Los Otros

It seems that no one else wants to blog!!....or maybe it’s because I’m the only one with news?(teehee, as Þ. would say) Well, in fact I (we) do have some news, that Úlla and Manu already know about—last Thursday morning when Darri and I came home from his getting a haircut, we found an incredibly bad smell outside of the house. And when we went in to check our house, we found that it seemed to be coming from the basement. We ran down and checked the rooms and garage and then when we opened the fire door into Freysi’s apt., it was full of noxious smoke! I yelled for Darri to call the emergency number and then ran through to Freysi’s front door to open it, on the way checking the little laundry room next to it, thinking he must have left a machine on (my first thought, as once our washing machine had caught on fire). Darri meets me and hands me his phone, which he has already dialed! I try to be coherent and wonder at the same time if I’m remembering our new address....and then his phone dies. So, I pull out mine to remake the call, that there is smoke but no apparent flames. And so we wait, and it seems like many many minutes and I decide to run back in to see what’s causing the smoke, and that’s when I discover that his bed is “on fire” from his little reading lamp that was lying on it’s side, and now surrounded by a bed of glowing “coals”. So I run out again, the firemen are still not here and I yell for Darri to get a bucket of water and run in to unplug and grab the lamp and throw it outside, and then quickly back in to throw the water that Darri brought onto the “coals”. (Each time I covered my mouth and nose with my teeshirt and tried not to breathe.) So, the police people arrived first, and then the firetruck, and even an ambulance (and Darri told me afterwards that it hadn’t been even 10 mintues like I felt it to have been). Right before they came, Darri thought we should call Freyr to let him know, and he came shortly after they had pulled out his bed and bedclothes and thrown them into the yard and then set up a powerful fan to get rid of the smoke. I was asked 3 times if I’d spent too much time time inside, inhaling too much smoke. No I was ok (though my throat did feel a little raw). This bed had probably been burning for about an hour and was already getting through the bottom mattress without bursting into flames (“it said fire-retardent on it” Darri told me afterwards), and basically would have become a real fire if we hadn’t come home at that time. As it was, the cheap foam mattress became a toxic cloud of cyanide, and if this had happened while Freyr was asleep, well, it can kill you after breathing it for 5 minutes (or so they told us). Instead, everything stinks (and I mean everything in his apartment!!) so badly that it makes one literally ill. And for once I’m very glad that we’ve paid all that insurance all those years, because it is taking care of everything that needs to be done. The police took the half melted lamp to be investigated (the forensic guy who came to take pictures and pick up the lamp turned out to be named Guðmundur Ásgeirsson, and when I told him my husband had the same name, he realized that this was his kids’ doctor!!....such is Iceland). The insurance company sent their guy and then had someone come soon to pick up all of Freysi’s clothes first to be cleaned. That evening someone came to pick up the burned bed and stuff outside. And the following morning 4 guys and 2 trucks came and packed up everything in his apartment and took it away to be be cleaned. And I mean everything, every little bit of what he owned, including fridge and washer and dryer. It was totally empty, as if he’d never been there!(doodoo, doodoo...!) He did manage to take his trumpets and ditty bag, but there he was with no clothes and, worse!, no computer!!. Ok, it could have been SO MUCH WORSE. He’s alive and we’re ok as is our house. He did go out and buy some new clothes, and eventually his stuff will come back, bit by bit (cleaned with ozon), and he is now living with us.....but how wierd to be without anything of one’s stuff. Ok, that’s the news, the smell is not as bad as is was around the house, and tomorrow morning they come to start cleaning the apt. top to bottom, and apparantly it takes a few days, and maybe even will need to be repainted. This our insurance pays for. I ended up throwing away my coat, it smelled so bad...Darri’s I could wash as he only went in once. Darri took 3 showers that day; I took only two. And we both had very heavy headaches. But we are so lucky.....and just to make sure, we’re planning on installing a fire-security system (where someone else keeps tabs on your house when you’re away). And Freysi’s new bed will not be a cheap one!!
Bless og góða nótt. We only have about 136 boxes of books and papers left to unpack, and there are curtains in almost all the windows now. Our tv/stereo is all set up and we have a very cosy(big!) multi-media livingroom with space for lots of people to eat without feeling crowded. And we are getting used to sleeping in the house(though events like this most recent one sure doesn’t help the dreams!!). And yes eventually I will send photos.....so off to zzzzland for me, with my book, natch. Stories abound and more will come, hopefully of the “boring” type!
ps: I think I’ll start to post newsbites from peoples’ email!! like that mole story of Freyja’s (for non-family readers....hi there Salka and Steinunn!). Of course I will ask each of you before hand.......teehee.