High Drama

I had intended posting today, but not quite this...

'Twas yesterday when I was out and about in Haddington (Peter Potter Gallery) and St Boswells (Tweedside Gallery), that Hugh's plans for the afternoon were shelved rather rapidly....
He'd lit the stove and gone on to do other things. When he returned to the kitchen there were lots of sparky noises emanating from said stove. Outside the road was thick with smoke. He moved dogs from kitchen (sensible man) and called the Fire Brigade.

Two hours later the fire in the chimney was extinguished. There was no internal damage. They advised Hugh to have the chimney swept again (it was only done a month ago) before lighting the fire. So that was duly booked for Monday

This morning before breakfast I investigated the occasional ticking noise from the stove and lo, the flue pipe was warm to the touch. There were wisps of smoke emerging from the chimney.

After a little contemplation, and breakfast, the Borders' finest firefighters were summoned once more. Green Watch from Hawick came rushing to the rescue, lights flashing, sirens scaring sheep and cattle for miles around. The fire had reignited from a pile of soot in a recess in the chimney (That's the short version of the saga). Another two hours elapsed as water was trickled down the chimney, the stove pipe was removed, a hole in the wall chipped out with a hammer and cold chisel, and the offending soot removed.

The fire is out. I am fairly confident of that. Green Watch departed with a dozen eggs for their lunch (they'd already missed breakfast on another call, I think). Now we await the loss adjuster appointed by our insurers before we can think about finding someone to fix us back together again...

We were very fortunate. It's only after the event that you start to consider the might-have-beens...