Drama

I arrived at work today to hear all about the big drama yesterday. The Science Museum was evacuated at 11am and didn’t re-open for the rest of the day. This is a very, very rare thing. Apparently the V&A tweeted to say their numbers had suddenly gone through the roof.

I’m not allowed to say what happened (this is for the press office, apparently) but have to mention the problems it caused. Whenever an alarm goes off, you are supposed to just get up and leave. Immediately. You are not supposed to grab your stuff. You are just supposed to go.

In theory, this is fine and an obvious thing. You could be delayed because you can’t find your shoes, or something. The trouble is, if the evacuation lasts a long time, you’re going to be stuck out on the street without your stuff. Again, this is bearable unless you’ve left your keys in your jacket, on the back of your chair and you’re stuck outside till after 6pm.

This is what happened to Nick, my boss. Both he and his boss were in the same boat. It was a late night for them. Also spare a thought for the security guys. The early shift couldn’t get in to collect their stuff and the late shift couldn’t get into the building. This meant the early shift was put onto overtime. I’m not sure if the late shift were docked pay.

Because the cause of the evacuation was unclear, lots of different fire engines turned up. This just made for more confusion. This is understandable given it’s a science museum and you’re never quite sure what is going to happen.

Anyway, no-one was hurt and all was back to normal this morning when I turned up. I did wonder why the girl outside asked me if the museum would be open today. Innocently I said, “yes, of course, it’s always open“.

I finished the Dawkins book today – excellent stuff. He writes so well.