Introduction to (applying) linguistics. Week 11
Tutorial materials.

  1. We had a bit of a struggle getting Phoebe back this morning. The neighbours two houses down had a party last night; they came and warned us and it wasn’t too bad really. Then this morning there was a car parked across our driveway. I figures it must have been someone from the party and went down to knock on their door; but it wasn’t anyone they knew. Then I tried the cops, who came quickly enough but when they got there they said all they could do was give him a ticket; they wouldn’t tow him away and couldn’t legally break into his car to move it—and neither apparently could I. I thought "Bugger. This is ridiculous." Our car could be parked in here for bloody days waiting for the guy to come back for it. Anyhow, then we got the idea of going down the sidewalk a little and driving over the curb. The plumber had been doing some work so we collected bricks and pipes and filled in between the road and the curb and then we got some planks from out back to put over the top. I drove out as carefully as I could—there was just room to sneak past. And we managed to get over the curb without damaging the car or getting a flat tire on the rubble we’d put. All we needed with all the work we have to do.

  2. I had an embarrassing moment this morning. The neighbours a couple of houses down had a party last night; they came and warned us and it wasn’t too bad really. Woke Phoebe up a couple of times. Then this morning there was a car parked across our driveway. I figured it must have been someone from the party and so went down to knock on their door. I knocked and knocked but no-one came. I figured they were hung-over and sleeping in so I kept on banging really loudly—door, window, everything within reach. Finally this guy crawls out of bed and opens the window. I explained the problem but it turned out it wasn’t his party. The house was divided into flats and it was the people out the back. He wasn’t too pleased, especially after having been kept up half the night by his neighbours!

  3. Just another one of those days. The neighbours a couple of houses down had a party last night; they came and warned us and it wasn’t too bad really. Woke Phoebe up a couple of times. Anyhow we got up the next day and packed up the car to take Phoebe back but when we opened the gate there was a car blocking half our driveway—not surprising given the sound of things the night before. What a bugger. I checked with the neighbours but they didn’t know whose car it was so I phoned the cops. When they came they said they couldn’t do anything except give it a ticket. Completely useless. In any case we managed to fill in between the road and curb with rubble and just sneaked the car through—bit of a pain, but no too bad. Finally we got Phoebe back to her mother’s and came home to do some work. Bloody car is still there too.

  4. I had a crazy experience this morning. The neighbours two houses down had a party last night; they came and warned us and it wasn’t too bad really. Woke Phoebe up a couple of times. Then this morning there was a car parked across our driveway. I figured it must have been someone from the party and went down to knock on their door; but it wasn’t anyone they knew. I tried a few other houses and then phoned the cops, thinking they’d come by and tow it away. Anyway, they came quickly enough but when they got there they said all they could do was give it a ticket; they couldn’t tow it away because it wasn’t in a tow-away zone. They seemed just crazy to me; I mean someone can park in your driveway and block your car in for days and there’s nothing you can do about it. You just have to wait until they come back and drive away. If you open their car to move it you’re breaking in! Crazy.

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