h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

At about 2.30am (I'd just come back from the loo and was going back to sleep) I suddenly heard somebody yell for help - at least four times, and very loud. I couldn't locate it, but it seems to come from within the house. I got up an dialled 110, then answered lots of questions to the police officer. This woke my husband who asked what was going on.
He went to look out the window and told me that our neighbour from downstairs was pacing up and down in front of the house. She had heard it, too (but not called the police). Her neighbour to the left was looking out of the window, too. None of us could tell where exactly it had come from. All of us thought it had been from within the house, but all was silent in there - except for us. The police came about ten minutes later and asked all their questions again. There wasn't anything new we could tell them, however, so they were just about to go and look round the neighbourhood when the front door opened and A came in . He's the youngest son of my neighbours to the right and lives in a village not too far away. He must have been quite disturbed to find a committee consisting of three neighbours and two policemen. I asked him what happened, and he said his papa had called him. His mum had had an operation and something happened. He vanished quickly upstairs. The police followed, rang the doorbell and asked if everything was OK. They said yes, but didn't explain what it was all about - the mystery is unsolved. Anyway, we could all return to our respective beds - but I couldn't get back to sleep for ages.

I'm very tired now. I'm not quite sure why our neighbour didn't just open his door and tell us that everything was OK. he must have heard the commotion in the staircase. Then again, maybe he was too disturbed to think clearly.

Maybe he was extremely distressed and hadn't realised he been so loud?

One of my old neighbours let out a blood curdling scream when she was informed her sister had died.

I hope you manage to catch up on your lost sleep later


lil xx

It was his wife who had yelled for help. And this morning my son told me that he had heard a door bang (I hadn't heard that), so she must have been at the open door or even in the staircase when she yelled for help. It was definitely spooky.

Very spooky!

It's bad enough hearing things outside the house, without wondering what's going on inside

Absolutely. I'll give up on h2g2 for now, I get nothing but error messages.

Brian Larholm is giving the server a swift kick in the right spot

lil xx

I hope you can get caught up on your sleep, Bel. That must have been disturbing.

All I can say is, I'm glad you have a neighbourhood where people are so concerned.

Thanks, Dmitri. I had a long nap and am feeling a lot better now. Thankfully, nobody disturbed me this time.

I met the woman from vis-à-vis today, and the one from the floor below us, and they both had heard it - but neither had thought of calling the police.

Ok Bel. It's your turn to call for help. Then when the police arrive smile at them and say "I couldn't sleep! Could you make me a milky drink and sing me a lullaby while gently rocking my bed?"

I don't think that would go down well with either the neighbourhood or the police, Vestboy.

you don't know until you try!

Why not? Don't they claim to be "Die Polizei - dein Freund und Helfer"?

Police here are neither friendly nor helpful.

Now why should that be, Bel? Over here the police may be rather ineffectual, but I've found them to be quite friendly, if you're not actually a suspect ...

I guess the problem comes when everyone's considered a suspect.

Which seems to be the way we're heading.

I've w*rked quite a lot with the police in my time and believe it or not, if you meet them with kindness and respect they usually appear to be very humane

They're friendly as long as you don't ask them for help.