Garden Theft - Are People Really That Desperate?

As it was quite a nice day today, weather wise, I decided to do a spot or gardening. I have a couple of empty water-logged planters in the front garden, which I needed to drill holes into so that everything I put in it doesn’t die within a month. I also needed to clear away the pine needles from the Christmas tree I lobbed out of the window from my first floor living room in early January. Not a good look in mid March.

As I was merrily weeding away, sweeping up leaves, discarded crisp and sweet packets (living next door to one of the areas best primary schools does have its downsides) I noticed that something didn’t seem right.

It came to me a moment later; there was something missing. Some low-life thieving bastards had stolen my lovely bay tree, along with the zinc planter it came in, even though I had drilled holes into the planter and screwed it into the paving so that it couldn’t be lifted away (or so I thought).

I have to say, I am disgusted. It might be a tad dramatic but I feel violated. Not only have they stolen my plant, they have stolen pretty much the only plant I have ever managed to keep alive!

We were very pleased, the Grumpy One and I, when we planted it, along with the (long since dead) box hedges we lovingly shaped and planted in neat little rows (who actually kills a box hedge by the way?) Us gays had brought a touch of class to the otherwise drab and dreary front gardens on our street. Well not any more.

The value of the plant and the pot can’t be more than about £80. I haven’t checked the policy but I am sure the excess on my home insurance is higher than that, plus to claim I would probably have to call the police and I would feel a right muppet complaining to them that my bay tree was stolen. So I guess I will just have to put it down to experience.

Have we really now got to the stage that people are stealing plants from gardens? Well, yes it turns out. I did a quick look online and realised that garden theft is in fact big business. Items are often stolen to order and Halifax has reported that insurance claims for garden theft have gone up by 52%.

So what do I do now? I am certainly not going to plant another bay tree and I won’t be spending a small fortune on box hedge either. I may as well write 'mug' across my garden wall. No, instead I will have to plant something decidedly less trendy, something that nobody wants to steal. Any ideas?

Mr Musing Thinks: Car Insurance Equality

The one thing about trying to mix hi-brow and lowest common denominator posts in one blog is that the hi-brow ones always take longer to write, needing a bit of research and thinking before they can be published. I find there is a tendency therefore to post less intense fillers just to let my small (but growing) number of followers that I am still here and posting.

I have a couple of interesting (well I think so) posts on the go at the moment, which will take a few days to complete but today I thought rather than resorting to knocking something out about the latest Lady Gaga video (self indulgent but entertaining nevertheless) I would do a quick 'Mr Musing Thinks' feature, where I comment briefly on one of the current news stories.

So here is the first one... Car Insurance Equality 

Image Source: Daily Mail (I don't read it BTW)

This week it was announced that the EU has ruled that insurance companies can no longer discriminate based on gender and set insurance premiums that differ due to a person's sex. This is likely to mean an increase for women and a slight decrease for men and many commentators in the press thought this unfair.


My first thought however, as a male driver who has never had an accident (well not since passing my test anyway) is it's great news. Why should I be lumped together with other drivers and charged more just because I have a penis? 90% of accidents may be caused by young male drivers but not by me - and yes, even at 31 I am still young!


Imagine if insurers used racial profiling and charged Black and Asian people more for their insurance (and I am not saying Black or Asian people are more likely to have an accident - I haven't the faintest idea if there are even statistics on it)? There would be an outcry, so why is it acceptable to profile based on gender?


Of course, it is unlikely to stop with gender and surely it can't be long before insurers cannot set premiums based on age either? So no discounts for the middle-aged driver.


In reality though it is only the insurance companies themselves that will benefit from this ruling. The premiums for men will not drop by the level that they increase for women, meaning that insurers will be laughing all the way to the bank.


Though perhaps, the biggest issue in all of this is whether, stripped of their ability to offer bonzer car insurance deals - girls will bother getting onto Sheila's Wheels? In fact that's another reason why it's a good idea, we may never have to hear that annoying advert (below) again.


What do you think - fair or unfair? Let me know below.


Ps...check out the Sheila's Wheels parody video below (bottom).