Last night I was rudely awakened just before 3am by what I assumed was a smoke alarm with a dying battery. I'm sure you know the scenario - the battery is dying so the smoke alarm sends out a beep every few minutes, and the longer it has to wait to be changed, the faster the beeping gets.
After several hours of attempting to get used to the noise, quiet contemplation of how best to smack the smoke alarm, and silent cursing that it choose the middle of the night to go off, I make a decision. I'm getting up to smack the crap out of the alarm until the battery comes out. If JP isn't awake by now, he soon will be. And if it doesn't work, I'm putting on my slippers and going down to Mum's house to sleep on her couch.
As soon as I open my door, I realise two things. 1. It's the alarm system that's beeping, and the sensor by the front door (right beside my bedroom) is flashing "fault" as it beeps it's little heart out and 2. JP is all of a sudden beside me and dressed. My 4.30am self is a little confused by the JP dressed bit - surely he doesn't sleep in jeans and a jersey? (I later - after several coffees - realise that he must have put jeans on to come out of his room and then a jersey cause it was cold.)
Together we try and pull the alarm panel off the wall, try to find the "hidden" off switch we assume should be there. We even attempt to get the sensor of the wall. Finally we decide to call the good people at the securty firm themselves.
The phone was off the hook and the battery totally drained, so we used my cell phone to call the security firm. All I can really say is "God bless Clara at the security firm call centre". That woman saved my 4.30am self from total insanity.
The only thing I can think to say is "My alarm is going off and it's driving me crazy, help me!" And she does.
At first we suspect that its a dying battery, until she discovers that the alarm recieved no "ping" from the sensor. Apparently at 2.45am every night the alarm "pings" a signal to the firm in a sort of "alarm here, all is well" type message. But last night it couldn't ping and that's why the sensor was going mental.
She makes me push several buttons to get a signal through, then several more to reset it. And finally, the beeping stops. Peace rains through the house.
How does the sensor ping to the firm? Through the phone line.
Why couldn't it get through? Because the phone was dead, because it had been left off the hook.
Who was the last person to use the phone before bed? JP.
Alarm 1.
Heather 0.
JP -1.
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