My poor car, on the news.
My car was burned to a crisp last week....
http://alpes.france3.fr/info/la-clusaz--incendie-maitrise---7209575...
that's what's left of it. Pretty disheartening, only had it since this summer, and I loved it.
Was going to work, drove up, and into the garage, luckily there was nobody else parked there... as I left the parking, I looked back, and saw a small light at the front of the car, on the wall... I thought it strange that I would have just left my parking lights on, as I'm a bit if a nutter about turning things off, and securing my car, so, i went back, and "turned off the lights"... looking at ther wall, it was still on, went to the front of the car, and saw a "glow" through the grill, can still see it now, in my head, a light yellow glow.
Ran up to hotel, took a fire extinguisher, and as I ran back down the ramp, I was thinking, "yeah, it'll be a b**** getting the car out of the garage to get it repaired." little did I know, a couple of hours later, it would be a wreck.
Tried to open the bonnet, but it was stuck, completely shut, so I still went with the extinguisher, put a good coating of foam anywhere I could, to try smother it, but, extinguisher ran out, and it was clear without getting the bonnet open, there was no way the fire would die. So, I called the pompiers.
By the time they got there, there was thick black smoke coming out the entrance of the carpark, I explained where it was, and what it was, and went about trying to work as normal, after all, the guests were starting to come down for breakfast, and checking out. In the following few minutes, firetruck after firetruck came, and the inspector, and all sorts of "technical" looking folk.
A fireman came up and told me that we had to stop the guests from going outside, because of the toxic smoke, and also to move everone in the hotel to the far end of the building, and prepare for possible explosions. Possible explosions???? Turns out there was a storage of fueltanks, garden equipment and other nice stuff in a garage not far from my burning car, which they were expecting to go up at any minute.
He then said the fire itself was out, but the heat and smoke needed to be dealt with. Apparently in the other hotel, the smoke went up the liftshaft, and into the cellar, and started to go in the kitchen. The power was cut in both hotels, so we did breakfast, lunch prep, and some check-outs with no ovens, no lights, no computer, no beer pump, nothing. frontal lamps on our heads.candles everywhere.
When they finally pulled out the wreck, all the staff of both hotels were standing along the resto window, taking pictures, saying "aiiii, la VACHE", and trying to "be there" for me. I was gutted, but, went along with the triviality of it all.
We're back to having one car."at least you've got another one" they all say.
Funny thing is, while the firemen were putting it out, and all that, France 3 came to the scene, and filmed a little, they put the real story on their site, and ran a small clip on the Rhone-alps channels.
Then, other newsfolk, without having been at the scene, all changed the times, the number of firemen on the scene, and details of the fire itself. Funny old world, isn't it.
Gladly, the insurance company have been helpful, because I think if this happened in Ireland, I might have had to go to court to prove I did not start the fire myself.
Still waiting for someone to tell me what caused it, but my guess is, either the water pump was fritzed, or an electrical fire. I can't help thinking that if I had 5 minutes more of drive to work, i would have been in a bigger mess.
So, if I've been away, that's why. I work, and on my time off in the afternoons, I talk to insurance company, and try to get paperwork sorted out. No fun and games. I'd rather be on the slopes.
Add a Comment
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Comment by celeste vogel-dillon on February 3, 2012 at 21:07 -
opps!!! was in the States for Dec and it was really warm , new years eve we were sitting outside a restaurant in short sleeved t-shirts!!!!! The only snow we had was in Washington , first two days were so warm , overnight the temps dropped and the third day we had snow --- went back to NJ and the weather was warm!!!!!!!!!! But they had a terrible snow storm in October , caused a lot of destruction as the trees still had their leaves , so a lot of branches were torn from the trees -- it was still quite evident when we were there -- and that was four weeks after they had the end on a huricane that caused a lot of flooding etc .
Things not so good back home --- with this freeze. We are still piling on the wood to keep warm here!!!LOL
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Comment by Zoe Buckley on February 3, 2012 at 19:46 -
lol, I see crying into pints as graceful, I'm more talking about the b*******, name calling, and complaining about every factor other than their own gameplay, in times of loss. We had a lot of that from the munster boys back in the day.
Wicklow mountains, ahhh, I've only ben up around there once. was fab. We try to visit new places every year when we get home.
As for the cold here, I read earlier that the pull on electricity is worse this week than the cold snap in december.
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Comment by celeste vogel-dillon on February 3, 2012 at 18:25
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Yep , that sometimes happens to me even on FB and Then when i look it is QUOI????? it is only -10 here but feckin freezing --- have had the heating on all day and the fires lit --- I have never seen as much snow in my life as i have since coming to the south of France!!!!LOL --- and I was told by OH --- we will have fabulous weather in France!!!!Aggggggg!!!!
As for the night ski --- Mmmmm!!! i remember when I was a leader in Sea Scouts and we would go on a snow quest up the Wicklow mountains --
- we only found it once !!!!!(snow I mean) so instead we would take them on a night hike !!!! and they would moan and moan --- but it was good fun!!!!
I have always supported Rugby and Skerries is a very rugby town and we have friends who have played for Ireland , -- but I have some cousins who played for Munster and follow munster so it is a bit of fun --- Rob -- hasn't a clue about Rugby or football --- but he now switches on the tv to watch and even knows when they score --- and yep I have seen a number of rugby players crying into their pints!!!!:))))))
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Comment by Zoe Buckley on February 3, 2012 at 16:33
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lol, I kept getting error messages, and so, kept re-trying. Sorry. Eventually I gave up, had a beer, and went to bed, only to wake up to the horror of seeing it all posted.
The snow is good this season, yes, this time last year, it was almost over. It is cold though, I will say that, -20 or thereabouts at night. Tomorrow night we're supposed to do night ski under the full moon, only I'm not sure I'll go.
I only remember rugby when I log on to facebook. The odd neighbour will remind me when we have an international coming up, but none of them would know I was from Munster. At the same time, when I lived in Ireland, I saw them sort of as sore losers. Perhaps it's because I knew half the team.
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Comment by celeste vogel-dillon on February 2, 2012 at 18:09
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yep Zoe!!! it was a grounhog day , I think i received it ten times --- thought you had an overactive finger on the comment button!!!!!LOL Last time we were in Treshers we thought the quality had gone down. Don't know the kilaloe side -- although my daughter goes there surfing. You should be having a great season there with all the snow--- been snowing and thawing here since Sat. No electricity here today ,so the fires and stoves going all day am so looking forward to the summer______ looking forward to the Rugby this weekend --- most of my family are Munster supporters and i support Leinster(although truth be known i support munster as well) so there will be a lot of slagging going on -----
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Comment by Zoe Buckley on February 2, 2012 at 17:25
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Dunno what happenned yesterday with my posting, but,jesus, blow up SFN much?? haha. I hope you didn't get notification mails for every one of those messages!.
Kilaloe and Birdhill are a lot quieter now, it's true, but that is a nice thing, i suppose. I think the antique shop might be gone, they used to sell a lot of crystal and knitwear.... My grandparents used to have their house slap bang on the road that goes round the back of the coopers, but the council bought them out about 50 years ago to build that road.
The lakeside hotel in Kilaloe is good for a meal if your people are passing by and wanted a change from the threshers.
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Comment by celeste vogel-dillon on February 2, 2012 at 11:21
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small world Zoe. always loved stopping in Birdhill and looking over the Shannon. I can imagine it is much quieter there now , but it is our favoured place to stop on a trip to Kerry. Do they still have the antique shop beside Treshers? I would say their trade fell off a good bit. last time I was there they had a lot of asian waitresses. yes this is a trip down memory lane.
Where are you Barbara?
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Comment by Zoe Buckley on February 2, 2012 at 0:27
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Nice story, Barbara... So, you've got yer own resto now?? How wonderful. Must look it up, I don't get to move around a lot during the seasons, but might one day be in the area, and feel peckish... Whereabouts are you?
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Comment by Zoe Buckley on February 2, 2012 at 0:11
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Celeste, the castle oaks house hotel, I used to work there, years ago, I did all my training there in the early days, lol> The coopers is across from the threshers, yes, very nice places... this is a trip down memory lane,lol. My grandad's folk came from around Listowel, i think. It's all changed now, birdhill is no longer on the map because of the new motorway. My grandparents have a nursery after birdhill,selling trees and shrubs, and they say nobody passes anymore, with the new road...
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Comment by barbara deane on January 31, 2012 at 18:09
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Well Jonathon Hayes comes from Cratloe...on to London and became a pretty
good chef.Met another chef called Barbara Deane and ventured into the
restaurant world developing his culinary skills and interest.
Then Clos des Saveurs here in France.
But he is very happy with a guitar in his hand.
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