“what is your advice to young writers?
drink, fuck and smoke plenty of cigarettes”
― charles bukowski, hot water music
fire truck
is there
a better way
to wake
than to the smell of smoke
and see
firemen
through opaque
eyes?
(apartment building fire, elsene, brussel)
*shot with iphone 5, edited with photoshop cc, analog ex pro 2, smoke in my eyes*
belgianstreets 
now that kind of confuses my mind, I am not sure how to respond to this quote, it befuddles me. I can think of wonderful ways to wake up and that wouldn’t be one of them, but the photo signifies a lot and could be a great photo prompt for a story so I might nick it off you one day…grins x
It was actually pretty terrifying, an apartment on the ground floor of my building was gutted by fire this morning and the whole building now reeks of smoke….
wow i didnt realize it was so close or that in fact a fire was going on, very terrifying indeed, was everyone alright? x
I think the apartment was empty, in fact apart from me the whole building seemed empty….
crickey, scary stuff and much damaged? x
The flat on the ground floor is a write off but the tenants seem to be away. Most people who live here are EU politicians or officials and so only really live here when Parliament is sitting…
wow they will have quite a shock when they returni wondered what set it off xx
Looked like the fridge caught fire to me.
Thats almost a contradiction isnt it
Fridges get very cold inside and hot at the back it seems.
True scary stuff. They will have no home when they return 😦
And perhaps even better that they were not at home…
Yes indeedy very indeedy gosh x
Eek! Glad you’re okay! On New Year’s day 1996 a rental house that my parents owned burned. The tenants weren’t home at the time. When my father got in touch with one of the tenants, he informed her that their cat was saved and was being looked after by one of the firefighters. She was somewhat relieved by that news, but was freaking out about her fish, so climbed through the rubble, found the (incredibly heavy) fish tank, and dragged it home with me. Even the water (and all the other stuff in the tank) reeked of smoke. I can’t imagine getting that smell out of an entire apartment building. 😦
Wow, that sounds pretty scary also! I am on the ninth floor and the smell of smoke is even all the way up here despite the huge fans they have running to clean it all up. Glad the fish survived!
Not all of the fish survived. I could only save about half of them. The water was REALLY smoky. Because it was a holiday and nothing was open, I had a really hard time getting enough chlorine free water to fill a new bowl for them. I went door to door asking neighbours if they had bottled water. Also, I’m really bad at math. The fire was in 2006. I missed a whole decade.
You might need more than fans to get rid of the smell. You might need ozone.
What an amazing story Amy! Yes, I think something stronger is needed to get rid of the smoke, I’ve been sneezing all day!
😦 I hope the sneezing stops soon.
Thank you!!
The fire must have been a scary start to the new year, but maybe it will make you resilient… That was mean. I love the opening advice quote, which is obviously suitable not only for young writers but for everyone. Now I’m so sorry I quit smoking. I must make up with the other two activities!
Character building, not mean 😉 And yes, I think Bukowski’s advice can, and should, indeed be applied to a broader audience…
Character building is actually mean. Unless you’re a masochist. Yay to good advice!
Good advice should always be followed.
I intend to follow each detail.
Good. Very very good.
You’re absolutely right! If you smell smoke as you awake, there’s no better sight than a fireman!
It was a bad fire, the flat involved was pretty much destroyed and the whole building still smells of smoke a week later….so glad the firemen at least limited the spread…
Wow, that must have been terrifying! I have never experienced any type of house fire and hope never to *crossing fingers*.
It was scary. I was on level 9, fire on ground, alarm went off and initially I didn’t realise what it was, then opened door to lobby and pow the smell of smoke, so had to use fire stairs….
Good grief Andy! That’s awful, do they know how it started? 9 levels – it must have seemed like ages to get down from there…
It looked like the flat was empty and from the site of the equipment etc now in the garden it was some kind of electrical thing that overheated….
and yes, it was a workout 🙂
And your apartment is ok?
All good in mine.. thank you