‘Ello, ‘ello, ‘ello what have we ‘ere… My afternoon began with a buzz on my buzzer.
“Police,” said the crackly voice.
“Police?!” I replied in my best pubescent boy voice.
“Yes, police,” the voice retorted.
Regaining my composure, “Sure, yes, I’ll just come down.”
Turns our that the next door basement flat has had the door kicked in, and stuff taken. The classic quick smash and grab crack addict method burglary. Apologies, reader, but my views on crack addicts are slightly unsympathetic, following our burglary a couple of years ago and six months of window/door-smashing hell in New Cross. I’m sure with support, love, and rehabilitation they would all be fine upstanding citizens.
Anyway back to the story. The copper wanted to know if I saw anything, heard the alarm going off etc. I explained that I’d just been in the shower and hadn’t heard anything.
In my attempts to replicate Jimmy Stewart as sick bed PI in Rear Window, I tried to remember what I’d seen out of the window while boiling an egg this morning, while reading my book, while on the phone to work. I couldn’t recall anything strange, and then suddenly realised that I thought I had heard an alarm.
I have become totally de-sensitised to sirens, alarms etc. Not a day goes by without a continually siren-punctuated soundscape and at least one car/house alarm going off in the vicinity. If this had happened where I grew up, I would have been twitching at the net curtains all day. Needless to say I feel awful. I had probably subconsciously ignored this warning sign and allowed this crime to happen.
New resolution - pay more attention.
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August 3rd, 2006 at 10:51 pm
just read that because a car alarm started in the road opposite, I raised my head to look out of the window (thinking “oh, how inconvenient, I hope it stops soon”), couldn’t see anything dramatic, looked back to the computer and Teg said, “have you read Katherine’s blog, by the way?”.
You know when you’ve been living in London too long when…
: P