Worst break in I've ever had was a skunk. Came in through a sliding door left open for ventilation on a hot summer night. Woke up to scuffling under my bed. Using my phone light I saw the telltale black with white stripe tail sticking out from under the bed and froze.

Sat in bed for a minute pondering my sad and mostly likely odorous fate. Finally walked on furniture to the bedroom door while the skunk was apparently chewing my leather shoes, set a trail of cheese leading out the sliding door and sat in silence and darkness on the stairs overlooking the cheese trail.

Eventually it came sniffling out methodically gobbling cheese right back out to where it belonged.

Got a locking screen door after that...and a new pair of loafers.

Crimes of opportunity are also the most common crimes in places with more crime.

What’s awesome is living somewhere that crimes of opportunity don’t even happen. There are still places where people don’t lock doors because they don’t need to.

> There are still places where people don’t lock doors because they don’t need to.

Yep. I grew up not ever locking our doors, and I still don't. I even usually leave the keys in my cars in the driveway, especially in the one that the neighbors all know they can borrow if needed. I do have a dog who will bark when anybody unknown approaches the house, though.

When I lived in the city for a few years, I did lock my doors, but I left my car unlocked. I would relatively frequently come out to the car in the morning and it was obvious that somebody had rummaged around in it. But I didn't really care, and it was better than having the windows smashed, which did happen in that neighborhood.

I’d say that lots of areas in Australia are like that. Even in big cities like Syd and Melb.

I live in a medium sized US city and my truck has been parked on a city street with tools in it, unlocked, for two years. Most people lock their doors here, but even in a city known for a medium amount of crime, it isn't really that bad.

Opposite anecdote: car was broken into to steal the stereo (yes its been a while ;)). The door lock was damaged and wouldn't close any longer.

A day later the car was broken into again. While the lock was still broken and no stereo in the car. Someone smashed in the side window and left the door ajar too. Nothing got stolenthat time around.

Worst part about it was that it was probably the same person breaking in both times.

Yep, they saw something last time they wanted and didnt get it.

The one time I had my car broken into was in a nice quiet town with low crime. But I was on a not-so-great street. Crime is pretty localized. Most criminals don't go very far out of their way.

In Japan many people use flimsy locks on bikes. It is not to deter a determined thief, but to mitigate the possibility of an opportunistic "borrowing".

Just about all the bike locks I've seen here are flimsy, and most only used to lock the wheel to the frame so it can't be ridden away. Most bike thefts are from drunk salarymen "borrowing" a bike to ride home (riding while drunk is illegal BTW, just like driving drunk).

I've the same about the Netherlands. Everyone knows it's a country with huge bicycle ownership and use, then later people discover it also has huge bicycle theft. From talking to people that have lived there, anecdotally all the theft is drunk or mistaken "borrowing".

My childhood home didn't had a lock. We were all surrounded by relatives. Everyone knew everyone else. Sadly, not anymore. (I am from Kerala, India)

The sleepy suburbs have their downsides, but also their upsides for sure.

People like to hate on suburbs for a lot of valid reasons but moving back to one as an adult after spending my 20s in the city was profoundly calming.

The whole "hey kids go outside and play" and I don't feel the need to monitor them is wonderful if you've got kids.

Also a perfectly normal thing in cities in most of the world.

In the ones that have an "outside" for the kids, sure. In my experience, most of the bigger cities in Europe just don't have the space for the kids to hang out. Sure there are parks with playgrounds here and there, but they are separated by kilometers of concrete and stone. At least suburbs have the spaces and the clean air.

Cities have a lot more for kids to do within a kilometer or two, IME. In a suburb you may have "space" but it's all just people's lawns and strips of grass next to the road.

Not all suburbs are set up like that. Mine has a nice “downtown” area in walking distance with plenty to do. There’s mid-rise buildings, shops, restaurants, bars, and a train station to the city if you get bored.

You need density for that kind of "downtown", which is in fundamental tension with this notion of "space". I used to live in Ealing, which calls itself "Queen of the suburbs", but I don't think that's the kind of place iakov was talking about.

To me it seems whole "urban culture" (graffiti and skateboards (i know i'm probably shallow by generalising it as such)) has developed from lack for playgrounds and green spaces (especially for older kids).

In Lithuania lots of soviet buildings actually had somewhat of a common yard, which in past 20 years has been replaced with a parking lot.

Same. I've left my garage door open on the way out so many times (in a quiet, unremarkable cul de sac -- neither upscale nor rundown) without consequence that I no longer worry about whether or not I closed it.

If I leave my garage door open, the mice come in and set up shop. Takes a couple weeks to trap them all. Sometimes I even see them running in.

I don't leave the door open unattended even for 5 minutes.

Never heard of a break in in the city my family is from. No one ever locks their doors. It's one of the nice things about a society where most people get the help they need, no need for people to do these crimes to survive.

I grew up in suburbs and we used to leave our garage door open often up until day our bikes were stolen out of it.

They're also easy targets for people to break in during the day while people are at work.

I chased a person out of my garage in broad daylight who ended up being a porch pirate.