A quick flash

Rather a wet day today, but we did our usual walk downtown and managed to stay reasonably dry. Not much enthusiasm for photography, so my Blip today is something rather different for me.

A couple of years ago we took advantage of an offer by the local Fire Brigade to look over our fire precautions; it must have been a quiet time for fires in the town. They recommended that we had an additional smoke alarm in the hall and put one up for nothing. Mrs M remembers that the fireman who stuck it on the ceiling was rather short and had to stand on a chair! It was one of those sealed for life (ten years!) Lithium jobs. A while ago I took it down as it was bleeping for no reason and put it on the shelf in the bathroom, where it was silent and merely flashed.

This morning it started to bleep again for no reason so I tried to open it but couldn’t – sealed for life, I know! In desperation I dropped into a bowl of water which shut it up, tho’ it continued to flash! It reminded me of the old Jasper Carrott story from the 70s. He bought a Volvo and got really annoyed when he couldn’t turn the sidelights off. He turned all the switches off, turned the ignition off, then disconnected the battery and ripped out the wiring – still the lights were on! Eventually in despair he took the car to a scrap yard and had it crushed into a cube which he decided to use a coffee table. One night, walking into his sitting room in the dark – yes, you’ve guessed! The lights were still on!

It was then that the idea of a Blip came to me and I decided to get a picture of it flashing underwater. Easier said than done; I calculated that it was flashing every six seconds so tried to time it and press the shutter at the right moment. On the 11th attempt I got it! OK, it’s a wet day!

Quote of the Day:

Rachel Maddow – “I have a constitutional weakness in which I am very easily distracted by flashing lights."