Logan and the Clunk-Clunk Noise

There is a parking lot right next to our apartment building. Now that normally would not be a problem, but...

there is the, "clunk-clunk" noise.

In Japan there is a drainage gutter that runs along the side of the road. In some places it is covered, but in many places it is not. So it is with the street that runs along the parking lot next to our building. There is an open gutter that is maybe two to three feet deep, and about a foot across, running along the side of the road between the street and the parking lot. To bridge this gap there are four steel plates that cover the gutter at the entrance to the parking lot. Every time a car drives across the planks there is a loud CLUNK followed by another CLUNK as the metal hit the concrete. The little fraction of an inch that is between the steel and the concrete is enough to create a loud noise as cars pass over it. This should not be a problem, except that it seems that the cars all decide to leave the lot at one very inconvenient time. Falling asleep time. There is a car that leaves the lot at about the same time as Logan is getting ready to go to sleep for his nap. Then there are two cars that habitually leave at around 11:30 every night. This is just as Jenny and I are nodding off for the night. It is very frustrating to be awoken from that space in between sleep and awake by a loud noise. And very frustrating when it happens to a little boy who REALLY needs a nap.

I decided to take matters into my own hands and fix the problem myself. I figured that the thing to do was to place something under the plate to cushion it as the cars drove over it. My first inclination was to use an old garden hose cut to length. But I am not the owner of the abandoned hose that sits under the stairs leading up to our apartment. now using it does not cause much of a moral dilemma for me, but still. I had a few old bicycle inner tubes sitting around. and i thought that they might be a better choice to use. I cut them into short pieces and placed them under the metal plates. Now all we have to do is wait for 11:30 to see if it works.