Getting To Class Alarmingly Early

(It is quite common for the fire alarm to ring when there isn’t an actual fire. It has become routine to get as dressed as we can within a minute and leave the building to wait until we are told it is okay. It is a weekday and the fire alarm wakes me up, so I pull on a shirt and trousers, slip on my sandals and pick up my shoes to wear once I am out. I run into a my flatmate on the way there.)

Flatmate: “Again? I’m sure it will be nothing this time, as well.”

Me: “Yeah, like all the other times.”

(We make small talk as we walk. Once we’re outside, I put on my shoes and tie my shoelaces, then I start walking off.)

Flatmate: “Where are you going?”

Me: “To class!”

Flatmate: “It’s three am!”

(Although I’d fully realised that what woke me up had been a fire alarm and all the implications, somehow the idea that it wouldn’t necessarily ring at the same time as my regular alarm had eluded me!)