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7 | The IFP -H alton H ills | T hursday,July 18,2019 theifp.ca • Truck Accessories • Upholstery • Heavy Equipment Glass •Window Tinting 354 Guelph Street, Georgetown 905-873-1655 Wehandleall insurance work. We handle all insurance work. Furnace Air Conditioning Gaslines Boilers Water Heaters Radiant Heating 905-877-3100 proud local dealer of Canadian made products .ca This undated photo shows boaters enjoying Fairy Lake in front of the Aquatic Club Boathouse. The boathouse was situated near present day Cameron Street. EHS photo THE WAY WE WERE For the most part The Sidekick and I live in a qui- et area. Sure, we have intermit- tent sounds shared by all rural residents - trucks in the distance, trains, planes and automobiles, as well as the distant hum of power lines in the hydro corridors on a foggy night. But those sounds are subtle, and we often sleep through them because we're familiar with them, and our subconscious says there's no threat. But a couple weeks ago, The Sidekick and I experi- enced a sleep shattering assault on our night's slumber. Our neighbours' car alarm went off repeatedly. And the worst part? They were on vacation - three hours away. Now I will admit - earli- er during the day that alarm went off once, while I was working in the shed. My F150 has done that same thing a couple times and seemed to get over it. I knew they were away, and there was nothing I could do. So, I chose to ignore it. It stopped after a few min- utes. I did check to see if the car was open, but it was locked. And since it had stopped, I never gave it an- other thought. Until 1:30 a.m., when the horn shattered the night's silence with a blar- ing "honk, honk, honk" at- tack. It stopped. I lay there in the dark, listening, hoping it was an isolated incident, like earlier in the day. But 15 minutes later, it was back. By now, The Sidekick was wide-awake. "What's causing it?" she asked through sleepy eyes. "I have no idea," I re- plied. "Can't you stop it?" she asked. At that moment, it stopped again. Hmm, I considered dis- connecting the battery in the car to disable the alarm. I did have a key to the house, but at 2 a.m., I didn't feel like entering it in the dark, to try to find the keys to the car, then disconnect the battery. As we discussed the possible "fixes" to the problem, the horn contin- ued to go off, every 15 min- utes. By now, The Sidekick had also observed that with each alarm, it blared 40 times. We weren't amused. After an hour of hoping the next blast would be the last, The Sidekick made a suggestion. "Why don't we close up all the windows in the bed- room, turn on the air-con- ditioner, set the fan on high, and turn on the mu- sic?" she suggested. "Hope- fully, that will drown out the horn." At that point I'd listen to any suggestion, so we closed up the bedroom like she suggested. Interestingly, unless I really concentrated on lis- tening for the horn, I could hardly hear it. For the most part, it was inaudi- ble. We finally drifted off to sleep. At 7 a.m. I woke up and shut down the air condi- tioning and music. I listened - silence. Since it was morning, The Sidekick texted our neighbours to tell them what their car had been up to all night. We also asked where they kept their spare keys, so I could disa- ble the alarm. In minutes, we received our reply. "We have both sets of keys with us," was the an- swer. By this time, I was hop- ing the battery on the damn car was flat from blaring all night - 40 times, every 15 minutes. We decided to ride out the next 24 hours to see what happened. Later that evening, a car pulled into the yard. It was one of our neigh- bours' friends who had spent the weekend with them at their cottage. They were driving home this way, so they brought us the key to the car - just in case it did it again. The car has not misbe- haved again. But I can tell ya, there's a feeling of power, know- ing I held the key to disable that damn horn at a mo- ment's notice. Ted Brown is a free- lance journalist for the IFP. He can be contacted at tedbit@hotmail.com. OPINION WHEN THINGS GO 'HONK' - ALL NIGHT LONG CAR HORN WENT EVERY 15 MINUTES, WRITES TED BROWN TED BROWN Column