In the Deep Freeze...

One of the wonderful things about living in Canada is the glorious Arctic cold fronts that move in and camp out, plunging temperatures well into the negative digits (centigrade), as well as dumping delightful piles of crunchy snow everywhere. As delightful as all this wintry weather is, it has angered our car Max, and Max now refuses to start. On top of that, our apartment building was bathed in the warm glow of a fire last night. No big deal--fire in the garbage room, which filled the halls with smoke and forced the residents to wait in the cold for 20 minutes, but a neat little bit of excitement, to be sure. Oh well. Only a few more days until Christmas, and only ONE more day of work until a bit of time off and getting to spend time with family!!

Excitement at the Albany.

So I was sitting here at the computer, NOT playing Sims, and the fire alarm goes off. Now for most of you, this is a big deal! The building is on fire! Not so with the residents of the Albany. We slowly gather in the starwells, mumbling ill will under our breath...yet we are not worried. Why? Because this is not the first time it has happened. It is not the second time, or the third, or the fourth, or even the fifth. No this is about the TENTH time it has happened in the last 8 or so months. Only once was there actually a fire, and that was a minor blaze in the garbage room that started when some idiot threw a cigarette down the chute. No, the other times all occured because someone was just brilliant enough to pull the alarm. However, upon reaching the lobby, I knew this time was different. A police car was parked right outside the doors, and the officer was on his way in. Another car pulled up behind the first. Four officers proceeded to the 13th floor, where the alarm was pulled. Then the fire trucks arrived, six in total. Only four or five firefighters went in, in full gear. A short time later, the police officers emerged from the elevator, with a very sketchy looking gentleman in handcuffs. In natural fashion, a long string of swearing was spewing from his mouth, as the officers practically had to drag him to one of the cars. The crowd of residents began applauding and laughing. The "gentleman" continued to struggle and curse the officers, to the point where they had to have him down on the ground to restrain him. With that, the firefighters emerged from the building, telling us that we could all return to our homes...
I'm feeling an awful lot of satisfaction right now.