Strange noises...

This week I started my new job, which I totally love, but which came with some strange noises.

As we were reading in bed, the Hubs said to me, "Do you hear wine bottles clinking?"

I totally did. We didn't think Mr. Baz had been getting into the booze when we weren't looking, but it was really the only explanation, since we've yet to have a mouse on the 25th floor.

The next morning, we heard the bottles clinking again. But when I checked it out, Mr. Baz was nowhere to be seen.

Around 10 am, I heard the wine bottles again, only I was now at work, in my office and the sound was coming from my coat. I realized there were two scenarios: either the wine bottles were in my coat pocket or I was slowly going crazy. I channelled my inner Nancy Drew and realized it was not wine bottles but my new BlackBerry.

It was my a-ha! moment. Of course, I had no idea what the clinking sound meant or how to shut it off, but I was officially on the case, and the following day I solved the problem. And just in time, because a new sound emerged when I got home from work. As soon as I unlocked the door I heard this ticking noise in the front hall. I didn't take off my coat or drop my handbag, but instead started looking for the source, which seemed to be following me everywhere I looked: the coat closet, the cleaning closet, the smoke detector, the water sprinkler head. Finally, I realized the noise was actually coming from me. Or rather, my handbag. I reached inside and pulled out Percy Lights & Sounds Engine (you know, Thomas the Tank Engine's friend), a gift I'd bought from my friend's son, who loves Thomas. I got sucked in by the Percy who beeps and chugs and has a headlight that turns on and off. Only apparently this Percy had a strange tick, that well, made him tick incessantly.

I quickly learned that slamming a toy on the dining room table shuts it up.

For about five minutes, until he started up on his own again.

And went on and on all night and all morning. Until, of course, I got back to the store to show the cashier that he was possessed, at which point he was Silent Percy, the Perfect Engine.

"He's possessed, I swear," I told the cashier.

Turns out, when a customer tells you that a kid's mini green engine is possessed, toy stores tend to just believe you and not ask questions. (I'm not going to dwell on the why's...like how maybe they just wanted to get crazy me out of the store before I scared little children). So I got a new Percy, who seems to beep and chugg on command only, and all is well.

Phew.