h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

There was a small fire in one of apartments near Fort Gosho. I wasn't affected, thank Bob (apart from having to stand outside in the freezing cold watching smoke coming out of the eaves, being hypnotised by all the lights from the six fire engines that showed up and being thankful there was very little wind to fan any flames), but four of the apts at the other end of the building are pretty much trashed, not so much by fire (I didn't see any flames, but lots of smoke) but by the fire brigade pulling down ceilings and walls to find the fire, which apparently was between the floor and ceiling of two apartments and was more of a smoulder really. That suggests an electrical fire, so the fire people aren't releasing the building until they've finished their investigations, and the power's been off since about 9pm so all the stuff in my fridge and freezer will be no good if I can't get it into another fridge soon It might not be so bad - the temperature was below freezing last night, and when the fire people took us into our apts to pick up things like a change of clothing I opened all the windows because it was a bit smoky in there.

The apartment manager let us stay in vacant apartments last night, sleeping on an inflatable mattress from the Red Cross who were fantastic. I think there were almost more of them than there were firefighters, handing out bedding and suchlike, and a little pack with things like toothbrush and toothpaste, soap, a flannel.

Oh, and shampoo and a comb. Which I have no use for

So I might get a new apartment from this because it looks as if the entire building - 14 apartments - will have to be refurbished, even though there's nothing apparently wrong with eight or ten of them. And since there aren't any available studio flats/efficiencies in the complex it'll have to be a one-bedroom, and since it was the company's responsibility I imagine they'll have to let me have it at the same rent on my current apt. Which I think I'd like to move back into when it's ready.

It could have been so much worse. Right now there are people all over Britain who are having to leave their flooded homes because of the storms (did you see those pictures of the railway at Dawlish? ). There are four people from my building who are having to sort through what's left of their belongings this morning. A few years ago there was a fire in a complex on the other side of the road and the whole building was razed to the ground - the people there lost everything, including pets. And 30 years ago I lost a load of stuff when we got flooded by a burst pipe in a flat two floors above us.

But man, I haven't had a cup of for almost 24 hours

Glad you weren't directly effected.

Your food should stay cold for a few days since you won't be opening the fridge, especially with the ambient temps being so low. If you have any icecream in the freezer, open it up and see if it's still mostly frozen. If so, all your other food should be OK. Even if the power comes back on and refreezes the icecream, you can tell by its texture whether it melted.

I think the food in the fridge will mostly be okay, at least for a day or two, but I don't see the power being turned back on for the foreseeable future so the freezer food might not do so well, unless they find me a new apartment today and I transfer it all to the new fridge.

There was a chicken casserole in the oven when I had to leave. It was just about cooked when the power went off, and although it's real cold in the apartment it's not refrigerator cold so that will need to be refrigerated pretty soon or I'll lose four days worth of dinner

I'm relieved that you're safe Gosho but sorry to hear about the circumstances. At least it sounds as if you'll be able to have somewhere to live in the short term. Will you have internet?

After water, light and heat, the internet is the next life's essential. I'll be thinking about you and hoping it all goes as well as it can.

I will have internet... eventually. I didn't find out until around 5pm yesterday which apt I'd be moving to, and then had only an hour or so to pull some belongings out of the old apt (including the PC, and other important things like tea, teapot, milk, kettle and beer , although I forgot the tea strainer ) before they locked down the building for the night, and then being so cream crackered (and not having had a shower for 24 hours ) I didn't call the ISP. I'll do that today. Their number is 24/7 - hopefully that includes the dept that takes care of transferring service.

In the meantime I can use the wifi at the little communal area at the complex office, which is where I am now, and although this is a huge hardship, in the evening I can also walk across the road to the bar and use their wifi.

Oh dear, how sad, never mind

Well that's interesting. I called them just now and the nice person on the other end said their records show there's still service here at the new apt from the person who recently moved out and he suggested plugging in the modem... and voila, here I am Result

Wish I'd thought of that earlier (but why would I?).

Well, I'm kind of late, but and ...

Ideally you'd have to pay no rent at all until you get back to your old place, it's such an inconvienience! (never sure how to spell that damn word...)

Ideally, yes that would be nice, but it's very unlikely in this corporate world with targets and cost-cutting and profit margins. Those come first these days. What I've actually got is a bigger apartment (because there weren't any similar to mine that were vacant) at the same rent for four months, which is something. When that four-month lease runs out this place will revert to market rent which I probably won't be able to afford, so hopefully the building my old apt is in will be ready for people to move into by then, and they'd better offer it to me at the same rate as the 13-month lease I signed on it barely a month ago

Which means moving again. That'll be twice in four months. Before that I only moved twice in eight years

Moving is horrible - I moved 3 times in five years when I was 'upsizing'. Now I've been here for about 15/16 years and will probably die here...

I can see the attraction of finding somewhere you like so much you want to spend the rest of your life there. All those years stretching out ahead of you with plans to plant a fruit tree, a rockery or a cactus garden and enough time to see them come to their full glory

And also having the freedom to build a collection of something delicate and valuable, a library of many, many books, a model railway in the loft or cellarful of ageing beer, in the knowledge that you'll never have to dismantle, pack and move any of them

I baked my first loaf of bread in the new place today

I'm screwed. I had to put all my beer glasses on top of the two low bookcases I have because there's less cupboard space in this kitchen than in the other one (odd - this kitchen is smaller and with less storage than the other one, despite it being a bigger apt ). The bookcases are each four feet long and a bit more than a foot deep, and the glasses completely fill the tops of both of them, and that's with the ones I use most often resting in the dishwasher, which I almost never wash dishes in - it's just a glorified draining board.

I have too many glasses

About 80

That's an easy predicament to get into. I also have very limited cabinet space in my kitchen. I have nowhere near 80 beer glasses, but I still have room for no more. Most of those I do have were freebies and feature beers that I don't particularly care for, so I could easily give them away or just toss them. The only glass I'd keep just for the label is my one McEwan's glass. I still miss that beer. (It'll probably be the first beer I drink when I get to Edinburgh.)

It's almost time to move The Beast out of the old place and into the new. May Bob have mercy on us

Every time I moved I got less storage and a smaller kitchen. I went from one bed flat nice size, two bed flat slightly smaller but manageable, to 2 bed house tiny, with no storage, and half the kitchen has to be in the dining room.

And no I don't like it here so much I want to stay here forever, I just got sick of moving, and now I can't afford to move out. I did plant a small apple tree in the middle of the garden a few years ago which is already annoying when I hang washing on the line on a windy day, even thogh it's not as tall as me yet. That is to force me to move out before it takes over the garden.

Now the fun task of alphabetising around 1,000 CDs It shouldn't be too bad actually - I was pretty careful about how I pulled them off the shelves, put them into bags and boxes and then stacked them on the floor here at the new place.

Probably.

I've finally got the books back on the shelves... and noticed for the first time what a nerd and a I must seem to anyone who browses them. A whole shelf of Dune, a whole shelf of Tolkien, a whole shelf of various sci-fi, plus plenty of Pratchett, DNA, William Gibson, Banks (both Ian and Iain) and a smattering of graphic novels.

What a dweeb

Heh... Sounds like mine. Bookshelf of Heinlein, check. Bookshelf of Pratchett, check. First editions of Adams, check. Bookshelf of science books, check. Bookshelf of comics including Edward Gorey and Charles Addams, check. Bookshelf of religion and philosophy, check. Bonus knick knacks on shelves including LotR bookends, Gollum, various Hopi Kachinas, a sliderule, a glass octopus and a baby smoking an incense cigarette, check.

Oh, did I omit to mention the 80 or so logo beer glasses sitting atop the shelves? No, I think those are chronicled a few posts ago

There is a small religion/philosophy section too, including Hymns Ancient and Modern, The Tao Te Ching and The Book of Mormon. Which may surprise a few people given my antipathy to organised religion.

Until they see the signed copy of The God Delusion