I'm in a Florida hotel right now and really feeling sleepy. Last night just after 2:00 am the hotel's fire alarm screamed to life. The speaker in the wall informed us that "fire had been detected in the building - we should leave our room and proceed to the exterior of the hotel". I got my kids and wife up, grabbed my laptop and iPod (because some things you just CAN'T leave behind – and these are emergency provisions) helped an elderly lady down the stairs and joined the crowd in the hotel lobby.
The lobby was filled with sleepy hotel guests, (and the fetid smell of communal morning breath) but not the smell of smoke. It was truly surreal, everyone as trying to figure out what was happening, firemen running through the doors, lights and sirens flashing and... then someone's iPod boombox began to play the song "Light My Fire" by The Doors. A few minutes later the ‘box belted out Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" … the throng began to sing along. It took me a full 10 minutes to realize that the music wasn't coming from the emergency alert speakers in the hotel walls - I had been thinking how strange it was that the fire alarm played classic 20th century music in burning buildings.
It turns out there wasn't a fire in the high-rise; it was just a power surge. Life is strange and wonderful. I took video on my camera phone during the gathering in the lobby. Through the wonders of technology, here it is, presented for your viewing pleasure.
"and it burns burns burns , that ring of fire, that ring of fire" (hey, wouldn't that be a great theme song for Preparation H hemorrhoid cream?). I am sleepy.
Comments (1)
Oh man, that's so great... not that the alarm went off at 2 o'clock in the morning, but that you took video of it on your cell phone (by the way, the quality's pretty darn good! I'm impressed), and it's already posted on the internet! Love it. Hope you guys have a great time out there!!
Posted by Laura | January 26, 2007 8:58 AM
Posted on January 26, 2007 08:58