Beep.
…
Beep.
“Pete, something’s beeping.”
Beep.
“I can’t tell where it’s coming from.”
…
Beep.
“Oh, Pete, it’s probably the smoke alarms running out of battery.”
“I’ll take them off the wall then.”
Beep.
…
Beep.
“There you go then.”
…
…
Beep.
“Pete, something’s still beeping.”
…
Beep.
“It sounds like it’s coming from the boiler cupboard.”
Beep.
“Do we need a new boiler?”
…
Beep.
“No, the boiler’s fine. I can’t tell what’s beeping. Let’s just ignore it.”
“Okay.”
[Several days' worth of beeps later]
“Pete, something’s still beeping. I’m going to rummage.”
Beep.
…
Beep.
“I’ve found it!”
“Hurrah! What is it?”
Beep.
“It’s a carbon monoxide alarm.”
Beep.
“Oh dear.”
…
…
“It seems to have stopped.”
“Shall we put it back and ignore it for a bit?”
“Yes, I think that’s for the best.”
…
…
Beep.
“Shit.”
[Edit: I should probably add that we're not going to die. At 5.30 this morning Pete worked out that an 'intermittent beep' meant the battery was running out.]
When we moved in to our place we had a mysterious beep, which turned out to be a dying smoke alarm buried inside a bin bag of the previous owner’s junk….took ages to find it!