My town still tests at 18;20 every day. Our kid knows, "be home for dinner before the siren." I didn't grow up in this town, but I grew up in a town with a "5 o'clock whistle" back when that was the way we did things. I appreciate. that my current town has a similar constant.

It's nostalgic at worst, and a convenient social thing today for my family. They also alert school closings and flood alerts on the siren, which are still community affairs 'round here.

Sometimes communities embrace their simpler past. Three blasts on the town siren for me means, "check your generator, you might need it." Wakes me from a dead sleep, and I appreciate that, too.