Thankfully it tripped the breaker that all the detectors in the house are on, so silent night it was.
I was up until 2 waiting, then sat up in bed reading until 4:00. Nobody came.
Phoned this morning, was told someone came at 2:00 and that it was a secured building so they couldn't get access. A message was left on our mobile by the repair center saying such and that the guy was leaving for his next repair. Of course, we had given explicit instructions to NOT use the mobile, as it was turned off and only used when we were away from the house. Nobody called our landline - neither the repair center nor the electrician. And when you push the flat's buzzer down at the main door it sets off our buzzer, which sounds very much like a Norad missle-launch alert and can be heard in other flats in the building at that time of night. It did not go off. To say I am annoyed would probably be an understatement. Was due to go out to lunch, had to cancel. Now instead of going to the PO and some last-minute shopping I'm sitting around keeping busy waiting for the repair guy.
On the good side, the plumber did say that if there was still power to the detector we'd probably not have had a silent night. It's still dripping very slightly out there - I put a tea towel over the bucket and it shows some recent drips. So replacing the smoke detector is going to be needed, and probably not until it stops dripping completely. Which the longer this drags on, the closer that point comes. Would hate to replace it and then have some wayward drips get into it and set the damned thing off.
Sent an email to my letting agent, detailing what went on. And telling him the plaster needed to be fixed, requesting approximate date for that work. I can work around their schedule, but I do need a firm date. And to please take the damned mobile number off of all our records, since nobody can seem to follow freaking instructions to not call it. They do have the landline number. He's on vacation until January, of course, says his auto-responder.
We have Jack-the-Ripper fog outside today, which is pretty. I think I'm going to make the mystery hunk-o-beef Tesco delivered into Hungarian goulash this afternoon. And maybe bake some crusty bread to go with it. Since I can't go do my last-minute shopping.
EDIT - It's now 18:40. The electrician showed up at 18:15, asked if the breaker was still off (yes), climbed up on a ladder, took the cover off the smoke detector, and water streamed out all over my rug. (Sigh) He had to totally replace it and something it hooked up to as he said it was entirely shorted out. Took him 10 minutes to fix the whole thing. He then turned the breaker on, said "ta" and left. I now am smoke-detected-protected again. So, pretty much 21 hours to get someone to respond to what they said they were categorizing as an 'emergency' call. Glad I wasn't snake-bit.
Yes, I assume they are now on a skeleton crew, given the time of year.
