stolen french horn

[Birch]

Hi there

I had my flat broken into today and my french horn was taken (amongst other things). It is an Alexander 1103 with a detachable bell. If you see one in any local music shops or online that matches the descrption then please let me know.

I live on Forest Hill Road just near the park.

Thanks

Ruth

[Penguin68]

'Lost my horn., lost my horn, found my horn... gorn' as Flanders and Swann had it. Sorry for your loss.

[muffins78]

Im sorry to hear that you broken into today, I hope you are okay. Its an awful shock. I hope that the police are able to help you!!

[Frankito]

Sorry to hear that news...

[James Barber]

It sounds a beautiful instrument. You must be a decent player. Good luck recovering it.

[petersen]

maybe phone round music shops, pawn shops?

what a strange thing to take. did you have it security marked or something?

Good luck i will keep my eyes open.

[Birch]

Thank you to everyone for your kind messages.

The police are contacting all of the local pawn shops and I have contacted all of the local music shops that I know of. It didn't have a security marking but I have a serial number for the instrument (18394). The only other details I can think of which might be useful are that it is a gold brass colour and is in a black backpack style case which says Paxman on it. I don't have a picture but if you go on the Paxman horn makers website then you will be able to search for the model and see a photo on there - http://www.paxman.co.uk/pages/alexanderhorns.html

My husband is a composer and he has also had his Apple Mac book stolen which contains all of his scores, the first chapter of his phd on it which was not backed up anywhere else, and lots of music software on it. It is white and has a 13" screen, it was in a black crumpler case. If you see anything in a second hand store which matches the descriptions then please let me know!

Thanks

Ruth

[Penguin68]

the first chapter of his phd on it which was not backed up anywhere else

Too late for your husband to follow this advice - but if you have broadband access it's a really good idea to e-mail yourself such things as PhD chapters, dissertations, any key work documents which might take time to re-write (gmail and many others offer 2GB storage for free) - that way theft (or drive failure) are not a complete and unmitigated disaster. This also protects against such things as house fires, where locally stored back-ups may be just as vulnerable as the originals.

If you save materal as .pdf files and have a Kindle you can also 'send' these via Amazon to your Kindle - another back-up opportunity.

[Birch]

Yes this is a good idea. He actually has an external harddrive which he backs stuff up on - the irony is that it has some sort of error/problem and the only reason he went out of the flat was to borrow a friend's spare one to back up his computer. In the 45 minutes that he was out, his computer was stolen!

[new mother]

Oh dear God, Birch, this is awful. Was someone watching the flat? So sorry. How absolutely horrible.

[Birch]

It is a scary thought but we think that maybe somebody was watching the flat. The police have been really great so far, so hopefully they'll have some luck.

[petersen]

ooh thats horrible, what a nasty thing to do. Only today i was reading how burglaries have gone up 14% Its a good thing the police have been good, its so much worse when they are really unhelpful.