The 8th Commandment

I was awoken yesterday morning by Shosh telling me that her car had been stolen. She had parked it as usual in the car park situated in the grounds of the flat where she and her fiancé , Gavin, live. They spent all day yesterday driving around the area to see if they could find it abandoned in a car park or down a side street somewhere, but with no luck. This is so unfair.

Why do people think they can just take something that does not belong to them? OK most of the things that were in the car can be replaced – her wellies, boiler suit and parlour clothes that she uses when she is out on her veterinary studies, various cds and the toolset that Gav gave her for Christmas can be replaced. So can the pairs of glasses for ordinary and summer driving, but that is not the point. Over the years she has paid money to get her car through its MOTs, paid insurance, paid tax and petrol. She has kept it roadworthy and has looked after it. She has checked its oil, water, tyre pressures etc to keep it going for, what was hoped, the next couple of years until she needed to find a replacement when she gets settled in a job – a job for which, as a vet, she will need a car.

What has she done all that for? It seems so that someone can just take her property on a whim. She gets no recompense from the college for having to travel around the country to attend week or fortnight-long stints at veterinary surgeries in order for her to gain the experience needed for her to qualify. She has had to scrimp and save on her student income to keep a car going for the five years of her university life. And now it has gone. She may get it back, but if she does stand a small chance of this, it may well be in a sorry state. She cannot afford to buy a replacement. She is, basically, screwed by the vile actions of a thief or thieves, the lowest form of humanity on this earth.

Today, Olivia, has texted me to say that someone has smashed one of the lights on her car. Why? Do parents have no control over their spawn any more? Do they not know how to teach right from wrong? Or have they wiped their hands clean of any thoughts of disciplining their offspring ? It is, after all, mainly youngsters who take delight in causing this kind of damage or performing this kind of theft. The bully boys of organised crime do not usually lower themselves to such petty infringements of other people’s human rights. They have bigger fish to fry.

This is just not acceptable. Why do the scum of the earth think that they can do this kind of thing and get away with it? Hmm, probably because these days they do just that – get away with it. It was not that long ago in the grand scheme of things that children were hanged for stealing a loaf of bread. In some countries people still do get their hand cut off for theft. This country has gone to the dogs, it has degenerated – and is still degenerating – into a scum-filled land with no moral values.

OK, these two events have happened to my children, and, as their mother, I would, of course, defend them and their property. If I caught the perpetrators I would probably end up in prison for the damage I would do to their vile little bodies. I cannot describe the despair and anger I feel at this moment.

I know it happens to others all over the country. Only a month or so ago, Gavin had his car damaged by someone driving into it. It was parked in the car park where he works. They smashed the side front wing and just drove off and left it – no note of apology with insurance details. Just drove off - unbelievable.

Yes, some of you may say that my daughters are lucky to have cars of their own, but a £50 Escort from a cousin and a £150 Sierra from Ebay are not exactly huge luxuries to have, compared with the must-have yearly summer holidays abroad for hundreds of pounds and plasma TVs that a lot of families feel are an automatic right in their lives these days. Not forgetting the two new cars in the driveway of course.