Burnt Memories
Aka the roof, the roof, the roof is on fire. We need water, we don't want anyone to burn.
Early last week our neighbour fell asleep whilst cooking his food. He was soon woken up by the asphyxiating fumes created by the fire which was quickly busy spreading through his house. When he realised his cottage was on fire, he couldn't access his keys to get out of the house as they were in the kitchen where the fire had started. After phoning the fire dept. the roof above his head started burning. He knew he was in big trouble. He started screaming for help and fortunately his neighbour came to the rescue. Using a hacksaw, the heroic neighbour cut the burglar bars and pulled him out of the scorching heat in a nick of time.
The reason I'm posting this is because my family and I used to live in this very cottage for about 7 years. Even though the Lord has blessed us with a bigger much better house, on the same beautiful plot of land, it still makes me so sad to see the state our old home is in. The thoughts of all our time spent there, the thoughts for my neighbour who almost lost his life, and all the "what ifs" in between have really played on my mind.
I felt that documenting the damage would somehow be good for me. Creating something out of destruction. And of course it's interesting to see exactly how destructive a fire can be...
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| Knock knock. Who's there? Nobody. |
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| This little fire place kept us warm through many a winter. |
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| The "safety gate". Not so safe if your house is on fire. |
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| This is where my kids used to sleep (and keep me awake). |
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| The neighbour's CD collection. Melted together. What would you miss if your home went up in flames? |
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| Shower is sad that it burned. |
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| I stuck this sticker on our bathroom cabinet for my husband to see every morning. A few sets of people have moved in and out of the cottage but nobody removed it. |
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| A bhelfie (burnt house selfie). Sorry, couldn't help myself. |
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| Note how all the stove knobs have melted away. |
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| Spaghetti anyone? |
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| I did not know taps could melt... |
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| An outside view of the kitchen window. |
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| This is the small window from which the large neighbour was saved. Still a miracle if you ask me. Burglar bars to keep you safe? Not always... |
This whole incident made me think about so many things. First and foremost I'm so happy that the man is alive and well. He really nearly didn't make it. It also just made me realise how it sucks to live in homes that are barricaded from all sides to keep us safe from robbers and other evil doers. No we have to do the math, what is more likely, a break-in or a fire?
Here is a happy picture of my beautiful children taken right next to our new place. Just to debrief you. And to make us remember how much there is to be thankful for.
