This is only a test.

The phone rang about 9:30 this morning, with a recorded message telling me that they would be testing the siren for the Indian Point nuclear facility at 10:00. Except for occasional bouts of activism every year or two, I usually try to forget that I live moderately near a nuclear plant with known safety issues. I groaned, since that's just about baby naptime, then proceeded to fret about how I would hook up with bard_bloom in an emergency, how we've laughed about the ridiculousness of the local government trying to convince people not to jam up the roads by placing a sign for a "nuclear evaculation bus stop" down the road from us.

It's the first time I've thought about having to get out of the area in a hurry since the baby arrived. Not only that, 10 am is baby naptime, so I figured we'd be off-schedule.

10:00 came and went with no siren sound. About 10:15 or so, there was a quick noise that sounded a little like a small truck beeping its horn once in a friendly way, which I suppose might have been the siren. I wouldn't have even noted it if not for the phone call. So the result of the siren test, from my point of view, is this: I'm worried that if there's a nuclear meltdown, I won't notice.

Silly songs

More on the details of old family movies later, but for now, a childhood song question:

There's a tune which I think sometimes gets called "Arabian Song", the one that usually gets used in cartoons to denote snake charming, with the rhythm "NaNa Naa Naa Naa, NaNa NaNa NaNa Naa". The lyrics I learned for it as a kid started "All the girls in France..." and were rather bizarre.

If you know what I'm talking about, and you have lyrics you sang as a kid, please post them, together with where you grew up. I get the impression that this is one that has had a lot of regional variation, and I am curious.