{"id":54899,"date":"2025-10-25T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/?p=54899"},"modified":"2025-10-24T20:36:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T19:36:47","slug":"the-knave-errant-with-the-heart-of-a-carpenter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/?p=54899","title":{"rendered":"The Knight-errant with the Heart of a Carpenter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"A<\/a>
Photo: Karin Mora<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite the cool night air, The Man Who Shouts at Doors is back. I can hear him through the double glazing. He\u2019s having an argument. It sounds one-sided. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, that\u2019s to be expected \u2014 doors don\u2019t usually talk. But on occasion he accosts a passer-by, some of whom ignore him, whilst others laugh nervously and make \u201cI\u2019m not stopping\u201d smalltalk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thing is, neither is he. I\u2019ve seen him walk down the street a ways, deep in unilateral conversation until \u2014 click<\/i> \u2014 he stops and wanders back. His chosen door has a hold on him that borders on the arcane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\u2019s laughing now, a mad cackle you might expect of a chain-smoking warlock. It booms down the byways. It\u2019s actually so loud I\u2019ve seen neighbours leave their buildings to confront him on it. This goes as well as might be expected. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joinery, locks, handles, glass \u2014 the insights of doors and their retainers is near-endless. And joy<\/i>. Have you ever shouted at a door? Your words are blunted, nay coddled. The door says, \u201cGive me more\u201d and you know what? The Man Who Shouts obliges. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He turned up with a car once. (Five doors \u2014 paradise.) Late in the night he decided to throw a party-for-one and pump out some bassy techno. I, and many others, twitched our curtains in consternation. Some even took to their balconies. The horror! Who was this kerbside DJ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A door opened farther down the street and a man stepped out. Suddenly all eyes were on him. Where was he going? Left \u2014 into danger \u2014 or right? Left<\/i>! The tension was palpable. We watched him walk purposefully to the portal hollerer. I considered running to the kitchen for snacks but didn\u2019t want to miss the action.(*)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was shouting. There was calm but assertive address. There was a \u2014 brief \u2014 cessation of music. This meant two things: 1) We might get a peaceful night\u2019s sleep, and 2) we could now hear what was being said. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It went something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VERNUNFT: I have a 2-year-old daughter. She\u2019s trying to sleep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TMWSAD: AND?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VERNUNFT: Your music keeps waking her up. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

TMWSAD: IT\u2019S GOOD MUSIC!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VERNUNFT: There are lots of children in this street. It\u2019s unfair to wake them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TMWSAD: MAYBE THEY WANT TO LISTEN TO THIS BAND.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

VERNUNFT: Maybe they don\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Somewhat miraculously, The Man Who Shouts did turn it off. The Voice of Reason walked back a hero. Soon, The Man Who Shouts returned to his hardwood soliloquy, but we, the street, were content to settle for several tens of decibels less noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Right now, the man is laughing. I still can\u2019t hear an interlocutor, organic or otherwise. If I\u2019m really lucky, I\u2019ll see him take his shoes off and dance in the road in his underpants, but that half-cocked gyration seems reserved for moonlit nights (of which this isn\u2019t). <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d settle for understanding even half the words he shouts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(*) If you ever visit and wonder why there are little bags of nuts in every room, this is why. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the cool night air, The Man Who Shouts at Doors is back. I can hear him through the double glazing. He\u2019s having an argument. It sounds one-sided.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":54898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[213],"tags":[214,209,288],"class_list":{"0":"post-54899","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cf","8":"tag-city-fables","9":"tag-leipzig","10":"tag-shouting-man"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=54899"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54899\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54902,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54899\/revisions\/54902"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/54898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=54899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=54899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanmole.is\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=54899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}