So there I was sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon with lap top on my, well, where else? Sitting there and sort of watching the tv at the same time….aren’t women supposed to be able to multi-task? I heared an unusual vehicle pull up outside the house and a minute later the doorbell rang. My ex. answered the door and I could hear male voices and people going upstairs. I looked out of the window behind me to see a fire tender parked. My instincts told me that they were surveying the potential fire hazards in the house but I was to be proved wrong. Ten minutes or so later the front door closed and they departed. We live in a four storey house, that is a basement or cellars and three floors for living above. It transpired that they had fitted a smoke detector on each floor in the stairwell area which meant four detectors. These are completely self contained and last ten years without a change of battery then are disposed of and replaced. We had been told they were ‘on the house’, ‘free’, ‘ex-gratia’. Of course the expense is covered by our taxes. Previously this service was offered only to senior citizens but it appears to have been made available to every household. Very nice. One small problem was the fact that the one they’d installed in the basement needed re-fitting as it had become loose on the ceiling. I fixed that problem myself.
Shirley Anne
