The Sunday paper, a latte, and the fire dept.

[lindyhop]

My usual habit on a Sunday morning is to head to my favorite coffee house and spend some time with the tonnage of the Sunday L.A. Times along with a bagel and iced latte. Today I settled down at the table in front of the restroom, not my first choice, but it was the only table left that was near a electrical outlet. I usually spend some computer time there too since it's so much more satisfying to waste time in public for some reason.

I had just settled down with my food and was sorting through the paper when another customer came out of the restroom and told one of the employees that there seemed to be an electrical short and they should have someone check it out. She went in to see and immediately came out and I could hear her talking to her co-workers in the back room. She kept going in and out and I started smelling smoke myself so I started packing up my stuff. Then another employee (finally) came out with a fire extinguisher but she didn't seem to know what to do with it. She finally sprayed it up at the ceiling and smokey fumes started pouring out of the restroom.

(It was strange that through all this the smoke alarms never made a peep. Usually they go off anytime a bagel gets a little well-done.)

By this time the employees said the fire department was on its way and they shooed everybody outside. I sat there finishing my breakfast as the fire department arrived (two trucks and an ambulance no less) and watched the firemen do their work. This coffee house is a favorite hangout for the fire department so it's not unusual to see them there but it was strange to see them working.

The fire was out very quickly. I found out the reason the girl with the fire extinguisher had been so nervous was that she was seeing flames at that point. They had to close down for the day, the Health Dept will have to check things out before they can reopen.

So much for a quiet Sunday!