Do you lock your doors?

[Carruthers]

Without fail.

I don't live in a particularly high crime area according to official statistics, but over the years more than half of the homes in the road have either been burgled or attempts thereto have been made.

The trouble is that dwellings are a mixture of houses and bungalows and most have fairly substantial hedges. The criminally disposed take advantage of not being overlooked whilst going about their business.
Throw into the mix some houses being empty all day, others being occupied by fairly elderly people who are perhaps not the most observant and also likely to succumb to distraction burglaries, and you can see why Burglar Bill does his worst from time to time.

A while back dad was awakened by a loud bang in the dead of night but thought no more of it. It turned out that it was the neighbours, who were away, being relieved of their TV and the felon dropping it on the patio.
They also, for reasons best known to themselves, left a tap running in the kitchen. Why?