RogerBW's Blog

This was late in 1999. I had to get into Telehouse.

I was working for that same medium-sized ISP, on duty overnight. I lived fairly close to the main office, but it was a bit more of a slog to get over to Telehouse.

So when a machine fell over and needed to be kicked, I walked home to collect my car. My girlfriend was staying over at the time, and had decided it was time to defrost the (supplied-by-landlord) fridge/freezer. (This will be relevant later, really.)

I drove to Telehouse, parked, and started to go in. My phone rang: the defrosting had gone horribly wrong, since there'd been a crack in the pipework hidden by the ice, and as the ice melted the fridge's coolant had exhausted itself comprehensively.

Access at that point was a matter of walking up to the front desk, showing one's card, stating which room one wanted to get into, and getting a proximity tag which would let one move around the building to get there. So as I walked into the lobby, I was on the phone explaining that "I'm pretty sure it isn't toxic, but it's probably a good idea not to breathe more of it than you have to… oh, hi, could I get into suite 17 please?"

Never saw an ageing security guard sign someone in so fast.