“Serving overseas as a small-town boy in America has been intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!”
—Matt
Gladly woken by a crane truck
I know the trains passing through my small town in the dead of night could be a bother to some people, but to me it is the pleasant sound of commerce. I feel like I have gotten to know the different train engineers by their horn blowing patterns as they zoom by the crossings.
However, one of the sweetest sounds I have heard in the night was being woken by a crane truck when living overseas. I had recently found a place for our family to live in a new part of the city. I noticed that there was an abandoned car left near our apartment entrance. It looked rather unsightly, but we had graffiti and other urban esthetics that seemed on par.
A few days later, I noticed another car had been abandoned and wondered why. My confusion grew as the number of abandoned cars grew steadily. I would parallel park between them when needing a spot to stop along the street. It got worse and to the point that I had trouble finding a parking spot with so many abandoned cars. Why?
I had not realized that people had to pay to leave their old cars at junkyards. To save money, people abandoned old cars, as the fine if caught was less than the junkyard fee. People would abandon cars in neighborhoods away from their own home. Word must have gotten out that my neighborhood was the best drop zone for an old car.
However, one delightful night I heard a loud diesel engine gurgling, then scratching metal sounds and then crunching noises. We learned that the municipality dealt with the problem by waiting until a neighborhood area filled with abandoned cars and then collected them all up at one time with a crane truck. I am not sure if it was a truck designed for collecting cars as it looked like a logging truck that was repurposed for urban use.
I love the rumbling sound of a train passing by in the late night, but a crane truck’s scratching and crashing sound is even more delightful.
Something similar ever happen to you? Contact me and let me hear your story!
mattsmishaps@gmail.com Matt’s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN 46741
