SALT AND PEPPER

First of all I will tell you about last night.  Around 10.40pm I thought I heard a knock on the door.  But the TV was on and and I wasn't really sure it was a knock  I just dismissed it as the cats being noisy in the hall.  However around 5 mins later there was a louder knock and the doorbell rang.  Debated whether to answer the door .... and decided I would. ( with the benefit of hindsight maybe I shouldn't have ) Anyway when I opened the door ( not very wide ) I could see one man on my drive.  He wasn't near my door thankfully.  He said he was looking for someone.  He said a name but I didn't catch what he said,  Then he mentioned Gumtree.  I said he had the wrong house.  He walked away.  I shut the door and got on with something.  Around 5 mins later doorbell rang again. This time I just ignored it.   It was rather unsettling but I did feel safe enough inside my house and if I had been worried I would have phoned a neighbour as I know all their phone numbers.

This morning Jackie from next door called round to see if I was Ok as she had seen some men lurking in the street and one of them coming to my door.  Up till then I had thought there was only one man but she said she saw 3 others.  She had been looking out of her bedroom window.  Her brother was going to go into the street and ask them what they were up to but she told him not to just in case there was trouble/violence.

Later on she posted about it on The Close Whatsapp page and everyone has been " chipping in " throughout the day telling me if anything like that happens again just to phone them.  I decided that I had better report it to the police in case the men involved are in the area and doing the same in other streets.  Filled in an online incident form and this afternoon someone from Northumbria Police phoned me.  He was very nice and gave me some general safety advice and said if anything like that happened again and I was worried I should just ring 999.  Someone from another team is going to give me a ring tomorrow afternoon as well.  Hopefully its just a one off.  Its very unusual to have something like that happening here and living in a cul de sac we do feel a bit safer so its rather worrying that this " gang " actually came into the Close and chose my house to knock at. The only reason I can think of why they came here  is that its the only house with no cars on the drive.

So quite a bit of time today has been spent reading Whatsapp messages, answering Whatsapp messages, chatting to Jackie and talking to the chap from Northumbria Police.  I had a phone call to make which took quite a while .... and my brother C phoned again.  Just wanted a chat.  His chats last over an hour.  And I had lots to get on with.  Most of which I didn't get on with.

I bought a plant stand and some plants on Ebay which came today so I fixed the plant stand together and put it on the patio complete with plants.  And I strung up some solar lights,  Needed to use a ladder which I'm not too keen on.  But its done. Just need some sunshine to see what they look like. It was dull and rainy today.

No chance to go out anywhere to get a Wide Wednesday shot so as an Emergency blip I took a photo of something else which arrived in the post today.  A set of Electric Salt and Pepper Grinders.  Very fancy with a light which shines down when you press the button to grind. When I bought them I didn't realise that each one needs 6 batteries.  I scratched around in my " battery drawer " and managed to find 12 AAA batteries.  Better buy some more to replenish my stock.

Musical link SALT AND PEPPER - by Harry Chapin

Steps today - 4,263 ( 1.66 miles )

CORONA CLASSIC - Nicolo Paganini Violin Concerto No. 2 in B Minor