Trying to Clean the House up after a fire Friday, MKF 1/10

[Magrat70]

Yes it's true the bastard downstairs (in a shop) tried to kill my girlfriend and I on Tuesday morning by leaving lighted candles in the loo at the back of his shop. the set light to loo-paper plus h was storing a parafin heater and chemicals in there meant we were woken up by the smoke alarm and black accrid smoke coming up the stairs (actually the big dog woke us a fraction before the smoke alarm so I suppose the hero is Skye). The fire brigade had to rescue us (couldn't get downstairs because of smoke) and I have to say it was the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me. We are finally bak in our own house. we are trying to clean up a little although the people from the insurance come tomorrow to give the place a steam clean.

the moral of this kittens if you haven't got them go out and get smoke alarms, you may be careful but you never know when some b*****d will do something stupid.

[Enigmatic]

Magrat, I'm so sorry. Thank God for that nothing happened to you...

[walker(d)]

Scary stuff. Thankfully I changed the batteries in my fire alarms last weekend. Of course the fact that I had changed one of the old batteries for an even older one did not inspire confidence in my fire safety capabilities.

My big scary task at the moment is the prospect of leaving home to move to either Luton, Hertford or Evesham for a job. I've actually never heard of any of these places so it's a pretty daunting task to choose one and spend the next four to six years of my life there.

[Still Waters Run Deep]

EEK!!!
Glad you are all right, Mags. Just goes to show that you can only trust you and yours when it comes to safety. Any come-backs against the idiot downstairs?

Walker. Evesham is a fairly small market town near Worcester, handy for the M5. If you want some degree of quiet, then this is the place. I dont know Luton or Hertford, but they are within the London commute, so quite hande for the city.

[tommo]

Oh Magrat, that's dreadful. Thank God you're safe and sound; you and your girlfriend. I'm going to check my smoke alarm today now, just to be on the safe side.

[Chino6069]

Ohh sorry to hear about your trouble. Neighbours are a pain in the rear end.

Both our neighbours should get together. The bitch upstairs from us flooded our kitchen New Years Eve morning with her washing machine, seems her plumber didn't put the hose back on properly and we've had to have a dehumidifier running 24/7 since NYEve and we won't know until it's all dried out and the builiders been to check it out, how much damage she has actually done.
Of course she is just a tennant and so mopped up her floor and went out for the day, leaving us with no power and no idea if she called the factors or the insurance folks. In the end we had to do it ourselves by late afternoon of we would have been stuck all the holiday weekend. It turned out we had no lights for a week so we could dry out the light circuits.

So, we've had fire, flood, what's next?

Keep safe everyone. I wish you all a happy and safe new year and lots of nice neighbours.

Mo
x

[relativegirl]

Ok, this weekend I am definitely putting batteries in the smoke alarm and putting it on the wall. I am glad you're both ok -- I assume Skye is ok too, yes?

[gspiggott]

Magrat,glad you're okay but fire is a very scary thing. Hope Skye gets extra treats for being a hero.

[Dave V]

Magrat, I trust you and yours are all unharmed and safe now.

If folks have monitored burglar alarms, you can often include fire detection equipment as part of the alarm company's protection package.

[Dumbsaint]

Yikes. That is really scary, Magrat. :/ Glad to hear you and your girlfriend (and Skye) are alright.

[SJ]

Magrat glad to hear you're okay.
Walker,I live near Evesham and it's an okay place.

[Boomstick79]

Good to hear you're okay Magrat - better go check smoke alarms methinks.
Walker, Luton is about 20 miles away from me and hasn't got the greatest reputation shall we say? Dirty, industrial and a bit depressing if I'm honest, but heard the uni area is ok tho
However if your work requires travel, the m1 is very close (heavy traffic round the inudstrial estates tho) and of course there's Luton Airport. Not bad train and bus links to London too.

Regards,

~Lou

[oneyedchicklet]

I'm sorry to hear of your unfortunate mishap but I'm very happy that you are both safe. Material things can be replaced but thank God that neither of you were hurt. You are in my thoughts.

Love to All,
Barb

[maudmac]

Damn, Magrat, that sucks. I can't even imagine what that must have been like. I'm so glad everyone's okay. I hope things will get back to normal quickly.

Neighbors...About three times in as many years, my neighbors' apartment has unleashed hell upon my kitchen via the washing machine drainage hose thingy in my apartment. And these are the same neighbors who came over and stole my cable about five minutes after moving in. I want to smack them every day.

Worst neighbors I ever had, though, were these hillbillies who lived next to us at some point when I was growing up. One morning, I found the kitchen floor covered with BBs. Their delinquent Bad Seed son had shot BBs through all the windows on that side of the house - the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen. This was before he hacked into the phone line to call Sao Paulo, Brazil for hours and hours. WTF?!?

Random Link Alert: Bonsai Potato.

Hope everyone is having a happy Friday!

[walker(d)]

Still Waters Run Deep, SJ and Broomstick79 - thanks for the advice. I'm now swaying towards Walsall which I'm told is just outside Birmingham. But again I've never been there either so I'm just taking a shot in the dark. I'm actually not sure I want the job anymore given the amount of money and time I'm going to spend commuting home every other weekend. Also there's the big scary part where everyone I know and love lives in Scotland. I need to give them an answer by Monday so at least I have the weekend to think it over. I just don't want to live somewhere horrible for 4 years and Birmingham doesn't have the best reputation.

[Rane018]

wendy, that's terrible. glad to hear you all are fine. that's the scariest thing for me, fire, since i have no sprinkler system in my building (have a little extinguisher in the kitchen though). this building is one of those old ones that has iron fire doors and such but still...

[BBOvenGuy]

Wow Magrat, that's terrible! I'm glad you and your gf are safe.

My apartment management checks all the smoke alarms here on a regular basis. One of the reasons I've lived here for 10 years is because they stay on top of things like that.

Meanwhile, a happier subject - the first edited proofs for my book have arrived, and I'm busy checking them over and making some last-minute adjustments. It's weird to see my book starting to look like a real book. I feel like I'm still waiting for someone to tell me I'm on Candid Camera or something.

Have a great day, everybody!

[xita]

Magrat, I am glad you are ok, that's so terrifying, I can't even imagine.

[JulesP600]

Magrat, that is so scary! I am so glad you are all ok. I would help clean up if I could but I am a little far away! Sending good thoughts though

[jixer]

Hello Kittens-

Very glad to see you, gf and Skye are safe! Candles in the bathroom?!? Living in an apartment is just getting too scary. I'm enough fo a klutz without my neighbors helping.

Good luck on the cleaning. Don't do it all at once.

Jixer

[Rosenberg]

Magrat, Im so sorry to hear your news but I am happy that you and your girlfriend are safe; thats the important thing. Fire is one thing that really scares me, and I wouldnt want to come as close to it as you did. My brother took down our smoke alarm a couple of months ago for some unknown reason and he hasnt put it back up yet. I think I have a little job for him to do tomorrow.

[Puff]

Magrat, I am glad to hear that you are safe and sound. Thank goodness for Skye and smoke detectors that work. Hopefully the smoke damge isn't too bad, that kind of smell tends to linger.

[BethanyB3]

Hi Wendy,

You already know how grateful I am that you, your gf, Skye and Toady are all ok. Hope Skye is already enjoying that huge bone reward.

I wanted to add a bit to your reminder to use smoke alarms. A few years ago a friend of mine who is a volunteer fireman told me about a fire that started in an attic and before anyone knew it was there, it had spread too far to save the house. Luckily everyone did get out safely. Ever since then I have kept a smoke alarm (not heat sensitive, cause attics get hot) in my attic.
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"A woman's life can really be a succession of lives, each revolving around some emotionally compelling situation or challenge, and each marked off by some intense experience." ~ Wallis Simpson

[mscheckmate]

Glad everyone is OK, Wendy. Your downstairs neighbor needs to go see the Wizard to get a brain.

I love my smoke alarm. It probably saved my house. A couple of years ago, I put some toast in the toaster, then left the kitchen to answer a phone call. The toaster malfunctioned while I was on the phone, and instead of popping the toast up, it incinerated it. (What a way to learn to never turn my back on a kitchen appliance. ) The smoke alarm went off, and I ran to the kitchen to find flames shooting out of the toaster. I called 911, then put the fire out while waiting for the fire department. The damage was minimal, but it took a day or so to get rid of the smell of smoke wafting through the house. After that experience, I've been especially careful about maintaining my smoke alarms.

[urnofosiris]

That's aweful Magrat. Glad to hear you are ok. Dogs can be quite useful. My mother and her big white shepard dog are currently staying with me. In the past he has eaten my remote control, messed up my door and walls, he sheds what looks like his entire white coat on my floor every day, but tonight at 2 am someone rang my door and I did not mind having him stand beside me barking and showing those jaws he has at the guy on the other side. (The guy was asking to borrow 10 dollars for petrol for his car which makes perfect sense at 2 am in the morning when the nearest gasstation being a 20 minute walk away and closed at night.)

[Magrat70]

Hi just to say the dogs are fine, infact they have been spoiled rotten. Skye is just a big softie who is scared of everything and it was her nervousness that made her break into the bedroom. Thanks to everyone for being so kind. we are just about back to normal except for the nightmares .

Thanks Beth and Skye has been bought that bone