Saturday, November 8, 2008

Breaking crime story. London, UK

Well.

I don’t do well with crime stories.

As you might imagine. The South African experience provided more than enough war-zone material. Plenty enough for a lifetime.

But to be honest, even England doesn’t feel as safe as it used to. I remember the days when Agatha Christie stories seemed like the height of horror. Still, after the most heinous crimes, Miss Marple or Hercule Poirot showed up and put things to right again. And village life carried on, as calm as before.

Recently I’ve been surprised by how gung-ho the Brits have become on crime-busting and crime prevention. Every week, it seems, there’s a new angle on how to reduce knife crime or how to make the streets safer by cracking down on speeders. The United Kingdom appears to be addressing public safety issues.

So you can appreciate how heartened I was to learn that my local Sainsbury’s has thrown the full weight of their corporation behind crime-prevention.

I popped in for some crisps and some toffee caramel shortbreads and a bottle of wine (oh, sure, there was real food in there too, don’t worry!)

And I was thrilled to see how Sainsbury’s is endeavouring to remove the weapons from the sick, evil criminals who will not be stopped.

Because look at what I found:



Arrest “flour crime” in its tracks!

Treat “egg crime” with the gravitas it deserves!

Reduce my anxiety! Is that possible?

God forbid your kids might bake some cookies. I guess they just musn’t do it in October or November.

4 comments:

Jim said...

Hi, this is a Halloween measure. In my day, on what wen called 'Mischievous Night' we used to knock on doors and run away, tie doorhandles together, etc. The favourite trick was to swap all the gates around. (We lived on an estate where all the houses, at least in our street, had been built together and all had the same front gates, but different colours.) We kids thought it very funny. We knew nothing of 'trick or treat' back then - we just played tricks, so no free sweets(candy). Lately, some of the older kids have taken to throwing flour and eggs at people's houses if they don't respond to trick or treat in the desired way. In some communities, it's become a way of oppressing people too afraid to open their door or complain.

Trick or treat is fine, but kids should be banned from going around after the age of 10.

expateek said...

Hi Jim -- wow, you were a naughty little 'un!

I knew about the flour and eggs -- we have a (nasty)"tradition" of egging and "TP"ing in the US too. It's pretty aggravating to clean egg off a frying pan, let alone your car or your house, so it all makes perfect sense.

Guess my criminality didn't extend to thinking about flour as a weapon though!

Hope you escaped such experiences this year,and just got to enjoy the Halloween new moon.

Anonymous said...

Ha, ha, that's pretty funny. Great sign.

expateek said...

domestic fringe -- yes, wasn't it funny looking? It did make me laugh, even though I understood the intention was serious.

It was made slightly more amusing because the sparkler/fireworks case was entirely empty. I didnt go check the egg or flour shelves tho!