HONK HONK HONK HONK HONK!

No, not geese.  A car alarm.

Last weekend, my neighbour texted me around five pm asking if I heard that alarm.

I wasn't home so didn't know what she meant but assumed the building's smoke alarm system had gone off.

Turns out there was a car alarm going off and not stopping and someone in our lot had also chirped their alarm (probably testing to make sure it wasn't their car.)

I didn't think much of it until I got home at about 10:30pm that night and saw a car on the side street next to my building with its alarm going off.

Uh oh... had it started up again?  NO way it had been going all afternoon and evening right....?  Right???? 

So I texted my neighbour.  She'd been out for a few hours but yeah, this was the same car.  The alarm had been going off for upwards of five hours now.  Almost non stop with maybe a minute's break between sets.

My neighbour (after I googled noise bylaw and discovered they don't respond to calls after 4pm) called police non emergency line (which is what you're supposed to do) and they said they'd send someone as soon as they were able.  But by now, it was after 11pm.  And I know this was disturbing a lot of people in the area.

At some point the noise started to change and my neighbour, who was able to see the car from her window, said that people were at the car trying to muffle the noise (but not anyone with a key to do anything about it, so not an owner... we think the car maybe was stolen and dumped?) 

At about 11:45 pm the noise stopped.  What a miracle.  What a relief.  And about 5 minutes later?  Nope.  Going again.  Sigh.

I went to bed about midnight.  The alarm was still going.  With some longer breaks now and then but still on and on and on and on.  I closed my windows.  Pulled down my blinds and put in earplugs and was able to fall asleep (thankfully.)

When I woke up, I immediately looked to see if the car was there and it was gone.  There were also texts from my neighbour not long after I'd gone to bed saying that a tow truck was there and then the police too.  So I guess in a situation like that the police (I'm guessing) have the authority to have the car towed.  But then I feel bad for whoever lives near the tow lot!  (Unless there's a way to disable the car alarm for a car you don't own/have keys for!?)

The next evening, someone came home and beep/honked their car closed and I had a little jump of fear that the noise might come back but again, what a reminder about how nice it is to live with quiet when you've had a whole lot of noise.  And I was only there for about two hours of it, not like 7!  I can't imagine!!!!