Whilst we are on the subject...of fireplaces,....a few years back, I sold a Hunter woodburning stove with back boiler to a friend of mine,..I delivered it to him, and we huffed and puffed it up two flights of stairs and into his recently converted attic,,,I installed it in the inglenook fireplace,fitted a length of enamel flue up the chimney,..it was only a temporary measure, until we could fit a flue liner,the back boiler was not operational at this time,...my friend was eager to get it fired up,I told him,as long as he did,nt go crazy with the heat,he could use it,..and i would come back the next week,and plumb in the boiler,and fit the flue liner,
A week later, I drove to his house,whilst on the way, I was passed by 2 Fire engines...that had all lights flashing,...when I got to the village he stayed in, the main street was cordonned off, by police barriers, and the fire brigade were dealing with a fire,...I made my way,to his house on foot...I went down a small alley, anf climbed the outside stair then arrived at his door, I entered,then climbed the internal stair to the attic......The chaos that I found...was and still is ..the funniest sights i have ever seen,
Graeme and 3 of his friends and Vincent,..a white Alsatian,,,were in the room,they were covered in a wet sooty sludge from head to toe,everything in the room was covered the dog was black,as was Graeme and his 3 friends,and his suite,carpets ..everything,they were sitting on a long sofa, like 4 Black and White minstrels, all i could see was their eyes and their pink mouths...the rest of them was covered in soot
What had happened was, they had all been toking on M.A.D,s...and had the woodburner well fired up, and were burning wood, old Doc Martin boots,...and anything else that would burn...the chimney had caught fire, and up it went...now chimney fires burn like Jet Engines...a lot of noise, and flames..shoot up the chimney...but as they were all stoned..they never heard it,...
When the fire brigade arrived, they just put up the hydraulic platform, and stuck the fire hose down the chimney...Well you can imagine what happened down in the room...when the water hit the soot..and the sludge hit the room with 4 stoned freaks and a white dog sitting there, enjoying themselves...even now as I write, i,m LOL,........
