999 at Flat #6

What an eventful past couple of days we have had! We worked up until Thursday evening, when the drama begins...

Last night, we had plans with all of our flatmates (minus Sarah, who works like she is getting paid for her internship) to go to some karaoke bar, made by the flat #6 social chair, Nikki. We had all just gotten back from work and were hanging out on the second floor of our flat, when the door bell starts ringing. Aviva goes to answer the door, and some good samaritan is there saying he had just seen a man in a hoodie holding a bottle of some sort and jumping from our balcony to the street below. He had followed him until the hooded man realized he was doing so, and then lost him.

Our flat isn't in the nicest neighborhood, but not the worst, either. We have a gate to get into our courtyard, but if you can scale the concrete wall fencing in our patio and balcony, like said hooded man, then that is where the trouble starts. All of us are freaking out, of course, and go downstairs to see if he had actually gotten into the bottom floor. The lock on the patio door is busted off, the metal grate behind it that locks twice for even more protection has one of its locks off, and the bathroom window lock is busted, but metal bars intact. So, he had attempted to get in(and could at least reach into the room) but was scared off, or unable to get in quickly enough. (Although Kyla is missing her favorite pair of underwear). We called Anglo American and they sent staff over to check out the situation, and they called the police, who said they were on their way. Our plans for singing awful Whitney Houston songs with British men at some karaoke bar off Farringdon were shot. The guys in the flat across from us were supposed to go out with us, but instead came over to our flat to wait on the police with us. Fast forward to midnight, and they still haven't arrived!! So all that time spent sitting around, for nothing, other than the bottom floor of our flat was still un-lockable and it would have been stupid to leave.

Well, the police did end up coming, but not until this morning. Sally, Ayumi, Nikki and I were the only ones here. I went downstairs to talk to the policeman (he had a funny name, but I can't remember it) as he took notes on a little tablet as I talked, while his detective partner dusted for fingerprints. It was legit. We talked for 15 minutes, and that was that. Now we are waiting on all the locks to be replaced, and Kyla has moved into our room, because who would want to sleep in the room that had been broken into??! So the moral of the story is...I don't actually know. Don't trust policemen to be timely? Avoid hooded men carrying bottles? Don't leave your favorite pair of underwear next to a door that might be broken into? Only time will tell.

After my chat with the police, we headed to Kew Royal Botanical Gardens for the day. It was lovely, Mark and Lawry brought a picnic, and we spent the whole day there. After a slight mistake with me and directions (once again) we got on the right train, going the right direction, and were home by 6:10. Ayumi's boyfriend Wesam got to London today, and when we got home, the four of us decided last minute to go see Les Mis. We changed clothes, and were back out the door by 6:25. And let me tell you, that $45 for the ticket was the best money I have spent the whole trip. The show was unbelievable. Stunning, breathtaking, awe-inspiring, you get the point.

Tomorrow, our friend Laura Beth from Tulsa gets into town, and will be here until Thursday, and then Mom, Dad, and Molly will be here a week from today! It's going to be a fun couple of weeks.