Jan 21 2007
Disturbance and Date Night
(The second installment of “Apartment Life” is available here)
The mad motorcyclist continues, this time by daylight. He didn’t manage to wake Ben from his nap, but it wasn’t from lack of trying. Up and down the street he raced, a large man on a small bike, seemingly plucked from the circus.
During the ride of the asshat, Sir J came over to pick up a disassembled changing table we no longer use. “I would have taken that guy out if I’d turned onto your street two seconds earlier,” he said.
He also said he’d like maybe a picture of the changing table so he at least knows what he’s shooting for while putting it together. Of course, I just now thought to ask Shannon, and the pictures are in Ben’s closet. He’s asleep. Sorry, sir J, can’t get that to you tonight.
Shannon and I enjoyed a date night on Saturday. While waiting an hour for our table (we got there at 6:30), we browsed in Barnes and Noble. In a book that lists authors’ top 10 favorite books, I was glad to find Great Expectations on several lists, along with many others I’ve read. To spend an hour in the comfortable confines of a bookstore is a luxury these days. It was very relaxing.
Then, we were seated at a table next to a table for four, along the same booth bench. They were so close we could have reached and touched them without them reaching out at all. Although they were friendly, we could have done without the air biscuits one of the guys floated during dinner. That’s not romantic in any country.
To finish the evening, we watched Little Miss Sunshine on pay-per-view. I had heard it was funny, but wasn’t expecting to laugh out loud — a lot. It’s touching, hilarious, and well-acted. I don’t want to say more, for fear of over-hyping it.
When we first moved in our house, the local asshat had his two son’s, ages around 8 and 10, ride their dirt bikes up and down the street. (The street was paved half of the way and dirt the second half.) Neither wore helmets, boots or proper clothing. I walked down and asked if maybe it would be better if they rode them in the open field across the street from our houses where they had yet to start building. He told me to mind my own business; he paid his dues and had as much a right to use the street as anyone else.
He also had the right to call the sheriff about it, but didn’t.
I did. He ended up being just a neighbor, not a friend. I’m okay with that.
Blitz….Don’t trick or treat that house!
Well…”A” won’t let me suggest the way I think you should handle the guy, and she says that I’d get you punched.
Your best bet is to probably recruit another neighbor or two who are also tired of the noise, and go pay a visit. That way he sees that it’s not just you, and you’ll have a better chance of avoiding retaliation.
Somewhere in that conversation, you need to mention that you aren’t taking issue with him having an “Illegal” motorcycle on a public street (hint, hint), but that you’re just asking him to stop revving it at high volume. Because face it…you don’t care if he rides a wheelie, naked…you just don’t want the noise.
If the guy is still an ass about it, then from there I would try to get something with a few signatures on it, so that he knows that you’re serious, and take that to him. That way he knows that the next step is to call the cops, and that you have given him something in writing that makes it a “neighborhood thing,” rather than something personal.
That should do the trick. He’ll either take the hint, or risk having his motorcycle impounded.
Good luck…
Or, you can wait until we come down for a visit, and I’ll make it a point to see how much of a stir I can cause for you. Of course…I’ll leave, and you’ll be left with the reprocussions, which could be a bad thing. :-)
Boo on the biker, Yay for date night.
I could spend days in Barnes and Noble.
Not feeling very wordy today. Where’s Simon???
Blitz - I had no doubt in my mind that you would have taken action, after your adventures in leaving Sam’s without showing your receipt.
Charles - If I got punched, wow, wouldn’t that be some blog entry?
Yeah, right. I like your other suggestions. That guy is riding way too fast, and several houses down to the right, there’s a long stretch where cars are parked on both sides of the road. If he doesn’t hurt himself, he’ll hurt somebody else. Plus, the noise, of course.
Linda - It is a great place to get lost. This one was huge. Simon usually reads later in the morning.
Sounds like you two had a great time…. excellent!
We went out to dinner Saturday night with 2 of our friends and had a great time..
Time to call the police on your two wheeled friend, isn’t it?
Changing table is complete, Mark, thanks again. Jess found a picture of it online so I knew where I was going.
We tried date night once last year. Still waiting on the grandparents to move up here so that can happen more often. I’m sure you’ve heard the story, but we drove all over Plano trying to find a non-existant putt-putt. What a date.
And it must be said again, that guy breaks the law everytime his bike leaves his driveway.
Right here!
We’re waiting for Boy Number Two to get a bit older so we can dump them both off at the grandparent’s house for an evening… or even over night! (bootylicious)
Maybe you guys could get a real Hatfield and McCoy thing going down there. Mind you, you’d probably have to stop wearing shoes and dress solely in bib overalls. Bathe once a month. Stop brushing your teeth. That sort of thing. Should be fun!
That’s rough, Mark, that the guy is being so annoying. We’ve got some older teenagers who zip around on those little things…but they don’t usually go back and forth in front of our house. They spread their noise around through several blocks and that actually makes it much more torerable for me.
Sad thing is that without out getting rather confrontational…I’m not sure what to do about the daylight noise. Most people are pretty cool about night noise. But Mr. Asshat is going to feel totally justified inmaking noise during the daytime. If it’s trully intolerable…I’d go with the “get more people involved” tact. But outside that…I’d suggest just venting here to get it out of your system.
Dave - Yes, it’s getting close to time.
Josh - Man, you’re fast. On the date night thing, I’m sure we’d be glad to watch the little dude one night while you guys paint the town red.
Simon - I knew you wouldn’t desert. Although, you definitely would dessert. You have no idea 1) how wide Shannon will smile when she sees you used the word “bootylicious,” or 2) how close to (our former) home you were with the Hatfield-McCoy remarks.
Moksha - The noise wouldn’t bother me too much in the day time. I’m not unreasonable. He’s going waaay too fast, though.
Ah. I see. Well, then I’ll conintue my trend of crafting blog comments about what my Dad used to do.
When I was growing up, we lived on a street with lots of kids. Posted 25 mph, but people would fly down that road. I have no idea why…it wasn’t a cut through to some exciting place, it ended in a loop that just doubled back. My Dad would pester the police and they would occasionally send a car out to radar the road for a day or so and then things would return to normal. So Dad took to stacking softish plastic road cones that he had as a soccer coach by the front door. When he saw a car barrelling down the street, he’d hurl a cone out into the road. He’d give them enough time to react…but they’d have to slow down to go around it.
Now, as I said to Simon earlier, I don’t recommend using this method since it is a bit more confrotational than what I think you’re looking for. But, I just find it humorous to recall him chucking orange cones. Feel free to daydream about doing the same to Mr. Asshat Circus Clown.
Mark, I’m so far removed from any actual knowledge of the Hatfield-McCoy thing that my only reference point comes in the form of the spoof done on the Flintstones cartoon. I’ve seen that episode many times and think of it any time I run across a pop culture reference to the infamous feud.
“Bootylicious” is one of the more underused words in my slang repertoire.
Now Mark you are not blaming your air biscuits on other patrons in the resturant are you. Kind of like you used to blame others in Spainish class.
Simon - That’s funny, because as many Flintstones episodes as I’ve seen (some later in life than I’ll admit right now), I don’t think I’ve seen that one.
Rob - I don’t know what you’re talking about. Besides, it was English class.
Seriously, though, I’ve outgrown that stuff. And, um, sorry.
Mokker - Your dad was a maniac! I like it!