Finally I was all warm and toasty for a change. Off in a lovely deep sleep when the next thing I know hubbie is wide awake and peering out the window. As all I have on the brain at the moment is the hope of snow I thought the time had finally come. We have had continuous days of temps that haven’t gone above 0 and in particular Thursday saw many a car that was still covered in ice, ice covered gardens and even iced over ponds.
However, it was not meant to be. Outside our place were 4 fire trucks, lights blazing, fighting a house fire 2 doors down from us. I don’t know what was more scary. The fact that we didn’t even hear these trucks pull up in the first place or that the smell of smoke did not wake us up. Then again, that’s why so many home fires are fatal without an alarm as smoke inhalation is the majority cause of death in house fires. Thankfully we do have an incredible alarm system in our place and it was only faint wiffs of smoke so not enough to raise the alarm.
Then this morning the police were out in force door knocking to see if anyone heard anything. We obviously were not much assistance. However, I did glean from them that it was most likely not arson (which is a relief as we have 2 empty buildings either side of us) and unfortunately someone was inside at the time and was injured. Thankfully it appears that the injuries were not too severe.
As I was half expecting a fireman to knock on the door to order an evacuation a number of things went through my mind. The first obviously a prayer for safety for the firecrew and anyone inside the house, secondly where our warmest clothes were as it would be freezing outside and third what must be taken with us regardless of time given to move. Living in such a digital age it was the laptop as this is our link to everything and everyone we know and next any important papers for identity purposes as they are a vital requirement to get anything done in this country. Finally, the fact that we really should take out insurance as replacing things like passports can get really costly. We don’t have a lot which is great and quite liberating but the few links we have to home are vital. Anyway all worked out well.