Do not cry out or hit the alarm
I’ve only just seen this Comment from yesterday. I’m passing on it now for your thoughts – although some people have already left theirs. I hope it’s academic, because I would hate to think this situation is still going on. Fingers crossed that Daniel is asleep even now. If so, he’s at least three and a half hours ahead of me. I am on the motorway heading south. Good luck to Daniel and anyone else deprived of sleep. (For what it’s worth, I would definitely approve the warranty and get the bloody thing turned off at pretty much any price.)
Mark, I have a problem and need the Watsonian collective’s help.
My neighbours, who I don’t ever talk to ( becasue I’m shy, not because they’re horrible ( well, they might be, I haven’t spoken to them to find out ) ) have gone away and their burglar alarm has been going non-stop for the last 72 hours. As we are in a modern build with new, paper-thin walls I can hear it all the time and have got around three hours sleep in the last 3 nights. The police aren’t interested as there is no sign of suspicious activity, I have no contact details for my neighbours and the Environmental Protection Agency seem very keen for me to authorise them to obtain a warrant, break into the house, turn the alarm off, make it safe and then bill my neighbours for repairs etc. Quite why they need my name on the warrant I have no idea, but what neighbourly relations we have could be soured somewhat. My other concern is that nothing screams ” House Ripe For Burglary ” more than a burglar alarm going off unattended for 72 hours. There’s a light flashing at the front and everything.
I need to drown out the noise, I need to get some sleep and as a repsonsible citizen I feel I should protect their house somehow until their as-yet-unknown return date. Any ideas? Or should I just sign a warrant and be damned?!!
Yours sleep-deprivedly,
Daniel
Posted by Josie on June 19, 2011
mate, sign a warrant and be damned.
Posted by LisaD on June 19, 2011
108 hours?!?! Daniel, you are an infinitely better person than I. After 8 hours I would have skipped the EPA and broken the door in myself.
Posted by Lora on June 19, 2011
Good to see you finally got some rest Daniel!
Posted by Daniel on June 19, 2011
Thanks for your ideas everyone. I am thrilled and more than a little relieved to report that yesterday at midday, a mere 108 hours after it started, the burglar alarm was switched off as my neighbours returned from their break. Who knows, perhaps they had read you all advising me to sign the warrant and hot-footed it back before I could?!! The power of the blog should never be underestimated.
I couldn’t bring myself to sign the warrant, but my neighbours were very apologetic and so at least I’ve had a conversation with them now. I also got a nice card and an invitation to dinner, so it’s all OK in the end.
AND I’ve got something in the bank with them if I am ever rowdy or a ” public nuisance ” …
Thanks again,
Daniel
Posted by Ingrid on June 19, 2011
Do you have any friends you could stay with for a week? That way you won’t annoy the neighbours and you can get some sleep.
Posted by Lydia on June 19, 2011
I really hope Daniel signed the warrant. Or got ear plugs.
Posted by Rachael on June 19, 2011
We had a problem with the alarm going off for about 8 hours before because noone could turn it off, everyone went abit mental so I can’t imagine what it must be like after all that time. I think you gotta sign the thing, if the neighbours don’t understand then they aren’t worth knowing anyway!
Posted by Joelle on June 19, 2011
Do any of the other neighbours know them and could contact them? Maybe ask around.
Is there a way you could stop the supply of electricity, thus stopping the alarm and leave them a note explaining and apologising?
Go and live in a motel for a few days?
Posted by Tibbs on June 19, 2011
I hope, for Dan’s sake, that he signed the warrant and the alarm has stopped. It’s nice that he’s trying to weigh what’s best for his neighbours, but I think they probably wouldn’t want an alarm going off for such a long time, signalling to anyone around that there’s nobody in the house, And in any case, Dan deserves some sleep!
Posted by Josh (the magnificent one) on June 19, 2011
If that’s Mini, then he should just slip under the crack beneath the door and get in that way. If it’s not then I apologise for insinuating Other Daniel was short.
The EPA will just want someone they can blame if your neighbours didn’t want to be broken in to. If your neighbours are nice people, then go for it, they’ll understand.
Posted by Jen on June 18, 2011
Its tricky – I thought alarms had some sort of time limit cut off – I thought I’d heard that somewhere..to prevent the problems your stating but not before alerting the necessary people..hmmm…my neighbours alarm goes off for fun so I feel your pain – I hope the problem is sorted out by now!Jx ps Mark I hope you enjoyed your trip up north!
Posted by Emily on June 18, 2011
I should clarify, by “there”, I meant in Edinburgh. Not at all the shows. That would be weird, even for this blog.
Posted by Emily on June 18, 2011
Its been a while since I’ve commented, due to A levels, but while we’re asking Watsonians for help…could there be a reason why my email account won’t send messages sometimes?
More specifically, it’s started to refuse to send messages to email addresses which haven’t previously contacted me. I noticed when I was trying to email to say I’d be there on the 22nd onwards for Mark’s Edinburgh show, if volunteers were still needed (and it wasn’t too scary), and it has done it with some others. I tried checking security settings, but there wasn’t anything obvious and I don’t understand this sort of thing. Any ideas?
Anyway, if you can get my email off here, I’d be happy to volunteer, even without a fully functioning hotmail account.
I do think the neighbours would be happier for their door to be broken than all their possessions to be stolen. Difficult though.
Posted by Misha on June 18, 2011
I saw this comment and I still don’t know. I think the warrant would be the best course of action, you can explain to the neighbours and htey’ll probably understand/appreciate. I think.