Sunday, August 23, 2009

Bulldozers and stolen cars


This spring in my hometown, people were awoken by the sound of this bulldozer at 5.30 in the morning. It was a man in his early twenties who according to the local newspaper "went berserk" with it, and, among other things tore down a tree, a brick wall and a fence. I found the story quite amusing. When I went to my parents' house this summer, I realized that the tree that was torn down was in our very own backyard! It had not quite fallen to the ground, it was merely, still, in the process of falling, and if so should happen, ruining my parents' rosebushes. This made the story even more amusing.

When at my parents' house, something else occured. My parents' car was stolen. Well, I would say that "stolen" is a bit of an exaggeration. See, it is my brother who uses the car, and for some reason he always leaves the key in the ignition. So also this particular evening, outside the local bowling alley. That someone couldn't resist the urge to take this 97' Mondeo stationwagon for a spin then, is only too understandable, and could hardly be called theft.

Well, before the car was even reported stolen, my parents received a phonecall from the police, who could tell that the car was found, with the stealer/spinner passed out in the driver's seat. The roadtrip had come to a sudden stop because the person who took the car clumsily enough had filled gas on it instead of diesel. And as far as owning up to his crime, the driver admitted to having taken the car, so summa summarum this turned out to be a sunshine story (apart from the hassle with removing the gasoline).

Ok, so here we have two quite amusing stories. But it is about to become even more amusing. As it is, the person who went berserk with the bulldozer and the person who stole the Mondeo is the very same guy! So, what is it - does he have it in for my family or something? Well, I don't know. And, frankly my dear, I don't give a damn. My dad, on the other hand, being a very kind man, felt sorry for this guy whose background was quite turbulent, and came up with the great idea of just giving the car to him, since he obviously did not own his own vehicle. A nice and noble idea, but the guy turned out to not have his driver's license, so we all figured it wasn't such a smart move after all.

A nice summer it has been, filled with vandalism, grand theft auto and amazing grace.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Trash, trampoline and the party girl

I really only have the title. Isn't it the most wonderful title? Trash, trampoline and the party girl. I love it. Unfortunately it is not my own title - it's Bono's. You should listen to the song - it makes you want to jump on a trampoline. My beloved flatmate of two years (98-Y2K) said it when I played the CD once: "I feel like jumping on a trampoline!" And this was without any knowledge of the title, and without the word trampoline being mentioned in the text. That's the power of the beautiful, beautiful Trash, trampoline and the party girl