Fire Drill

Sometimes when I'm in Detroit I stay at the Westin at the airport, which I did last night.  Westins are sort of known for being a relaxing hotel where you can get a good night's sleep.  Last night was an exception.  Not much is more damaging to a peaceful sleep than a fire alarm.  In the middle of the night, the alarm went off in every room, with its obnoxious buzzer, flashing lights, and robot voice demanding everyone leave their room and head down the stairs and out of the building.  In cases like this, there is almost never a fire, so the temptation is there to ignore it and stay in your room.  But dying in a fire isn't high on my list of goals, so I played it safe and went downstairs.  This Westin actually has an indoor courtyard area in the center of the square of rooms, but for some reason it was really cold, so I grabbed my jacket.  Here I am milling about with a hundred or more other hotel guests waiting to get the okay to go back to our rooms, which we eventually received.