Okay, half assed update due to tonight's .NET User Group meeting.
I think my neighbor is working a collapsible sailboat scheme. First of all, he seems like a nice guy. Secondly, I'm not even sure that's the correct name for the vessel that they keep parking out in the street. It's got some pontoons on the bottom and a mast that folds down; it's a bit of an eyesore, but then we're duplex people and so the street is pretty much covered in eyesores.
It usually sits on a trailer across the street from our house. That's slightly problematic because sometimes I like to park over there, but at the same time, it's not like I've annexed that side of the street into Powelldonia. I wasn't actively mad at the sailboat. Also, for a long time, I had no idea whose boat it was, so I was content to let collapisble sailboats be collapsible sailboats.
Last week, I get home from work and I see a police car next door. My first thought is that some sort of murder/suicide occurred, perhaps over an argument about the legion of stray cats that infest my neighbor's garage. As I step out of the car, I see the neighbor in question and a police officer standing in front of the boat. The neighbor is gesticulating wildly.
I think, "Wait, the sailboat belongs to him?" What makes that particularly strange is that I don't think he has a running automobile. Shouldn't you really nail down that first mode of transportation before you move on to a secondary mode?
Anyway, as I walk to the mailbox, the neighbor calls over, "Did you call about the boat?" And the way he asks it, I sense that he thinks I did call about the boat; there's a little edge to his voice. He's a mover by profession, which takes some strength, and I know he'll use his powerful mover hands to bust my front door down and ring my neck like a chicken if he suspects I'm pulling sailboat shenanigans here. I didn't make the call, though. I wouldn't even know what number to call about a sailboat that's blocking the parking spot I illegally use in front of some random dudes' house.
I tell him no, I have no sailboat issues, and I go inside. I look out of the window about an hour later, and the neighbor's still out there, arguing with the police. I have no idea now what he was saying, but I bet it was something like, "You have some nerve, picking on a guy with a tiny sailboat!"
Eventually, the police officer leaves and the boat disappears. Like I said, I don't think my neighbor has a working car and he certainly doesn't have a car capable of towing a sailboat. For a minute or two, I wonder about where the sailboat went but eventually, my mind moves on to larger concerns.
Now we fast forward to this weekend. The street we live on is pretty long, and I'm on it, perhaps 300 yards from our house. There, in between the parked cars and the garbage cans, is the collapsible sailboat! It's parked in front of somebody else's house completely, but it is most definitely the same tiny, collapsible sailboat!
I have a theory here. My neighbor waited for nightfall and then he dragged his tiny sailboat down the street, dropping it in front of a stranger's house. Now who will the police hassle? It's a phantom sailboat! They'll just leave it there, allowing my neighbor to enjoy that sailboat willy-nilly, or at least as much as he can enjoy it without being able to tow it to a body of water.
I admit, this is a pretty good idea on his part.
Posted by Cody at October 8, 2007 4:41 PM