Getting the flu, and your apartment on fire

I had the flu last week and have not had time or energy enough to do anything blog worthy. It was the first time in many years I got influenza, and it was a long time since I shivered this much. I was shaking like crazy for two or three days. But I was busy at work (had presentations to do etc.), so I spent my days there (at least it is warm), taking extreme care to not infect anyone else, and slept the rest of the time. Now I am fine, though I still cough quite a lot.

Tonight, at 3:16 A.M., I was woken by a Japanese voice screaming: "There is a fire on the first floor! Please calmly run away!" So I calmly put on some clothes, grabbed my passport and my external USB hard drive, and escaped out into the very cold and dark night (minus 9 Celsius). Apparently my neighbors were less enthusiastic, and most took the elevator downstairs (I, following the proper procedure, took the stairs from the 9th floor).

After a few minutes, a fire truck arrived. After a few minutes more, a police patrol car and lots of police men also arrived. A fireman said that it looked like a false alarm, they could not find any fire or smoke. After about 30 minutes, they managed to turn off the alarm, and everyone returned home.

I guess it was a good chance to see my neighbors without makeup, though it was too dark to see much. Two people had animal pajamas (tails, ears; pajamas shaped like animals or cartoon characters are popular here though I thought they were for kids) so perhaps they work for some karaoke place? Since it was 3 in the morning, most people in our building were probably at work, and not so many neighbors were around to be looked at.

Anyway, good thing the place did not burn down.