I carried a copy of this article with me for a few years. Quite a few years ago… Of course, it is still very relevant, and very helpful. It has become second nature, since I first read it, to look for and open the emergency exit before going into my hotel room, and count the number of rooms separating me from it.
Still, something happened that I'm not proud of, but that will serve as a warning forever.
Having flown into Toronto from Europe on New Year's Eve, our crew didn't manage to stay up to celebrate the new year. So when the fun began, and the fire alarm went off, it didn't wake me up entirely. Somehow, I thought the TV was still on, and in the dark, I tried all sorts of buttons to turn it off. And went back to bed. And realised, slowly, that it was a fire alarm. And, overcome by fatigue, could not muster the willpower to leave the comfort of the bed again.
Obviously, that could have been the end.
The lesson appears to be that you need to be aware not only of the symptoms around you, but also of your own weaknesses…
gnothi seauton (know yourself)
[ 19 August 2001: Message edited by: Gantenbein ]