5:30am. That's the time my day started yesterday morning; purely by accident, but it started out at the crack of dawn by hearing somebody screaming, two doors slamming and the sound of the siren of a fire engine and their horn.
The horn got me up. I thought the unit complex was on fire! So, I grabbed the keys, pulled on the dressing down and my mobile and got outside to find there was no big red engine at the gate. So, I raced around the place looking around for which unit might have been alight. None of them were - and strangely enough - nobody was out of bed or their houses to see what the noise was about.
Looking up, I saw smoke coming over the back fence (near Marlow Street) of the complex; and I swore. I wondered if one of the units over the other place had caught fire and the flames and embers were going to jump to our place. But the smoke wasn't dense and black enough, and the smell wasn't of plastic (of the insulation... yep, I've seen a place over there go up, not great as they have no fire walls between their units whereas we do). So, I raced along the units to 39 and climbed up onto the retaining wall which runs along the fence line and ran up to the back fence and peeked between the palings. I watched as one fire fighter was battling to put out a car fire which had started in the back of the car. It had started so suddenly - so quick - that the owner of the car had only enough time to grab their belongings in the front seat and run, leaving the headlights on. By the time I walked back home, still nobody had come out of their homes - not even the care taker of our unit complex - to see what was going on. And what would have happened if that fire had been a unit/townhouse fire and it had jumped complexes? Our care taker wouldn't have given a rat's arse... it would have been all on me because I'd be the first on the scene.
Anyway, I was up for the day and prepared myself to go to the Tolkien Reading Day at the Logan North Library. It was great. I had a wonderful time learning about how the greatest writer of all time - JRR Tolkien - created this whole universe (Gods, Goddesses and all) and how he worked the lives, death and immortality into all was fantastic. Tolkien also cleared up on major thing about Elves: they all have red hair... as which point a young girl next to me squeaked: 'I'm sitting next to a true Elf!'
Afterwards, I got to talk to Peter Kenny - the man who gave the talk - and we chatted about books of Tolkien, both our collections and he found that I had books he didn't have and he has a huge collection of books I don't have... which is a great way to form a friendship with somebody.
Today? Well, I took a walk around the unit complex really early - so early it was before anyone was up. It gave me a chance to photograph some of the pretty Autumn flowers and plants that are really going well around here. And for once, on a Sunday, it wasn't raining.
After I returned home, I made my pancakes, read the paper, drank a really great coffee and looked out at the Moch Orange and made the decision to get in and give it a good hair cut... you know the type I mean - the hair cut you give a shrub before the seasons change. It doesn't look so overgrown now.
Now, I'm just blogging away here, and am hoping to get my nose into 'The Silmarillion' by JRR Tolkien. I can't wait as I have two copies of the book and one copy of 'The Silmarils' by Tolkien - which is a book with cliff notes about what 'The Silmarillion' is about... very interesting. Even more interesting is that it's a first edition! I wonder if Peter has a copy of it... if not, he'll be a little on the green side. Well, until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here... and .... what have you been up to this weekend?
The horn got me up. I thought the unit complex was on fire! So, I grabbed the keys, pulled on the dressing down and my mobile and got outside to find there was no big red engine at the gate. So, I raced around the place looking around for which unit might have been alight. None of them were - and strangely enough - nobody was out of bed or their houses to see what the noise was about.
Looking up, I saw smoke coming over the back fence (near Marlow Street) of the complex; and I swore. I wondered if one of the units over the other place had caught fire and the flames and embers were going to jump to our place. But the smoke wasn't dense and black enough, and the smell wasn't of plastic (of the insulation... yep, I've seen a place over there go up, not great as they have no fire walls between their units whereas we do). So, I raced along the units to 39 and climbed up onto the retaining wall which runs along the fence line and ran up to the back fence and peeked between the palings. I watched as one fire fighter was battling to put out a car fire which had started in the back of the car. It had started so suddenly - so quick - that the owner of the car had only enough time to grab their belongings in the front seat and run, leaving the headlights on. By the time I walked back home, still nobody had come out of their homes - not even the care taker of our unit complex - to see what was going on. And what would have happened if that fire had been a unit/townhouse fire and it had jumped complexes? Our care taker wouldn't have given a rat's arse... it would have been all on me because I'd be the first on the scene.
Anyway, I was up for the day and prepared myself to go to the Tolkien Reading Day at the Logan North Library. It was great. I had a wonderful time learning about how the greatest writer of all time - JRR Tolkien - created this whole universe (Gods, Goddesses and all) and how he worked the lives, death and immortality into all was fantastic. Tolkien also cleared up on major thing about Elves: they all have red hair... as which point a young girl next to me squeaked: 'I'm sitting next to a true Elf!'
Afterwards, I got to talk to Peter Kenny - the man who gave the talk - and we chatted about books of Tolkien, both our collections and he found that I had books he didn't have and he has a huge collection of books I don't have... which is a great way to form a friendship with somebody.
Today? Well, I took a walk around the unit complex really early - so early it was before anyone was up. It gave me a chance to photograph some of the pretty Autumn flowers and plants that are really going well around here. And for once, on a Sunday, it wasn't raining.
After I returned home, I made my pancakes, read the paper, drank a really great coffee and looked out at the Moch Orange and made the decision to get in and give it a good hair cut... you know the type I mean - the hair cut you give a shrub before the seasons change. It doesn't look so overgrown now.
Now, I'm just blogging away here, and am hoping to get my nose into 'The Silmarillion' by JRR Tolkien. I can't wait as I have two copies of the book and one copy of 'The Silmarils' by Tolkien - which is a book with cliff notes about what 'The Silmarillion' is about... very interesting. Even more interesting is that it's a first edition! I wonder if Peter has a copy of it... if not, he'll be a little on the green side. Well, until my next post, take care, stay safe and remember, I'm always here... and .... what have you been up to this weekend?
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