Fire and booze are the backbone of any German celebration. Christmas? Fire and booze! New Year’s? Fire and booze! Easter? Fire and booze! I’m not complaining, mind. Most things are more fun with some fire and booze added. In fact, maybe we should start an “Every Day that Ends in Day” fire and booze tradition.
During the week, I was telling one of my students about my first Easter Fire (and booze) experience. The conversation moved from there to fire in general and then on to smoke alarms and fire drills. Yes, a lot of my conversations are rambling.
Germans are nothing if not safety-conscious so it didn’t surprise me to hear that he had a plethora of smoke alarms in his house, all interconnected so that if one goes off, they all go off. However, you can have all the nifty technology in the world but people are, unfortunately, still people.
One night, when all of the smoke alarms went off, he watched as his wife and two young daughters ran around like headless chickens, unsure of where to go or what to do.
As it turned out, there was no fire and everyone was fine but still, this simply would not do. NEIN!
Luckily, as a German, a plan is never far away. All the better if that plan involves scaring the bejesus out of your loved ones – in a fun and educational way, naturally. I like to think that he started formulating his cunning plan it as he stood there in his manly German Hausschuhe, though I can’t be sure.
After drilling a fire escape plan into his hapless female family members, he went out and bought some dry ice. He put it in bowls in various strategic locations around the house and added hot water to it. Then he set off the smoke alarms. His newly-educated wife and daughters had to find a way out, avoiding the “smoke” that was now billowing around their home.
Once they made it outside, they encountered a fire raging in the garden. With the help of teamwork (and a garden hose), they managed to put out the fire. Fortunately for them – God knows what kind of a plan B he would have come up with.
In keeping with the German love of paper, each of them received a certificate, and a medal, as proof of their now bad-ass fire-escaping abilities.
I think my dad, a habitual smoke alarm-checker, would be rather impressed by this approach to family safety. If he reads this post, I predict some dry ice in Mammy O’Grady’s not-too-distant future…
I just hope she wins the medal. I’ll be rooting for you, Mammy O’Grady!
I just flashed back to my Berlin visit – it was totally all about fire and booze! Can you believe it was 4 MONTHS AGO???
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Ha! It really doesn’t seem like that long – you’re right! And yes – fire and booze 🙂
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Ahhh, German parenting. If only all the world’s parents were so inventive!
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I’m quite glad mine weren’t!! 🙂
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We have smoke alarms in our house, but heaven help us if we ever have a fire. Getting out safely, with 3 cats in tow, won’t be easy ;( Then again, it’d have to be a massive explosion (not likely) to make it impossible. Well, now I know what I’ll be dreaming about tonight 😉
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Hopefully sexy firemen 🙂
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Indeed!
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are firemen considered sexy in Ireland too? For us Americans for sure….for the Italians – not really – – -which surprises me for some reason….I guess any authoritative figure is automatically a loser in Italy.
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Ha! Not much respect there then! I remember thinking the Carabinieri were sexy when I was in Italy – sorry if that spelling is all over the place! And I thought sexy firemen was a worldwide theme – clearly not! 🙂
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You needed this knowledge several years back when you had that crazy roommate. You could have one-uped him on the crazy scale with midnight fire drills!
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Oh, that would have been fantastic! Hard to believe that was only a year and a half ago – feels like a lifetime!
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just last week I had to evacuate from my office like 4 times in one day. And that was just some faulty fire detector, but by now I sure do know how to evacuate 🙂
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And if you can learn that fast, imagine the effect it had on kids 🙂 Hope they fixed it relatively quickly – so annoying to listen to! Though I guess you got some time out of the office 😉
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In my office building we have a “shelter in place” protocol. If you are more than 1 floor away from the “zone of danger” you are supposed to stay where you are. Yes, it’s as dumb as it sounds. I mean, if I don’t leave my floor, how else will I run into the firemen?
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Ha ha! Your priorities might shift if there really is a fire! Though it does sound a bit dumb… 😉
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There’s something really touching about this. And it’s a man thing. Somehow I can’t imagine a woman getting out the dry ice for a fire drill. The medals are a nice addition 🙂
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Yeah, I thought so too – a German would probably appreciate the certificate more though, I guess! And yes, total Papa Bear stuff 🙂
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I have a feeling that if our smoke alarms went off I would attempt ti snooze my phone several times before I realised something was up!
I am very glad this never happened to me as a child, I once refused to stay at a friends house when I discovered they had a fire alarm…In my not quite 5 yet brain, this meant they were more likely to have a fire and I would almost certainly die if I stayed there!!
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Ha ha! Kids’ logic! Funny! And yeah, I’d be the same with the snooze button!
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worryingly our smoke alarms do have a shut up button on them…
I guess this only really works if there isn’t actual smoke…
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Yeah, I think that just lets you test them and then switch them off again. Still, the effort of getting up, finding a chair, standing on it, and jabbing upwards would probably wake you up anyway 😉
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that is probably true…
hopefully true certainly…
although I somehow set my alarm for 2.05 am, snooze it for an hour and delete the alarm without really figuring out what was going on…
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Yeah, I need a minimum of 6 alarms when I have to get up stupidly early! Getting old 🙂
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me too!
the stupid thing is, I had no reason at all to be getting up at that tie, and have no memory of setting the alarm in the first place :-S
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Ha, sometimes a ‘nap’ alarm that I’ve set for one afternoon goes off again the next day when I’m in a lesson or something 🙂
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hahaha! oh dear!
at least it makes sure everyone is awake!! 🙂
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Yeah, when my charming personality fails, it comes in handy 😉
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hehehe, I cant imagine it is ever necessary 🙂
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One of my students gave me a box of chocolates this evening – just for being friendly haha! 🙂
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Awww! That never happened when I thought things!!
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Well, I do keep telling everyone Germans are great 😉
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You may well be right 😀
Certainly better than 15yr old chemistry students…
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Hahaha, brilliant! And as someone already mentioned, the certificate at the end is soooo German! I can imagine some English parents making their kids do the drill, but they wouldn’t get anything for it!
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They do love paper… 😉
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I’m starting to see the downside of Germaness (and now I’m wondering if that should be spelled with one n or two…)
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Hmm, it does look a bit funny that way! And how is this a downside? You’d get a medal! 😉
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What if you didn’t do a good job of putting out the fire and got injured? Usually I’m all for irony but this is a bit much.
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Yeah, the youngest one was only 4 at the time I think! But I guess both parents were on the ball to make sure nothing happened!
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Hahaha, you know what I find most German about the whole private fire drill scenario? The certificate at the end! That’s how Germans roll. It’s not real if it hasn’t got a stamp on it.
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Ha ha! True! And they’ll probably both put them in their Lebenslauf in the future – you know, you have to include every certificate and piece of paper you’ve ever received! 😉
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LOL – absolutely, yes.
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I’m clearly getting the hang of this being German stuff 😉
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This is hilariously brilliant. I mean I’m not going to do it, but it’s pretty amazing. You’d think after surviving a house fire I’d be a touch more concerned with my own fire safety. Maybe when we live in a place that has more than one floor and fewer windows that may change…probably not. My laziness knows no bounds.
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I know that feeling! I reckon you and Herrball would have a lot of fun with dry ice! 🙂 He probably would expect a certificate though – he is German 😉
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He is all about his certificates and trophies. Granted most are from his job, but they’re all in a binder in those little clear protective covers, because of course they are. 😉
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Ha ha! That does not surprise me one bit! I’m trying to be a bit more organised this year but I need to stock up on folders and plastic wallets… 😉
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I’m trying to be more organized as well, but with with fewer paper protectors. They’re just too time consuming for my impatient self.
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I’m big into scanning these days 😉 But still have to put the paper somewhere as well. At the moment, it’s building up on my desk…
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I’m exhausted just from reading this…!
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You’ve been in Spain for too long 😉 You can test this out on your mum and bro when you come back to Germany this summer 😉
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Hahaha… I love how classes always seem to go off the rails in the most entertaining directions! You should show him this if he needs any more inspiration… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ut8QlWfTGwc
I have most definitely showed that to groups when discussing safety training. It usually goes over pretty well. 🙂
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Ha ha ha! “The fire is shooting at us!” Maybe that was where he got the idea from!
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The cat kills me every time… “Save Bandit! … MRRROOOWWW”
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Crash bang haha!
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He’s lucky he didn’t try that stunt with me. He’d be wearing his certificate and medal in an awkward place.
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Ha ha! Yeah, it was funny listening to it happen to other people but I might not have been that impressed if it was me!
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Haha, that is awesome! I have a friend who has done fire drills for his family – including the use of rope ladders to exit from the top floor windows!!
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Ha ha! That’s so cool! Maybe I’ll set up a zip wire to the apartment opposite – would feel like a superhero! So many ideas… 🙂
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