I guess you can fill in the last word yourself? Of course it’s from that famous song by Canadian singer/song writer Joni Mitchell—Big Yellow Taxi—like the one here that took us to the airport on our way home from a beautiful family wedding on Vancouver Island.
Normal life for Mary and I was suspended upon our arrival by car back in Sileby from Heathrow at 5pm on Sunday 19th August. We pulled up on the grass in front of our house in order to unload the cases. As soon as we’d done that, I went to open the back door to let in some fresh air and realised that our home had been broken into. The only evidence, at first, appeared to be the broken lock, but as soon as we went upstairs the extent of our predicament began to unfold. The contents of bedroom drawers were strewn over the floor; in Mary’s office there was stationery and papers on the carpet and in my study the cupboard door was open with items of little worth on the floor. We phoned 999, gave an account of what we had discovered and, within an hour, two police S.O.C.O. arrived and began dusting for prints upstairs and downstairs.
Our Ford van key was not in the fruit bowl in the kitchen where we’d left it, so I went round to look in our car park – no van. Over the next hour and a half we discovered many items of sentimental, emotional and material value had been stolen. There was a mounted gold sovereign on a long gold belcher chain. The actual sovereign had been a 21st birthday present to Mary’s mum from her grandfather; there were rings and necklaces handed down from Mary’s aunts. There was a jewellery case I had bought for my late wife in the 1990s containing all sorts of keepsakes from that life: wedding rings, a lock of hair, a golden heart necklace, etc.
Going out on foot for a pint and a takeaway after the police had left, it dawned on Mary that the spare Kia car key had been in her mother’s jewellery case which was also missing, so we decided it would be a good idea to move the car elsewhere.
On the way home, I went to the Chinese takeaway and Mary went to the chippy. Mary got back before me and went to look in the car park to make sure the car was okay. She walked round to the house and was unlocking the front door when she noticed a male person loping past wearing a black hoodie pulled well forward over his face. She went into the kitchen and was putting plates out for our meal as I got back.
‘The car’s okay, I just checked,’ she said. I picked up the car keys saying I would move it before we ate. But, unbelievably, when I went round to the car park, it had gone!
I rang the police straightaway and they quickly located it in Loughborough and gave chase. After hitting a lamp post the
occupant fled. He was caught and spent 24 hours in police custody. The case is still under investigation.
We have since learned, on the grapevine, who this person is: a nasty piece of work , a local thief and convicted criminal.
There was a box and a half of Soar Valley Life magazines in the van which must have been dumped somewhere. Please let us know if you spot them—the ones with the cricketers on the front.
As each day has unfolded we have found more and more items that aren’t with us anymore. Strange how you don’t notice something is missing until you want it…
We have been overwhelmed by a great many offers of help and support . People have sent us flowers, lent us their cars and offered all kinds of practical help with our business.
And all this in our Autumn magazine deadline week! So we sincerely apologise for this being a thinner magazine this time, but it has been one of the most testing weeks we have ever known.
We’ll be back to some sort of normality for the next issue and hopefully we’ll have put an end to the growing list of our possessions that are – well, here it is then, that missing word—GONE!
Steve & Mary Johns
