almost hot and steamy

Sunday and I'd just unloaded my bags when the alarm sounded. I was alone in the almost empty car park. There were sirens and a rising set of voices the other side of a row of screened fencing.

I realised I'd have to repack the car and follow the little green signs towards the exits. The first door was locked. A fire exit, eh?

Then I noticed the 'break me' button.

The button didn't break, instead it slid down and the adjacent door opened into a stairwell full of people. They immediately started asking me questions in broken English, assuming that if I'd appeared through this door I must know something.

I didn't and instead made my way downstairs and out into the street.

Quite a few people were wrapped in tinfoil. Space blankets - the sort of thing to pack on a hike, just in case. I couldn't work out how so many people would be this well-prepared but it did add a further dream-like quality to the scene.

I headed to a nearby store to buy some groceries.

By the time I returned the story was that someone had left the steam-room door open.