Recovery - Day 31 - Fire

Sunday 19th Mar 2006

Currently listening to: War by U2

!FIRE!

Ok, not in my home, or even in a way that put in me in danger, but one that affected my day.

It's not often that there is a Sunday that I don't go to church if I'm at home. The only exceptions are if I'm ill or recovering from an operation. So probably about twice in 6 years! However, this morning I got a call from our Worship Leader at about 8:15am. I thought I was going to be reminded that I was needed to play bass (as I'm often late and there had been some confusion over who was going to play), but instead I was told that the meeting had been cancelled due to a fire in the carpet factory next door.

Apparently someone at the early morning prayer meeting had noticed the fire and called the fire brigade at about 7:30ish. Loads of fire engines then turned up and it was thought safer not to have 150 people arriving next door! So instead of going to church I arranged to meet some of my cell group in the pub for breakfast. By the time we got down there the smoke from the fire was billowing all over Penge. Really dirty black smoke as well; it smelt terrible. The roads surrounding the fire were all shut off and more and more emergency vehicles kept arriving. Due to Penge being a hub (ahem) of local bus routes, the bus people were out in force as well, arranging diversions.

The factory itself apparently contained pressurised containers which meant that the railway line next to the factory was also shut. This is the line that the Eurostar runs on, and that many people get to work in the morning, so hopefully it'll be open by tomorrow.

So, after turning up to the pub when it opened and being the first customers (drink bought - Tea) I settled down to an excellent breakie. Cooked by my very own sister who is slaving away in the pub whilst going through college (again!). By the time we'd finished this the smoke had died down but the streets were still all cornered off.

I spent the rest of the day staying in and watching the TV and doing boring domestic stuff, but I was told the fire was still going at about 8pm. I don't think the church was damaged at all, although I'm sure I'll find out soon enough.

The disruption to the normal Sunday routine has been strange. I've been checking the news for reports but although this is probably the most interesting thing to happen in Penge for a while, I guess in the wider world it's only really affected some transportation.....