Page 48 - It's a Rum Life Book One "In the Beginning 1947 to 1960"

and molten plastic contained in a huge hole in the centre of my
aircraft carrier flight –deck!

FIREMEN THIS TIME
Apart from setting the garden shed alight one Sunday
afternoon with a short circuit on my 12 volt lighting system, the
only other time my endeavours endangered the family home
was when I used some particularly dry bark to light the breakfast
room fire one cold winter’s morning.
This time and for the first time, the fire brigade had to be
called. The whole chimney was well alight on the inside. From
the outside, the dark winter’s morning was brightly illuminated
by long tongues of flame and dense smoke now leaping out of
the top of the chimney accompanied by an ever increasing roar.
Father and I clambered into the loft space above the
bathroom to see if flames had come through to the inside of the
roof. The chimney stack inside the house was too hot to touch,
the roaring noise was deafening in the dark enclosed space and
smoke was oozing from between the cemented bricks.
We had just lifted our heads when a sharp explosion
separated the chimney pot from the main stack. It toppled over
sideways and we could see clearly the roof sagging as it rolled
downwards gradually gathering momentum.
There were two glazed conservatories in the back yard and
the huge pot landed exactly between them to shatter into
hundreds of pieces on the concrete below.
It was just at this moment that the firemen arrived and soon
had the blaze under control.
Before they left, they cleared all the mess of water and soot
from the room and left it spotless, all before 8am.
I had always been the first to rise not being able to lie in bed

48