My CCTV is still going strong.

Except when it isn’t.

When it works, it’s brilliant but occasionally for no reason whatsoever the camera apparently disconnects from the Interweb and then it isn’t so brilliant. Sometimes I can reset it just by repowering it but sometimes it needs a full reset which involves reconnecting it to the Interweb and then waving bar codes at it. When I do the reset, a disembodied voice announces its progress – “This device has been reset” or “Connecting to WiFi” or “Connecting to Internet“. I don’t know what the neighbours think.

The voice gave me an idea though.

The other night it was Halloween which is time for all the kids to turn American and do their “Trick or Treat” shit. They come ringing my doorbell and I have to traipse the length of the Manor to open the door to tell them to fuck off [having made sure they weren’t the neighbours’ kids].

But why not try out my CCTV setup?

I enabled sound on the camera. This allows me to hear what’s going on in the front garden but also allows me to use the speaker. All I had to do was keep an eye on the screen to see if there were any strange kids coming in. As soon as they entered the garden it was party time! I’d switch in the laptop’s microphone and put on my best Vincent Price voice – “Hellooooo leeeetle cheeeeldren. Welcome to the House of the Deeeead”. I didn’t need to go any further as the kids had already reached the next parish.

That camera kit was a brilliant investment.