Thank God noone was killed. That's the thing to focus on. Whether it's silly young vandals or a bolt of lightning doesn't really make any difference. Except if it's a bolt of lightning people don't waste their time talking about fantasy vengeance and making up fantasy scenarios about why it happened. (Unless they believe in curses and so forth."

However it happens it shakes people up, and makes you feel insecure and scared about even worse things happening.

I had a trivial by comparison piece of vandalism happen to me a little before Christmas. Left my car parked in a respectable but quiet and isolated area of a nice little town while I was singing songs in an annual song festival. Some young yobs kicked in every panel and broke off a few bits, and the insurance company wrote the car off because proper repairs would cost more than the value of the car.

I was buzzing with resentful puzzlement as to why people do stuff like that. I mean, if you want to be a hoodlum there are so much more enjoyable ways of breaking the law than putting dents in a pretty mature car. I was pleased though when I phoned home and said something had happened to the car, and my wife's reaction was predominantly relief that I hadn't been in a crash and got hurt myself or hurt someone else.

In the unlikely event of them catching the kids who did it(I know that it was kids, because they left trainer prints all over the bonnet, I'd say 14 or 15 year old by the size), I'd go for restorative justice every time, and forget the vengeance bit. By the time they'd learnt the skills to fix my car and fixed it I think they'd have learnt a few useful lessons, and the car wouldn't have those fancy dimples it's currently wearing. (Mind, they are a great anti-theft device...)