Today started, surprisingly, with the hotel fire alarm going off. Having gathered the things I really couldn't do without (trousers, wallet, glasses) I venture out into the corridor where the alarm was incredibly loud, where a member of staff shouted 'False Alarm!' at me and I retreated to my room. False? It certainly made the kind of noise you would expect from a real one.
The alarm went on for 20 minutes, while I washed, dressed, packed and drank tea. It was set off, apparently, by someone using an aerosol in Room 16. So! It's not a fire alarm, it's an antisocial product alarm. Splendid.
3 Caffe Nero branches later I headed out to a small and, I have to admit, entirely godforesaken town. I feel genuinely sorry for people who have to live in such places - though I don't suppose they'd welcome my pity and would probably write me off as a Champagne Socialist. But walking back through the shopping centre to the bus station (as you must in these places - the bus station is always stuck onto/inside/underneath a shopping centre) I noticed that the piped music was piping Radiohead's No Alarms and No Surprises - an apt song for the town if ever there was one, as well as some kind of personal jibe at this morning's wake-up call. And at least, if this is any consolation, the good people of that sad town turn out to be aware of their fate, and of Radiohead. Do they want to change the record? Do they have a choice? Can we ever pretend to sustainability while people are living in places they know are crap?
Back in a proper city now. God's probably already at the bar.....
No comments:
Post a Comment