Alarming

This afternoon, as I was about to go to class, there was suddenly a LOUD siren sounding from somewhere nearby. It sounded just like the testing of the general alarm that they do every now and then back home, exactly the same signal as well. I thought that must be it and just ignored it.

But a few minutes later it still hadn't stopped and the sound was so loud that it pretty much pierced through everything. Soon the signal was changed from the high pitched tone to a rising and falling one, sounding slightly more alarming.

And a couple of minutes later, it was joined by other sirens, sounding just the same, coming from different directions. We were practically drowning in the sea of noise.

Although everyone in the street kept going about their business as usual, I couldn't help but wonder if this really was something else than just a test. In the past few months there have been two serious large-scale industrial accidents in the Chongqing area, both resulting in the evacuation of thousands of people. With that thought in mind, I was wondering if it was our turn...

When we went downstairs to ask the guard what it was all about, he looked at me blankly and said "What sound?? You mean the construction noise?" Apparently, he had managed to completely ignore the siren that was howling its way through absolutely everything.

With not much information, I just picked up my bag and headed to school. Eventually, the alarms quietened down.

So, I guess this time it was just a test. Or maybe something that we'll read about in the foreign papers a few days from now... Who knows...