From three in the morning until eight, a car alarm was blaring in the courtyard. Without stopping for even a minute. Usually alarms go off, then fall silent for a while, then start up again. This one was apparently some kind of homemade setup. Harsh and methodical: two beeps a second. For five hours straight. And I’d never heard anything like it before: not a siren, more like metallic clanging. Extremely loud. You couldn’t close the window — it was too hot. And even if you did, you could still hear it. I’m on the ninth floor, but I imagine the people lower down had an especially wonderful time. The only thing that helped me fall asleep was coming up with elaborate nasty things that could be done to this asshole’s car — or to him personally. In reality, I didn’t even have the energy to go downstairs and slash the tires. But some more proactive people did. In the morning, while walking the dog, I discovered that the entire building was covered with notices:
Now that’s civil society in action. A spontaneous protest and a bit of public advocacy. I called. By the way, during the night I tried to think up some kind of substance that could easily be made at home and that wouldn’t come off a windshield with gasoline, acetone, or nail polish remover. I couldn’t come up with anything. If anyone has any ideas, share them.