Were we scared or shaken up by the neighbours' fire on Sunday?

People have asked this.  And no, not really.  There wasn't any danger to us from the fire in the outbuildings. The only danger to us was if the cypress tree had fallen our way.  Realistically, it wouldn't have fallen on our place, but it would have got one or two of the units opposite us and almost certainly spread onto the drive.  And then we wouldn't have been able to get out. Much more sensible to go while the way was clear.  And that is what the Fire Safety advice is.  If you're going, go early. As it happens, it didn't fall (but it's not looking very happy!).  None of the other trees caught fire, which might have been interesting. And we haven't had any smoke damage to our place.  I've had to re-wash the clothes that were out on the line and, until the heavy rain this morning, it smelled very smoky outside. But that's no real bother.

I realise that the list of things I grabbed on the way out seems paltry, but it was things that you need if you should lose everything else.  Passports because they are a primary form of ID (and Jim's bridging visa is attached to his). Wallets because they have your driving licence (another primary form of ID) and access to money. Phones so you can contact people.  Laptop in my case because that's where most of the photos are, plus all the documentation for Jim's residency application.  iPad because it has a vast collection of e-books stored on it.  Lindsey says I should have taken the file with the original documents, like birth certificates, wedding certificate and so on.  She's absolutely right. They are now in a bag ready to be taken if we have to leave in a hurry.

Everything else? Well of course, there are things that I would miss but nothing that is actually irreplaceable.  We are insured against fire and other disasters.  And I have started again before.  It's kind of fun in many ways.  Although if my china collection went I might be forced to start a completely new one.  Would be expensive, though.  The pretty plates and serving dishes and so on that I had my eye on were in a gallery in Nagoya in Japan :-D

And now it's all good.  Apart from whatever was in the shed that (mysteriously) spontaneously combusted, and the poor cypress tree. And whatever other shrubbery was damaged.  I've haven't been along for a sticky yet