Brittany Coast Walking Tour - Day Six—Prelude - by Wayne

‘Alarming! This word best describes the way that day six started for us.  I will get straight to the point. While enjoying a peaceful breakfast at the Hôtel Printania, the fire alarm was set off by the Orange Lady who had decided to make toast.  (For those readers who have not visited an early blog, Julie and the Orange Lady are one in the same).

It is unusual for toast to be served on a Frenchman’s breakfast table and the Orange Lady was both surprised and delighted to see a toaster tucked away in the corner of the hotel’s breakfast table on this very morning.  She could not resist the thought of mushed up boiled eggs on a piece of toast. Dismissing any concerns that a French bread stick would have glutton, she broke it in half and shoved it into the toaster and did not give another thought about the risks associated with her decision to engage the heating elements. 

Within a flash of a moment, the fire alarm was set off by the burning French bread stick, although no one was aware of this at that time.  At first everyone hoped that it was a false alarm as the hotel guests, as you might expect first thing in the morning, were eager to get on with the urgent task of loading as many oats as they could onto forks and using all their mental energy to focus on the delicate task of directing the said forks into open and hungry mouths.

Initially the hotel crew were not concerned about the alarm, and life went on as best we could; although some guest were now starting to shield one or both ears from the piercing wail of the alarm.  I waited for the hotel crew to direct us to the designated place of safety before the hordes of guests were to descend into the lobby from their chambers located on upper floors.  One has a right to assume that ‘actions’ have been drilled into the hotel crew as part of their daily fire safety training.  But no such direction was forthcoming, and we tried to bear the relentless noise of the alarm as best we could.

Finally, the Orange Lady came clean about her misdemeanour and pointed to the smoke being generated within the bowels of the hidden toaster, tucked away on a table in the recesses of the room’s corner.  You now have to give great credit to the hotel crew.  Once they had established the cause of the problem the crew not only knew exactly what to do, but were able to put those ideas into action immediately.  It was clear to us onlookers that this type of problem had been well covered in previous fire training.  All they had to do was un-plug the toaster. 

Like a lot of things in life, there can be a huge gap between knowing what to do and knowing how to do it.  It turned out that the crew had not been given any instruction on where the toaster was plugged into an electrical wall socket.  To be fair, the toaster was located at the back of the table tucked into the dark recess of the room, and until the Orange Lady had decided to use the toaster on this particular sunny morning, the crew probably did not even know what a toaster looked like let alone know that their employer had one. 

The ongoing search for the plug was both entertaining and frustrating.  I say entertaining because like the child’s game of hide and seek, you could tell that the crew were enjoyed the idea of trying to find what was lost.   And who does not like watching a child or adult indulge in a game that clearly brings them much enjoyment.  I say frustrating, because while the crew sought to find what had been lost, the fire alarm continued screeching, and this was beginning to put all but the most determined guest off their oats. 

A good story always ends on a positive note, and this one is no exception.  Readers will be pleased to know that the plug was eventually found, the toaster umbilical cord cut, the smoke from the toaster ceased, the fire alarm went off and guest could continue with their oats. 

As they say, all’s well that ends well.  

Julie asked to to add that 'some story telling licence' has been exercised here - just how much is open to debate. 

The breakfast room at a more quieter time.