Fire Alarams

I think I might have mentioned before that our fire alarms are really sensitive. Now, I'm all for having fire alarms that work. Heck, if a drunk student actually manages to catch something on fire I want to be notified of it. However, when there are warnings that steam from showers can set them off so you have to be sure to close the bathroom door while taking a shower (in a room that has no ventilation fan so of course mold grows quicker, but that's another story) is when I have a problem with the sensitivity of our fire alarms. I mean, I love lighting candles but I can't do that here because it would most likely set off the fire alarm. This is only one of the many reasons I'm excited about not living with UNITE next year (though I must admit, the people in the office are always pleasant and easy to talk to). BUT! This is not the point of post.

The point is this. When I was woken this morning at a quarter to five by the blaring fire alarm I...well first I thought it was part of my dream and tried very hard to get my friend to stop playing the fire alarm (as in the fire alarm was a musical instrument), but then I started my round of curses while slipping on my robe and slippers. I walked out of my room, almost ran head first into my flatmate Vivi, and both of us stumbled down stairs. We waited out there in the cold. Tired. We heard some people talking and gathered that they were the ones who set it off. Hate. There wasn't really much we could do about it so we sat on the bench plotting our revenge and waiting for the alarm to be turned off.

Now, the way fire alarms work here is that they go off, fire brigade is called, if there is no fire you shut it off quickly least you be fined, and you go back about your day...or your sleep. For us, we have to wait outside in the parking lot (which is in the middle of all three buildings so I never really understood why we waited there) and wait for a tech person to come shut off the alarm and let us back into our buildings.

Well, as of late the tech person has been a strict, middle aged woman. I mean, she really does scare the living daylights out of me. I'm hoping that within the next week and a half that I do nothing to set off the fire alarm. Why? Because my dear bloggers, unlike the other tech people before her, she singles out the people who reside in the room which set off the fire alarm and have a personal chat with them. This morning it was, "Room 503A! Would you please explain why you were smoking in your room and then tried to cover up the fact by spraying deodorant!" A guy standing to the left of me started apologising, but it was to no avail. She asked him to stay down while everyone else went up. He was obviously in some deep shit.

Now, I would almost feel sorry for him. Almost. Except one thing. He was smoking in his room at five in the morning and anyone who has living here for more than a week knows that the fire alarms are sensitive. He woke me up almost two hours early. While, you know, too bad for him, he had to talk with the scary lady, it was is own fault.

Parents are coming in today. Trying to stay awake.

Peace.

November 15: Fire Alarm

My building has a hyperactive fire alarm. Now this is a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because if there is actually ever a fire we'll all know about it and be able to get out unharmed. The bad part of this is that when the time comes that there is an actual fire none of us are going to believe the fire alarm and we're all going to burn up in a horrific death.

Now when I say it's hyperactive I mean that almost everything sets it off. It went off once because someone was taking a shower in the middle of the night and the steam set it off. Where I am, we don't get many fire alarms in the middle of the night. We've only had one so far. At Hillhead I've heard there have been at least 4 or 5. It's the benefit of not living where most of the other Freshers live because most of the people here don't get nearly as drunk and stupid. Some do, but not in the same proportion as at Hillhead (they have a cheap bar at the activity centre there). It was an interesting time this late night fire alarm. My flatmate Vivi and I ended up coming out of our rooms at the same time. Both of us had a look of, "This better be a real fire or else." It wasn't and I'm slightly happy about that because I forgot my glasses and I wasn't wearing contacts so if there had been a fire I would have been blinded until January.

The reason I am bringing up the fire alarm now, 2 months since I've lived here, is because of what happened today. It happened before. The first day I was here it went off just after I got out of the shower I took to get the 20+ hours of travel off. I scrambled to get clothes on and got as far as the hallway before the fire alarm shut off. Ok, I can deal with that. But this morning I didn't have to wake up at any specific time. It's reading week for my Gaelic and English classes so I don't have class until after noon all days except Friday. So about 10:30 I stepped into my shower and turned on my jazz songs and started singing along. About two minutes into the shower I realized that there was a noise that wasn't part of the song. It was the fire alarm. I let out a sigh, switched off the water, and quickly dried off. I did this and got clothes on all in under a minute and started heading down when the alarm stopped. I mumbled an inappropriate four letter word and turned back to my room hoping that the alarm had shut off because there was not a fire and not because the fire had disrupted the circuits. My thought was that I was going to be in the shower so I would be dripping with water and therefore I would take less time to burn up in fire.

*sigh* (looks towards to sky) Erin is not amused, Sir. Not amused one little bit.