So I have to say that this has been the worst jetlag I've had after a trip. It must be something to do with crossing the international date line. Anyway the other night I'm walking round the house at 4am like a zombie out of the "Night of the Living Dead" when all of sudden the room starts shaking. At first I thought it was a minor earthquake but then the shaking continued. It was a very loud and insistent base beat. I looked out of the front window and there was a very large truck-limo parked outside our house. There were two occupants in the front who were definitely not playing a game of chess, and to be honest, I'd never seen a couple of those positions before.
This was ridiculous. It was after four in the morning and the stereo was going full blast. I turned on some lights to see if that would have any impact. No deal. They were so self absorbed - as it were - that they did not even notice, or if they did, they did not care. I shut off the lights and went back to bed. The music was so loud it was shaking the room. Gregoire woke up and the two of us went downstairs. We put more lights on. After a few minutes I couldn't stand it any longer, donned my dressing gown, flung open the door and strode towards the truck. Immediately the driver gunned it and sped at high speed down the street, luckily missing some parked cars. Peace at last. I was a little concerned that we would have a brick through the window as a result, but so far so good.
A couple of days later, the next door neighbour approached me over the laurel hedge and said they had seen me go near the vehicle and decided I must be nuts. They had already called the police to report the noise violation. The whole street had been woken up by the Truck From Hell. "Never go out on the street." she said, "They might have had a gun." I was so exhausted from the jetlag, I was oblivious to the danger. Next time, I'll think twice about taking people on myself. Still, I think having a powerful hose handy might be a darn good idea, to dampen some people's enthusiasm at four in the morning.
