Calling All Cars! Or none at all...

I had no idea we even HAD a security system until it cheerfully started going off upon our arrival home from Easter at the inlaws. I knew that at some point, someone had one here as the outside of our house is decorated with one of those lovely plastic boxes with a catchy slogan of the nab a thief/no burgle variety, but assumed that were it still active, the estate agent would have informed us about this small but useful fact. Perhaps would even have supplied us with the code...

Unfortunately, such was not the case and this evening found us frantically calling the lovely folks at the alarm company in the hopes of not waking up every child in the neighborhood and also for our own sanity's sake. The thing was loud.

If I was at all worried about the alarm people requiring a password of some sort or indeed any proof that I was a resident of the house and not merely a thoughtful thief, I needn't have worried. For starters, there was no answer at their "24hour Line" and when I called the "In case of Emergency" number, the gentleman at the other end of the line couldn't have been more efficient. Instead of messing around finding out useless bits of information like my name or address, he simply told us to remove the four fuses inside the box and that would shut down the alarm. The outdoor siren would turn itself off in twenty minutes.

Is it just me, or this make anyone else feel just a tad insecure about their security system which I'm sure cost more then a pretty penny to set up and maintain? Now, I have to say that in this case, their laissez faire attitude came in handy as it stopped the incessant blaring of the alarm (although that annoying little beeping is STILL going off!!! ARGHHHH!!!) However, the area which we've moved to has recently been hit by a string of night time home invasions and the thought that a burglar can just ring up the company in question and say "Hey there! I seem to have tripped the system, how do I turn it off?" and be given STEP BY STEP instructions on how to do so does raise alarm bells (sorry) in my mind.

It's also shattered any illusions I ever held about home security systems being connected to some sort of home security SWAT team who would come running the second the sirens sounded.

Oh well, on the bright side, the Snot Queen's giant molar has finally broken through her gum and ended the OTHER nightly alarm we've recently been experiencing. Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!