Some people never give up sucking their thumbs. It is probably the earliest habit we pick up and it is the forerunner of many more that we will adopt in our lifetime. Without the safety of habit we would lose track of our responsibilities and obligations, but on the debit side if we are slaves to ritual and routine we become boringly predictable.

If a robbery victim has been done over because a thief locked on to a routine that he read like a book, the feeling of outrage and embarrassment is doubled.

Routine review

We cannot survive without adhering to various sets of routines. The general pace of life today forces us into dividing the hours into recognisable slots for work, play, family and privacy. This is the way we face each day and if everyone on the planet was as honest as you are our rituals would never place us at risk. Sadly in our present disorderly environment thieves feast on schedules and programmes, and the more rigidly we stick to the day’s running order the less secure our homes and persons become.

It is very difficult, and sometimes not feasible, to give up an ingrained habit, so I want to take the easier path of asking you simply to be aware of your routines and find ways to vary them. Nothing as drastic as wearing a false beard to the office or wandering naked through Tesco, but changing the daily pattern of your life just enough to confound the thief who thinks he has sussed you. Yet again it is not a great deal more than being aware of situations and their perils and adjusting your reaction.

Family patterns

No parent will need telling that running a family is impossible without some kind of organisation. If the same skills and the odd threat required to prise three children out of bed, feed them and take them to school each day were applied to the rest of our lives we’d have nothing to worry about. It usually starts to go wrong with that huge sigh of relief when Dad’s gone to work and the kids have been swallowed by school.

Thinking ahead

If you are going to a local event that you know will be well attended you can be certain that it has been equally well advertised. Thieves read the papers too, so if you are leaving your home unoccupied ensure that all of your security walls are up and ask a neighbour to keep an eye on the property.

Breaking the habit

I hope that by now you are allowing your thoughts to wander through other parts of the timetable which controls your daily routine from school to bedtime.

Church

Sunday church service timings haven’t altered much over the last 2,000 years, so your religious beliefs can land you in the cart unless there are heathens in the family who stay home. Thieves, like vicars, work on a Sunday, but not to the same standards so leave your home secure.

Shopping

Late-night shopping for people with long working hours is a recent innovation and means that homes are unoccupied at the most unlikely times. Thieves were momentarily thrown off kilter by this commercial ploy, but they soon saw the advantages of either breaking into the shopper’s home or meeting her at the supermarket and stealing her handbag. Don’t fall into the habit of doing your late night shopping at the same time on the same day every week. Go a little earlier or later. It really doesn’t matter which, as long as you step out of the rut and become outrageously unpredictable.

Check your habits

Do you go to Anton’s the hairdresser every Saturday at 10.30, or the leisure centre for a workout and light lunch on a Wednesday regular as clockwork? The demands of modern living have reduced the number of stay-at-home women and large numbers of residences are left unoccupied and minimally defended while an individual, single parent or both partners are out at either part- or full-time work.

This helps the thief as he knows that houses are likely to be vacant at school drop-off and pick-up time, and in some cases for a considerable time before and after those slots. He will reconnoitre a chosen area rich in young couples and take in the scene as the 4X4s and Chelsea tractors fly by with a waving hand sticking out of the driver’s window.

In some cases there are two journeys to start the day, when the old man has to be taken to the station, which gives a housebreaker even more opportunity. And to date we’ve only discussed cars when they are on the move – the ones that take us to school, work, the leisure centre, hairdresser, church, shopping, the club, soccer, rugby matches and regular coffee mornings in aid of the incompetent burglar’s charity. Incompetent? That’s all he’ll have to be if you stick to your regular routines as punctually as you are doing, because he’ll be retired by the time he’s 30.

The antidote to bad habits is to look at yourself and, if you see a predictable pattern developing, it will show itself when you begin to feel bored with the same thing. Alter it in small but subtle ways. There are a million clichés about change doing you good and most of them are true. There is however another small drawback.