Oh God this happened to us once - thought I'd hit the right button only to find it was intent on going off at two-hourly intervals all through the night. Could not find the piece of paper that I'd written down the 'shut this thing up' code but did have the alarm guy's phone number. He was (still is, I assume) high on the autism spectrum (had shown me his portfolio of stamp illustrations when he last serviced the alarm). Poor man just about had a meltdown when I told him I'd lost the code. 'I take against that VERY BADLY!' he said, so I let him off the hook and rummaged in the drawer for the code again, and found it! Silence, blessed silence, nerves still jangled. It was the battery, too. Phoned another security firm to replace it. Refused to have a working alarm in any house since but please don't tell my insurance company.
That's an absolutely brilliant tale of Mayhem. I'm just imagining what the Dostoevsky version of the alarm tale might read like...which will completely distract me from the work I'm supposed to be doing this afternoon getting ready to defend my doctoral thesis to the examiners...
How to Handle a Halfwit ha ha. You did well Leah. We just replaced our log fire and the inspector who came to check it and our new fire alarms (which he had to apologetically activate) said his worst inspection involved him and the homeowner panicking (his word, not mine) for 15 minutes til he got the screeching to stop. Gold star for your 20.
Had to laugh at mein kampf. My 15 yr old niece (who also lives in Karori) learns German, is also reading mein kampf and apparently has put a poster of herr Fuhrer on her wall. Her dad is considering what kind of intervention is required...!
My younger kid started reading Dostoyevsky at 14 I think. They just turned 16 and recently read Emily Wilson’s translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey which we picked up in the amazing Melbourne Dymocks 😍. I have certainly not read any Dostoyevsky and can read Russian (albeit very slowly and poorly)!
If you mean clever because I can read Russian well my parents were Russian speakers and I took it at Uni so bit of a special advantage is all. But my youngest is indeed very clever and rather ambitious #humblebrag
Stig of the dump! Loved it, but no one ever knows what I’m talking about.
My alarm has been going off randomly lately, thankfully while I’ve been out so all I get is a call from the monitoring company and a traumatised cat when I get home. The alarm is stupendously loud, and for nerve shattering purposes beaten only by that horrendous emergency alert on all our phones now.
Great story Leah. I think we heard the alarm from our place 😂
Haha! I mean it's possible!
Oh God this happened to us once - thought I'd hit the right button only to find it was intent on going off at two-hourly intervals all through the night. Could not find the piece of paper that I'd written down the 'shut this thing up' code but did have the alarm guy's phone number. He was (still is, I assume) high on the autism spectrum (had shown me his portfolio of stamp illustrations when he last serviced the alarm). Poor man just about had a meltdown when I told him I'd lost the code. 'I take against that VERY BADLY!' he said, so I let him off the hook and rummaged in the drawer for the code again, and found it! Silence, blessed silence, nerves still jangled. It was the battery, too. Phoned another security firm to replace it. Refused to have a working alarm in any house since but please don't tell my insurance company.
This story gave me PTSD!!! We're getting rewired. But if there's a system without a hidden, sinister battery, I'd prefer it
Utterly brilliant, as always!
My cortisol levels reading this…
(Glad it’s over and made a good story.)
That's an absolutely brilliant tale of Mayhem. I'm just imagining what the Dostoevsky version of the alarm tale might read like...which will completely distract me from the work I'm supposed to be doing this afternoon getting ready to defend my doctoral thesis to the examiners...
Ooh, good luck, Rob!
How to Handle a Halfwit ha ha. You did well Leah. We just replaced our log fire and the inspector who came to check it and our new fire alarms (which he had to apologetically activate) said his worst inspection involved him and the homeowner panicking (his word, not mine) for 15 minutes til he got the screeching to stop. Gold star for your 20.
That level of noise is so stressful - you stop acting rationally!
Had to laugh at mein kampf. My 15 yr old niece (who also lives in Karori) learns German, is also reading mein kampf and apparently has put a poster of herr Fuhrer on her wall. Her dad is considering what kind of intervention is required...!
Good GRIEF! I would definitely be calling for A Family Meeting
So it was YOUR house Leah 🤣. Pretty brave lady to have cut wires!
Oh MY, you heard it?? Gah!
My 13 year-old also read Dostojevskij recently… He has been reading classics for several years now, and has surpassed me by far…😅 I know the feeling!
It's thrilling and appalling at the same time!
Also unfortunately those systems are designed to keep ringing even if you try to shut them down any which way other than a code. My sympathies
My younger kid started reading Dostoyevsky at 14 I think. They just turned 16 and recently read Emily Wilson’s translations of The Iliad and The Odyssey which we picked up in the amazing Melbourne Dymocks 😍. I have certainly not read any Dostoyevsky and can read Russian (albeit very slowly and poorly)!
Oh wow, Dymocks sounds fantastic! Also, your family sounds incredibly clever
If you mean clever because I can read Russian well my parents were Russian speakers and I took it at Uni so bit of a special advantage is all. But my youngest is indeed very clever and rather ambitious #humblebrag
Stig of the dump! Loved it, but no one ever knows what I’m talking about.
My alarm has been going off randomly lately, thankfully while I’ve been out so all I get is a call from the monitoring company and a traumatised cat when I get home. The alarm is stupendously loud, and for nerve shattering purposes beaten only by that horrendous emergency alert on all our phones now.
Your battery may be running down! (Ours was under the stairs)
Best laugh I've had in AGES. Classic. PS I hope you didn't open your door to that mysoginist, homophobic creep!
Now I'm looking him up
Haha! Just what I needed to read this morning - laughing ... with tears!! (sorry - at your misfortune!) :) Hope this week goes well!
So do I, Judith! 🫠