This January, like two months ago, we received a letter from the city informing us about the chimney sweeper expected at our address the 13th of March, advising us to close the fireplaces, cover them up, and that we’d be responsible for any flame-incurred death(s) if we lit a fire at the time in question. Now, between that letter and THE TWO MONTHS that came and went there’s been shit happening, like life, and we sort of forgot. Until yesterday afternoon when I entered the livingroom to find a black fire place and a fine layer of soot EVERYWHERE.
It’s like EVERYWHERE. Check out the illustrating photograph on the article submission guideline above. You can see the whiteness turn into a dull grey at the corner where the paper was not covered. It doesn’t look like much, in fact it’s nearly invisible, but put your palm on any surface and it’ll come up BLACK!
So after the raging anger and tearful lamenting was ceremonially finished, we had to get to work cleaning the place up. In fact, I’ve dedicated 80% of today to do it. As I was vacuuming the backs of 900 books in my library, it hit me that this is what it must have felt like in Iceland during the 2010 eruption, and promptly stated my hypothesis in Lady C’s general direction;
– This is EXACTLY like it must have been in Iceland 2010!
– Yes. Except for the amount of it. I lived next to a volcano in South America.
– You had eruptions there?
– Like, behind the house. We’d get a foot of ash on everything!
– Oh.. Well, except for the amount, this must be exactly like Iceland in 2010!
– And this only came from the chimneys, not through windows and ventilation, the air..
– Yes, of course, except for that.
– And it doesn’t fall from the skies, killing your livestock, foodstock, cars..
– Well, apart from that, naturally.
– Only to destroy your entire livelihood and 500 year old heritage.
– Oh, yes
– And then there’s no fear for your life in case it turns out it’s a super volcano
– ….
– ….
– But EXCEPT for the amount, the very local spread of the ashes, the fact that no livestock was injured (dog’s doing alright), and the apartment building itself is in no danger of collapsing and ignoring the lack of possibilities for a super volcano erupting, this must be EXACTLY like it was in Iceland in 2010, right?
– Right.
– That’s what I thought too!
– *sigh*