Call me paranoid, but I feel like people have been acting really weird around my part of town lately. In particular, I’ve noticed an inordinate number of drives getting around with their cars stacked to the brim with decaying fruit. It’s mostly bananas, but I’ve seen a couple of apple-laden vans and even a BMW full of pineapples. 

Alongside that, there’s a lot of talk about an electromagnetic field or something to that effect, which is supposedly interfering with people’s auto electrical systems. Funnily enough, I’ve heard no mention of this phenomenon in any of the mechanic shops. Ringwood locals must be spreading this rumour around of their own accord. I visit a lot of service centres as part of my job installing filters in workplace water dispensers, and people talk. I’m sure I would have heard about this if it was something mechanics were taking seriously.

Be that as it may, I sense that there’s a connection between the fruit-stacked cars and the electromagnetic field stuff. Putting two and two together, I’d hazard a guess that people believe filling their cars with decaying fruit will somehow stop this supposed field from interfering with their electrical systems. 

This is one of the strangest goings-on I’ve ever observed in little old Ringwood. Automotive services aren’t that prohibitively pricey around here – surely some of these fruit people can afford to pay an auto electrician? I wouldn’t normally make such assumptions, but all these people must have paid hundreds of dollars for the mountains of fruit in their cars, especially that pineapple-toting Beemer driver. Couldn’t they have used that same money to get their car fixed by a professional, rather than relying on this questionable DIY remedy? 

I have to admit, though, that my interest has been piqued. What is the story behind the electromagnetic field talk? Who started it? Could it be true? And why fruit? Why not, say, marshmallows? This calls for further investigation.