Always happy to meet the neighbors - Nov. 5, 2009

So, first of all, rest assured, I am safe, at work, back to normal life, including the unlocked, unbarricaded doors. All is well...

The white van is still parked outside my house, and now my dilemma becomes this... when the dude DOES come to get it, do I call the police? Do I assume they've picked him up by now, and when he comes to get it, it's after his release?

I can also imagine the bureaucratic clusterfuck that would be that phone call. I have information about a white van, parked at a specific address many days ago, about a suspect whose name I don't know, whose crime I don't know, yadda yadda. Aye carrumba, I hope hope hope he comes and gets it while I'm at work.

And what if he NEVER comes to get it? How long do I wait before I complain about an abandoned car? And if I DO call about that, do I tell them the whole story? Aye aye aye.

So as I'm pulling out of the driveway this morning, the gentleman walking his dog and looking in the van windows caught my attention, so I pulled up in my car. He's about my age, white, slight build, red hair, walking a pretty black dog. "So, you're interested in that van?" He says he knows a little something about it, and I'm like, Yeah, all I know is the cops are looking for the guy, they asked me to call if he comes by. Redhairmanwithblackdog says, "He's my neighbor, and the cops were at his house last night..." We chat. The suspect is really nice, but had some "stressful times with his wife" a couple weeks back, and redhairmanwithblackdog figures the police activity is related to that. I said I didn't think it was anything serious, as the cops didn't seem to upset about the whole thing. Yadda yadda, pleasantries... redhairmanwithblackdog lives a few doors up the street from me (on McCormick, for those of you familiar with my neighborhood), which of course means suspectman lives a few doors up the street from me... So, no need to lock my doors any more (I didn't last night anyway) since I am in no more danger today than I was four days ago, what with the suspect living on my block...

And after more yadda yadda about the suspect, redhairmanwithblackdog says, "You ride the bike, don't you?" and we chat about his black and red Nighthawk that he's trying to get on the road, and oh yeah, when the weather gets warmer lets get a group together and ride...

So, there you have the update. I'm always happy to meet my neighbors...