Who is guarding your house while you are away? Lights, cameras, action!

 Nobody should hit anybody in the face or head. Even if they dare or invite a fight. You risk disloding teeth, breaking a nose, damaging eyes or brain, the victim falling and hitting their head, long term idisabilities are said to be caused by blows to the head. 

When I held a 21st birthday at my parents house, my parents said they would be home at midnight. Even so, whilst dancing, somebody accidentally kicked the glass pain at the bottom of the sliding doors into the living room.

Remembering that, I thought there might be accidental damage to our house with large numbers at a party held by our son, without adult supervision by sober adults.

When our son wanted to hold a party at our house, we told him to hire a venue .

We flew half way around the world, from Singapore to the UK, to stop damage to our property, our son and guests.

We now have lights which come on  when something moves. plus a doorbell camera. We can be the other side of the world and see who is on the doorstep. If necessary we can phone the neighbours or the police or our family.

Many people also install alarms, and indoor cameras.

What you want will depend on the area you need to cover. 

Close up Doorbell Cameras

Close up on the doorstep. To note delivieries. Post arrival. Attempted break-ins. Unwanted visitors. Hooligans. Vandals.  

Wide Angle Cameras

Or your whole driveway covering your car, or cars, fence, wall, gate.

We had our gate post knocked down. We thought it was a large vehicle. Maybe from a nearby building site, building a new house. We could not prove it. 

You might want a camera up high, so nobody can touch it, but you can reach it to adjuct the direction.

If you are ordering a new system before you travel overseas on business or holiday, or emigrate, or leave the children alone for a party, allow time . You need to await delivery. See if you have a suitable wall for installation. Drill holes in the wall. Adjust it. Connect it to your phone. Read the instruction booklet. Try out recording yourselves wallking up to the front door.

Useful Websites

Just one example from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aqara-Doorbell-Included-Recognition-Automation

An overview

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_doorbell

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Packing - phone and accessories

Taking a flight? First thing - print you ticket? No need to waste your ink and paper. Nowadays you have e-tickets, or have it to hand on your phone. But which phone, not the one you were going to leave behind!

You want to be sure you have the connector, the charger, and as backup a power block. Make sure that is charged. How do you know that it is charged? Press in the button and you should see blue lights.

Packing Lists
Next, where to keep the packing list?

On your phone, laptop, inside the suitcase lid, on the back of the wardrobe door.
Make sure your phone accessories are in the same bag and on the list:

Charger connection lead (one which uploads and charges - some don't do both), and tripod and case.

On arrival check you have:

In-flight cancel wifi cancelled so you are back on wifi.

Alarms set to wake you at local time.

Inform family friends and colleagues you are home.

Angela Lansbury
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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Personal Alarms, Prices and Scams

Problem
How to keep yourself and your family safe from attack. Pepper sprays are legal in some countries but  illegal in others.

Instead or in addition you might consider a personal alarm. One type operates with a pin you pull, rather than a button. The idea is that a button could be triggered accidentally, but a pin has to be pulled out.

I always compare prices before buying and check reviews. Amazon usually has reviews of fast-moving products.

If it's a company you don't now or you think there a hard sell to buy now, you might check the company name agains scams.

Angela Lansbury, author.