The fire

Okay, we're not a fire family.

My theory is that every family has their thing, you know, the bad thing that happens to them a lot. Some families have cancer, some get burgled, some have fires.

My family, we're car people. Cars hate us, they break down at really inconveniant times (my last car was quite vindictive, because the day before I got a new car, the battery completely died as I was driving in the country between acres of paddocks. In the rain. At night. Alone.) we have car accidents - not always our fault, and acts of God - God killed one of our cars, by dropping a whole tree on it.

So we're car people.

We are NOT fire people.

So when, hanging at my sister's place in Melbourne having a social butterflyable 5 days away (and not getting much writing done, but we'll get to that) my sister received a phone call.

There had been a fire at my parents house. The kitchen was completely gutted, and there's smoke damage and melted items all throughout the rest of the house.

It was ironic, because this was 2 days after one of the builders came in for something completely unrelated and commented that it was 5 years to the day that the kitchen renovation was completed. Reckon the warranty ran out just then? :)

My parents and the animals were all safe, and the insurance company have been absolute troopers, they set up my parents and the animals in an empty holiday house two houses down, and EVERYTHING in the house is being hauled out, all the clothes from wardrobes are being cleaned, and then the house will be fixed, walls scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and the kitchen will be rebuilt...it's been made so easy for my parents, which has been amazing.

And the chick who saw the fire!

At the same time as calling 000, she grabbed the hose out the front, ran up the ramp and was hosing through the window. Then the glass blew out. Can you believe that? She was fine - didn't get hit by it, which is a miracle, but we're all so amazed that she did that. My sister and I think we would have called 000 and stood back going "Oh my God, oh my God oh my God...", praying that the fire brigade arrived soon.

And boy did they arrive. 4 fire engines blocked the road, emergency services, police...

Seeing the fire damage has been a really interesting experience for me, as a writer. I'd never thought about how the whole house would be coated in black soot. That the paint on the ceiling would melt and dribble down the walls. And the outside of kitchen cabinets and drawers were destroyed, but the contents of the drawers was all fine!
Really interesting. I reckon I could write a convincing fire scene, now. :)

Plus - I've been summoned to Jury Duty! I'm so psyched. As a writer, this will be awesome. Probably really boring in actuality, and a huge responsibility, but it'll be interesting all the same. Stay tuned!

Writing wise, I've got maybe 2,000 words to go. Very much on the home stretch and trying to not think too hard about which project to work on next, until I'm done.

Uni starts back next week, which I'm looking forward to, seeing everyone again.

That's it from me for now. I'm knackered.

Sairz