So much for the neighborhood!

As a resident of a large metropolitan city, I have come to accept the fact that with the joys and conveniences of the city there are downsides. One of course is traffic. The other downside is crime. You do your best to stay safe and out of harm's way. You use common sense and try not to be a victim of crime. Sometimes, it is unavoidable. My car was stolen last June. It was taken from the front of my neighbor's house. They were stunned to hear of the crime and were a bit incredulous. However, they and our surrounding neighbors said they would strive to be more alert and vigilant. I think they might need to define vigilant and alert...

This brings me to this evening's events. I took Dottie out for a night walk at around 8pm. Before I walked out the door, I left some of my keys behind, mostly keys that pertain to my office.... or so I thought. I hate all the jingling keys when I walk her around the neighborhood. I inadvertently left my house key with my office keys. It was not so brilliant.. I know, I know... I'm sure I could have gone to my landlord's house which is across the street and ask for the spare key. Frankly, I was embarrassed to do so and I didn't want to disturb them. This forced me to break into my own home.

As it turns out, this was a very difficult task (definitely a plus). I locked Dottie up in the yard. I proceeded to remove the screen and slide open an ajar window. At which point, I attempted to shimmy into the window. My days of rock climbing have long passed because I struggled to get into the damn window to no avail. My hands were desperately trying to hold on while my feet were slipping and sliding all over the side of the house. Who knew that vinyl siding would be so slippery?! Dear God! It was a quite a site. It was like an episode of the 3 Stooges.. only there was one Stooge playing the parts of 3. Dottie was attentively watching me from the yard. I think she thought I was playing some sort of weird game - a game that was wildly unsuccessful and very painful. I have a multitude of bruises to show for it. I was so ashamed of myself. I finally had to place a tall object which was nearby next to the window. It gave me the extra boost I needed to get inside. If that didn't work, I think I would have sat outside, cried and waited for Rob to get off of work. Luckily it worked and I proceeded to unlock the door and let Dottie into the house. The whole fiasco lasted about 20 minutes.

The part that appalls me is that I was trying to get into a window that was within plain view of a number of my neighbors. I'm shocked that 1. No tried to help me & 2. No one said anything or tried to stop me. Rob is trying to placate me by saying that they recognized me and decided to leave well enough alone or someone was laughing their head off and didn't want to end the comedy routine. Either way, I'm fortifying my house and praying that a video of my debacle doesn't show up on YouTube. What happened to being vigilant & alert?!!