We have had some excitement here in the backyard. In the past 2 weeks, we have found 2 "visitors" in our backyard. The first visitor was on our back patio. Kirk heard a noise in the backyard. (Keep in mind there is a public park in the back of our house and we hear stuff all the time. Also, the hooligans throw rocks at our house occasionally. Yeah, great neighborhood!) I was on the computer Skyping with my mom.
Kirk goes to the kitchen to look out the window and yells "There is a man in the backyard." I think he is kidding with me (those of you who know Kirk can understand why I would think that.) Then he yells again "There is a man in the backyard!" By the tone of his voice, I knew he wasn't kidding. He grabbed our two way radio to alert the Marines at the embassy that we had an intruder. I grabbed my cell phone and called the Regional Security Officer (who called the Mobile Patrol). Kirk saw the guy go down the side yard of our house. Kirk went into the hallway of the building to check the pool patio door. Someone had left it unlocked! So Kirk locked it, let our neighbor across the hall know what was going on.
In the meantime, I turned on all the outside lights and was standing watch by the kitchen door when I saw the guy pop his head around the corner of my building and look at me through the window!! I thought I was going to pee myself!!!!! I called for Kirk to come check it out. There is a vacant lot on the side of our house and we think the intruder climbed the wall into the vacant lot. By the time the Mobile Patrol got to the house, he was gone. They did a walkthrough of the building and the yard. The found the cushions from my patio furniture stacked by my living room window, some cigarette butts and 3 beer cans (1 partially gone and the other 2 unopened). It seems this guy was trying to find a dry place to sleep for the night and was probably watching TV through my living room window! HOLY CRAP!!
The Mobile Patrol called the local Algerian police and about an hour later had someone in custody. I had to go outside in front of our building (in the rain) to identify this guy. And this is not like in the states where the suspect can't see you or is kept in the police car. The guy was standing in front of the police car smoking a cigarette and I had to go right up in front of him to identify him. That was so uncomfortable. The guy was a homeless man who had just been released from jail for stealing. He was very scruffy and wearing a long dark coat with a pointy hood (very popular here in Algiers). We call them "Jedi" coats. He was pretty creepy looking. So needless to say, I did not sleep well that night.
About a week later, I heard a noise in the backyard and Kirk went to check it out. He looked out the glass patio door of one of the bedrooms and yells "There is another man in the yard!" So again, we radioed the Marines, called the Mobile Patrol and tried to see where the guy was going. He was very close to the door that would let him into the building (which was again left unlocked by one of our residents). We heard another thump outside which we think was the guy scaling the wall to escape. He was gone by the time the Mobile Patrol arrived. They think that it was another homeless man.
We have an outdoor shower and toilet by our pool area and we think they have been coming over the wall to use the facilities and possibly even come into the building to get warm.
They will be installing concertina wire (razor wire) on the wall next to the vacant lot and trimming back the tree branches that hang into our yard. They will be installing anti climb fencing on the back wall by the park.
We now make sure the pool patio door is locked when we get home from work and turn on all the outside lights. It is a little disconcerting knowing that it is so easy to get into our yard and we are on the ground floor with all glass doors & big windows without bars. You think you are safe and protected but then it turns out not so much. I will feel much better once the fencing goes up!
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