Some bad news from last night, although let me start with the happy ending that nobody was hurt. After bible study, Shirley’s husband Tony came to fetch her as he always does, at 9 pm. She had no sooner left, and we had started with the tea, than she was in the house again, saying “fire”. There was some confusion, and then Nick rushing into the kitchen for water, and then a few of us finding containers to hold more water, to throw on their car, which had spontaneously combusted. It was an electrical fire, which started in the engine just as they were driving up the road from our house – they were as far as the church’s front door when it just went “pfft” and a flame appeared from the bonnet. They got out as quickly as they could, which was quite slow as Tony has a bad hip, plus they had collected another lady on the way who moves like a sloth due to painful joints and age, all the while worrying about the car exploding. Teddy phoned the fire department from our house, but they took ages to arrive, so in the meantime we kept running back and forth with jugs of water while the flames grew bigger, until Nick got the housepipe in the alley sorted out and was doing his best with it, all the while breathing in lungfuls of the poisonous air. We had to all get out of the manse, under the police department’s orders, which meant rousing the boys and hustling them out the house, where they were ushered to Steve’s parked car to watch from a safe (and warm) place. By the time the fire department arrived, the flames had eaten most of the interior of the car, so we knew it would be a write-off. We all just stood around outside watching helplessly, while clouds of smoke billowed out, filling the air with the stench of burning rubber. Tony put on a brave face, although he really loved the car, had had it for 22 years and loved to tinker on it. They had just paid out loads of money to get it serviced and fixed up, so it had a new lease on life, as well as ₤20 of petrol in the tank. Shirley was also a bit traumatized, but both had the external attitude of “oh well”.
School this week has been pretty good. I was feeling quite cheerful this morning, so was singing to the boys and acting a bit too weird for their liking! Aaron was overcome during the reading of “Missionary Stories” where God held back rain in Korea long enough for the American missionaries to hold a week of outreach meetings, addressing about 100,000 people over five nights – exciting story, and I would love to think that the Holy Spirit is active in Aaron’s life and causing the joy, but he reacted in the same way during “Understood Betsy” where Betsy and Molly managed to get home safely and the Putney cousins were actually proud of Betsy, and how pleased she was…he and I were both nearly in tears! Caleb’s eyes went watery too, but only because he was looking at my teary eyes, he said.
During tenzees we went to the schoolyard to have a look at the burned-out car which is being temporarily stored there. We had left our baby dove outside in the sun, where an adult dove had come to eat some of the food we left there. Our little dove did its usual shivering act which it does anytime an adult is near, and we always think any interaction with other doves is good for it. It flew quite far this morning, out of my hand onto the step, which was halfway across the yard, and although it didn’t achieve any lift, it certainly maintained a good horizontal drift. When we got back into our yard 10 minutes later after looking at the car, our dove and the adult were nowhere to be seen. We looked all over the yard, in the grass, and even in the house, but it’s just vanished. The options are: 1) a cat took it; 2) it suddenly learned how to fly up and away, perhaps with the encouragement of the adult, although I’m sure the lack of tail feathers makes this an unlikely explanation; 3) it is still in the yard somewhere and we can’t find it. Not that I mind that the bird is gone, but I don’t like not knowing what happened to it. When your baby flaps its wings and leaves the nest, you want to see it fly safely away – not simply turn your back and have it disappear on you!
School this week has been pretty good. I was feeling quite cheerful this morning, so was singing to the boys and acting a bit too weird for their liking! Aaron was overcome during the reading of “Missionary Stories” where God held back rain in Korea long enough for the American missionaries to hold a week of outreach meetings, addressing about 100,000 people over five nights – exciting story, and I would love to think that the Holy Spirit is active in Aaron’s life and causing the joy, but he reacted in the same way during “Understood Betsy” where Betsy and Molly managed to get home safely and the Putney cousins were actually proud of Betsy, and how pleased she was…he and I were both nearly in tears! Caleb’s eyes went watery too, but only because he was looking at my teary eyes, he said.
During tenzees we went to the schoolyard to have a look at the burned-out car which is being temporarily stored there. We had left our baby dove outside in the sun, where an adult dove had come to eat some of the food we left there. Our little dove did its usual shivering act which it does anytime an adult is near, and we always think any interaction with other doves is good for it. It flew quite far this morning, out of my hand onto the step, which was halfway across the yard, and although it didn’t achieve any lift, it certainly maintained a good horizontal drift. When we got back into our yard 10 minutes later after looking at the car, our dove and the adult were nowhere to be seen. We looked all over the yard, in the grass, and even in the house, but it’s just vanished. The options are: 1) a cat took it; 2) it suddenly learned how to fly up and away, perhaps with the encouragement of the adult, although I’m sure the lack of tail feathers makes this an unlikely explanation; 3) it is still in the yard somewhere and we can’t find it. Not that I mind that the bird is gone, but I don’t like not knowing what happened to it. When your baby flaps its wings and leaves the nest, you want to see it fly safely away – not simply turn your back and have it disappear on you!
No comments:
Post a Comment