Monroe's Blog

We spent last week on vacation in Ocean City, MD. Our first day there was interesting. We arrived mid-afternoon, and we unloaded the cars and set up our condo. Joyce went to the grocery store and bought some groceries at highway-robbery-like prices. We ate dinner and then settled in to rest when the power flickered, and then the fire alarms went off.

We immediately grabbed our shoes and headed to the stairs to get out, since we had no idea what was causing the alarm. Down we went, all 23 floors, to the exit. Since it was a nice, warm, summer evening, we went to the beach and waited for the problem to be resolved. After a few hours, rumors flew about the cause of the problem. Some folks said there was an electrical fire; others said a transformer blew. All we knew for sure was that the power flickered a moment before the alarm went off, and the power was still on when we came down the stairs. When it got dark we saw that about 5 of the other condo buildings around ours were also dark.

After about 4 hours total, the lights came back on and we were allowed back in the building. The elevators were still out, so we had to walk up those 23 floors to get back to our condo. The water was off too. By Sunday morning everything was back to normal, and with water and elevator service back on, we continued our week at the beach.