Morningus Interruptus
Aug. 19th, 2006 12:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kerravonsenWell, well, well...
The first I knew that there was anything amiss was when I saw the fire engine. And I probably wouldn't have noticed even that if I hadn't been waiting for my grocery delivery and therefore had an ear out for a truck engine. So when I heard the rumble, I looked out the window and saw, not a grocery delivery truck, but a fire truck, parking across the street. Lights were flashing on it, but no sirens. I wondered what was going on, because I didn't see any smoke.
Then the ambulance turned up.
Three men got out of the fire truck, and two people got out of the ambulance (one of the paramedics was a woman). They were carrying kits of some sort, and at least one of the firemen was wearing blue gloves. They didn't seem to be in a hurry. They went into the house across the street from me. I couldn't see much, since there were trees in the way, both trees in my yard and trees in the yard across the street. And I didn't want to go outside and gawk openly, so my view was restricted to what I could see from my windows.
Nothing much seemed to be happening, so I sat back down in my study again. I looked out every now and then, saw the firemen come back out again and put their kits and gloves away, and then drive off. The paramedics were still there, and occassionally I saw the door at the back of the ambulance was open, but I couldn't see what they were doing.
I assumed there had been some sort of accident, maybe an electrical fire or something, but nothing major, and someone got hurt. I assumed a fire because, why call the firemen?
The doorbell rang. No, it wasn't my groceries. It was a man come to collect my census forms.
Then I looked out and there was a police car there, behind the ambulance. Again, nothing much seemed to be happening.
The doorbell rang again. It was my groceries being delivered at last! I expounded my "accident" theory to the delivery man. I put my groceries away and sat back down at the computer and did more work.
Then the doorbell rang again. "Who could it be this time?" I wondered. My father, popping in on a walk? A door-to-door salesman? A Jehovah's Witness?
None of the above. It was a policeman. (Darn, I've forgotten his name, now.)
It seems that the neighbour across the way had "passed away" and had been found in the middle of the lawn! The policeman said that the man had a history of heart trouble, but they still needed to investigate whether there had been any foul play involved. (Fair enough -- you would expect that someone who was going to die of a heart attack wasn't going to expire in the middle of his lawn. Or perhaps not.) I proved to be a most unhelpful witness. No, I hadn't heard or seen anything. The first I knew there was anything going on was when I saw the fire truck. No, I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen my neighbour, we didn't interact much. (In fact, now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen that particular neighbour.)
So, there you have it, my involvement in True Life Crime. If there was a crime. Which there probably wasn't.
The first I knew that there was anything amiss was when I saw the fire engine. And I probably wouldn't have noticed even that if I hadn't been waiting for my grocery delivery and therefore had an ear out for a truck engine. So when I heard the rumble, I looked out the window and saw, not a grocery delivery truck, but a fire truck, parking across the street. Lights were flashing on it, but no sirens. I wondered what was going on, because I didn't see any smoke.
Then the ambulance turned up.
Three men got out of the fire truck, and two people got out of the ambulance (one of the paramedics was a woman). They were carrying kits of some sort, and at least one of the firemen was wearing blue gloves. They didn't seem to be in a hurry. They went into the house across the street from me. I couldn't see much, since there were trees in the way, both trees in my yard and trees in the yard across the street. And I didn't want to go outside and gawk openly, so my view was restricted to what I could see from my windows.
Nothing much seemed to be happening, so I sat back down in my study again. I looked out every now and then, saw the firemen come back out again and put their kits and gloves away, and then drive off. The paramedics were still there, and occassionally I saw the door at the back of the ambulance was open, but I couldn't see what they were doing.
I assumed there had been some sort of accident, maybe an electrical fire or something, but nothing major, and someone got hurt. I assumed a fire because, why call the firemen?
The doorbell rang. No, it wasn't my groceries. It was a man come to collect my census forms.
Then I looked out and there was a police car there, behind the ambulance. Again, nothing much seemed to be happening.
The doorbell rang again. It was my groceries being delivered at last! I expounded my "accident" theory to the delivery man. I put my groceries away and sat back down at the computer and did more work.
Then the doorbell rang again. "Who could it be this time?" I wondered. My father, popping in on a walk? A door-to-door salesman? A Jehovah's Witness?
None of the above. It was a policeman. (Darn, I've forgotten his name, now.)
It seems that the neighbour across the way had "passed away" and had been found in the middle of the lawn! The policeman said that the man had a history of heart trouble, but they still needed to investigate whether there had been any foul play involved. (Fair enough -- you would expect that someone who was going to die of a heart attack wasn't going to expire in the middle of his lawn. Or perhaps not.) I proved to be a most unhelpful witness. No, I hadn't heard or seen anything. The first I knew there was anything going on was when I saw the fire truck. No, I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen my neighbour, we didn't interact much. (In fact, now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever seen that particular neighbour.)
So, there you have it, my involvement in True Life Crime. If there was a crime. Which there probably wasn't.
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no subject
Date: 2006-08-19 02:43 am (UTC)Heart attacks can take you anywhere. One of my colleagues had a good family friend die suddenly in her car while taking her dog to the vet, and she'd been fine up till then. She had enough time to pull over, but though a passing GP pulled her out of the car and tried to resuscitate her, it was too late. Good fast way to go though.
And at least they found the guy quickly. You hear stories where people are only found days or weeks later.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-19 05:18 am (UTC)And at least they found the guy quickly.
Oh gosh yes. I remember hearing one of my mom's friends (I was younger) telling her about how she'd helped another friend clean...erm...the fluids out of the carpet.
(I sat there listening in horror, imagination fully engaged, thinking "why didn't they hire someone to do that for them?! EEEEEWWWWWW!")
no subject
Date: 2006-08-19 06:28 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-19 07:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-19 08:54 am (UTC)One of our neighbours died a few years ago while playing dominoes at the pub. It came round to his turn to place a domino again, he didn't move, so they asked him if he was passing and apparently he just slowly fell forward into the game. When his family got over the initial shock they said it seemed the best way to go, no pain, no fuss, doing something he enjoyed.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-19 10:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-19 10:41 am (UTC)That puzzled me too.
in the UK we would call it a fire engine
Now of course I can't figure out what the correct Australian dialect is, since I'm unsure whether I called it a fire truck because I was expecting a delivery truck, and whether I would normally have called it a fire engine or not!
Huh
Date: 2006-08-19 10:43 am (UTC)I came home last Friday to find multiple emergency vehicles and the ex-girlfriend of the guy across the street sobbing on the front steps of another house. My neighbor, a guy in his late 40s, had died during the day. I'd last heard him at around 6:45 a.m., moaning. I thought, he's either having sex or dying. I was elated when I found out that someone had seen him at his front door a few hours later, though I'm still wondering what would have happened had I called 9-1-1 instead of just being snarky and annoyed.
- Helen
Re: Huh
Date: 2006-08-21 03:07 pm (UTC)My icon
Date: 2006-08-22 11:41 am (UTC)It's marketed as a 'buddha's hand'; it's an almost-all-rind citrus fruit (has maybe four bits of pulp in it).
For Christmas this past year, my daughters and I filled my husband's stocking with odd fruit. When he saw this, he thought it looked like Cthulu, so we stuck eyes on it and took a picture.
It doesn't look all that much like me, but it looks more like me than most fruit does, and I look more like it than most people do.
- Helen
Re: My icon
Date: 2006-08-22 01:32 pm (UTC)