A Dangerous Day

Gattina, I cannot beleive anyone could be so STUPID! and to have got away with it!!
My OH says to tell you to kick the neighbour out and we'll come and live there and we promise NEVER to light any fires.
I hope your heart has calmed down now, but I hope you've given this thoughtless, idiotic woman a piece of your mind..in a good old fashioned Italian way.

Oh s__, My worst nightmare, I think I would of Bar-B-Qed her!
Some people have no sense, do they think the warnings are just for fun!
So glad you, OH & all the pussies are safe un sound. But I know it will play on your mind now.

Sending you a big rain cloud to cheer you up :-)

How frightening Gattina. At least it was stupid and irresponsible rather than deliberate which would be more worrying for you. Why do people ignore warning signs and even break the law when they have only to look on the media to see what danger nature can unleash especially if given a little help. I hope you are feeling better this evening after such a dreadful fright.
Do you always go this long without rain?

OMG, how scary for you Gattina. Just happy that no-one was hurt and everything turned out OK. Some people are just so stupid!

What a terrifying experience for you,Gattina..I can't begin to imagine how you both felt..What an idiot she is..and I hope she has the decency to apologise to you,and anyone affected by all this !...I bet those eyelashes were false too ! :o)...those fire men were so gullible,to fall for that old chestnut....erm,just as a matter of interest..just how scrummy were the two you fluttered your 'real' ones at ?
Lol..xx

What a stupid bloody woman!!!!! You wonder what goes through these peoples mind when they do such idiotic things.
My heart was in my mouth as i was reading.
I bet its a while before you sleep soundly again. She should be punished but obviously her charisma and bribery won over the authorities!!
Although ordinarily the sight of a few handsome firemen running around your property would be a welcome sight.....alas not in such circumstances.
I hope you get some rain soon Gattina.

thats really scary gattina!

the only thing is maybe it has scared her too, so she wont be doing that again?

So pleased that you and your OH (and cats) are OK. Your neighbour will be forever dim and you will be forever valued by your family and friends. One day your neighbour will have a situation that requires more than eyelash fluttering and perhaps then realise that the world does not revolve around her charms. I can hear The Sex Pistols "pretty vacant" playing in the background! That said, some of the most powerful lessons are learned when we do something wrong so fingers crossed she's had an epiphany, even if she can't spell the word..hmmm now wondering if I've spelled it right ha ha! :-D

That could have turned put much worse. I'm glad you're all right.

Blimey Gat, that was a close call. Lovely blog, and really enjoyed readng it, but what a silly, stupid and lots of other much stronger words that woman is. Very pleased you are all unscathed. Jxxxx

Thank goodness you are ok. What a scary time for you and OH.

Actually, Waddy (pack your suitcases and order up the furniture van PLEASE) and Bloomer, I am surprised at how calm I was through it all - I didn't panic a bit, and was very organised and "together" (specially about the spare pair of knickers). I hesitate to say "It could only happen in Italy" about the bribery bit, because I don't want to offend anyone, but I think even the strongest Italophile would probably agree to a certain extent with that one.
I rather doubt she will ever speak to me again as I referred to her as a "cretino" to another of our neighbours but in her hearing. She probably thinks she's incredibly clever/crafty (furba) to have got away with it, and is probably sitting at home congratulating herself, so, Sticki, don't hold your breath. It makes me spitting mad. We are normally polite and on civil speaking terms (we have to rub along together) but I've never liked her, for several very good reasons, and this ain't going to help.
Oh, Bloomer, I don't think fluttering my eyelashes at any tall, blond muscly fireman was going to get me anywhere: I was wearing my scruffiest, creosote stained gardening jeans, my face and hair were all sweaty and smutty, not a scrap of makeup in sight, and my boobs were nearly falling out of my suntop. And at my age, that is definitely not the greatest "come-on" in the world. LOL! Anyway, tall and blond was far too busy practising his English vocabulary on OH to pay any attention to me and my fluent Italian ramblings.
Willi, could you please shove that fat raincloud in our direction a little faster, please? It's been said to be the worst year for weather on record - first the dreadful snows and freeze of February, and now the long, long scorching dry summer, with not a hope of rain in the foreseeable future. The temperature range has hit an all-time high in this area - from -22° to +47°c within half a year. We've been watching Monty Don this evening saying that this is the official end of summer, and it just seems like a totally different, quite alien world back in the UK. Up until this afternoon, we had a 72% chance of thunderstorms and heavy rain this coming Sunday forecast, but since lunchtime, that possibility seems to have evaporated, and we now have a 22% chance of a single raindrop next Thursday.
On a more sinister note, Denise, about 5 years ago, our mountainside did start burning (about 7 kilometres away, but on a broad front) and we had our cases packed then, too. The air was thick with smoke and falling ash and it was quite worrying. The fire was in a very steep part, though, where fire engines can't possibly go, but using helicopters and hard work, the fire services got things under control. It was discovered that it had been a case of arson, and a member of the fire crew was responsible. It's a mad world!

What a scary time you had! Add me to the long long list of people who must have used every adjective available for that daft woman! It's another case of the 'everybody but me' syndrome whereby people assume laws only apply to 'everybody but me!' And to get away with it!!! My Dad was a fireman and it would have taken more than fluttering eyelashes and a bottle of vino to convince HIM to let it lie - he'd have had her deported at the very least! Hope you're feeling OK now and that you soon get the rain your garden is thirsting for. We've got a sure-fire way to ensure we get a rain shower - agree to go to the BBQ the touristas are having - rain will surely dampen the proceedings! ;o)

I think your appearance would be quite alluring to some,Gattina..you just got the wrong fireman..! Lol.
Although we love Italy,I really don't envy the weather you have had this year...dry searing heat is so unbearable...
Naturally,with it being Bank holiday weekend,ours is going to be a washout in most places...and it's given an Amber warning for a lot of them ...:o(

Yes, Bloomer, but I didn't fancy the one that liked that sort of thing!
Oh you have to be joking! More rain? Surely there's somewhere in the world that is having normal weather at the moment. How depressing for you all.
Nariz, no-one round here has barbecues, and it isn't much of a tourist area for foreigners - just Bolognese who come up to escape the fearsome horror that the city is at the moment, and they spend their evenings in the bar watching the television, or sitting on the pavement outside their front doors with a glass of wine, passing the time of the evening with any poor soul who happens to wander past.
We've tried the "let's tempt Providence with a garden party" last month, and we got a sudden, very big drop in temperature, cloudy skies and high winds, just for that particular day, but not a single drop of rain. We stayed inside, none the less. The sun was back out the following day.

You may have to use a different perfume than Creosote then..not a good turn on..although I quite like it ..and before you ask..no,I don't fancy you !! Lol.
How are all the farmers coping with the dry heat? They must be struggling to get a harvest this year...

Your Dad Nariz wouldn't have ignored the phone during his lunchbreak either........
Cretino seems a mild adjective Gattina but words fail me to find another........
I,m so relieved that you are all ok and I guess that cats are able to fend for themselves so try not to worry. Its a beautiful place to live but with fires, earthquakes and rioting porcupine not a restful place!

Torrential rain and thunderstorms seem mild by comparison.

At least it's warm(ish), Pam!

Love the fact that you went into the house to get some spare knickers Gatt.!!! Lol. Joking aside, a very frightening experience. :(

What a horrid experience, Gattina! Glad you all got off safely, including the cats... Here in mid-France we too have an an incredibly dry and parched period ('les canicules', dog-days) recently, though not as hot as you (high 30s, 41 degrees tops) - and guess what, on the HOTTEST day, around mid-morning, a Brit (alas!) neighbour lit a strictly ILLEGAL bonfire! - the sort that gives large flying bits of burning debris flying around...

Luckily I have a belt of oak trees between us which to some extent protected me, but another set of neighbours saw their large, parched grass meadow covered in falling sparks... In the event, no actual harm done, but...

Some people just exist in a vacuum bubble of their own self-importance, don't they?

PS: our firemen/paramedics are mostly dishy, too, and they fly in by helicopter! - however, I agree that by the time you actually need them you're not going to be in the mood for dalliance, even if they were!

We have a helipad up in the village, Monjardin, 2 kilometers up the mountain, but it's the twisty, narrow roads in between us and any main roads that stop full sized fire engines getting to us with any degree of speed. There's no malice involved in these incidents, just a complete vacuum between the ears of some people that's the problem. Thank goodness no real harm done in either case, but there so easily could have been.

Pheeeeeeeewww Gattina - you raised MY heartbeat there! What a providential escape . . . I'm so glad that all is now well for you, but I'm shaking my head at the STUPIDITY of your neighbour.

Don't worry about us - we've had plenty of sunshine for the past few weeks, it's just a late summer for us here. Quite happy with that - I don't envy you your horrendous temps one bit! I had no idea Italy could be that hot, so hoping (folornly?) that you'll get the cool wet stuff you need before too long. x

The cool(er) stuff is supposedly on it's way from tomorrow onwards, Sheila (Could it be Willi's big raincloud?) - down to around the 28-29° mark during the day, and around 20° at night, and after that, cloudy, humid and far more autumnal, thank goodness. We may even get some rain if we're really lucky, but I'm not holding my breath: we've heard it all before. Communal fingers crossed please, Ladies and Gentlemen! I've never longed for wet weather more fervently.

hell, Gattina! I was literally on the edge of my chair while reading your blog. Thank goodness that you and yours were safe, but "it could have been worse" is no excuse.

shee, don't some people have ANY sense??? When I used to have fires at camp, the fire area was outlined by stones, the ground around it cleared of twigs and anything that might take a spark - and even then I always had a bucket of water within reach, just in case. I always have one now even when I'm using my mini-barbie.

I don't blame you for being a bit paranoid now; anyone would be. Maybe you could clear a piece of ground between you and her, a pointed firebreak? If the rest of your community shares your feeling towards the moron, perhaps she'll eventually take the hint and push off.

People usually do cope while the emergency is in progress: I've had a couple of squeaky moments, and was surpriseingly cool - but I fell apart after, when there was time to think. lol I do like your list of priorties for what to save! but there are times when one isn't thinking really logically.

It's difficult to think how we would clear a firebreak between us, as it's not our land, Fran, and most of it is steep sloped scrub. Anyway, you don't tend to think anything like that is likely to happen until it's too late. The shocking thing was how incredibly fast the flames travelled through the grass. It was hard to tell where it was catching because there was SO much smoke masking everything.
I had my tongue firmly in my cheek when I wrote about it's being lunchtime when she was told there was no one available to come out immediately. She WAS told that, and it WAS lunch time, but I was taking two and two and mischievously making five. HOWEVER, the nearest fire station IS a half-hour's drive away, and if there hadn't been neighbours with quick reactions, we very well might have been toast. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

one usually credits other people with having at least three brain cells working at any one time, so this sort of thing shouldn't happen, and is all the more shocking when it does - it's hardly an "expected risk" - at least from a householder; I've read of carelessly-discarded cigarettes starting wildfires before, which is irresponsible enough, but from someone *living* there, who should know the risks. If she didn't mind about setting her own house on fire, fair enough, but to endanger other people's ...

Maybe get a couple of fire-brooms and display them right on the edge ofyour land, high up so they can be seen against the sky, if she can see that far! lol do the Italians do "Janet and John learn about fire safety"? maybe she could do with having one dropped anonymously through her letterbox - or a window, taped to a brick!