On the first Wednesday of every month, at exactly noon, Parisians hear a god-awful wailing noise that goes on for one minute. It's the monthly test of the French air-raid sirens, a sound left over from World War II and kept because nowadays there are other imaginable dangers.
If you hear it three times in a row, separated by a five-second pause, run for shelter and turn on the radio! Something bad has happened.
Once the "real" alarm went off in our town at 3:30 a.m. and my first thought was (of course) a serious problem at a nuclear reactor. It was quite unnerving at the time because who would schedule a test in the middle of the night, right? Apparently it was just an error linked to France Telecom, but the good news is that at least it worked in the sense that it did wake us up, as it did many of our friends. There was no information on the radio so everyone ended up calling the poor pompiers who said, "Oui, on est au courant." And while I understand why they make the recommendation to leave the kids at school, I would have a very, very difficult time doing so!
Posted by: Michelle | 07 March 2012 at 15:06
I am so glad to see your post about the sirens! I heard them today and thought, hmmm...I hope the world isn't coming to an end. Thank you!
Posted by: Annabelle | 07 March 2012 at 17:42