPod has loads of movies on that he loves and that will take ages to put back on if we get a new one (some of the dvds are scratched so we'd just have to buy them again anyway). The stereo I don't really care about - it was cheap and we don't use it much. And the burglar didn't find my only piece of expensive jewelry. I had to spend the whole afternoon waiting for the police and then being interviewed at great length in my ropey french.

On the other hand, at least he had the garage door to escape out of so my kids didn't see him or confront him. Imagine. I'm trying very hard not too.

Home doesn't feel quite so homely tonight.

On a slightly surreal note, the burglar left a towel behind, by the shower. Was he intending to have a quick wash before he left the scene? Was the towel to wipe his prints off everything he touched?

Still, some witnesses saw the guy who did it and think they know him, so we might get the magic iPod back yet. (Why did it have to be the 160gb one that I use as my secret extra back up for important files instead of the slightly broken 80gb one that only works if you press the right sequence of buttons and shake it slightly????)

Oh, the photo's a cricket. I spent the morning stalking insects around the garden with a close up filter on my camera. Bit fuzzy: makes me really really really desire a proper macro lens. Crickets, in case you're wondering, are great subjects: they are either there, or gone. None of this fluttering/buzzing about you get with butterflies and bees.