Why I love it here
Tonight, some time after midnight, I arrived home and stepped out of my Commodore. As I was reaching my front gate I noticed some feverish movement in the dark, next to another Commodore parked a couple of cars down. It occurred to me that the dark shapes and accompanying rasping and grunting sounds were very similar to those you might expect if two men were trying to break into a car. A couple of steps in their direction revealed that this was very much the case.
Armed with two hands full of Christmas presents and exactly zero plans, I called out "oi!". With a busy indifference, the two men were hardly distracted from their work as they responded to my call. Brandishing my 2008 Gary Larson calendar I approached the duo to discover my dodgy neighbour (we'll call him Frank, since that's his name) and a friend working fruitlessly on the car door. The car, so it was explained to me, belonged to the friend. He had managed to lock the keys inside, with the ignition in the accessories position. The dashboard lights confirmed that part of the story.
I stood for a moment and watched Frank's pathetic, but awfully enthusiastic efforts, as he worked a thin coat hanger up and down the gap between the window and the door skin. Defiant that all he had to do was catch the lock and reef it up, I couldn't help but feel that Frank could use some assistance.
And so there we were, one o'clock in the morning on the street in front of my home, me holding a torch and fiddling with the key lock, while my less than reputable neighbour was chaotically jamming a length of wire inside the door's metal frame.
Frank however, had a plan. Not five minutes later, a bloke who knows a thing or two about opening locked car doors turns up on a push bike and quickly concludes that with the help of a screwdriver he'd have this door open in 20 seconds flat. Filled with the Christmas spirit of giving, I produced the required screwdriver, and Mr expert got to work. While the 20 second claim was clearly very optimistic, he was eventually true to his word, thanks in part to the unexpected synergy of three grubby men working together to achieve a goal.
Not only did I learn a new skill tonight, I gave assistance in another's time of need. And that my friends, is where the really rewarding experience lives. Oh I do love it here.