Roundup: Mystery tapping had a criminal cause

Pillpopper.jpg

Tap, tap, tap. The sound had been driving neighbours mad.

Every night from midnight for several hours, the people in one of the top floor flats would come home and it would start: tap, tap, tap, tap, tap …

People complained. They’d bang on the door but no one ever came although the tapping would stop.  Everyone would go home and then … tap, tap, tap.

They left notes on their car and slid slightly more abusive notes under their door. Because the flat residents were Asian and worked restaurant hours, the neighbours came up with the theory that they were making chopsticks.

Seriously! Brilliantly ludicrous and well off the mark.  Eventually, while they were out, someone jammed their lock with matchsticks and superglue and they were gone the next day. By the way, don’t try that at home kids – it’s criminal damage.

The mystery, that I only ever heard about, lasted for years.  I knew it wasn’t chopsticks but I couldn’t work out what it might be until one night I was watching a movie and the baddies were making pills for the illegal drug trade.

They had this machine with a handle on it and they poured the powder in one end and turned a handle and … tap, tap, tap … pills came out the other end.

And that’s why, when I read complaints about odd changes in things like power or water usage, my antennae are up … like one of the questions asked on the Flat Chat Forum this week.

What do you do when you discover your scheme’s water bills are doubling each quarter?  THAT’S HERE.

What do you do when an owner gets fines imposed by NCAT but refuses to pay? THAT’S HERE.

Can we ask committee members to sign a code of conduct? THAT’S HERE.

Our committee doesn’t always issue agendas before meetings.  Are they up to something? THAT’S HERE.

NBN contractors forced their way into our unit block and broke our lock.  What can we do? THAT’S HERE.

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