Of auto theft and neighbors coming together~~~

Hello Darklings,

Well I was planning on doing a run down on the Film Noir Festival but things took an exciting turn for the worse.

Of late, well more like for the last 2 or 3 months there has been a plague of Auto Thefts, almost all of them Honda's,  they are prized for their interchangeable parts.

The other evening Doyle and I were relaxing, the dogs were snoozing and  we were watching our guilty pleasures of "Rosewood" and then "Sleepy Hollow"  when suddenly  just before 10 p.m. and the program finished we heard a loud Whump!!! Sound,  it started us, causing Belladonna and Wiener Dog to bark furiously.

Doyle looked out the window and at first didn’t see anything, then he saw that one of our neighbors across the street car had been side-swiped.   He put on his slippers and grabbed his flashlight  to check.

I followed after getting my slippers on and securing the dogs,  it seemed that the car plus several others that hit the neighbors car was down at part of the street were work being done so it was blocked off to through traffic, people were coming out of their houses,  it was a bit of a mess and people were wondering what happened,  Doyle told me to call 911, I went into the house since I didn't have my cellphone and I preferred using the land line and called giving as much information as I could.

I was told by the dispatcher to tell people to stay around the police were coming and they were going to need as much information as possible,  I said I could not tell if anyone was hurt but the police would determine that.    I went outside and told the folks that were close by to stay where they were the police were coming and they would need everyone’s statement.  

Suddenly it seemed as if one of the cars at the end of the block was revving up and people were backing away, I had started to go back to the house to get a coat it was cold, but as I was on the porch I saw three cars all sedans, speed up the block to the cross street, the last car nearly rear ended the one in front of it and they all took off,  Doyle yelled at me to call 911 again and tell them they headed west on the cross street, now it was hit and run but at least no one was hurt..

I called again  and the Dispatcher took my information wanted to know what color cars, confirmed my address and said if anyone is hurt to call back I said O.K.   Then I went out and said the police were still coming, but now it was discovered that there were a total of  4 cars involved, one that hit the neighbor’s car plus three others.

We began to suspect it was those thieves that had been doing vehicle thefts of Honda’s because all the cars involved were Honda’s , even one neighbor's car that had been stolen in December was a Honda.   We talked to the owner of the car that got hit, he and his male partner were just flabbergasted.   

We talked to another neighbor he said he called 911 as well, but from what I was informed by the dispatcher I had given more information.

The lady from down the block said that she saw the guy in the disabled car get out and she yelled at him are you all right but he got into another car, she said “You know you sort of get frozen, like what do you do?”   We could only agree with her, I mean what do you do.   Doyle was talking to a neighbor's wife and her sister,  and folks was talking to the neighbor whose car was hit , everyone was commiserating on what happened.  But what do you  do? 

My sister came out hearing the commotion, Brian was away visiting relatives and I filled her in, she said that she had been thinking of leaving her car parked on the street but something changed her mind, because her car would have been right were the street lamp was that was also hit, knocking the glass lamp off.

The police showed up and everyone including Doyle that saw something gave statements,  then one fellow a neighbor started picking up auto pieces on the street, and putting them next to the damaged SUV,   people started going into their homes and the poor guy is going to have to deal with his insurance company in the morning.   

Inside the house Doyle and I watched from the window  the left-over of this disruption in our quiet lives, the cops left except for one, we overheard about dusting for finger prints then the road side truck came to quickly remove the abandon damaged Honda,  pretty quick we thought. 

When we were all outside one of our neighbors and Doyle speculated that the crooks thought they could get to the main street  and then to the freeway and discovered they couldn’t, the first car slipped on the wet road hitting the neighbors care, since they didn’t know about the road blockage.

Our  neighbor told us that he’s so fed up with this State and our city now being now a sanctuary city that he and his girlfriend are moving to Idaho,  his daughter wants to go with them, since she’s 17 now she doesn’t have to do what is dictated by her Mom, our neighbor's ex-wife.    Doyle said if it wasn't for our Medical benefits situation we’d go as well, even another friend of mine is moving to Portland, Oregon and another to Seattle.   

Our neighbor said he was so pissed at what happened with the riots at the Berkeley Campus on Wednesday night, even his daughter told me she’d prefer to go to college in Idaho, there she knows she can think and speak freely.

And now after this latest debacle Friday night, I wish we could too,  at least if we could have a “gypsy wagon” and just move from place to place, California is becoming such a “Nanny State”.  

But now today Sis and I  have some grocery shopping to do, so if the rain holds off we should be fine, then when we get back I’ll pay some more bills and balance the check book so at least that part is what passes for normal.

Doyle is going to go to some friends house, retired cops and watch the Super Bowl game.

I know we are on a journey, both mental, physical, emotional and spiritual and as my Daddy use to say “Getting there is more than half the fun as long as you can avoid pot holes and flat tires”.

Which is true, we do have those “pot holes” of life experiences but we learn from the pot holes and we grow from it and expand our knowledge.   Today even with the grey weather is a day from finding out about things, about interacting with people, about discovering things and adding to our life experiences.

I know that certainly that was what happening last night, people discovering that it’s too easy to freeze when something happens,  sometimes feeling like they are helpless yet wanting to help.  

 But experiences can be fun as well,  the little joys we discover,  the main thing is to do one’s best to enjoy the journey,  it can even be with simple small observations of people, situations, objects, of anything. 

I know that even though in a way I felt helpless in that I could not give more information, although Doyle managed to get a license plate number from the odd car that was not a Honda,  I did what I humanly could, just as I know folks did what they humanly could and in that journey of experience we all learned something about ourselves and the world around us.

Our neighbor had his car towed to a repair shop the next day and will be dealing with the insurance company, his vehicle was pushed so hard it went up onto the sidewalk,  even he told me that he's glad no one in the neighborhood was hurt, we felt the same. 

And now Sis has come to get me and we are going to do some serious beginning of the month shopping.   I may pick up copies of vogue, elle, marie clair, vanity fair, I so need to look at something pretty.

Sis suggested we take a side trip to TJMax or to Macy's first, I'm all for that.

Later Darklings