The World According to Bertie

44 Scotland Street #4

by Alexander McCall Smith

The residents and neighbors of 44 Scotland Street and the city of Edinburgh come to vivid life in these gently satirical, wonderfully perceptive serial novels, featuring six-year-old Bertie, a remarkably precocious boy--just ask his mother. \n\nThere is never a quiet moment on 44 Scotland Street. In The World According to Bertie, Pat deals with the reappearance of Bruce, which has her heart skipping--and not in a pleasant way. Angus Lordie's dog Cyril has been taken away by the authorities, accused of being a serial biter. Unexpectedly, Domenica has offered to help free him. As usual, Big Lou is still looking for love, and handing out coffee and advice to the always contemplative Matthew. And Bertie, the beleaguered Italian-speaking six year old prodigy, now has a little brother, Ulysses, who Bertie hopes will help distract his pushy mother Irene. Beautifully observed, cleverly detailed, The World According to Bertie is classic McCall Smith and a treat for his avid fans as well as his

Genres: Fiction, Scotland, Humor, Audiobook, Contemporary, Adult Fiction, Mystery

329 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2007

About the author

Alexander McCall Smith is the author of the international phenomenon The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, the Isabel Dalhousie Series, the Portuguese Irregular Verbs series, and the 44 Scotland Street series. He is professor emeritus of medical law at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and has served on many national and international bodies concerned with bioethics. He was born in what is now known as Zimbabwe and he was a law professor at the University of Botswana. He lives in Scotland. Visit him online at www.alexandermccallsmith.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter.

Reviews

[Judith E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who needs real friends anyway? I just met up with my old friends in Edinburgh, Scotland and didn’t have to get off the couch. The messy, humorous, everyday lives of these ordinary people are exposed with a running commentary about the city life and history of Edinburgh.

When Angus embarks on his next painting depicting kindness, the message is clear, “That was what he wanted to paint, because he knew that that was what we all wanted to see.”

Til next time dear friends.

[Ken Deshaies · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the 4th in this series by Alexander McCall Smith, and it continues the sagas of a variety of characters in modern Edinburg, Scotland. To say that Smith has a keen insight to human frailties and comedic lapses is to put it mildly. He actually gets you to understand how so many things that we do, or behavior that we view in others, are hilarious, particularly when the full circumstances of that behavior are known. From pompous egotists to overbearing mothers to husbands and children who are learning that they can actually have a voice in their own destinies, and the interactions of each with each other, lend to laugh-out-loud scenes and opportunities to hope for the best for those still lost.

Smith is truly a master at transition, building on history and experience to extract next actions, truly memorable thoughts and words. His segues can leave you breathless.

Young Bertie, the 6-year-old master of Italian, the saxophone, yoga and voracious reader of everything he can get his hands on, is someone you will remember (and hope you find in real life). At times the young child who is fairly inept at making and/or understanding friendships, he is also very capable of seeing through the deceptions that adults create for themselves and pointing those out.

There are 6 more books in this series, and I anticipate reading them all with joy.

[Book Concierge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book on CD performed by Robert Ian MacKenzie
3***

Book four in the 44 Scotland Street series continues the varied stories of the current (or former) residents of the apartment complex. Bertie has questions about his new baby brother, Ulysses. Angus is frantic after his beloved Cyril is “incarcerated” on a charge of biting. Bruce, Big Lou and Matthew find new love interests. And Domenica is not so sure that her friend Antonia is really a friend after the latter moves in across the hall.

What I love about the ensemble series is that each book gives us just a glimpse into their lives. We pick up where the last book left off, and end with many issues still unresolved. It’s the same way we encounter casual friends, catching up when we see them, but not knowing how things will turn out once we depart. And yet, happy to see them again and catch up once more.

Robert Ian MacKenzie does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobooks. He really brings all these characters to life. I particularly like how he voices Bertie. How I love that kid!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? I love this series. I love how Alexander McCall Smith captures Edinburgh. I love the characters. I want to say the books are sweet or heart-warming, but not in a cloying way at all. The author allows his characters to be human, yet rise above their petty cares some of the time. The books are smart and funny and make me want to gather round a table with friends and truly feel at home.

[BJ Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the precocious six-year-old Bertie, and was looking forward to having much of this book be about Bertie. In spite of the title, it was not to be. It was an entertaining book, but I wanted Bertie (little tantrum here!)

[Jenn Mattson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I continue to be addicted to these delightful serialized stories - especially as I am listening to them as audiobooks and the reader - Robert Ian Mackenzie - does a marvelous job (however, lately, I've been wondering if my profound hatred for Irene comes from the smarmy, smug and self-satisfied voice he does for her...nah...she really, really sucks). The stories are just bursting with love and nostalgia for Scotland, especially Edinburgh, which I find delightful, and this installment went on fewer philosophizing tangents, although they are still there (there's a lot of worry over changing the way things used to be and people's values and so forth, as well as mini-treatises on art, psychology, anthropology, etc., which are sometimes interesting and sometimes I just want to get to my people). I want to pet Cyril (and was VERY STRESSED OUT for him in this volume), hug Bertie, hug Angus, have tea with Domenica, and punch, slap, and kick Irene. I'm so sorry for the violence of feeling that I have for that horrible, smug, delusional woman! But, ugh!!!!!

[Valerie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The world according to 6 year old Bertie is one of the most entertaining aspects of the 44 Scotland Street series providing plenty of laugh-out-loud moments.
There are thoughtful moments also. I am including this excerpt because I wonder about McCall Smith's view of God. His characters seem to have faith in love, family, friendship, kindness, Scotland...anything but God.
This is a prayer of Angus Lordie whose dog is being detained because he was accused of biting and Angus misses him greatly (p.253):

"Oh Lord," he whispered,"who judges all men and to whom alone the secrets of the heart are known; forgive me my human failings, my manifold acts of wickedness. Open my heart to love. Turn thy healing gaze to me. Forgive me for that which I have not done which I ought to have done."
It was a hotch-potch of half-remembered phrases, taken out of context and patched together, but as he spoke them, uttered each one, he felt their transformative power......
"And I ask one final thing," he muttered. "I ask that you restore my dog."
He rose to his feet and looked about him. How foolish, he thought, to imagine that words uttered by him could change the world in the slightest way, what a massive, sentimental delusion!
But then the telephone rang. Angus gave a start, and then crossed the room to answer. For a second or two, he imagined that his prayer had brought results and that the call would bring news of Cyril. But that, he knew, was not how the world worked. The world was one of chance, a biological lottery, not one ruled by eternal verities and design. Prayer was a wishful-thinking conversation with self; that's what he told himself. Of course he knew that.
He picked up the telephone. It was his lawyer, George More, on the other end. "Come round to the office," said the lawyer. "There's somebody here who's looking forward to seeing you again."
Angus frowned. Who could George have in the office? Then he heard, coming down the line, a bark. END of quote.

Angus felt the transformative power of his prayer and actually had the prayer and desire of his heart answered, yet there was no further acknowledgment of that in this book. It will interest me to see if he or any other characters express any thoughts about God in future installments.

[Vio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another pleasant 3,5* from me and going straight to the next volume. :)

The long time it took me to read this particular book has once again nothing to do with the book, but with some personal stuff I went through. I am still not bothered with the very few inadvertencies (like Matthew never giving any presents to Pat). But I cannot say anymore who went where in which volume. :)

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

****Second read, 2018****

3.75 stars. I have raved about this author here on Goodreads for years. Suffice it to say that he is the cure for what ails ya. His books are medicine for the soul. His The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series is my favorite, followed by this one.

If my mood, and corresponding need for comfort reads remains the same, I may finish this series this year. In a way, I don't want to because I like to have lots of his books out there I haven't read, but I've read the Ladies series twice already and could read them all again right now. And this is my second read of this book as well, loving it as much or more than the first time.

If you need a comfort read, or need to restore your faith in humanity, pick up the Ladies series, starting with the book linked in the first paragraph, or this series, starting with 44 Scotland Street. I would definitely read them in order, as each series follows a cast of characters whose lives grow and change as the novels progress.

Food for the soul! Thank you, AMS, and may God bless your wonderful mind and pen.

****first read, 2010****
3.5 stars. This was for me, the weakest in the series following the strongest. I'll definitely continue with the series. I love his style, and really just the mood of his writing.

[Jeannie and Louis Rigod · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is best enjoyed with snuggling down with your favorite drink, soft, but good, reading light, and plenty of time to devote to savoring the essays of daily life of the persons living in Edinburgh, Scotland, near 44 Scotland Street.

As the title of the book suggests, this volume is dedicated to Bertie, a six-year old project (Mother's viewpoint.) Bertie wants to be a boy. That's all. Mother sees the world differently. She has him playing the Saxophone, speaking Italian, and doing Yoga. Of course, there is equal time to make him join her at the Psychoanalyst's office. Why the latter? Rebellion to the above and where is Father? Oh, that is the sad part, he is there, but lacking in gumption. And, now there is a new baby brother.

Bertie isn't the only subject by any means, we have persons falling in love, and out. Cyril the dog is accused of a crime from which he must be acquitted. Big Lou is still reading her bookstore and Domenica has returned from living with the Pirates.

This is a good, solid, comforting read. Try the series.

[Trelawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading about the lives of the residents of Scotland Street and beyond. It makes me want to visit Edinburgh and have coffee in Big Lou's, to wander through the New Town and maybe have a stroll through the museum where Angus Lordie's paintings hang. Afterwards go to one of Domenica's dinner parties where they discuss books and art, music and politics and the food is always delicious. This series brings Edinburgh and its inhabitants to life for those of us who have never been. Bring on book 5!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor Bertie! But hooray for Miss Harmony! And Matthew! And . . . the Jacobite Rebellion . . . ?

I often feel there's a bit too much padding in the form of Angus and Domenica pontificating on the state of Scotland Today and Society in General, which is what keeps me from loving these books whole-heartedly.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was the best one in the series so far. The characters are so amusing, and it's just a fun look at life and all the craziness that goes along with it. Bertie is an awesome character!

[Nicole Marble · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm hooked - I look forward to every chapter, every character, every detail.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a predictability in Alexander McCall Smith’s little escapist novels, with their episodic romps through modern Edinburgh. In this one, however, I think McCall Smith is starting to become instructive. There are many rambling musings about relationships. They are generally placed in the heads of characters who are trying to work through their own muddled affairs, but I think McCall Smith is using his bully pulpit. It’s wonderful, gentle, and humorous.

Since these books were written to be serialized, I can well imagine the daily conversations of those who get their updated doses of the 44 Scotland Street menagerie. There must be a communal pleasure in tut-tutting over poor Bertie, who tugs without mercy at the reader’s heartstrings. Occasionally I wish I could have been part of the community reading the series as it emerged.

Blissful escapism.

[Cassandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I just want to read the Bertie chapters, with the occasional Angus...

This was the first time I'd read one of these since I've been to Edinburgh! It was really cool to know exactly what everything he was describing was.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth book in the '44 Scotland Street' series and, just like in the previous books, I soon became engrossed in the joys, trials and tribulations of the main characters, who have now become so familiar to me. I'm feeling increasingly sorry for Bertie and frustrated with his mother Irene whose no doubt good intentions are causing her son all sorts of miseries, which even his father Stuart can do little to moderate, despite his feeble efforts. Some great tales and hilarious incidents pepper this latest outing and I'm looking forward to reading the next instalment later this month - 9/10.

[Janice · Rating 3 out of 5]

A chance selection which was enjoyable in a very gentle way. A series of characters are described and I really must try to find out what happens to them .

[Andie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The wonderful characters are back in this the 4th novel in the 44 Scotland Street series.+ Angus Lordie's dog, Cyril, has been arrested as a biter by the authorities, Domenica is back in Scotland Street and not to happy to find that Antonia, who she sublet her apartment too when away studying the pirates in Malucca, has purchased the flat next door. Bruce is back after a not so successful sojourn in London and finds himself adrift until he meets Julia. Pat and Matthew embark on a romance, Big Lou is still looking for same after jettisoning the unsatisfactory Eddie, and Bertie, is finding no relief from his mother's endless prodding even though there is a new baby in the house. And why does that baby look so much like Dr. Fairbairn?

As usual, the author has created a world of good friends, gentle people (even gangster Lard O'Connor), and problems that always seem to be worked out in a most satisfactory manner. Sometimes I wish I could live in this world full time.

[Barbara Roden · Rating 4 out of 5]

The World According to Bertie is the fourth in Alexander McCall Smith's 'Scotland Street' series, and is a gentle, sometimes funny, sometimes thoughtful look at a by now firmly established cast of characters (although Smith skilfully mixes new faces into the crowd to keep things fresh). As the title implies, this volume focuses on precocious six-year-old Bertie, who just wants to be a normal boy, but who is frustrated at almost every turn by his mother, who sees Bertie more as an experiment than a flesh-and-blood person.

Smith is a talented writer, who obviously has great affection for all his characters even as he reveals that some of them aren't, perhaps, very pleasant human beings. A welcome addition to the series.

[Tweedledum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series just keeps getting better and better and I love it. So cheering to read of the quiet lives of these wonderful characters. I became quite tearful over Bertie and Angus’s various troubles in this episode and delighted in the digression into the variety of Edinburgh clubs that Angus shares with Matthew on one occasion. How does AMS manage to make the most seemingly trivial of facts so fascinating ? This is his genius. He knows exactly how much to reveal and how much to keep back.

It’s also delightful the way AMS finds ways to share some of his favourite humourous stories slipping a couple of real chucklers in, for example, at the final dinner party of the book. If you want to know what they are you’ll have to read it for yourself.

[Jan Z · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bertie is still the star, rather 5 or them, of the series. Bruce is awful, yet entertaining. Maybe I have reached the end of Scotland Street or perhaps I will check the books out of the library. I can read the Bertie and Bruce sections, and perhaps Mattew or Big Lou and skip Antonia, Angus, and Dominica. Nothing happens with them. They spend the day thinking about themselves and if someone stole from them. These parts are just too dry. Introspection can be a great device if done well. It can build suspense in an unreliable narrator particularly if s/he is the villain. But enough of the blue spode cup. Ask her about it and move on.

[Maria Thermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adore Alexander McCall Smith's style of light-as-a-feather writing, but wished he'd stop using German in his novels. Firstly, because it's rather pretentious and secondly, because the man hasn't the first notion of the German language and always gets it wrong...and to compound his error always neglects to ask a German speaker to correct the foreign language errors in his novels.

But that's really the only criticism I have of McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street novels, which are utter gems. Location plays an important part in this author's novels, especially in his 44 Scotland Street escapades, where New Town in Edinburgh, Scotland, serves as the background to philosophical musings about life, love, friendship and freedom.

An Author goes Window-shopping

McCall Smith uses the City of Edinburg as a location for musings about the human condition, allowing readers a glimpse into the private lives of a set of people living in a particular neighbourhood. They don't necessarily know each other personally, but their lives have a tendency to unexpectedly touch or, at times, even to collide in dramatic or comic fashion. Edinburgh serves to demonstrate the changes Scotland has undergone over the past few centuries, how its people have adapted to change and in turn have changed the world with their innovations.

Although the main focus of the story is on the residents of one particular tenement house in Scotland Street, the different districts of Edinburg all play an important role in describing the individual characters of the novel and the nature of what might be called "the Scottish condition".

Whenever we learn more about a character or are introduced to a new character, we do so by following them to their favourite haunts in Edinburgh. Here the location is actually a character in the novel, as multi-faceted as any human being.

McCall is taking us on a stroll through this wind-swept Scottish city, reminding us of its heroic and foolish moments, holding up a lantern to shine on its grand architecture and its slums alike. Every so often he's window-shopping for poignant moments, peering through the curtains to catch intimate exchanges between Edinburg's citizens.

What at first glance appear to be mundane morsels of conversations between lovers, friends, neighbours, customers and coffee shop owners, children at school, or teachers out shopping, are eventually revealed as insightful comments on love and friendship, hope and aspirations, marriage and childhood; even the human psyche comes under scrutiny.

All Heroes great and small

Just like vet James Herriot examined the lives of all creatures great and small in the Yorkshire Dales, Alexander McCall Smith includes Edinburg's pets in his examination of the human condition. Pet and pet owner are subjected to a minute examination, exploring their feelings to each other and the nature of their interaction with the rest of the world.

The way humans react to other people's pets often give us a valuable clue to a person's real personality. When at the end of the book one of the characters contemplates giving a dog a chance in order to secure the man she fancies, we know that she has finally tapped into the better part of her being, reached into herself and discovered her humanity.

Comic Genius

McCall Smith can be incredibly funny without resorting to obvious jokes. Here we see the residents of Scotland Street react to a shocking miscarriage of justice against one of their canine neighbours. From the way neighbours react to the pet's misfortune, we catch a glimpse behind the mask and get to know these people's true nature. We also see officialdom thwarted, always something that cheers us up, no matter what our nationality.

Naturally, plucky terrier Cyril is my favourite character in the book, apart from long-suffering Bertie himself. This time Cyril narrowly escapes the evil clutches of the law, when he is arrested for indiscriminately biting people in the neighbourhood of 44 Scotland Street. It's all a terrible mistake, but Cyril is thrown into prison and put on death row anyway.

Cyril is innocent of this particular crime, but as some residents in Scotland Street recall, he did sink his teeth into the ankle of Bertie's despicable mother Irene, a woman who smothers her 6-year-old son and her husband to such an extent, the two males of the Pollock household lead a miserable existence and cannot see themselves ever finding happiness.

The funny thing is that Irene is well-meaning, a mother and wife who only wants the best for her family. She believes herself to be tolerant and enlightened, but she is actually devoid of humanity, has no understanding, charity or mercy. Irene is the villain of the piece and all over the world, so McCall Smith tells his readers in the prologue to the follow-up of this novel ("The Importance of Being Seven"), readers are hoping that Bertie will finally turn seven and escape the clutches of his domineering mother, if only for an afternoon!

Scotland is a Dog-eat-Dog World

A mother and wife from hell, Irene seems to have conducted a clandestine affair with Bertie's child psychotherapist, who Bertie believes to be the father of baby Ulysses, Bertie's 4-month-old brother. The scenes where Bertie asks the adults in his small world about the paternity of baby Ulysses are priceless and among the funniest in the book.

Bertie's view of the world is explained in a short essay he and his classmates are asked to write by a new teacher. Full of humanity and kindness, Bertie tolerates his mother's nasty nature, taking it as something that must be endured until he is old enough to move away as far as possible from Scotland Street. Miserable at home and at school, Bertie sees the world as one long ordeal, just like most of us do, if we're honest.

At the end of the novel the reader cannot help but feel that Cyril the Dog would grin broadly - gold tooth and all - at some of the human peccadilloes that have happened in Scotland Street while he was in prison. He owes his life to Bertie and this reader suspects, Bertie was just returning the favour. Having witnessed his mother being bitten by Cyril must have been a great comfort to the little boy. There is a happy end - really more of a happy beginning - at the end of the novel that allows readers to look forward to McCall Smith's next window-shopping trip in Edinburg.

Interestingly, McCall Smith ends the novel with a domestic setting in one of 44 Scotland Street's spacious Georgian flats. We see some of the characters enjoy a harmonious meal together - which is as the world should be, according to Bertie.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

From BBC Radio 4 - 15 minute drama:
44 Scotland Street: Series 4
written & dramatized by Alexander McCall Smith

Edinburgh's Georgian New Town is the setting for the quirky tales and 'goings on' of Alexander McCall Smith's much loved characters that feature in his bestselling series of books, 44 Scotland Street.

Bertie Pollok, Edinburgh's most hot housed seven year-old receives a rare respite from his weekly Italian, yoga and psychotherapy sessions. Could it be that his ambitious mother Irene is otherwise engaged? There's also constitutional trouble brewing at the Association of Scottish Nudists, and café owner, Big Lou's romantic life is in danger of hitting a discordant note.

Episode One
Someone is looking for a thorn free zone, meanwhile Irene Pollok's creativity reaps rewards.

Producer/director: David Ian Neville.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08fdwfh

[Beth Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

I began reading this series after I listened the audiobook of the first of them-- "44 Scotland Street". I am constantly looking for relatively "child-friendly" audiobooks so I can listen with my 8-year-old son in the car (and rarely, as in the case of "John Adams", he will actually ask me to put on whatever I'm listening to--this one didn't catch his attention, though). As with everything I've read by McCall Smith (the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency series), this book is readable and engaging. It contains many little cliffhangers, some resolved, some not--who IS Ulysses' father???? I find myself wondering what is going to happen to the characters--they are well-drawn and I cared about (most of) them--the dymanic of Bertie and his mother, Pat and Matthew's relatonship, the caddish Bruce's entrapment. It is light reading, to be sure, but I have found valuable messages for everyday life in all of his books--mostly of the vein of "pay attention to how you treat people." Not a bad thing of which to be reminded.

[Andrea Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another delightful tale in the 44 Scotland Street Series! There is joy and life lessons for all of the residence. In my mind Alexander McCall Smith is one of the masters of slice of life tales! Bertie Pollock is most certainly proving to be one of my favorite characters that I have had the pleasure of encountering between the pages of a book. His trials and tribulations with school, his family (in particular his mother Irene), and with his therapist Dr. Fairbairn are proving to be a challenge that I feel he can and will face. There are plenty of smiles that will cross your face as you read about all the comings and goings of Bruce, Pat, Mathew, Angus Lordie, Cyril the dog,Domenica, and Big Lou to name just some of the others who live in Edinburgh in these colorful stories. It is a great pleasure to read!

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The audio reader was too slow for my taste and I haven't read the first 3 books in this series, so I almost gave up on this book after the first couple disks. I'm glad I stuck with it, because in the end, I found myself liking the characters and enjoying the setting.

I don't think I've ever read a novel set in modern day Scotland (Edinburgh), and being a bit of an anglophile, that made the whole story more appealing to me. I also liked that the characters were generally good people living ordinary lives. In that sense, it reminded me of Jan Karon's writing. Easy, sweet, amusing, not gripping. It was a comfortable world to visit each day without feeling the need to stay there for long. I may pick up the next in the series if I need a book I can read in short bites.

[Feeling-bookish · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb in all ways--characters, plot(s), writing, emotional depth, humor...This is my favorite kind of book--simple, deep, and profound. I have always loved the author's compassionate acceptance of the human condition; this book was, therefore, very positive for me.

I later found out that the 44 Scotland Street series began as a serialized novel for a newspaper. That helped me understand the structure of this book better, and also to appreciate the author's light touch a bit more.

As one grows older, often one becomes more resigned and less empathetic to human nature and its shortcomings. I love that this author made me feel for these characters. Looking forward to reading more about them.

[Jan Polep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jumped into this series with book 4 (about quirky Edinburgh characters who live in and around 44 Scotland Street) only because Steve could fill me in on the first 3 books as we listened to this as an audiobook on the way to and from Omaha. I could never get into this series but now it makes sense since we hoofed it all over Edinburgh in September. Some of the chapters drag, but any chapter with wee Bertie (6 years old) in them simply shine. And there was a dog ...Cyril. Lot of back and forth with characters looking for love. We have promised each other to wait and listen to book 5 together so if you need anything delivered to any place 8 hours from here, let me know.

[Patricia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The latest installment of Smith's 44 Scotland Street series is yet another voyeuristic visit to Edinburgh. Although all characters have their own individual stories, their stories commingle peripherally as they would in town environs. I enjoy that all the characters are flawed in their own way, making them quintessentially human. Love and comfort are mistaken for each other; friendship and neighbors don’t always mix, and one can never overstate the importance of a dog’s companionship.

This is a cozy read with a cup of tea but nothing to cause much introspection or alarm.