The, other night the wife of a neighbour of mine
and another girl were sitting talking after dinner in the other girl's cottage when they noticed that the chimney was on fire; they, could see flames through a hole in a beam above the mantel- piece and the room was beginning to fill with smoke. After squirting each other a good deal with the fire extinguisher, the nozzle of which was too small for the hole, they dialled 0 with a view to calling the fire-brigade. The local exchange put them through to the fire-station, the fire-brigade promised to come and the ladies resumed their amateur counter-measures. A few minutes later the telephone rang. It was the local exchange, who wished to remind them that it was wrong to dial 0 if they, wanted the fire-brigade; the correct procedure was to dial 991. It is of course important that subscribers should know the most expeditious method of summoning the fire-brigade; but to ring them up and tell them about it at a moment when you know their house to be onfire suggests a certain lack of finesse. * ,**
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