MY BLOG: Every day for a year.
Day 29. ‘Chips and a firetruck.’
Home alone and I’m a bit peckish! My family had gone out for the day and at my behest, left me in charge. I only had one job on this day of 40 plus degrees Celsius. Confirm a time with the local farmer to get the grass cut and baled. Mum had left an array of food for me, but naturally, I didn’t want it. Chips were the order of the day. (Fries for my American pals). Cooking it the really old fashioned and unhealthy way, I loaded up the pot with oil and set it to super hot to expedite the process. Some hastily cut spuds, and all I had to do was wait. My tendency to ‘flight of focus’ has always been a thing and I was already bored waiting for the cracking sounds of oil to signal its ‘cookin’ state. Now in my defense, I was engrossed with reading ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ and Atticus was giving his closing argument. “The defendant is not guilty, but somebody in this courtroom is…” An explosion roared from the kitchen throwing the pot lid almost to my feet as I sat at the dining room table. Immersed in courtroom intrigue, I’d forgotten about my mundane chips.
Well and truly ablaze, I momentarily froze in fright. What do I do, what do I do, what do I do!!!! Even in my alarmed state I did at least walk outside, not run with the pot of flaming dragon breath. I turned it upside down on the front lawn and attempted to smoother it with what was left of the pot. Bits of it jumped about like little frogs, and I quickly learned using my bare feet to kill them was a bad idea. A hasty retreat to the kitchen to fetch a jug of water, but too little too late. On my return, the flames had swept up the front paddock in an ocean of terrifying red and black. I wanted to be sick, the shock of it was beyond anything I had or will likely ever experience again. A frantic call to emergency services made all the more difficult by the fact I was hyperventilating, reassured me a
I answered the phone to my dad, thinking he’d heard what had happened and was checking in. “Just me, we are on our way back. Did you get the grass seen to?” “Yeah, dad…..I did. ” 🙂
Thanks for listening
Until tomorrow,
Stevie. x
