Singapore & BBQs

Not much to report on the house at the moment, hence the lack of updates. The insurance company is waiting for the Hackney Police to supply the files on our break in so they can make a decision. In the meantime we've gone a bit OCD checking that the doors are locked before going to sleep.

Last month we went to stay with our next door neighbours in Singapore. They moved over there a year ago with a job posting, so we took advantage of their hospitality (and roomy house, live-in nanny and massive pool, pictured top) to have a 10-day break in the sun. We enthused over the cheap and delicious South East Asian food and balmy climate, whereas they were pining for gastropubs and chillier days. They're headed back this summer anyway, so it'll be back to competitive BBQing. We may aquire a smoker too - smoked meat and cheese keeps cropping up in conversation. Now that British Summer Time has kicked in and the garden is starting to burst into life BBQ season feels just around the corner. Yippee!

Still no insurance update

It's been nearly three months since we got burgled and two months since the assessor started his investigation. A few weeks ago he asked for permission to access our file with the Police. I rang the detective who came round the day of the burglary to see what our file actually said. He read through it while I was on the phone, and told me that he personally could pick a five-pin tumbler lock in about five minutes, and as there was no forced sign of entry to our house they couldn't rule that out. Our file was left deliberately vague as it's possible someone picked the lock.

Still, the assessor must've read this by now and hasn't been in touch with us. In the meantime our contents policy was up for renewal. Obviously we're not very happy with the ongoing problems with our current insurer, More Than, so we've taken out a new policy with M&S Insurance. Curiously, now that I'm actually reading the small print, the M&S policy doesn't insist on double locking - for our postcode it says 'sensible precautions'. I gather if we'd been insured with M&S in the first place and not More Than we'd have been successful with our claim by now. The cost of the policy is similar, regardless, as we've discovered it's a false economy to try and save a few pounds when it comes to insurance.

Meanwhile, we've had to pay out for two Nintendo DSi consoles and a few games for the girls. Fortunately they've come down in price due to the imminent release of the DS 3D model but it will take a while to replace the 20 games (and everything else) that was nicked.

I'm still hopeful that More Than will come through, but you can be sure that I'll be updating you regardless of what happens!