Today's Excitement

   I was woken up at 2:30 this morning with my fire alarm "chirping". This is the technical term for the signal you get that the battery needs to be replaced. In a groggy daze I popped out the battery and stumbled back to bed. Come morning it occurred to me that I had replaced the battery quite recently so it might have been a "bleep" rather than a "chirp". Sure enough, when I reinserted the battery I got a continuous "bleep, pause, bleep". This is the signal that carbon monoxide levels are elevated, and warnings on the alarm told me that carbon monoxide is colourless, odourless and Fatal ! Panic stations! I popped out the battery again as it was really loud, and headed for the phone.

   As I was still alive and this wasn't really an emergency, I tried to find out who could check the CO levels in my house. After a prolonged search, I finally managed to contact our local fire station. Can you believe their phone number isn't in the directory? The receptionist was very calm, told me to leave my house and they would be there in 5 minutes which, in itself, was rather scary. I assumed they would send one guy with a monitor. But, nooo, they sent a fire truck - I could hear the siren as they raced through my nearest intersection. By this time I had reinserted the battery and, lo and behold, the bleeping had stopped!

   Feeling completely foolish at this point, I had to explain to two burly fireman in full kit, and their supervisor that, yes, It really had been "bleeping", not "chirping". They checked the CO levels throughout the house and all were normal. That at least is reassuring. They also advised me to replace the alarm (it's well over 10 years old) and went on their way. Another embarrassing experience!