Yo Ho. Lilian. Good to hear from you. Why are you sending us CHRISTmas and new year greetings now? Surely you’ll be on before CHRISTmas. It’s about three weeks away. You always come on at CHRISTmas time. No excuses now. IOU a pm and I will write it. I don’t often have much news thank goodness but I have some tonight.
In mid November my car was fully serviced and passed the MOT. On Monday I came home and reversed the car into the garage. As I got out the engine fan was on. I looked back at the car and saw a puff of smoke coming from under my bonnet. I thought I don’t like that so I went up the back to a man in his forties who usually tells me what the problem is. He doesn’t fix it but he tells me what’s wrong. He said I CANT HELP YOU TONIGHT. I GETTING CHEMOTHERAPY. He had just found out last month he needed it. Aw. I felt so sorry. I came back to my house and thick grey smoke was pouring out of the garage. I went into the house and put the leads on my dogs and brought them into the living room in case we needed to get out quickly. The window wrapped and someone shouted FREDA (you don’t call me Freda} GET THE DOGS AND GET OUT. I went out the front door by myself to see if it was any worse. I fully intended to get the hose and put the fire out myself but someone had rung the fire brigade and they had just arrived. I was glad when I saw the thick dense dark grey smoke. The men were excellent. They brought the car out. I said IS MY GARAGE DAMAGED. They said they didn’t know until the smoke cleared. They sucked the smoke out with equipment. When it was over they said IF WE HAD ARRIVED ONE MINUTE LATER YOUR ROOF WOULD HAVE GONE ON FIRE. THERE ARE THREE OIL TANKS SURROUNDING YOUR GARAGE WHICH WOULD HAVE GONE ON FIRE AND THEN YOUR HOUSE. YOU WERE VERY BLESSED. They said LUCKY. I say BLESSED. There was no warning. No unusual noises, no lights came on.
I want you all to know how quickly this all happened. A man once showed me a shop where a woman left her two children strapped in the car while she went in for milk. When she came out the car was on fire. One child was killed and the other child was scarred for life.
BELIEVE ME IT HAPPENS FAST. NEVER LEAVE A CHILD IN THE CAR ALONE FOR ONE SECOND. When the electrics go the doors can jam. My boot is locked shut and can’t be opened. It’s only a tin can on wheels. No one was hurt. No structural damage done. GOD blessed and protected me. My neighbours brought me 3 litres of milk, a bag of potatoes, a box of chocolates and a tin of biscuits. People think when your engine goes on fire it gives you an appetite.