a London thing?

as I was finishing getting dressed at the gym today, the fire alarm went off. As is usual in this situation no-one paid any attention to it (apart from grimacing at the loudness) and we all carried on with life until someone came round to tell us we needed to evacuate the building. At this point, I finished putting my clothes on, put everything into my bag and headed out with everyone. One of the staff-members, who was herding us, said that everyone in the whole gym had exactly the same response - carry on until someone actually says that you have to leave.

my question - is this a London thing, or is it something that everyone does? I kind of equate it to when an announcer on the tube says that the train you're on is terminating at the current station. All of the tourists get off and the Londoners stay put just to make sure (and we're usually proved right - 2 minutes later the train carries on it's original route). But seriously - it was a fire alarm. It could have been an actual fire. We could have been in danger. There was no fear expressed, just a general resentment about the unnecessary interruption.

am also very happy with my gymage recently - I did a 12k cycle followed by a 250m swim today, 10k cycle yesterday and 12k cycles on Wednesday and Thursday. I'm really enjoying it and think that this is going to be the summer that I actually learn to cycle on the roads! (and buy myself a bike - anyone with any knowledge of bike buying - let me know!)

right - now I have to go any sort out flat - I'm converting the office into a library - Yay!