Rant de Grommet

[grommet]

Hey all - It's been a long time. Recently, we sold our home in Central Nanaimo and purchased a house in Harewood. I've always loved the mature trees and landscaping, interesting houses and strong sense of community that seems to be a integral part of the South End. We bought the house knowing that it needed work and started right away on the demo. At the same time that we moved, a date came up for me to have surgery. I jumped on it as I didn't know how much longer I would have to wait if I didn't take that date. A few days after the majority of the demo was done, an inspector from the City came a'callin'. According to him, one of our neighbours called in as they were concerned that unsafe structural changes were being made to the house (wtf?) Anyhoo, the inspector checked out everything that was being done and said that aside from the 1 extra toilet that we were installing, there were no changes to be concerned about. Regardless, my husband quickly applied for permits, in order to satisfy any queries. That set us back a week and a half. We were planning on having the renovations completed to coincide with our move and my recuperation from surgery.Nice welcome to the 'hood. It would have been nice and neighbourly if someone wouldn't have been so cowardly and actually come over to talk to us first before calling the City.
Not long after, I went over to the house to do some cleaning up in the yard but wait, where was our lawnmower? I texted my husband, thinking that perhaps he had lent it to a friend but no. Not only that, the back gate was propped open with a brick. No worries, I'll just weed whack the area that needs attention. Later on, my husband stopped by. He asked me where the bar-b-que was, it was missing from our carport. After checking around, we noticed that a pile of copper wire that we had removed from the house was missing and the door to the garage had been kicked in. Seriously?! We phoned the police who did come over but there was a silent understanding between all of us that nothing could be done. Obviously, some low-life (s) had been casing our place, knew our routine and decided to help themselves to our stuff. I'm stunned. We do have a ways to go on the renos. These incidents have caused a lot of tension with our family. We were looking forward to living in our new house, in our new 'hood but now, that has been completely tainted by these experiences. We did scope out the new area before we bought, spoke with people, who agreed that it was a good place to live. Now, everyone is a suspect and I feel completely unsafe. So much for community........
On the other hand, thanks to Stan the Man for the resources and for making arrangement and keeping his word. I really appreciate it.

[IslandStyle123]

Nanaimo is full of thieves and vandals. It's quite sad.

[PaulStevens]

According to him, one of our neighbours called in as they were concerned that unsafe structural changes were being made to the house (wtf?)

Is your neighbour's name Fred?

[grommet]

@ PaulStevens - I know to whom you refer. I don't know where he lives. It would be easy enough to find out. He would be one neighbour who keeps eyes on all to make sure that everyone is adhering to the rules.

[zedex]

That is one thing I noticed... there are far too many people concerned with what others are doing. "Busy Bodies" I believe is the common name for them.

Why can't folks just let others alone?? I had some neighbors who would look the their binoculars from their windows just to see what other people are doing. Is all this really required to live here? So what if someone is doing some work on their home.... you know what..? It is theirs. If they want to redo it from shag to shingle, does it really concern anyone else??

I came from a place where others may see what you are doing, but no one cares unless it directly affects him/her. That is not the case here.

Now, as far as the criminals go, yes, this place has far too many of them, too. Having lived from coast to coast and Miami to New York City, I never had to lock my vehicle and never had anything stolen. But, here it seems, you cannot even stand outside your vehicle without having to lock it up.

I think it was Stanley that said his vehicle tires were slashed while he was at a park in Nanaimo. What kind of pleasure would one derive from killing four tires on a person's auto? Is this person happy he caused great inconvienence and finacial discord to another?? Maybe I missed the joke in this.

And, don't count on the cops to assist you. No, no. When a motorcycle was stolen from me a few years back, they would not take a report, send anyone out, follow up on leads, and came right out and said they would not even look for it. Well what the hell are they paid to do?? {Answer: they are paid by ICBC to enforce traffic laws and doing anything else is NOT in their job describtion}... But, the morning after I got it back, the RCMP were knocking on my door ready to arrest me. Why?? Well, I called it in after I got the motorcycle back and told them who done it and gave his info to them. The thief tells them I held him at gunpoint, so they pay me a visit. Despite him admitting that he stole the bike, he is not charged with anything. The Nanaimo RCMP turned the crook loose to steal from someone else. Good going, guys !! { you bunch of morons}

The crime rate for this tiny backwoods town is comparable to that of major cities three times the size. Anyone want to venture a guess as to why??

Twice, someone has tried to steal the motor off my boat. The first time, it was removed, but the dum-bass did not take off the steering cable and dropped the motor. The second time, he disconnected the wiring adn the steering cable. I guess it was then that he found out I put on a motor lock and he could not pick it up off the boat. Both times were reported to the RCMP and both times, I was told basically to be thankful they did not get it, but they would make a note of it.

Until real cops are used in this town and the city stops importing more crooks, it will get worse.

[PaulStevens]

@grommet.

Just wondering. He's a fella in that area. Here's one of the latest stories.

http://www2.canada.com/nanaimodailyn...7-b3536ff42c05

The comments section is an interesting read as well.

[stanley strazza]

son of a gun, grommet and her hubby are the coolest cats in town and this is sad to hear of the thieves that are nearby....I would take a stroll across the street and see if your stuff is there...a questionable neighbour they could be....bummer to the attitudes of some on this planet who actually don't give a damn about nothin'....I will ask around and see who the culprits might have been as I know a few people in that neighbourhood....damn this really bugs me too!....theivin' cockroaches eh!......anything I can do for u 2 just simply ask, okay!.....a friend and simple citizen.....Stan the man

[grommet]

Unbelievable. Way too much time on his hands.

[grommet]

What a complete debacle. I'm hoping u never have to go thru such nonsense again.

[grommet]

Thanks, so much Stan. You Are the Man.