Cease That Infernal Clanking!
Today in the very small hours of the morning, I found myself wide awake.
Wide. Awake.
I do not know why, exactly, my body said, “hey, you know, 3:12 am is an awesome time to be awake. Let’s do it!” I could only go along with the overbearing wishes of my body and try to get through.
So there I lay, staring at the ceiling and contemplating my life, and I noticed quite a racket going on outside. One mutha of a late winter storm came ripping through the Bay Area last night. Intense winds howled and pile drove raindrops into window panes.
But that wasn’t the noise that had my dander in a full upright and locked position. Nope, it was the gall dang wind chimes that the neighbors above us have hanging from their balcony.
I really deeply profoundly dislike metal tube clanky wind chimes. The high pitched sound actually assaults my ears.
“But what about those cool bamboo chimes” you might be asking.
And I would reply, “No. No no no no no nonononononononono.”
We have rules about not forcing neighbors to listen to your smooth Muzac jazz played loudly over a stereo. We regulate leaf blowers. We ask that noisy cars be muffled.
But clank makers are juuuust fine. Assault the ears of your neighbor all you want.
I DO NOT WANT TO SHARE YOUR CLANK NOISE!
I am a woman of New Mexico. Wind is not something we celebrate or entice to visit our balconies. Wind is something to be endured along with tumbleweeds, goat heads and rattlesnakes (see: safety training from yesterday).
With teeth gritting and bile rising, I tried to use my whirling mind for the greater good of all mankind and the 35 other units in the building. With my new harness training in mind (see: safety training from yesterday) I considered scaling the exterior of the building up just one floor and yanking those clank tubes clean off the deck.
But it was so cold and rainy outside I figured by the time that journey was done I’d really be wide awake. Plus the neighbors might be a tad cranky at my destruction of their property.
I considered using a high powered pellet gun to shoot them sumnabitches off the side of the building, but The Good Man had a long talk with me about the use of gun-like devices in an urban setting in a state that has no sense of humor about these things. So that was out.
So that just left me very awake, cranky and frustrated.
Rattin’ smattin’ windchimes.
Turns out my friends across the pond are with me on this:
Why wind chimes are the UK’s most hated garden accessory
Photo from Notes From A Burning House.
