Random thoughts
There's some kind of shindig going on in one of the nearby houses. Seems to be quite popular, as the music and chattering have been going on for some hours now. At least someone around here knows how to throw a party.
I've just noticed that there's some kind of unknown circular widget screwed into the ceiling over the top-floor landing. It's next to the light fitting and a smoke detector - they make a nice line of three. The widget is a stubby cylinder of white plastic with a hole in the bottom and no serial numbers or other manufacturer, brand or model indicators on it. About half an inch inside the circular hole is what looks like a flat plastic or glass plate. There are eight smaller holes spaced regularly around the perimeter of the cylinder on the edge closest to the floor. Every second hole has a tiny slot on its upper edge. There are no other devices like it on any other ceiling in the house.
I have no idea what it is. It might be an older model of smoke detector - perhaps regulations when the house was built were along the lines of "must have at least one", which would explain its position near the top of the stairs, and the regulations got changed shortly after to require more than one, leading to the multiple other detectors of the second sort that are scattered around the house.
Of course, I can't see any kind of hatch, cover, unscrewable portion or whatever, so maybe it's one that runs off house power instead of batteries. Or it's one of the lithium-battery models.
It just seems odd that there's just the single one of them - and if it is a smoke detector, why wasn't it removed when the house was kitted out with the usual disc-type detectors?
I've just noticed that there's some kind of unknown circular widget screwed into the ceiling over the top-floor landing. It's next to the light fitting and a smoke detector - they make a nice line of three. The widget is a stubby cylinder of white plastic with a hole in the bottom and no serial numbers or other manufacturer, brand or model indicators on it. About half an inch inside the circular hole is what looks like a flat plastic or glass plate. There are eight smaller holes spaced regularly around the perimeter of the cylinder on the edge closest to the floor. Every second hole has a tiny slot on its upper edge. There are no other devices like it on any other ceiling in the house.
I have no idea what it is. It might be an older model of smoke detector - perhaps regulations when the house was built were along the lines of "must have at least one", which would explain its position near the top of the stairs, and the regulations got changed shortly after to require more than one, leading to the multiple other detectors of the second sort that are scattered around the house.
Of course, I can't see any kind of hatch, cover, unscrewable portion or whatever, so maybe it's one that runs off house power instead of batteries. Or it's one of the lithium-battery models.
It just seems odd that there's just the single one of them - and if it is a smoke detector, why wasn't it removed when the house was kitted out with the usual disc-type detectors?