chocccie Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Every now and again I hear a siren go off in the town .... I 've been meaning to ask my neighbour what it means but it keeps slipping my mind.Any idea what it is? It's pouring with rain, so possibly a flood warning? But then again, it goes off in fine weather as well. Scared and confused of Haute Vienne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Probably the sapeurs pompiers (fire brigade). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 In the village near where I live the siren announces different incidents. Sometimes we hear one long siren or two or three. I haven't a clue which one represents what, but I know that one indicates a fire, and another a road accident. I always forget to ask which is which. I have a friend who lives next next to the house that the siren is hooked up to and it's blinking loud and seems to go on forever! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joy1 Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Just had our town sirens go off!!! They seem to be tested on the first Wednesday of the month every 3 months. Yours could be tested in the same way. Joy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 The fire brigade (sapeurs pompiers) also do monthly siren tests, usually at midday on the first Wednesday of the month. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 As Clair said, at midi the first Wednesday of each month and they test the sirens. At other times the pompiers sirens are sounded. How many times it goes indicates as to what sort of accident/emergency they are being called out to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 They must test them on the weekend here. It was strange to move to rural France and think a nuclear attack was underway after the first couple of days.[:$] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 I don't think that they do test them other than the first Wednesday of every month. They went off here today. On a weekend, we hear ours quite often, usually due to road accidents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clair Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 If they go off at wekends, it could well be to attend traffic accidents...From www.sapeurspompiers.com[quote]Pour vérifier périodiquement le bon fonctionnement des sirènes, il estprocédé à des essais le premier mercredi de chaque mois à midi.[/quote]From mairie.orange (this might not apply to all areas)[quote]COMPRENDRE LA SIRÈNE DES POMPIERS 1 COUP : ESSAI INTERNE 2 COUPS : OPÉRATIONS DIVERSES 3 COUPS : FEUX DE TOUTES NATURES4 COUPS : APPEL À LA COMMISSION COMMUNALE DES FEUX DE FORÊTS[/quote] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 [quote user="Teamedup"]I don't think that they do test them other than the first Wednesday of every month. They went off here today. On a weekend, we hear ours quite often, usually due to road accidents.[/quote]Well there must have been a road accident every Saturday round mid-day then. [;-)]It wouldn't surprise me in the least, as there is still a hard core of people that start drinking Cognac at 8.30 in the morning at weekends.I never hear them now, but the first few months here I had terrible tinnitus - a combination of bells and sirens - and thought I was going mad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 [quote user="Tresco"]I never hear them now[/quote][Www] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Thanks for the explanatory list Clair.Now, as the original question has been answered...why are you whistling at me, Twinks?[:P]Does anyone elses commune have a church bell ringing 'code' for when someone dies? 2 for a man, three for a woman, or something like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 During funerals the bells ring at a strange interval and the notes seems to vary too. Also, they regularly ring out the 'Angelus'. I like that.I was trying to make a whistling sound in your head Tresc - can't you hear it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 These bells are rung on the day of the death. Someone told me what they meant but of course my very small brain can't hold onto such information.[quote user="TWINKLE"]I was trying to make a whistling sound in your head Tresc - can't you hear it?[/quote]It sounds more like a flute.[:)] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teamedup Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Me I'd go and ask them why their siren goes every Saturday. I do things like that. That is how I end up with so much useless information.Our church bells seem to go on forever when there is a funeral, never noticed a specific way of ringing them.Did you know that hypnotherapy can help with tinnitus? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renaud Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 The other answer to the question is:Sirens were malevolent sea spirits in the form of beautiful and lightly clad ladies, who sat on dangerous rocks singing to passing sailors, so as to lure them to their deaths. Odysseus sailed past their island by filling the ears of his crew with wax and he had them tie him to the mast so that he could hear the beautiful music whilst his crew rowed past. Swans Hellenic cruises have it easy these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deimos Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 I thought they were a type of mud eel (salamander).Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tresco Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 [quote user="Teamedup"]Did you know that hypnotherapy can help with tinnitus?[/quote]Hi TU.Once I'd realised that's what it was, I read up on it, and gathered that the regular repetition of the bells and the sirens stood out in this otherwise peaceful envvironment, so my brain started playing them together for me at all times of the day and night.I tried a few of the other techniques (talking, being busy, playing music etc) and it gradually stopped. I've got a lot of sympathy with people who have it on a long term basis. I had read about Tinnitus, but never experienced it myself, and so didn't connect what I had read about (before) with what was happening to me, and of course I had no idea how debilitating it is. I would wake up and within seconds feel like crying because of the racket going on in my head. 3 months was quite enough for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TWINKLE Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Not sure if this is an urbain legende but I recall a story about heavy rock fans getting really bad tinnitus to the point that they commited suicide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 [quote user="Renaud"] Odysseus sailed past their island by filling the ears of his crew with wax [/quote]So how did they get the wax out of their ears; Wire hook or whoosh? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renaud Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 Pierre, you have opened up a whole area of missing trivia from the myths.Where did Paris, the shepard impersonator, get the golden apple from in the Juno / Athera / Aphrodite beauty contest? When fair Hellen's face launched 1,000 ships, who paid for all that champagne?When Dianna turned Acteon into a laurel bush, did the leaves turn up in Olympian stew recepies?there are all sorts of posabilities... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ford Anglia Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 In the small town near us, the Sapeurs Pompiers are part-time. The siren calls them from their day jobs/beds, etc to attend for an emergency.We live about 4km from the town, and can hear the siren most days. So can next door's Alsation, who sits in the centre of the road, raises his muzzle to the sky, and "sings" with the siren. Looks and sounds really funny........especially when the neighbour does her best to stop him[:D]Southern Haute Vienne, btw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weedon Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 My village roofer is also a part-time "pomp person". He drops what he is doing to go racing off to the station when his pager goes. The siren doesn't go at the same time. He did tell me what the siren was for, he may have told me that it was to call for men to take out a second appliance or it may be that in the lost translation he was confiding in me that he suffered from thrush. (See posting on Helping others with medical.....) Sometimes it's good to be in your own world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Val_2 Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 You will also get sirens go off is you live near to quarrying operations when they do "Tir à mines" basically detonating the rock. We have one not that far away and often hear a different klaxon to the pompiers in the next village. Living on the coast too we also get sirens/flares for emergencies which also wake you up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pierre ZFP Posted March 8, 2007 Share Posted March 8, 2007 In a town near me there is a siren that goes off most days at noon. Seems to be the signal for lunch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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