Unlocking the secret of safety
Growing up in the English countryside we never used our front door (“Round the back,” my mother would shout to anyone knocking on it), nor would we dream of locking the back one unless we were going on holiday. Even then, everyone knew where the key was kept – in the same place as everyone else’s in the UK: under the mat. Luckily there were never any burglaries in our village, but it wouldn’t have taken much to break in. Just one quick look under the hessian rug or pot plant on every porch and the would-be thieves could have marched in through the front door.
Imagine my shock when I moved to London, where everything was triple bolted. The fear of what was lurking outside every grilled and alarmed front door was one of the reasons I bolted for Dubai, where I feel ultra safe.
I regularly forget to lock my front door, and my children often leave it wide open so they and the dog can race in and out, much to my annoyance. But imagine having no front door, like the entire village of Shani Shingnapur in India, where no buildings have one – not even the bank.
Nothing is under lock and key and yet it has a virtually zero crime rate. There have been only five recorded burglaries – ever! Read about it on page 14 and tell me what you think of that story and the rest of the issue. Until next week,