It went off at 4am.
As expected, there was a delay in my response (hello, it's 4am?!). I woke up almost immediately but laid in bed for half a minute trying to decide if it was a fire alarm or the siren of the ambulance from the A&E department. Deciding it was indeed the fire alarm, I dragged myself out of the bed, stepped into my slippers and surprisingly, had the good sense to put on a sweater as well.
Opening the heavy wooden door of my room (it's a fire door), I am greeted by the shrill alarm that threatened to permanently damage my hearing. Instinctively (and on hindsight, funnily), I shut my room door again (ahh...relief to my ears) and wonder if I can stay in my room since the door is afterall a fire door. Stop laughing at me now...
After an internal debate, good sense prevailed and I dashed past the fire alarm and made my way downstairs. There were already about 5 people there but they were all just standing inside the building, just at the entrance of the building. Eventually, there were about 15 of us and as the "lobby" was so small, people just sat on the staircase.
It's interesting because despite the "fire" (and everybody knows to evacuate the building in the case of fire), no one was willing to stand in the cold. The weather is an amazing determinant of people's actions. At a crazy 3 degrees outside, people just cannot be bothered to go out into the cold, even in a fire. That's why there are no riots in Scotland. Raise the temperature by 5 degrees and what happens?
As expected, there was a delay in my response (hello, it's 4am?!). I woke up almost immediately but laid in bed for half a minute trying to decide if it was a fire alarm or the siren of the ambulance from the A&E department. Deciding it was indeed the fire alarm, I dragged myself out of the bed, stepped into my slippers and surprisingly, had the good sense to put on a sweater as well.
Opening the heavy wooden door of my room (it's a fire door), I am greeted by the shrill alarm that threatened to permanently damage my hearing. Instinctively (and on hindsight, funnily), I shut my room door again (ahh...relief to my ears) and wonder if I can stay in my room since the door is afterall a fire door. Stop laughing at me now...
After an internal debate, good sense prevailed and I dashed past the fire alarm and made my way downstairs. There were already about 5 people there but they were all just standing inside the building, just at the entrance of the building. Eventually, there were about 15 of us and as the "lobby" was so small, people just sat on the staircase.
It's interesting because despite the "fire" (and everybody knows to evacuate the building in the case of fire), no one was willing to stand in the cold. The weather is an amazing determinant of people's actions. At a crazy 3 degrees outside, people just cannot be bothered to go out into the cold, even in a fire. That's why there are no riots in Scotland. Raise the temperature by 5 degrees and what happens?
You get the French riots...
Ok, now all the french are gonna get out their family heirloom: the 100-year old hardened and preserved baguette, baked by their great-grandmother, to hit me...
A girl, who is obviously experienced in this went to the fire alarm monitor at the stairway and read the information off the monitor aloud, "It says room 55C and it's 13 degrees inside".
A girl, who is obviously experienced in this went to the fire alarm monitor at the stairway and read the information off the monitor aloud, "It says room 55C and it's 13 degrees inside".
13 degrees!
HOLY COW!
That's absolutely BLAZING, isn't it?
At a whole 10 degrees HOTTER than outside, it's SHOCKING!
HOLY COW!
That's absolutely BLAZING, isn't it?
At a whole 10 degrees HOTTER than outside, it's SHOCKING!
For the benefit of those who did not study biology, let me tell you that 10 degrees is a lot. Enzymes work at DOUBLE the rate with each increase of 10 degrees. Until the point where they become fried denatured then they stop working completely, of course.
So while waiting for the firemen to come rescue us from the blazing fire, I noticed something else interesting...
The girls all looked "correct": tousled hair, dragged-out-of-bed faces, dressed in PJs or sleeping robes...
The guys, on the other hand, were a mix of "right" (about 2 of them) and "wrong" (about 5 of them). What I mean by wrong is... they were dressed as if to go out. There were a couple of guys that turned up with combed hair. How wrong is that??!
There was one guy, in particular, that caught my attention. From the waist up, he looked "right": messed up hair, sleepy face, old sleeping t-shirt. From the waist down, he couldn't be more "wrong"...
Work pants!
Belt!!
Leather shoes!!!
What were they thinking?!!
Perhaps if the firemen took too long to get here, they could stroll down to the nearest pub to get a pint???
Except that there are only farms and no pub within walking distance of the hospital and the idea of a pint of milk, regardless how fresh, was just not the same?
Anyway... the brigade arrived within 10 minutes. A large fire engine, complete with 5 brave firemen have come to save us from the 13 degrees fire that was roasting up room 55C! My first encounter with Scottish firemen... They looked neat, professional and AWAKE! Which makes me wonder what they were doing before being called out here...
4am would be right in the middle of the night shift...
Thinking of what I do in the middle of my work day, could it be...
we interrupted them when they were having
tea and biscuits?
S.H.A.M.E
Because it turned out only to be a water leak that came through the ceiling and activated the fire alarm.
My guess is it was hot water that was exactly 13 degrees...
1 comment:
haha..this reminds me of my fire alarm days in melb, when it rang so many times in my apartment...Once, when the alarm rang, i still had to look at the mirror to check if my hair was messy first before walking down the stairs..And I live like 8 floors away from the ground level.
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