May 6, 2013

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?)

2 comments:

KatKit said...

wow the soot-prints are incredible! i can't believe how precise the outlines are.. funny to have this bizarre beauty (e.g. the doily print) amidst the wreckage..

saleema said...

It's true! It's kind of incredible to see the changes that were wrought over just a few hours.