Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Never a dull moment - though if you only read the start of this you may disagree....

OK - stay with me on this tale. A certain amount of scene setting is required.

Yesterday our village school was closed for a teaching training day so my mum came over to look after my niece whilst my sister was at work. For the benefit of anyone who has inexplicably not been playing very close attention to this site, my sister lives just up the road from me. Furthermore, my sons are having exams at the moment which means they are not always at school, and yesterday they were at home 'revising', by which of course I mean surfing the internet and emptying the contents of my fridge.

Now my sister does not have a washing line line for reasons only understood by her, but something to do with washing on a line making the place look untidy. Anyway, there were some wet towels in the house and mum had been considering taking them up to mine to put on my line and get dry, but she kept putting it off as a friend of my niece's was expected to come round to play. It got to about 2.00. The little friend had not yet turned up so mum decided she would take the washing up to mine. This is all very interesting isn't it? You wanted to read a story about how my mum put some wet towels on my washing line. But wait - it gets EVEN more exciting because whilst she was in my back garden she heard the phone ring. Yes I know - how thrilling - my mum heard my phone rang - what ever is going to happen next I hear you ask (that is to say, in the depth of my fevered imagination I hear you). OK - let me tell you what happened next. What happened next was she waited to see if anyone in the house answered it ..."Ring, ring, ring, ring"...but needless to say no one did because obviously my sons were far too busy 'revising' (chatting to mates on MSN)so she came in the back door to get it. After all - it might have been important.

Only she never did answer the phone.

Instead, my heroic and 72 year old mother found herself fire fighting as a basket of clothes - somewhat foolishly left on the ceramic cooker top - was ablaze. As she came in the door she was faced with the vision of flames rising to the ceiling. By means of much screaming and throwing of water around she managed with the belated assistance of more junior family members to extinguish the fire.

Well - the clothes are obviously ruined - and my kitchen floor isn't too good either as burning clothes got dropped on to it. The kitchen walls and ceiling are black as opposed to a usual bright yellow.

To be positive however, I still have a house, and no one was hurt.

It could so easily have been so very very much worse if my mum had not come in by sheer chance at the exact moment she did.

Whoever it was that rang our house at that time - I owe them.

And what with various thefts and car accidents all previously recorded in these parts
I am about to make my FIFTH insurance claim in 12 months - I will be blacklisted by insurance companies at this rate.

So that is my week so far - how are yours?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am just thankful that everyone is ok JJ. I know we all have a bit of a jest on these blogs, but things like this do make you slow down and take stock from time to time. Kitchens can be put right - people often can not. You got enough friends here to keep your spirits up - take care.

Gill said...

Well I see it as amazing good luck when you consider what might have happened and an interesting chain of events that led her into being in the right place at the right time. Phew! I am glad everyone was ok and I'm even more impressed by your mum now!

Holly said...

Supermum! Although a very serious matter, a comedy one too! Glad everyone is ok though xx

Lisa Rullsenberg said...

Oh sweetie: am so glad nothing more serious happened as a result. For once I bet cold-callers who hang up were welcome!

Hope your insurance premiums are manageable. Hugs to you and all.

Monozygote said...

Did she do 1471?

What an exciting story!

JoeinVegas said...

Yes, life in your town does seem unusually dull and boring. Sorry you don't have more excitement.

cookie monster said...

whilst im glad no-one was hurt and it wasnt more serious may i respectfully suggest a few songs for the soundtrack of JJ's life?

Firestarter, Ring of Fire and Disco Inferno to begin with.......

sorry.

Gill said...

Strange- Abraxas II hasn't been seen around since he inadvertently set fire to my blog. Were there any webbed footprints near the hob??

Remembering some of your past blogs I can only suggest the title of that Frank Zappa classic-HOT RATS!

Fire Byrd said...

Synchronicity or what... what timing.

Good thing mums!

Glad everyone is okay.

Even puts my weekend into perspective.

J.J said...

Thanks everyone. And I will be trying very hard to come up with a soundtrack of my life now following Cookie's and Gill's excellent suggestions to start me off. It will give me something to think about during the many hours it is going to take me to clean my kitchen walls and ceiling...NOT a good job believe me. :-(

Gill said...

Get someone in to do it and charge it to the insurance company, they make squillions in profits. Or ask your mum ;-)

rilly super said...

JJ darling, I do hope you get all that smoke damage cleared up soon. I mean just imagine the opprobrium from your neightbours; a black kitchen is so eighties!

Yorkshire Pudding said...

Even after all these years it takes SUPPERMUM to save the day! Is it an old lady with some knitting in a bag? Is it a candidate for a residential home? NO! It's SUPERMUM! YAAAAAAAY!

Rob said...

I'd rate that as good luck. Just so glad nobody was hurt and you still have a house to live in.

J.J said...

Gill, not out of me they don't...not these days anyway!

Rilly, thank god I have a '60's throw back as my next door neighbour. She thinks black is the new black.

YP - that is exactly what my mum is!

Yes Rob. At first I was all 'I am so unlucky' but when I thought about the chances of my mum coming in when she did then I decided I was the opposite and was very fortunate indeed.