After the poison

No need to panic, although I did a bit this morning. Due to only fleeting visits to the village in the last month or so we never bothered to fire up the pottery stove, as it needs a good few days to get up to speed when you first light it after a long layoff. This week we will be here right through, so I decided whatever happens I want my real fire. On the other hand the weather looked singularly unsuitable for a first firing of a large stove: wet, mild and still. Still, I couldn't wait and after packing it with some packing paper Roy put in there for safekeeping when we had the mouse saga, plus some small bits of wood I put a match to it. It caught very quickly, but then started smoking like never before. I sort of expected it, but within a few minutes it filled not just the lounge but the whole house with acrid, choking white smoke. I didn't twig first, but after a while it became obvious that the white stuff that Roy put in there was not paper, but some man made material and now that was poisioning us both. Every time I tried to blow on it, the smoke made my eyes smart and my lungs choke.

I put on a mask, but that didn't help. The only solution was to empty the stove, which I managed by wearing oven gloves and throwing handfuls of the stuff into a basket with Roy rushing out into the garden to dump it. Needless to say that to scoop up the stuff I had to practically stick my head into the stove, so the amount of poison breathed in is anybody's guess. In the middle of all this the post lady came and I had to profusely apologise for poisoning her as well.

Once the stove was empty I opened every single door and window to get rid of the smoke, thus saying good-bye to all the heat we have accumulated since yesterday afternoon. Still, I think we needed oxygen to clear our lungs as best we could.

Finally and stubbornly I relit the fire with newspaper, kindling and oak logs and now (as you can see on the pictures) we have a roaring fire in the stove and the house is warming up again.

We had a roast lunch, which was delicious. I know it's Monday, but when you are retired every day is Sunday, isn't it? Roy had roast pork with gravy, roast potatoes and broccoli, I had a large plate of roast and boiled vegetables (potatoes, peppers, onions, garlic and broccoli) with mint sauce, yum, yum!!! I am now off to do some paperwork, filing and internet banking, after which I might sit in front of the TV and have a snooze.