Security, What Security?

I haven’t been able to do any work on the trailer lighting, it has been raining every day, and not just drizzle either, fortunately there is no urgent requirement to use it, so I am happy to leave the trailer alone for the time being.

Tito’s new furry bed arrived early in the week, so on Thursday, it was an excuse for lunch out, and off we went to Rionegro to collect it, much to his delight. The other two had their furry pieces of heaven. Tito was stuck in an old foam bed, during the day, he did his best to bed down in one of theirs

which didn’t go down well with Pepe and Nala, but there is no need for a bed war now, Tito has his own fluffy paradise

Like all his others, it is under our bed, hidden from the thunderstorms and fireworks, so he is happy!

We had been contemplating re-gravelling the parking area. Since having Nala, it became even more important, because, she was digging up and ripping the material under the stone, to reduce weeds, it was starting to look a mess. We had started getting quotes, for 5m3; when Jaime was working for us, it cost $500.000 COP including Transport, the cheapest now costs $700.000, but we had to bite the bullet!

Yesterday morning at 7.30am, it arrived

It didn’t look much, and I wondered if I had ordered enough, until I had to start shovelling it!

By mid-day it was done

Please excuse the blur, I used the fisheye lens. Marcela, had offered to help, but first she had to take Nala for her first set of injections, against further incidents of Papaloma virus, she timed it just right, I was just finishing, as she returned, so she did a bit of raking. Finished or not, I was happy to have the help, as my back was killing me, despite having worn a support belt, I ended up on the bed for most of the afternoon.

For now, we will have to use 4×4 to cross the gravel, until it has bedded down, but it looks 100% better, there is an additional 2 to 3 inches of gravel across the whole area.

On Wednesday, I happened to go into the lane to weed the Hydrangeas, only to find this mark on both our Electric pole, and meter box.

In the UK, we are wary when seeing this unexplained sign, it’s often placed there by Thieves, marking the property for a return visit. It didn’t look professional, so I was happy it hadn’t been done by the Power Company, I checked outside neighbour’s houses, nothing. I then got some thinners and cleaned it all off.

I therefore decided to put a warning on the Neighbourhood Group WA page, and then started revising our own security arrangements. Marcela tried to contact the local Police in Marinilla, but neither the Captain in charge, not the local Patrol answered their phones, which was not encouraging.

Later that evening someone from another Group saw the entry, and got in touch with Marcela, admitting it was them, because one of the access roads is closed for upgrading, they are using ours, and there is a distinct shortage of lights, so they had gone out in the night, looking for lights that needed upgrading, or poles that could be used for lights, and marking them for the Power Company.

Funny how this happens when the rich and powerful with a voice are effected, they can get things done, 12-18 months ago, they asked for money for all the roads to be lit, some of us on our road, contributed, but nothing happened, then we heard, they spent all the money in the other area.

Anyway, I had some spray paint, went out and put an X on the post, it was rediculous to spray the post, my meter and everything else in the way, I wasn’t happy.

As a result of this incident, we found that there had been two daytime burglaries in the immediate area, in the last week, one, the offenders hadn’t been caught, in the second one, the offender was captured.

When Marcela explained that the town Police failed to answer the phone, one of the Group got in contact, and again asked us if we wanted to purchase a VHF radio, which has contact with 26 other Property Owners in the area, and direct contact with the Police of Antioquia, based in Medellin, which guarantees an immediate police response. This would mean us getting licensed, having to go to Medellin to be vetted, and checking that we are suitable to hold such a radio, Marcela said that if it was down to one of us, then it would be me, due to my past, ha ha ha ! We had been asked previously, but no one explained the detail, and we had declined, it’s not a cheap option, but for peace of mind, and lack of local police response, we are seriously considering it.