Renews your faith in humanity.

At 4am this morning the smoke alarm in the hall went off and would not be silenced despite the fact that it was about ten degrees C in the hall and a fire would have been welcome. 

I have ten and a half foot ceilings and I am five foot two, so standing on the top platform of my five foot ladder allows me to comfortably reach the ceiling. Despite this I could not get the alarm to be silent. 

A group of neighbours gathered and were proved pure gold when I fell off the ladders. Not one of them laughed. 

Eventually I gave up and called the fire brigade who turned up in about ten minutes, disconnected the alarm, told me it was probably faulty, and fitted a temporary battery operated smoke detector. 

This morning I discovered just how bruised and sore I am from the fall, but I was cheered by this card from my neighbours wishing me well. 

Aw.