Ipswich UK housebreak

You would think that being a developed country; housebreaks would be less in the UK. Contrary to the belief, in 5 years, I have heard more examples of house being broken into in UK, than 15 year’s stay in Pune, India.
I was staying in Ipswich, Suffolk with a colleague. Both of use used to work same hours. Someone must have kept a watch and our house was broken into from the back door. Camera, Cash, Phone, Video, Wrist watches a bit of Jewellery – was gracefully stolen. The thief must have taken most of the stuff in our travel bag which had strollers. As that was missing as well.

A local friend of mine warned me to be watchful as the thieves do return after a month. His logic was simple. There are things that you can not live without. So typically in a month, you would have new stock. This time they know your house better as well.

I still thank this friend of mine. I had kept my valuables with someone else who definitely had someone at home.
Apx. After a month, the house was broken in again. This time they could not find anything. The thieves took their frustration on my leather bags etc. which were torn apart. There are many people I know who were mugged (one was beaten badly for a laptop), many whose houses have been broken into. So do take out content insurance. Do check what community you leave in.

-- Updated -- Latest update is even after having a number lock on my bike, it has been stolen. Thinking whether to inform police or not, as not sure they have time to deal with these people.

If you Fall ill abroad
Venice - What a place to fall ill! However this is what can happen to anyone.
It was our first day in Venice. We were staying in a villa in Treviso which is about 30 minutes by train from Venice. It also has a airport where many no-frill airlines fly in.



We went around Venice with our 3 year old daughter for the whole day. On our way back from Venice to Treviso in the night, we realised that she felt very hot. This is what happens with children – they are running around all the time and sometimes you don’t realise that they actually are unwell.

Anyway, the point is, we realised that she needs to be taken to the GP immediately. I quickly ran to a nearby Pharmacy which is just outside the Venice central station and bought Paracetamol. I had to explain to him that I need it for a child, the pharmacist did speak a bit of English.

Before leaving, I also asked him the Italian version for ‘child is having fever’ as I knew I would need it – ‘Bambino’ means child and ‘Febrile’ means temperature.

Gave the correct dose to her and decided to board the train to Treviso and then take her to GP.

My habit of carrying local hospital details, copy of insurance certificate and other contact numbers proved handy. On my way to Treviso, I tried to ring my villa owner (where I was staying) but for some reason my UK mobile would not work.

Asked a fellow passenger whether I could use his mobile because of ‘Bambino Febrile’.

He did help and I phoned my villa owner (who is a very nice person) to request him to meet us at the train station or the hospital – as I anticipated language problems. He said he would come there in half an hour.

After reaching Treviso, took a cab straight to hospital. It was a good hospital. With broken English the receptionist asked what the problem is and took all the details. Again learning ‘Bambino Febrile’ proved useful. Had to wait for half an hour for our turn to see the GP who suggested to keep taking paracetamol and return if she does not improve in a day or two. Meanwhile, my B&B owner also reached there and having him understand Italian proved useful.

So cancelled our hotel bookings in Rome (did not get a refund as it was not 48 hours notice), which was our next destination. Extended stay in the villa, cancelled Eurostar ticket from Treviso to Rome. Phoned insurance company in the UK and took the claim reference number. In short, a very bad day.

Next 24 hours did not change the situation as we had to give Paracetamol every 6 hours to keep the fever down. Meanwhile she had stopped eating and started complaining of throat pain. Next day evening took her again to the hospital to be seen by a paediatrician. She was a very helpful doctor and spoke English reasonably well. As suspected it was tonsillitis and as per her it was ‘tomato red’ and needed to start antibiotic immediately. Got the prescription for amoxicillin. Being Sunday, most pharmacies were closed. Again my villa owner was very helpful. He drove us to a 24 hour pharmacy in the city centre and got the medication sorted.

In the UK, if the medication needs mixing correct amount of water then typically the pharmacist does it for you.

In this case, it was left for us to do and leaflet was in Italian only. Again double checked with the pharmacist what I need to do.
With the root cause clearly known, she was back to normal in few hours with continued course of antibiotic for the prescribed days.
We left for Rome after a day. Had to redo all things – book hotel, Book Eurostar.

In case you are wondering, the insurance company did not pay any of this - claiming they needed a letter from the Italian GP which states ‘the child was not well enough to travel’. I had suspected this and asked for the letter from the GP and was politely told we don’t have a policy of giving such letters.

Anyway, point is to take care while travelling and in case things do go wrong , use your common sense and be prepared to handle it with some homework about the new place.

In the PIR (Post Implementation Review) of the trip, children’s Paracetamol is now on the packing list!

Swiss Zermatt Embarrassment

It was Easter weekend in 1998. I was travelling in Swiss with couple of friends and we were staying in a beautiful Youth Hostel (YHA). We were planning to go to Klein Matterhorn by the cable car. (It’s a famous peak near Zermatt).

There is a local office in Zermatt which shows the latest snow status on top of the peak. There are a few live cameras which make the latest pictures available at the base office. Depending on the conditions they advice you whether to go or not. Unfortunately for us the whether turned bad with very less visibility so the cable car was not running. Being the last day in Zermatt we were quite disappointed and started cursing the weather in an Indian language – Hindi. We naively had assumed that no one understood what we were talking.

Suddenly a Swiss gentleman stopped and asked in fluent Hindi – Aap kounse shahar se aye hai? (Which city have you come from?). Our first reaction was complete silence. Then as we spoke more we realised the secret of his fluent Hindi.

His dad was a resident of Hrishikesh (a famous retreat for meditation etc. in the Himalayas) and this gentlemen had stayed there with his father for a few years as a kid.

Appearances can be deceptive.