Dear Editor,
In a season of goodwill and peace, one would expect to experience just that. However, it is not yet good old Christmas and my neighbour has already begun carolling with the packing of steel rods just about 12 feet leeward of my house. It is an age-old issue which has been the subject of numerous complaints, yet as miraculous as the season might be, there is no police action.
The narrative begins at about 8 am when my kindly neighbour (who lives elsewhere) and employees commence offloading and packing their industrial goods. Visualize a truckload of steel rods dumped on concrete, then dragged to shelves, then lifted and dropped on those shelves in one staccato burst, all inside a zinc bond, and the aural faculties become awakened.
This sentence begins at 12.25 pm and the packing continues with equal fervour.
Of course, I am civic minded and never hesitate to contact the Anna Regina Police Station. My father contacts the Deputy Commander at approximately 9 am and the gentleman offers to contact the patrol unit to warn the offenders; no action ensues and another call is placed at 11.58 am where a similar offer is made, yet another at 12.05 pm with a similar outcome, and finally at 12.55 pm yet another complaint is lodged. The officer is impatient and says, “I will try to contact the patrol.” The patrol is yet to arrive.
It is my intention to spend some quiet moments in my own home, getting my daily readings done, and of course savouring some family time, but maybe I have been a bad boy and so St Nick has forgotten me this year.
Then again, since this problem has not abated since 2005, I figure St Nick could not Google my address.
As such, I am left with the usual recourse: calling the Anna Regina Police Station, waiting hours on end for any effective response, and of course, enduring the slamming, hammering and banging of steel rods from my kindly neighbour.
It is 1.03 pm, the carolling of steel rods is in the air, the police patrol is yet to arrive, and since I cannot peaceably occupy my own home, I stoically declare, “Happy Holidays”!
Yours faithfully,
Romain Khan
