I have written here about the terrible water and electrics these old lanes houses have and I’ve been pretty fed up of the constant power cuts recently. There is a designated neighbour whose job it is to fix the electrics and what he does it strip off the plastic covering from an electric cable and then insert it as a fuse into my magic electric box in the communal kitchen. The ancient fuse boxes do not give me confidence.
The communal kitchen is dire and certainly not somewhere you’d want to cook anything unless you were desperate. There are a five middle-aged bachelors living down there sit around smoking and chatting and occasionally cooking up something for dinner.
Last year we had our first fire alarm and sprinkler system installed which was put to use a few months later when one of these men started cooking and then wandered off, filling the kitchen with thick black smoke.
I was at home at the time and could hear a recorded message coming from downstairs. I had no idea it was the fire alarm – it certainly wasn’t very loud and would not have woken me had I been asleep.
So I have taken matters in to my own hands and imported a smoke & CO2 alarm from the UK to put in my flat. With old wooden stairs and walls the place would go up like a tinder box so I am hoping this small investment will give me some peace of mind.