In The Neighbourhood

Living on the third story of a building on a moderately busy street, I sure do get to watch a bunch of stuff.

Just now, I saw someone walking down the back lane, wearing dark clothing and flicking a lighter. (The zippo kind, that makes that metallic clink.) Given that there have been people breaking into cars, and tagging buildings... someone flicking a lighter made me rather nervous. So I called the non-emergency police line, told them what I saw, and suggested that if they had a patrol car making rounds in the area, that they might want to do a sweep through here. It could be nothing, but I would rather call *before* something went up in flames, rather than after.

A few days ago I saw a fire truck and ambulance arrive, and the first responders rush into the building next door. A while later, they wheeled out someone on a stretcher. I think (s)he as still alive, since (s)he had an IV hooked up. I'm guessing heart-attack, since one of the responders was carrying something that looked like a portable. The person looked old, and very pale.

Today I noticed that someone was moving out of the building next door. In the trash, I noticed a cheap "painting" like you'd expect to see in an old person's home. I'm guessing that, since the middle of the month isn't a normal time to move, that this is related to the ambulance visit from a few days ago. I'm guessing that either the person didn't make it, or they're moving into assisted living.

Note: a police car just zipped down the back lane. Nice to know they care. :) (Uh... but they went the wrong way!)

Other things spotted recently:
• A service van that blocked off two lanes of traffic so that it could send someone (or something) down a manhole... I think to inspect the traffic light camera.
• Really backed up traffic... I think an accident on the bridge.
• A car accident... looks like a case of whip-lash, and a back bumper that needs replacing.
• A small set of *very* suspicious looking plants in my neighbour's window. (Dad told me to call Crime Stoppers on that one, but not to report it to my landlord... the plants have since disappeared from the window sill.) And my landlord mentioned that someone else saw something that looked like joint butts in the hall. Whee.
• City workers removing a set of no-parking / loading zone signs.

I think I may have heard the accident that put my building's caretaker out of commission for six weeks (the first of which was spent in the hospital). I do know I heard a screech and a thud, and saw cars having to change lanes to avoid the accident, but the accident itself was blocked from view.

I have four channels of 24-hour reality TV: kitchen, living room, bedroom, and office (windows). (There's the bathroom window too, but you have to stand in the tub to look out, and you can only really see the wall of the brick building next door.) The programming is generally pretty boring, and you need a lot of imagination and guesswork to follow the plot, but the reception is excellent. Much better than the antenna on my TV gives me. (Clarity would be improved if I didn't have to look through screens... but this is Winnipeg. I'd much rather keep the mosquitoes *outside*.)

I got a call from the cops. They checked the area out, and couldn't find anyone that didn't check out, but they thought that I was right to call.

Well, it's way past my bedtime, so I'm going to stop rambling and go to bed.