Near disaster....

[dougdarter]

I've written elsewhere about the failure of a CF card, but it could have been a lot, lot worse!!

The Solar heating array for the hot water in our villa faulted whilst we were there, so we rang the agents, and they said that they would come round and fix it - they had a key so they said they would let themselves in if we were out.

I took my 10D, and the 20 - 35 2.8L with me in the camera bag out for the day, and left the 1D MkIIN , and 3 other L lenses in their cases, in my Pelicase under the bed.

When we got back, the water had been fixed, so we thought all was OK.

Wendy and I went out to dinner, and when we got back, we found that all our Sterling (about £160), and £600 worth of Turkish Lira (about £200), and Wendy's mobile had been stolen from a suitcase which was in a wardrobe!!:bang:

When it went, we don't know. The Villa has security gratings on all the windows, and a steel 'burglary proof' front door.

The Turkish police weren't particularly helpful, and the agents swore it wasn't one of their reps, saying we must have left the front door open!!

I still shake when I think about what may have happened if the theives had looked under the bed.

 

[Janice]

]
I still shake when I think about what may have happened if the theives had looked under the bed.

They'd have found your stash of dirty magazines???

sorry doug.......seriously though... thats terrible news.

Sounds like you will be glad to forget that holiday.

Probably the police were none too helpful because they know youd be going home in a few days and would probably not pursue it further.

 

[dougdarter]

They'd have found your stash of dirty magazines???

.

They were hidden under the pillow Janice.

The Turkish police seemed to me to be saying that 'English' people were always reporting cash stolen, so that they could get a 'free' holiday out of the insurance company.

We probably won't even report the missing cash to the Insurance company - they have a £100 excess, and it's probably not worth the hassle.:bang:

Actually, the holiday was great! The weather was wonderful, the scenery gorgeous, the people were of the friendliest kind, and the food was simply splendid.

The worst thing about the holiday was the travelling. We had to check in 3 hours before boarding, and then the flight was delayed for 2 hours, which meant 5 hours in a no smoking:bang: departure lounge, and then another 5 hours in a no smoking plane in which we were packed like sardines My recommendation? Don't ever fly Turkish Onur Airways - they have less legroom and narrower seats than any other airline I have ever flown with - I thought Ryan Air was bad!

No, holiday was great, and I'd go to Turkey again in a heartbeat.

 

[minimeeze]

Sorry to hear of this... sounds like dodgy agents to me

 

[jhob]

I got mugged in Cape Town last year, fortunately only kids but they had a knife. I just turned out my pockets and they ran off with about 10 quid. Lucky for me and unlucky for them they didn't want my rucksack with about a grand's worth of camera kit in it. Now then I would have been really p***ed.

 

[Jason]

A few years ago at a friends villa in Lanzarote a brand new pair of jeans vanished from the bedroom (they were lying on the bed)

All the doors were locked, window in the bedroom is barred but was open. Later that night said trousers were seen being worn by a dodgy looking man while the owner was eating at a cafe.

The local police were actually very helpful and took the man away. I'm pretty sure he was deported back to whatever country he had illegally entered from.

They said that sticks are used to hook items through open windows. Sometimes the sticks have glue or double sided sticky tape on them so that wallets, purses etc can be taken.

 

[Arkady]

I always carry two wallets on holiday - one with a small amount of cash in for muggers and another hidden away with all the plastic.
Watch out though, muggers always work in teams, with at least one gang member who just watches the 'marks' to see where they put all the goodies. There'll also be a 'hand-off' guy to whom the actual robber will pass the stolen goods so that if he does get grabbed, he'll have nothing incriminating on him.

Doesn't always work in their favour, I once saw a kid of about 14 get the living sh*t kicked out of him by a bunch of angry Morroccans for lifting the wallet of a tourist, even though he'd already passed it to an accomplice.

 

[oldgit]

Eeewww.

I take it that this "incident" was one of the three... I hope so for your sake.
'nuf bad luck for one year/lifetime