On the 25th August 2019, Hubbie and I celebrated 30 years of wedded bliss. Son (22) presented us with a bottle of Bollinger champagne. We let it chill in the fridge all week.
The following Saturday afternoon, Hubbie and I sat like two naughty teenagers huddled up on the couch under a duvet sipping the Bolly while watching an old favourite, The Big Chill on a DVD. Son (20) walked into the living room and said, "Mum, Dad will you come outside, I have something to show you?" As I struggled to find my feet, I thought, 'Ah bless, he remembered our anniversary.'
Son stood with his friend facing us six feet back from the open front door. As Hubbie and I emerged blinking in the daylight, he gestured expansively with his right arm, "Look!" We looked left. A huge black cloud of smoke was rising up from Douglas village. I went to say, "Did you do this?" but luckily Hubbie got there first, "What is it?" Son smiled and said, "Tescos is on fire." And then cocking his head to his right said, "Can you hear that popping noise? I couldn't but I indulged him, "What is it?" His friend answered, "All the cars are on fire and that's the sound of the tyres exploding."
It turned out that a woman driving her car - an Opel Zafira - through Douglas saw smoke coming from her engine and in her panic drove into the four storey car park. Leaving her car on the 1st floor, she walked down to the information desk on the ground floor and asked for a fire extinguisher.
In all, 61 cars were destroyed. The floors above and below the burning cars buckled with the intense heat making the entire shopping centre structurally unsafe. The fire damage is eye level to the Link flyover that passes within yards of it and over the following days, the entire facade had to be covered with plastic opaque sheeting to prevent curious drivers rubbernecking to see the ghostly skeletons of the 61 cars covered in grey-white ash. The miracle is that even though it happened on a Saturday afternoon, no one was hurt. The shopping centre has been closed ever since which meant that all the people who worked in it have lost their jobs.
My son (22) showed me a tweet this morning, 'I bet the woman who burnt down Tesco car park doesn't feel as bad now as the man who ate the bat.'
A bit cruel. I once owned an Opel Zafira when I did the school run. It caught fire three times but then I sold it.
The following Saturday afternoon, Hubbie and I sat like two naughty teenagers huddled up on the couch under a duvet sipping the Bolly while watching an old favourite, The Big Chill on a DVD. Son (20) walked into the living room and said, "Mum, Dad will you come outside, I have something to show you?" As I struggled to find my feet, I thought, 'Ah bless, he remembered our anniversary.'
Son stood with his friend facing us six feet back from the open front door. As Hubbie and I emerged blinking in the daylight, he gestured expansively with his right arm, "Look!" We looked left. A huge black cloud of smoke was rising up from Douglas village. I went to say, "Did you do this?" but luckily Hubbie got there first, "What is it?" Son smiled and said, "Tescos is on fire." And then cocking his head to his right said, "Can you hear that popping noise? I couldn't but I indulged him, "What is it?" His friend answered, "All the cars are on fire and that's the sound of the tyres exploding."
It turned out that a woman driving her car - an Opel Zafira - through Douglas saw smoke coming from her engine and in her panic drove into the four storey car park. Leaving her car on the 1st floor, she walked down to the information desk on the ground floor and asked for a fire extinguisher.
In all, 61 cars were destroyed. The floors above and below the burning cars buckled with the intense heat making the entire shopping centre structurally unsafe. The fire damage is eye level to the Link flyover that passes within yards of it and over the following days, the entire facade had to be covered with plastic opaque sheeting to prevent curious drivers rubbernecking to see the ghostly skeletons of the 61 cars covered in grey-white ash. The miracle is that even though it happened on a Saturday afternoon, no one was hurt. The shopping centre has been closed ever since which meant that all the people who worked in it have lost their jobs.
My son (22) showed me a tweet this morning, 'I bet the woman who burnt down Tesco car park doesn't feel as bad now as the man who ate the bat.'
A bit cruel. I once owned an Opel Zafira when I did the school run. It caught fire three times but then I sold it.
No comments:
Post a Comment