When I opened the shutters last Friday morning, I saw this:
And I don't mean the orchids!
For the last few weeks a large lorry, probably the same but each week with a different trailer, has been parking itself – with the help of the driver, of course - on the empty parking space along and across our road. As it’s a public space, we can’t do anything about it. And at least the trucker, who probably lives in the area, has the decency to park this mastodon on a spot where it isn’t blocking anybody’s daylight. However, I know that my neighbour across the road, whose daughter has a shop there, is not very happy about it, because it is hard to see the window display from the road and to drive up to the private parking lot which is reserved for the shop’s customers.
Although this is a main road, with a lot of transit traffic, we do live on the edge but still within the residential part of the village and therefore feel that large vehicles like this should park elsewhere; especially as the culprit always arrives late at night, on the eve of the weekend. Nobody ever sees it coming or knows where the driver is going. He usually turns up again very early on Monday morning and disappears before people get up. If it weren’t for its formidable size and 48 to 72 hour presence, you would think it was a phantom truck!
This morning however, the giant was very much alive and kicking when I opened my shutters at 6.15 a.m. In fact, I had been awoken by an unfamiliar rumbling noise. As soon as I looked out of the window I saw what was causing the havoc. The large truck was shaking and smoking while the driver was warming up the engine before taking off to another faraway destination. Yesterday’s snow was piled up against the large wheels and you could see it slowly melting under the warm dark smoke that came out of the exhaust. The driver was nowhere to been seen.
While I was in the bathroom, getting ready to go to work, I could hear the constant rumble of the engine. I even had the impression that the ground was slightly shaking. Not an earthquake-kind of shaking, but a slight vibration that made my toes tingle.
By the time I returned to the living room, the asphyxiating pong of the exhaust fumes had penetrated and invaded the apartment ... and the truck had disappeared. When I got home this evening, the smell was almost gone.
I think I’ll heat up some of the chilli con carne that I made on Friday. I’m sure its tantalizing smell will soon cover up the remaining asphyxiating exhaust fumes!
4 comments:
Martine,
You used the word "PONG" - how very English of you. Is that one you can use in your translations. One of my favorites is when someone is on their way somewhere and you say' "off you pop then", very quaint.
Leon
Can someone, like the store owner, park her car in that spot? Therefore, he would be forced to park somewhere else and as you had mentioned, it is public parking so there should be no problem.
Okay, what's your next problem for me to solve?
Your Friend, m.
Oh,It is really annoying. And the view isn't harmonies. It is good that you have an orchid.
Leon, In the seventies I used to spent three weeks each summer with an English family on the Kentish coast. That's probably where I picked up some words that only native speakers use. As my job mainly consist in copywriting in Dutch and translating French texts into Dutch, I rarely use English in my professional capacity. Which is a shame, I think, but that's life!
Mark, The shopkeeper's father tried that trick a few times, ... and it worked. But as there is no certainty whether the truck will show up or at what time of the day or night, they stopped doing it and left their car safely in the garage. But thanks for the suggestion anyway!
Now, let me think ... is there another problem I could bother you with ...?! (lol)
Olga, The view is really depressing, especially as it always happens on weekends, when I'm at home. During the week it wouldn't bother me so much. But as you said, the orchid makes up for it. :)
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