As you may know, our security procedures have been updated and new alarm systems are in place. We will be organizing a random fire drill next week of floor 5 and 6. All wings will be on alert. 

It’s now mandatory for the emergency volunteers to pick up their pagers and transceivers at the reception desk when they start their shifts. 
Don’t forget to log when they pick up and return the transceivers. The volunteers remain responsible for the pagers.

I would encourage you to practice the drills by yourself this week. Feel free to contact security services for additional support in the matter.

Kind Regards,
 Francisca Roele, CPO

She was a drummer in a cover band, and she played it well. In fact, she was much better than the rest. Despite her being a solid and in-the-pocket drummer, this meant nothing if she couldn’t lay off the drugs or the booze.

Fiction and fact.

Every day he is there; sitting on the floor playing his guitar and singing his songs. All through summer he sat there near the shops singing covers. Now the winter was coming and a chilled enough breeze to rob one’s breath. In front of him an old leather cowboy hat – it was empty.

His black hat covered the top of his face, while the red shawl made the bottom of his face disappear.

He seemed agitated, constantly looking up from the newspaper. When the bus came to a halt he sprinted outside desperately wanting to catch the connecting fare. A matchbook dropped out of his pocket, with a few matches spent. On the front page, a fire. Apparently happened last night.

As the other bus leaves the station Mr. Black Hat was looking nervous. Side to side his head went, his eyes unable to settle. Then the bus turns a corner, driving him off to where? No one knows.

May loved nature and the exotic outdoors like tropical jungle and rain forest. Last time she went to Africa. She sat at the base of a huge tree, shielding her from the intense sun. Behind her a waterfall thundered into the lake beneath the mountain. It broke the water into a fine mist and shed the surroundings in a layered veil of mystery.

From her bag she pulled a notebook and placed it in her lap. From the belt pouch she retrieved a pen, old and dinky. Drowned in the sound of the waterfall she put pen to paper. 

Clouds moved together and darkened her world. Violent cracks of thunder plunged through the sky. The few drops of rain quickly became a terrible shower and the little she had written became an abstract of black and white. A trickle in her nose made her sneeze and even the enormous branches of her favorite tree were not enough to keep the assault of rain at bay. Today was not a good day to write.

 

Good

Rae came home from work exhausted and needed to recharge her battery. She placed her laptop bag on the floor and removed her coat. It was tossed over a chair at the dinner table. In the bedroom she changed into something comfortable. Her neat but stiff uniform was traded for a loose sweater and baggy pant; heels traded with flats.

With a sigh of relief she opened the garden door and stepped out. The grass was still moist and here and there drops of rain fell. A short distance away stood the one thing she needed most. Her tree house, build on a platform across a group of trees, with a swirling set of stairs providing access from the ground. 

The inside was sparsely decorated, just the way she liked it. A simple desk and comfortable chair, with a window displaying rows of trees and flowing hills. In the distance dark shadows of mountain tops. In the center burned a multi-fuel woodburning stove. A small stair case lead to the second floor where a modest bed was installed.

She looked outside. It had just rained and the world felt cleansed. Drops of rain glided gently from the leaves, hitting the ground in a soft rhythm. She smiled and sat behind her desk with her laptop on the ready. Her fingers sped across the keyboard and filled up page after page in the text editor.

The bag contained all he had of value, complete with the last bit of mail. He was no longer welcome at work, said the latest text on his phone. This meant he no longer was eligible to live in the apartments close by. An end of lease contract was stuck between two pieces of mail. Red print was found on the ones sticking out. A badge stuck to the rim of his coat showed his face together with a name and title. Jack Maloni, Corporate Fraud Investigator.

The man smell of smoke. His hands had smears of soot. Agitated, he looked up from the newspaper. The newspaper closed almost as fast as it opened after frantic flipping through the pages.

When the bus came to a halt, he sprinted outside wanting to catch the connecting fare. A matchbook dropped out of his pocket, with a few matches spent. On the front page, a fire. It happened last night.

As the other bus leaves the station Mr. Black Hat was looking nervous waving his head side to side, his eyes unable to settle. Then the bus turns a corner and he sat down pulling out the latest report he wrote.

 

 The bag contained all he had of value, complete with the last bit of mail. He was no longer welcome at work, said the latest text on his phone. This meant he no longer was eligible to live in the apartments close by. An end of lease contract was stuck between two pieces of mail. Red print was found on the ones sticking out. A badge stuck to the rim of his coat showed his face together with a name and title. Jack Maloni, Corporate Fraud Investigator. 

Jack smelled of smoke. His hands had smears of soot. Agitated, he looked up from the newspaper. The newspaper closed almost as fast as it opened after frantic flipping through the pages. 
 
 

When the bus came to a halt, he sprinted outside wanting to catch the connecting fare. A matchbook dropped out of his pocket, with a few matches spent. On the front page, a fire. It happened last night. 
 
 

As the other bus leaves the station Mr. Black Hat was looking nervous waving his head side to side, his eyes unable to settle. Then the bus turns a corner and he sat down pulling out the latest report he wrote.

(edited)

 

 (edited)

“I love you Sabine,” he repeated. “I’ve loved you from the moment we met.”

“That was yesterday, Tom. How can you say that?” Her voice was colder now and her face sunk into a frown. “You can’t just walk up to people and yell this out in the open?”

It was Toms turn to be surprised. “Why not, if that’s how I feel.”

“You’ve only seen me once, Tom. Once.”

“But it was a date,” he said desperate.

“We had coffee, Tom. Nothing else. Now, please move out of the way so I can go in.”

“Why are you fighting me on this,” he cried. “I don’t understand.” He took her hands which she pulled away firmly.

“Don’t touch me,” she screamed and started looking into her bag while taking a small step back. A small canister appeared. Tom tried to grab her again, more firmly. Sabine yelled and sprayed into Tom’s face with pepper spray.

Crying out in agony Tom stumbled away from her door and tripped over garbage bags on the edge of the sidewalk.

Sabine hurried up the small steps and went inside. The door closed shut with several locks falling in place. Behind the topped over garbage bags laid Tom screaming in pain, while his face turned an unhealthy shade of red.

With a loud noise the tree branch drummed on the roof of his old blue car. He ignored the noise and started to drive away and made a turn. The tree branch looked almost like a small tree; a trunk with branches and stubborn twigs forming a green mess. It moved from the top of the roof to the center of the windshield.

The brakes clamped, the tires squealed and the branch went flying. Some of its twigs got stuck between the wipers. His face grew into a frown as he turned on the wipers. It swiped left and right with the branch now attached to it. He bit his lips then sighed. He got out and started pulling the smaller twig of the branch and it peeled right off. With a firm grip on a larger branch he wrestled it off his car and dumped it on the sidewalk. When he opened the door to get back into his car a large branch fell on the top of his head. He sunk to the floor with hall a tree on him and his car. 

Across the street is an infamous vlogger filming the entire scene with his phone. “Look at that, he just got nailed to the floor by a friggin’ tree!” Almost if hypnotized he continued filming while the poor man bled out on the street. At last he added, “Someone call an ambulance,” he yelled. 

More people crowded around the old man on the floor. They all stared at the scene in front of them. Another voice yelled, “Someone call an ambulance, please!”

“I’m a doctor,” said someone from among the crowd. “Let me through.” A gentleman dressed in a dark blue Italian suit emerged. He tried to lift the branch of the man, but it was large and clumsy to hold. More people left the safety of the crowd and helped lifting the branch away from the poor man laying on the ground. Once the branch was removed the doctor was finally able to check his vitals. There were none. He inspected the man’s head. The branch impacted with such force it had crushed it. “There’s nothing I can do for him,” his voice was soft and gentle. “He’s gone.”

Reader 2 - A person in a senior position at your work place. You don’t know them very well. They want an update on a new project you are working on.

Reader 3 - A vendor or client that you have met only once before. You’re writing to them for the first time.

Reader 4 - The reader for the email you wrote in Task 1 (Step 1.7).