Frikkin Fire Drills and False Alarms

I am probably doomed to perish in a fire.  Gosh I certainly hope not but it definitely could be a possibility.  I have no idea how fast a fire moves or how long you can manage before the smoke overcomes you.  AND unfortunately, I have been in SOOOO Many dang frikkin fire drills and alarms that I have become inured to their importance.   

Maybe 10 years ago or so, twice, (different hotels, different states, different cats, different times), I was in a hotel with my daughter's cat and with my two cats..  Someone pulled the fire alarm when I was with my daughters cat and it was during the day so I was able to quickly grab him and stuff him in a carrier.  BUT on my way out the door, I also grabbed my computer and my purse.  Went outside and sat on the bench in front of the door until the fire department came and cleared the alarm.  The second time with cats, I was on the fourth floor and it was the middle of the night.  The cats were sleeping on the bed with me when someone pulled the alarm.  The noise is so loud and tumultuous and ear splitting plus a bright red light whirling in the room that the cats immediate dove for cover under the KING SIZED BED.   I was not leaving without my cats (although I know that one is supposed to do so but my cats are family!).  Took me probably 5 minutes to corral them and get them stuffed into a carrier and that involved throwing the mattress and springs onto the floor so I could reach them under the bed.  This alarm truly terrified me at the time because it was the middle of the night.  I do remember I called the front desk and they assured me they were looking into the matter but I had best vacate my room.  Again, I grabbed my computer and purse and trotted down the flights of stairs and shivered in the cold morning air because I had forgotten to put on a jacket.  At least I was sleeping in pajamas at the time.

Of course both of these were alarms and not drills but still, I didn't get out as fast as I could, I took my time to get my cats and my most important possessions.  My bad.  One other fire alarm was in Singapore.  No cats at the time but we lived on the 33rd floor.  That is a LONG way down the stairs.  Probably took us 15 minutes or more as people were coming out on each floor to join the procession plus some flats had stored their bicycles and grills and such on the stairs.  They bad!   Plus my hubby wanted to stop on the floors where we had friends and made sure they were not in their apartments but we figured they were ahead of us on the stairs.  This is the ONLY time there was actually a reason for the alarm being pulled and it was some of our friends where the wife had caught a skillet on fire and there was a lot of smoke in their apartment but her husband had put out the small stove fire before the alarm was pulled.  She ran and pulled the alarm because she was a nutter.


And one time in the Science Museum in London.  We're on the top floor when there is a fire alarm.  This was mid winter when it was actually quite cold.  By the time we reached the ground floor, personnel was stationed at all stairs and they would not let anyone retrieve their coats so I'm outside in 2 degree C weather, with a wind, and no coat.  AND they had to wait for the fire brigade to come and clear the alarm before we could go back inside to get our coats.   I no longer check my coat when I go somewhere unless it is just a jacket that I could do without for an hour or so.


In a very crowded theatre watching We Will Rock You.  In the middle of a song, the performers stopped singing and left the stage.  OMG.  Then the "Safety Curtain" descends and we had never seen that happen before.  No one in the audience knew what was happening so everyone just sat there for maybe 2 or 3 minutes.  There was no smoke or heat or alarms.  Finally staff opened all the exit doors and started shouting for people to leave the theatre.  A disgruntled employee had pulled an alarm backstage but we never heard it at all.  So out into the cold (with my coat this time) and wait for the fire brigade again to come and clear the theatre and 45 minutes later, we get back in to see the rest of the show.  


There have been a couple of other hotels where the alarms have been pulled and I have exited at my leisure, making sure I have my important stuff.  And there have been drills, so many drills.  Work place drills, hotel drills, restaurant drills, gym drills, store drills and others.  Usually there is a sign or an employee will mention that a drill is being held at such and such a time and please cooperate and exit as quickly as possible.   Never any smoke, never any heat, never any problem with calmly getting up and walking out with my stuff.  apparently my stuff is quite important to me!


Yesterday I was in an unannounced drill and it was only a partial drill at that!  I was at the gym and you might recall that I hate going to the gym.  Any excuse not to go.  But I was there and walking fast on the treadmill and watching Chuck on my iPod.  I think I heard something going off but I wasn't paying any attention as I was focused on Chuck and his cornucopia of problems with being a secret computer nerd spy.   Suddenly a lady jumps up on the treadmill next to me and taps me which was quite startling but she shouts "Fire Alarm".  I took out my earplugs and yep, it was going off quite loudly.  I think I didn't pay any attention to it because the music is usually way too loud so I must turn up my iPod as well.  I "emergency stopped" the treadmill, gathered my iPod and walked out.  People are leaving the gym and walking down the stairs but I detoured into the ladies locker room and got my purse and my coat and my keys.  Yep, stuff is definitely important to me.  But no smoke, no fire, no shouting, no running.  Some poor ladies are in the shower, some are half dressed, some are totally nude, and they are not really hurrying so I meandered out as well and when I got to the front of the hotel where my gym is located, it appeared that the only people involved in the drill were the people at the gym and the people at Starbucks and the pub.  There wasn't a single person out there who I would have counted as a hotel guest or hotel staff.  No housekeepers, who have a distinctive uniform or front desk staff who also have a distinctive uniform.   Everyone was dressed in gym attire or swimsuits and surely, at the time of day that this happened, one would have expected to get some executives over for lunch in their suits, or at least one or two hotels guests dressed nicer than sweaty T-shirts and trainers.   And it was a drill because no fire brigade showed up to check the alarm.  Once outside, it was less than 3 minutes before we were allowed back inside.  The Starbucks staff appeared to be the only employees outside with the gym attendees.    The end run of this drill was that I went back in to get my gym bag and then went home to do my errands. Didn't even want to take a shower there in case they figured we hadn't responded quickly enough and wanted to do it again.  


So I have become lackadaisical with fire alarms and fire drills.  No experience with the real thing - thank goodness - but then that gives me no frame of reference for how much time I really do have to get out.   I am probably doomed.


 

London Theatre: the Race for Hagen Dazs and the Dress Code

London Theatre: The Race for Hagen Dazs and the Dress Code

June 9, 2012

            My hubby and I have now attended 5 different plays in and around London.  Again, we are trying to take advantage of being so close to world class performances that are easy to get to and have world class performers in them, albeit sometimes people we have never heard of before.  So we peruse the papers and I go on line and get tickets when we find something we like or someone we like.  So far we have seen:

We Will Rock You, Spamalot, Ladies in lavender, A Royal Concert Gala (ok, music, not a play), and last night, Noises Off.  We have enjoyed all of them although we were so tired for the Royal Concert that we had a hard time staying awake – that’s another story.

            When we attended our first play, We Will Rock You, we figured we should dress up for the occasion.  With a few exceptions, we were probably the best dressed ones in the theatre and that’s saying a lot because we don’t have wonderfully expensive and glamorous clothes, although I do have some nice jewelry to spice things up a bit.  So we thought it was just possibly the subject matter of the play and again got dressed up nicely for Spamalot, and again were some of the best dressed attendees.  Again, might have been the subject matter of the play.  Who does get dressed up for Monty Python?  But we adjusted and were not quite as dressed up for Ladies in lavender, and fit in fairly well.  The concert was at the Royal Albert Hall which we felt called for dressing a bit nicer again but we were fooled again especially as we had seats high in the rafters and who would have seen us up there in our finery except the school kids around us and the other cheap seat attendees.

            Yesterday at Noises Off, which was a real hoot and hilariously funny, my husband just wore jeans and we have hit the dress code on the button, finally.  He fit right in with many of the other men in the theatre.  I went for a bit better attire than jeans and I fit right in with the other women in the theatre.  As we were sitting there looking around, we noticed a few people who were way overdressed and looking lovely and ready to step into a royal enclosure somewhere and snickered as we congratulated ourselves on dressing properly for the London theatres, finally.

            All of the theatres we have attended (different ones, all five) have been beautiful inside.  No photos, worse luck, because the decorations and décor of the theatres have been lovely.  I expect some of these theatres have histories that date back a couple hundred years or more if they haven’t burnt down somewhere along the line.  I don’t think they are building them this extravagantly any longer.  Have to say the seats aren’t much in the way of comfort so maybe that’s why everyone jumps up at intermission to go somewhere, anywhere, to take a break from their seat.

            The other reason people leave their seats at intermission is for ice cream.  We were rather surprised at our first outing when people were coming to their seats with all kinds of food and drinks.  That just isn’t done in the States.  Yet here are people enjoying the play or concert with beer, wine, cokes, Haribo of various kinds, candy bars, etc.  Not popcorn though.  The single thread that has run through all the theatres though is the Hagen Dazs ice cream.  It is expected and discussed at each venue.  We listen to people discuss which flavor they will get as soon as the curtain falls for intermission.  People tease each other in that “if you aren’t good, you won’t get ice cream!” Indeed, by the time the lights come up on intermission, there are theatre employees standing in the theatre in various places with their tubs of Hagen Dazs ready for the hordes to descend upon them.  The ice cream comes in small (very small) tubs, the kind that comes with the heavy paper spoon under the lid.  Usually they have strawberry, vanilla, chocolate, and then something else.  Last night it was cookies and crème.

            As we are trying to experience everything British while we are living here, we decided we would join the rush last night for the ice cream.  I got a strawberry and my husband got a chocolate which sadly some of it ended up on his shirt.  Those little paper spoons do not hold a great deal and by the time you are getting close to the bottom of the little tub, it’s not as solid as when you started.

            We will have to admit that having a small tub of ice cream in the middle of a play was a very pleasant experience and it helped make sitting on the uncomfortable chairs that much easier.  Possibly the play was even more hilarious due to this break.  I do know we have several more plays lined up with tickets already purchased and now that we have figured out the dress code and joined the rush for the ice cream. I feel we are getting the true British theatre experience and it is good!

Definitely Rocked

We Will Rock You

This was our first trip into London for a theater show.  We really had no clue what We Will Rock You was about other than it had music from Queen, which we love.  Somehow we thought it was more of a concert but turns out it was a musical play. 

Thirty minutes into the play, we had to evacuate the theater which happened in a rather orderly fashion and no one stampeded out or knocked other people down.  Killer Queen was singing a song when two people dressed in black just walked onto the stage, tapped her from behind and helped her down off her perch.  I thought it was something that wasn’t supposed to be happening and I was right.  As she stops singing, mid song, and climbs down, she says, “We’ll be back.”  Then the curtains come down including a big curtain on the front that says “Safety Curtain” which I have never seen in a theater before.  People in the audience sat a minute and sort of waiting for an announcement.  Then people on the left hand side of the theater sort of all got up en-mass and started for the exits so all of us on the right side did too.  We got into the aisle and still just sort of stood there when some theater employees came to the fire exits and started yelling, “Everyone out of the theater now!  This way!  Out of the theater now!”  Everyone did start moving quickly now but still orderly and no panic.  There is no smoke or anything happening that we can see.

Standing outside in an alley, we just were waiting to see what was going to happen and if we should head for the subway and go home or give it some more time.  We heard sirens and saw an ambulance come racing towards the theater and then a fire truck.  We started moving towards the front of the theater so we could see what was happened.  It was very crowded so by the time we got to the front, the emergency personnel had either gone elsewhere or never stopped there anyway.  Another 10 minutes and people started going back into the theater.  We went back to our seats and were told another 15 minutes and the play would begin again.

So the night grew a bit longer than expected as we were allowed back into the theater later and the play continued on from the interruption point.  An explanation later was that a disgruntled employee had pulled the fire alarm.  We were also told that the disgruntled employee was known and would be dealt with in an appropriate manner.  All that aside, the play was a delightful little future scenario where music is gone and one dreamer must find Freddy Mercury's guitar where he hid it.  I was a bit unprepared to hear women sing some of Freddy's songs but it was good and their voices were superb.  It was definitely a British tongue in cheek and the audience loved it when one line was something like "the old dominion theater held these shows for 150 years and only had to evacuate the theater once!"  Our favorite part though was still the end though when they just sang Queen's songs without any added dialog.  It was an enjoyable evening.