The Phone Call.

Pentax K1000, Kodak BW400CN, ISO 400

Not a happy day. We (M, really) have been the victim of theft. People who we trusted implicitly; they even have a key for our house. People who have been coming to the house every week for the last 8 months, who I hired and met on the first day they came. Two nice ladies, who were smiley and quiet, who have access to every room, cupboard and drawer and do a brilliant job keeping our house clean and tidy. Never once have I seen an object out of place that would suggest they had been rifling in cupboards that they have no reason to be in. Except today, M went to get the little pile of cash he’d been saving in an – apparently – safe place (a closed box on a high shelf of his wardrobe) and it was gone. I cringed when we had to ring the police. I was sure that they’d not believe us. Or that they’d think we were horrible folk with nothing better to do than blame the cleaners that we hire because we lost something. The police were really nice and very helpful; M said they didn’t even ask if he was sure it had been stolen (although she did ask if M and I had ‘discussed it’... presumably she’s been involved in too many cases where someone’s partner has borrowed something without mentioning it)! We will have to phone the cleaning company in the morning.

I am confident we’ll get the money back; however, I am not confident that I’ll ever be able to let a cleaner (or anyone else we only know on a professional level) into our house when we’re out at work ever again. That box was not just lying about. Someone had to go poking around to find it. I hate to think that they’ve gone through every other drawer, too. All our possessions – some private, of course – may have been touched by nosy fingers. Horrible. So tonight’s image is M in the window, on the phone to the police. I wondered whether to post all this text to go with my photo today, but I do believe it’s important to record the negatives with all the positive things in my life; not because anyone else will be interested, but because I want an accurate record.