Last night was beyond traumatic for me.
I had crawled into bed after an exhausting day and fell asleep almost instantly which is rare.
The phone rang and I almost didn't pick it up but my mother has been ill. The call was from my son Dane saying that the house in Winnipeg was on fire.
Someone unknown had woken him from a deep sleep by banging on the door. He was sleeping on the third floor of our house. He looked outside to see flames leaping around the building next door. He had to evacuate the house with no shoes or shirt into the sleeting, thick, late fall rain.
The building next door was shooting flames and the jerks had placed a scaffold at the side of our house without permission. He ran from the house with lap top, cell phone and collector vintage records in tow.
Neighbours were all around and no one offered him a place to sit or shelter. He called me because he had left his wallet in the house and was told to leave the house for the night.
We had to find him a hotel from Vancouver and guarantee it would be paid for. Many hotels in Winnipeg won't rent to young people from the town. The Holiday Inn were more than accomodating and gave us a deal.
You can bet we are very suspicious about this fire. It has now been reported by us as such.
The construction workers have been harrassing Dane and his roomate for week refering to them as "parking lot boys", saying that our house was " going to be plowed down to a parking lot". The manager of the project came over and offered Dane money for the house at least sixty thousand dollars less than market.
Dane was able to check out the house today and the damage seems minimal which we won't know until the inspectors go through.
The good part is that he is safe and sound and enjoying himself in a nice hotel with good food and drink. Tomorrow he writes his mid-term exams.
I ,in the meantime, am wrestling with insurance and trying to get ready for my show at Numen.
I may work with pyro textiles but I don't want a real fire in my house. I use nothing but safe techniques and never burn in the house.
3 comments:
OMG THAT SUCKS! Dealing with it from such a distance would be nervewracking!So glad your son is okay and safe. From experience, living through that is hard, but it does pass. I wish you smooth sailing with all that it entails, and hope that your show goes even smoother. Hugs!
thankfully everyone is safe! I'm appalled at the support your son received from neighbors though -- I live in Winnipeg too, and have always thought of people as helpful and supportive.... contact me via email if there's something I can do here that would help :-)
Arlee and Quilt Pixie,
How very nice!
Everything is o.k. now except for the details.
My son is safe and there is only a little damage to the house.
We have found the people in the "Peg" to be just great. Maybe they don't do so well at 3:00am like the rest of us.
Patricia
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