Tuesday, July 17, 2012

A IS FOR...

 ALARMS AND ALERTS!
(Beep, beep!)


   Have you ever noticed how much our lives are being regulated these days by alarms and alerts.? We wake up to the incessant demands of the alarm clock. Well, that’s one out of the way for the day.  Then there is the welcome beep of the coffee maker. In our house if you have the toaster on too dark, or if you are cooking something in the oven at a high temperature, like frozen French fries, then the smoke alarm goes off – scaring the cat half to death.  So we have to remember to open the patio door a few inches to alleviate the smell of ‘burning’ before burning the toast. 

The microwave beeps when it is through; the oven also beeps when it reaches the required temperature. Of course the kitchen timer buzzes loudly when I set it to remind me to turn off the sprinklers after watering the thirsty back yard.  If my husband decides to take a ‘power nap’ in the afternoon his little pocket timer alarm beeps mercilessly to tell him when his time is up.  In addition I have another small alarm which beeps insistently for a full minute to remind me to take my six o’clock medication. The computer comes alive with the familiar chimes of Windows powering up.  New e mail reminders pop up with a ding—or heaven forbid you try to do something Windows doesn’t want you to do there comes the long series of beeps. 

Telephones are just as bad, who hasn’t heard the words at least once a day, “Leave your message after the sound of the beep…” My husband’s iPhone chimes when there is an important news alert.  Of course it’s important that you know there’s been another shooting in San Diego!

But it doesn’t stop there.  You get in the car and it beeps if you didn’t buckle up, or if you leave your keys in the ignition -- or if you leave the headlights on after you get out. When you leave the car to do the shopping you press the beeper in order to lock it. Our car makes such a loud beep that it makes the little old lady passing by jump out of her skin and I have to apologize.

But we’re not through yet.  If by any chance you inadvertently take some merchandise out of the store without paying for it, or the sales clerk has forgotten to remove the magnetic tag, another loud chime will alert you and a voice is heard reminding you to take the merchandise back to the register, while all heads turn and look at you, the red-faced pilferer.

When you get home, you sheep-facedly have to ring the doorbell to alert your spouse to the fact that although you have the car keys, you forgot to take the house keys. (Well thank goodness for door bells). But take care, if you step out of the car into the street because the automatic ‘backing up’ beeps on the trash truck are sounding. And don't you love it when the neighbor's car alarm goes off by mistake in the middle of the night?

After all that, we now get messages two days before, reminding us of our doctor or dentist appointment and our pharmacy has added to its automatic service the benefit of automatically refilling a prescription you use regularly, without you ordering it, and then phoning you to remind you that it is ready to pick up.

Whatever would we do without all these reminders?  I wonder if they will change the way our memory works since we don’t have to remember all this for ourselves.

Would you believe it?  That ever present reminder that someone wants to talk to you, the telephone, just rang and my sister from Canada was on the other end. (True!) So we had a good natter for about an hour just to keep in touch. No ‘time’s up’ beep on this phone call.  Those beeps went the way of the coin change phone booths. 


*****
Today we begin our eleventh round in the AUSPICIOUS project begun by Mrs. Nesbitt, ABC WEDNESDAY.  This is my entry for the letter A.  Won't you join us?  To see what others are doing for the letter A please click on the link HERE

24 comments:

Leslie: said...

Oh Chris! I just loved this post. I never thought about this before, but you are so right about all these beeps and alarms. Great start to Round 11. See you next week!

Leslie
abcw team

Roger Owen Green said...

AGREED! This is such a clever concept. Should have been obvious, but it hadn't occurred to me, because wew take these things for granted so often.

ROG, ABC Wednesday team

Kim, USA said...

Chris I so agree! And when can we relax without being alarmed all the time? Thanks for this post just to remind me I have to go to bed early! ^_^


Kim,USA

Jane and Chris said...

Oh, the tyranny of the clock!
Jane x

photowannabe said...

ABSOLUTELY delightful ADDITION to round # 11.
You are so clever and original.
What you said ABOUT ALERTS and ALARMS is "right on".

Wanda said...

You couldn't have picked a better icon, that the road runner Beep, Beep...

My kids loved that cartoon.

Yep...there goes the beep...Cookies are ready to take out of the oven.

Very original post for A...just loved it.

Reader Wil said...

The worst of all alarms are the burglar or fire alarm. It scares the whole neighbourhood!

claude said...

As Wanda, my kids loved Beep ! Beep !
Me too !!!
Excellent post, Chris !

Mara said...

I don't like alarm clocks, but now you mention it: everything beeps! I have a reverse alert on my bus and it beeps when there's a speedbump coming up: very annoying. I keep telling it to shut up, but it never complies.

Beep beep! (Great post for B as well by the way)

Mara said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MorningAJ said...

I've done away with a lot of those beeps because I find them too stressful by the end of a long day. I am grateful for the one in the car that says I've left my headlights on - otherwise I would be constantly needing someone to charge the battery for me.

But my phone's been programmed not to beep at me (it plays the oompa loompa tune from Willy Wonka when it rings)

snafu said...

Brilliant observation, the world is so full of bleeping noises, but you forgot the supermarket checkout, each item bleeps as it is scanned and as you stand there stuffing things into your shopping bag, the place is filled with incessant beeping. Whatever did we do before electronic bleepers existed?

Chubskulit Rose said...

My alarm clock is our Jack Russel Terrier, he wakes us up every morning at exactly 5 am, whew!

Aero 360's Arrows
Rose, ABC Wednesday Team.

Ann said...

Well I never thought about all those alarms before! They are EVERYWHERE. At least beging retired I don't hear that blasted alarm at 6:30 every morning.
Ann

Hildred said...

I think you have covered all those beeps and alarms pretty thoroughly, - I was amazed at how may we unconsciously accept.

Cheri said...

I minimize as many of those as I possibly can--cell on vibrate, stop the microwave and oven in the last couple of seconds, keep the computer speakers muted until I actually need them. But the one that I absolutely cannot abide is car keys in the ignition w/the door open. That is quite possibly my least favorite sound in the entire world. I'm pretty laid back most of the time and can take an awful lot in stride, but that infernal racket could push me over the edge in a matter of seconds.

Arthur Schenck said...

Just the other day I was telling a friend how I have the calendar on my computer set to give me multiple alarms about an appointment to meet up with a friend in the US over Skype. Without the reminders, I wouldn't have a chance of remembering—and yet I take all the other beeps and dings for granted! A great, totally non-ALARMING way to start Round 11!

Gattina said...

Hahaha ! I never realized that, and now I hear alarms everywhere ! The once which bothers me the most are the alarms of the houses ! Sometimes the neighbor does something wrong and it goes off and the whole neighborhood goes off too ! Until around 15 years ago nobody had an alarm at his house, we have 5 in our little street, only us and two other neighbors are "unprotected" !

kaybee said...

Now you have us so cleverly alerted to all the alarms and beeps, I'm finding them everywhere! And my ears are ringing, just from reading about them all!

You are off to a great start!

Strawberry Jam Anne said...

Chris, I just hadn't realised just how noisy our lives are! A x

Carol said...

Gosh, Beeps are beeping everywhere!!

Black Jack's Carol said...

Since retirement, I have eliminated a few of the beeping alarms in my life, but your clever post caught a few of the Alerts and Admonitions that I barely notice (most days).

Diane said...

Hi Chris, The street scene is actually Bridlington Old town - i'd never been there before. It has som fabulous old buildings but nothing much is done with it and it looks very much in danger of becoming run down. I loved the buildings though. xxx

ChrisJ said...

Oh dear. Sorry to hear that about Old Town, Diane, It used to be quite vibrant tourist spot with some good antique stores there and some cafe for cream teas. I guess the recession has got to them. I hope it doesn't go into disuse. There are some quite old buildings there.