Too Much Excitement!

I am in the UK as I write this, on the final leg of a three-city eight-day tour which has taken me to Milton Keynes, Oxford, and finally London.

Last night I was dead-tired and was sound asleep by 9 PM. At 2:20 this morning the fire alarm went off and I was awake in a heartbeat. I pulled on some pants and my Ruby on Rails t-shirt, grabbed my Blackberry and my camera, and stepped out into the hallway (after pausing to consult the fire safety card, of course).

Hundreds of people were out on the sidewalk, but there was just one fire truck in attendance. Out of respect for all of the sleepy and half-dressed tourists out there with me I didn’t take any pictures of the gathering crowd. I did get one good shot of the fire engine, though:

After being outside for 30 minutes or so they let us back inside and I went back to sleep. I must have been a bit over-tired because I didn’t get up until after 9 AM. I generally get 5 hours of sleep per night tops; it has been a long time since I got 11 hours (albeit in two chunks) in one night.