Not every visitor is welcome on the last day of 2006!

Sometimes there are people you just don’t want to see on the last day of the year and sometimes there are people you don’t even want to meet for the first time on the last day of the year. Unfortunately I couldn’t avoid them, so I had to welcome the visitors, meet a lot of new people and I wasn’t even dressed yet!

Here’s what happened.
Last Sunday morning, 31 December, I was working on my little “Happy New Year” project (see photo previous post). I took a little break after a while and made myself a cup of coffee. As I walked back to my computer I heard a strange crackling sound. ‘Fireworks’ I thought to myself (they had been at it since 7 that morning) while I walked back to my computer. When I was sitting down, I noticed a strange glow, or a reflection of a glow I should say, on my computer screen. In wonder I turned around and asked myself ‘what on earth is emitting that strange light?’ Well, it didn’t take me long to figure that one out. The light was coming from my hedge! ‘Huh, there aren’t any lights in my conifer hedge!!’ I was stunned for one second but then soon realised my hedge was on fire……..FIRE!! OH MY GOD……FIRE!! The first thing that came to mind was WATER! So I grabbed a bucket, but while I was filling it, it occurred to me that I wasn’t going to extinguish this fire by myself because the strong winds blew the flames in my direction. Next step, call 112 (the Dutch 911). ‘Which service do you need?’ I heard the operator ask. Fire department (of course I said it in Dutch: Brandweer!). ‘Hold please’ she said. When I got the fire department on the line they said they were en route, because apparently other people (3) had called them also. Just a few minutes later I heard and saw them coming, sirens and lights roaring.
In the meantime some of my neighbours where throwing buckets of water onto the blazing flames. I was so happy to see the flames dying right before my eyes that I almost forgot about the whole fire department. When they arrived they took over the situation, extinguished the last flames in my hedge and the new flames which were starting to emerge from the roof of my shed now. Tssk that was one hungry fire! Well, I guess the wind helped a lot too. Luckily it was all over in a few minutes, but to be honest, it felt like hours. After they checked inside the shed (and made sure most of the stuff that was in there was wet) they gave the all clear!

When the fire was out, I walked out of the garden and was surprised to see a lot of people there. Neighbours of course, but also a lot of people I had never seen before in my life…. And all I could think was ‘oh my god, I am standing here in my work-out clothes, no face on, my hair is a chaos …..I look a mess!’ But no one seemed to notice. Before I knew it I was talking to the police who had apprehended two boys who had started the fire. Apparently they had been experimenting with fireworks. One of them had suggested putting a ground bloom in my hedge because they were curious about the effect the spinning thing would have in a hedge. So long story short, they started experimenting and before they knew it my hedge caught fire. Not the effect they were hoping for. And that wasn’t the end of it. Turned out the car of one of my neighbours was damaged by the fire too. *sigh*.
The next hour, or maybe hours, where spend in the company of the firemen (I know it’s the dream of many women but the experience was a bit of a disappointment, I can assure you. ;) They were very friendly though), police, offenders and parents, neighbours and know-it-alls. Not a relaxed way to end 2006! But hey, in the end no one got hurt, it was only a hedge (and a part of my shed) that got burned and we all got to celebrate the beginning of 2007 without further problems!

All that is left to do now is deal with the insurance companies……also not very relaxed :( Oh, and in case you are wondering…….this is what left of the hedge.
And this is the best side; the back is completely burned away :(