Things that happened this weekend

Things that happened this weekend:

* On Thursday, the professional restoration people came to take our books and a few other sundries away for cleaning.  I don’t want to tell you how many boxes it took to cart away all our books, but between the books and just a few pieces of furniture, it filled a whole medium-sized moving truck.

* On Friday, my husband shifted the rubble in the kitchen in order to gain access to the cabinets, rescuing what could be saved.  Most of the dishes in the tipped-over dishwasher weren’t even smashed (miracle)!  But the soot in the kitchen was particularly bad…even through the cabinet doors, everything has been covered with a thick and sticky layer of soot that has turned everything a brownish-grey.  This is perhaps most alarming when it comes to my yellow KitchenAid mixer and Le Creuset cookware.  I suspect “Inferno Grey” would not be a popular choice in their rainbow of colour options.  I’m really hoping the soot will shift without major repeated interventions on my part. 

A sooty cupboard, half-emptied. (The platter on

the bottom used to be a light turquoise, like the 

circle in the middle of it where another bowl was resting.)

A lifted-up coaster leaves a white pattern in the

living room soot (somewhat less severe).

* On Friday night, we went to the Sens-Habs playoff game.  And we (Montreal) won!  But it was a real treat for me to see my hometown Ottawa Sens play, too, and it was a very welcome respite from our dirty, stressful week.  (Of last night's game, let us say nothing.)

Youppi was hanging out right 

next to us for a while. 

* On Saturday, we moved out all the stuff we are hoping to clean ourselves (i.e. all of the clothes and most of the kitchen stuff)…which filled up a whole uHaul van and then some.  Ugh.

No less than three sets of firefighters dropped by on Saturday to do walk-throughs as we were packing and moving.  I suppose they take every opportunity they have to see the remnants of a real fire.  I felt pretty pleased with myself for asking the first group of about seven guys if they wanted to help, and on their way out, they each helped --- as per my rapid opportunistic instructions: “This!” “And This!” “And This!” --- to carry all the heaviest items down the fire escape for us. 

Over the course of Saturday night and all day Sunday, I also did about eight loads of our smoky laundry, including a few sinkfuls of handwashing, which has made less of a dent than one would hope in our total combined wardrobes.  But we’re getting there. 

Sadly, reading and writing has fallen so far by the wayside amidst all this upheaval that I am almost despairing of ever picking them back up – except one of the few things I have managed to gain over the years is the ability to (at least temporarily!) stave off this kind of despair.  I have too many things I’m excited about not to start writing again soon, but now is not the time to feel bad about it.  (Right?)