Your vehicle will be towed at your own expense
4:08 p.m.
Firstly, the house alarm of the neighbour across the street went off this morning. I was not yet dressed, so very quickly slipped into my clothes, took the key and let myself in through their basement door and turned off the alarm. They also have a key and code for our house. My neighbour�s aged mother came tripping down the stairs asking, �Qui est l�?�, to which I responded, �C�est la voisine,� before realizing who it was and thankfully being able to resume the conversation in English. She had tried turning off the system herself, but had been punching in the wrong code. It�s an easy mistake to make, especially if she�s carrying all these numbers around in her head for her different children�s alarm systems. That�s why I programmed a special code for my neighbours, which is also their code, so they can�t forget it.
Anyway, we chatted, got everything straightened out, and I returned home to find that the central alarm station was on the phone to verify that everything across the street was a-okay. I assured them I had turned off the alarm and gave them the authorization code, but they had already called the police and could only try to cancel the order. Unfortunately they were too late, and as I went outside to water my brugmansia, I saw the cop car just pulling away. That means my neighbour has been hit with a $37 fine for a false alarm. I know, we�ve received our own fair share of citations.
The second adventure was my own fault and due to a security guy�s itchy trigger finger. Little Princess had a job interview this morning with a telemarketing company (don�t get me started) and I drove her, waiting in the car, reading my science fiction magazine until she returned. In order to do something nice, I thought we should go to Van Houte for a treat, but there was nowhere to park. So I pulled into a lot across the street, full of remorquage � vos frais signs and we walked through the building, across the street, and had our treat. Looking through the window, Little Princess said, �Isn�t that our car?� Sure enough, there was the Subaru Outback, pretty as a picture, riding on the back of a tow truck, Bushop�s parking tag flapping from the rear-view mirror.
So we quickly finished our collations, my stomach now churning and the choler rising, went across the street, made up some story about how I was going to take my daughter to the restaurant in the building to which the lot belonged, but had to go to the bank first, had been gone no more than 15 minutes when I see my car being carried away on the back of a flat-bed truck. There was no help but to call a taxi and go out to the garage, pay the $50 plus tax towing fee, and come home. As you can imagine, I won�t try that again. As a matter of fact, I don�t think I will ever go to that restaurant again, on principle, since I am so pissed off at the building security guy. The receptionist in the dental office was very helpful though, letting me use the phone to call home first (Hubby was playing tennis) and then a taxi; she even had the address of where the car had been taken. At the garage the receptionist said there was next to no chance of my recouping my loss. After all, I had parked in their lot and then left the premises. However, they didn�t wait very long to see if I would return or not to patronize the various businesses there. It just makes me made, that�s all.
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