Wednesday, November 09, 2005
I fear plastic
Reading Steve's blog I am immediately plunged into the yearly internal debate over "to plastic or not to plastic?" I know that plastic sheets over drafty windows make things cozier and would save me heating money. I've done it in the past and reaped the benefits. But here's the thing: I am claustrophobic and have lived through a nighttime house fire, and when I have plastic sheets glued over the windows I lie awake at night figuring out escape routes for my children. It may be silly, and I know that it's mostly the claustrophobia talking, but in a fire every second counts, and if I couldn't get to my kids and they had to get out a window, I'm not sure that they would know how to pierce or claw through a tight plastic sheet before opening the window.
Normally I'm not the kind of person who lives in fear of "what if?" but as I said, having woken up in the middle of the night with smoke pouring through the door and the smoke detectors beeping their asses off, running down the stairs to see the ground floor in flames except for the front doorway, thank god, I don't think of fire as a "what if?" so much as a "remember when?".
Maybe we'll have a fire drill that includes hacking through a plastic covering and see how it goes. Or maybe I'll just do my best with caulking and we'll all wear sweaters indoors this winter.
Am I a loon? Please post your kind responses in the comments below.
Reading Steve's blog I am immediately plunged into the yearly internal debate over "to plastic or not to plastic?" I know that plastic sheets over drafty windows make things cozier and would save me heating money. I've done it in the past and reaped the benefits. But here's the thing: I am claustrophobic and have lived through a nighttime house fire, and when I have plastic sheets glued over the windows I lie awake at night figuring out escape routes for my children. It may be silly, and I know that it's mostly the claustrophobia talking, but in a fire every second counts, and if I couldn't get to my kids and they had to get out a window, I'm not sure that they would know how to pierce or claw through a tight plastic sheet before opening the window.
Normally I'm not the kind of person who lives in fear of "what if?" but as I said, having woken up in the middle of the night with smoke pouring through the door and the smoke detectors beeping their asses off, running down the stairs to see the ground floor in flames except for the front doorway, thank god, I don't think of fire as a "what if?" so much as a "remember when?".
Maybe we'll have a fire drill that includes hacking through a plastic covering and see how it goes. Or maybe I'll just do my best with caulking and we'll all wear sweaters indoors this winter.
Am I a loon? Please post your kind responses in the comments below.
# posted by becca : 7:06 AM
