Strange Acquisitions

People do the strangest things and you wonder why? Most annoying thing is you never find out unless you ask. However, I do not think people will take kindly to questioning as one might be seen to be nosey and a peeping tom. Can one say peeping tom if you are not looking through windows at people going about their lives but just seeing what’s happening in front of their house? Surely if I live nearby, I cannot be called a stalker either. If there is a word besides nosey neighbour maybe someone can tell me.

So, one afternoon this large van draws up and parks cross the road. I did not pay attention as often the guys come home for lunch and bring their work vehicle along. But then 4 men got out of the van. They open the shutter, and one or two get in. Now I am curious. What are they up to? Then I see a chair being handed out. Its one of these office chairs with five wheels. I think oh they are getting some furniture. Then they set up a relay of 4 and start bringing out chairs one hands it out, next one takes it to the drive. The next one takes it to the front door and then the guys inside I presume is setting it where they want it. Now since I know there are 3 – 4 people living there the first 4 chairs were ok but then more chairs appeared. There was a total of 15 chairs that were downloaded and taken into the house. Who would need that many office chairs?

A few weeks later another van appeared and the process was repeated but this time with 6 or 7 filing cabinets. The cabinets however, were taken through the gate in the driveway to round the back. Are they being put into the garage that is being curtained off? What does one do with so many filing cabinets? Have not seen any of these items leave the house unless it was done on a day I was not there or after dark.

A couple of months back up drove another van and this time a garden swing made with rusty metal frame with a wooden seat is unloaded into the front garden. So, what is this for? Are they going to be swinging in the front garden? They are never out front unless it is to cut grass. Even that most often they do after it is dark. You wonder why you can hear a mower and then see this shadowy figure with a headlamp moving up and down the garden. A week later in the evening the men with tools were there undoing the swing. After that I think there was some polishing done as the next morning the metal frame was shiny without rust. Then the frame was left in the garden and disassembled seat and metal rods to hang the swing were placed on the veranda.

There they lay for a couple of weeks. Then one evening just as it got dark, I heard power tools buzzing again. I looked but it was dark and all I could glimpse from the light in the veranda that they were moving the tool up and down the metal bits. Next morning, we find all parts of the swing pained green. I have been watching paint drying since then! Wonder what comes next?

Truck Meets Telegraph Pole

One afternoon we were cutting grass in the front garden. It was a sunny and pretty warm day so was well covered with long sleeves and sun screen, hat, sunglasses and gloves to protect from the sun. We had reached the middle of the garden where there was a tremendous bang heard loudly over the lawnmower’s noise. I looked to see if something had gone wrong with the mower even though the sound was well above that of a mower dying. So, we stopped the mower and moved to the footpath to check up and down the road.

There was big 40 tonne truck across the road with the cab pushing over the telegraph pole which was at the corner with another side road. The truck engine was still running but there was no driver. Now on the same side of the road as my house, in the next block are a number of warehouses and trucks constantly arriving and departing from there. There is a huge drive and gate to this business area. The perimeter is closed with a fairly strong and high wire fence. The land inside the fence is a slope as we are on a hill. The road inside the site is higher than the road outside the fence. What happened was pieced together with comments from some neighbours and local news as well as seeing the site the next day when I walked past it. This truck apparently had been parked on the road inside the business park and the driver stepped out without engaging the handbrake. This truck somehow rolled literally sideways down the slope and through the fence across the road and slam into the telegraph pole which has major electricity cables. All power down hill from that pole was lost. We could see live wires trailing to the ground.  

The police arrived and road was hastily closed for traffic. The power company vehicles rolled in pretty fast and the engineers set to repair work. The power coming into that section had to be turned off so they went up the one in front of our house to disconnect the rest. This was the first time I had seen some of my neighbours as all came out to see the crash. There were pictures taken and one neighbour was videoing the scene. The cars coming down the road were diverted to the side road just before the crash site and of course people stopped to see what happened and some were u-turning and going back.  This happened around 3 pm and we were wondering how they would manage to get the truck off the road before dark. We were sure it would not happen till next morning. But no, they worked till late. They managed to straighten the pole, wires were reattached and last but not least the articulated truck with the cab at an angle was all removed and road reopened. That excitement was a talking point for a few weeks.

Mystery of the Broken Wall

In any neighbourhood people watching is interesting and neighbour watching is an edifying pastime. I can see how neighbourhood watch groups function now that I am home all day. I sit by the window and often watch the world go by. In my last home there was very little movement except for odd cars of people from the street as it was a side road and sometimes kids playing. Two of my homes have been on a fairly busy roads through the suburb.

One of the houses across the road is also a rent property, I think. There are a number of young men going in and out so it must be a shared living situation. I see a company truck and all wear some sort of uniform and so I presume they all work in some form of removal / storage company or warehouse. They hardly ever use the front door but use the gate down the drive to access the house. Now I know that from my house one can see all the way down their drive to the garage. They have some sort of drapes and screens to obscure the garage. Makes one wonder what are they up to go to such lengths to ensure privacy. Before the curtains were put on the garage, I think some evenings they were having barbeques with some music on but none of this was ever intrusive to the neighbours.

So, all in all they are peaceful guys who keep very much to themselves. One young man has a noisy motorbike which now and then he gets into his head to rev. One afternoon I looked over and saw that the end of the small garden wall with the letter box was broken and lying across the drive and garden. There was a car parked in the drive. To this day I have not figured out how that damage happened. There was no noise of a hit to the wall neither was there any damage to the car. Not that the drive is narrow or that car was huge. The guys were out and piling the bricks to the side, again none of the bricks seemed to be damaged. The repair was a lengthy process in that it was completed over several weeks a couple of bricks at a time. One weekend there was a crowd of there. About 4 young men who were watching / supervising 2 others rebuilding the wall and ensuring the letter box was fitted well. So was there a teaching of novice tradies going on? Excitement over!

How Not to DIY

People sometimes act as if they have a death wish. You wonder whatever got into the thing they call a brain for them to act in such a way. I will give you 2 examples and leave it to you to decide if I am right in questioning some people’s sanity.

First one is from when I lived in a house that had a straight chimney. This definitely was a weird one as most chimneys have an angle and this one was straight. The saga of what came down the chimney is detailed in my earlier post. Eventually after 2 years of complaining the landlord came to check what the matter was. Surely, he should have known about this as he was the owner and had previous tenants. Did they never complain about the offerings from the chimney? He tries looking up the chimney but it is actually hard to crouch in the grate to look up. Going out he came to the conclusion that the chimney was straight and hence the problem!! I think this landlord got so many eye rolls from me.. wonder I was not permanently looking backwards.

So, we had a discussion of what could be done. I pointed out that since it was an open hole it needed a cover of sorts. The easiest would be a piece of wood or a sheet of metal nailed down would be effective. So off he went and returned with a piece of metal sheet obviously from a scrapyard as it was like a lid with lip on all 4 sides of it. Now how was he going to get it up there? I stand indoors and watch as he backs his ute up into the drive which is on the chimney side of the house. Brings it close and then opens out his step ladder on the bed of the ute. Now I went out to see if he knew what he was doing. He climbed on top of the ladder which was in the back of the ute with that metal sheet in his one hand. Then he realises that it is just a little short of what he wants but goes ahead by standing on his tiptoes all the while muttering his wife would kill him if she saw him doing this. I was thinking well she seems to be the sensible one of you two then.

Now standing on his toes he swung the sheet up on top of the chimney and of course since he had no measurements the size was not right. He had been hoping to just sit that sheet into the chimney top but it would not fit in. Now he placed it face down with the lips just the bricks at the outer edge of the hole. The he came down for the tools. I receded indoor with fingers crossed that I would not have to call an ambulance. He said he had fixed it and left in one piece and I heaved a sigh of relief. Later in the week there was a storm with gales. I was looking out of the window to see the trees swaying and I saw something flicker past the corner of my eye and a big bang. Yes, you guessed it. The precariously nailed sheet had come off the chimney and flown down to hit into the metal fence and luckily not hit anyone. It only had to be at a slightly different angle to travel into the next-door garden or even the road – a perfect weapon to decapitate someone. Needless to say, the man was back and did a repeat performance of up the ladder in the ute and this time he nailed strips of metal from the metal into the brick on 2 opposite sides and it held.

The other example is when I moved into the current home the neighbour were moving out the same day. A couple of days later I heard voices next door and looked to see 2 – 3 young men. It sounded like they were doing some odd jobs but were they really? At one point they managed to knock the glass from out of the window frame onto the drive. It was wintertime and so it gets dark pretty early. After dinner while doing the washing up my husband said what is happening, I can hear clomping on metal. Looking out of the window on to the back of the house I could see 2 men on top of the metal roof that covers the portion of the drive where one can park a car. One had a camping head lamp on which gave out meagre light. By now it is pitch dark and I thought whatever is he doing up on the roof? Next a roar of the chainsaw and we look at each other with bewilderment as to what was happening. The man than climbed the tree branches that were coming over the roof of the house and the side of the house and started pruning the tree in the pitch dark by that dim head lamp. At one point it looked as if he was cutting into the branches right where he was standing. One slip could have taken his foot off. They could have had at least the light in the veranda on.  I must have prayed hard as neither injured himself and got of the roof in one piece.

Now you know why I was questioning the logic of these guys who go into chores for which they clearly not only unqualified but have not even given it a modicum of thought to the damage they could have done to themselves and the property.

Tale of a Straight Chimney

I used to live in a house which we think was from the 1930s or 40s. It was a fab house as it had 2 layered brick walls which kept the house very cool no matter the heat outside. Even when temperatures outside reached 40C+ it never got warmer than 29C indoors. But winter it was really cold indoors. Maybe this why the builders had put in a massive fireplace. I loved the idea of this fireplace and a wrought iron grate to burn wood for the fire. While I was not going to build a fire indoors as I would not be able to do the work required to make a fire and then clean the grate and of course the smoke would have me wheezing in a minute, I loved the grate and thought I would do some dry flowers and foliage arrangements.

The first sign of trouble came when one day there was a big splat. I was sitting in the sofa next to the chimney, listening to music and reading when I was startled. It was taking me some time to get used to the various bird calls which were so loud as the front door was open, that I used to get up and do a quick round through the house to make sure no bird had got in. So, when the splat came, I jumped up to look around after all the sound had been in the room. There was a slight movement and I saw a long black lizard, the kind that is all over my garden, in the grate. I think it was dazed for it took a minute to breath before rushing off towards the door and escaping from under it.

Next happened a few days later. It rains on and off here and some days it is a mild drizzle which is what has been happening since I moved here. When I go to hoover the house, I would hoover under the grate too and could not figure out why there was dampness. Was some moisture coming down the chimney? Then we had a massive storm and next thing I know I hear the rain and think ‘wow even the rain seems to be in the house’. But better check it out so I get up and see this puddle on the floor on the other side of the coffee table. Then I see the rain pouring in through the chimney. Damn this is the first time I have seen a chimney that is built straight and so the pouring rain brings it right down into the house. I had a few words with the estate agent and got very little joy. I used to put papers in the grate and that would absorb the water when it rained. This drama went of for a couple of years before the landlord (who insisted on doing all the repairs himself) was forced to come to do something about it.

The last one was most mystifying. It was a cold grey day with rain expected later. The wind was blowing big gusts every now and then. I was quietly listening to some music and then I heard this sound that can be best described as something between a long moan and a cry. A long wwoooooooooohhhh……. It was such a sad and worry sound. By now I am tuned to run to the chimney the first thing. I stood near the grate and tried to peer up the chimney and got a full blast of that eerie moan. Now I thought maybe there is a bird trapped in there. That it may have flown in and could not just fly back out. How does one get a bird out of the chimney? Who do I call? The estate agent will probably shrug her shoulders. Do I call 000 and ask for firies to come for the bird removal? Or is it the RSPCA? I thought let me rattle a stick or the broom up the chimney and see. But if it comes inside the house down the chimney how am I going to get it to go out again?  But nothing happened except another big coooooooo. Yes, then I realised that a pigeon was sitting on the chimney looking down the hole and cooing. Did it want me to coo back? I had a chuckle and told all my friends about being serenaded down the chimney. It was back a few times over 2 years cooing at me.

Interesting things happen to come down my chimney. The current house has one but is boarded up and fortunately I do not think it is a straight one.

Neighbour Washing Car

Neighbours can be quirky and while I am a friendly soul have not been able to make friends with all my neighbours. Well a couple were friends but only one has lasted a move. One of my neighbours I actually spoke to on the day before I moved. Often neighbours shift and new ones come and you suddenly think oh when did that happen? As I have not seen any removal vans come or go. Then it dawns on me that recently cars have been coming and going frequently and loads of large bags and packages have been loaded in to the car which I caught a glimpse of as I passed the window.

Yes, so I missed the actual move of the neighbour and only realised when I started seeing another person visiting daily to check on an extension being carried out at the rear of the house. Now I always make an effort to smile at my neighbours when I see them outside. But the one who had vacated never returned the smile except once when he was cutting grass and was right in front of me.

The current observation is about this gentleman. It was a cloudy murky day and quiet. Then the expected rain arrived. I have seen that more often then not the rain is a serious downpour almost monsoon like. My husband has often made video clip of the rain which starts with a dance of huge drops of water and then they run along the road. As the wind picks up the rain is seen at a curtain of water flying along. The road becomes a river that is rushing to find a gutter and race to the storm drain.

So once the rain started it was heavy with visibility greatly reduced. I love watching the rain racing about hither tither with the wind so I went to stand in the veranda to take in this view. The sight that I was confronted left me open mouthed, literally. The man next door was on his front lawn washing his car. Now one can understand that since it is raining, he would be making the use of all this free rain water but no that would be too sensible. He was holding an umbrella to protect himself from the rain and using a garden hose to wash his car. Why? The logic still eludes me…. Have never seen this before or since but then never know what new neighbours and neighbourhoods will bring.