... because of the heatwave?
Well, partly.
Last night, an unforgivably fugly car with a 'custom' car alarm (I peeked in its window)... decided that it liked the heat less than I did.
So it honked as if a driver were in the vehicle having a panick attack...
And it honked so loudly that it badly startled me each time it started up again...
Which it did, more or less every 20 minutes ... all ... night ... long.
By dawn, the car was taped up with several angry notes by neighbors up and down the street. None of them had it parked directly below their bedroom windows, like I did.
A police officer arrived around 7:30am. (That time of day that I'm normally quite oblivious to the world, but not today.)
Overheated, sleep-deprived and out of my head with rage, I had a very strong impulse to break the car's window, release its emergency break and then push it down the hill into the nearby canyon. And I said so.
The officer informed us that there was little he could do unless the alarm sounded continuously for 45 minutes or more. I made a number of additional comments that also shouldn't in front of an officer of the law. I wasn't alone in voicing my frustration. He weathered it well, letting us vent at him like that, very diplomatic without being patronizing. And while it made me feel better to be heard by someone, anyone... I still wanted some assurance that SOME action would take place to end the disturbance.
He left without providing any.
Not long after, a large multi-car carrier arrived and loitered for several minutes. I'm not sure what transpired, but the offending car remained silent afterwards. It still had all the notes left on it. Several hours later, I presume the car owner arrived and vanished with his car of shame.
In the 14 years I've lived near downtown I've had to put up with quite a few unruly car alarms. Neighbors that would lock their large dog in the car over-night, not realizing it set off their alarm whenever the dog moved, and the like.
Nothing has ever even come close to how loud, startling, invasive or infuriating this car was.
The heat today was so much that I relented and turned on the A/C, something I often do without most years. The poor thing was laboring to keep my place cooled down to 80, but it was enough for a rather satisfying nap.
1 comment:
You lose your cool so seldom that I felt sure it had a good cause, and I was right. I think the car owner is lucky you didn't torch the thing. And what on earth is that kind of rule that won't let him do anything if it's not going off continuously? Every 20 minutes is worse, because, as you said, it is startling.
Gahhhhhhh. Sympathies.
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