Locked In!

One thing that has changed here in Britain since I was last here, I think, is the sense of being security-conscious. When we were in London, during a very muggy spell, there were never any windows opened, and even the door to the outside, which was actually slightly below the street (so it wasn’t particularly obvious to a passerby), was kept shut. Here in Norfolk, all the houses we’ve been in so far have locks on the windows – we haven’t been able to find the keys to the windows in the place we’re staying at just now – and there are keys and bolts and safety chains everywhere. Even the car we’ve bought has got a security code on it that won’t let you start it up until it’s entered.
Coming from NZ where we now lock doors after years of never bothering (even the daughter we stayed with before left, and her partner, are still casual about locking doors overnight), it gives a bit of a sense not so much of security as claustrophobia. I know that London has suffered a number of nasty shocks since I left, in terms of terrorism particularly, but I wouldn’t have thought that Norfolk was quite as badly off.