R.I.P. Claudius: Thrupp Fire

For some time I have been driving to work on my Suzuki 650 Motorcycle (vstrom). Recently I noticed that I have a new friend that travels with me faithfully. Claudius the spider. Claudius has hung on for dear life as we have battled through all sorts of weathers and finally found a calm quiet spot below my left handlebar embedded in the fender.  I would check to see whether Claudius was there before I set off and would be delighted to see him when I returned.  Sadly Claudius has passed away.

I was asleep (for a change) and was suddenly awoken by something which was followed by several bangs, nothing like gun shot, a lot like explosions.  I got up, put on a jacket and opened my front doors to see a fire. A car in the lower car park in Thrupp was alight.

The fire brigade were called and I went over to the lift bridge with Dave and Ian where Lillian joined us.

The fire was raging:

The lights of two fire engines were flashing

The car was next to my bike which was next to another car. All three are burnt out wrecks.  On the other side of the fire-starting car was a 4x4 which is badly burnt down one side.

I will never know if Claudius made it out in time, but I suspect that buried deep in the ghost of place called home (the corner below my handlebar) will lie the ghost of Claudius. I hope it was quick.

I didn’t find waking up suddenly to explosions and seeing the car park on fire, not far from the boats, that pleasant an experience, nor being cut off from my boat. I am so pleased my neighbour Ian was there and also Dave (who is the retired warden of the area). As we stood on the lift bridge watching the fire rage unable to return to our boats I was reminded how quickly fire takes hold of even the most tranquil places and how stunningly amazing the fire service are. The things the fire service do are amazing.

It is suspected that this is not arson by an electrical fault.

Irritatingly I have 300pounds excess but also my top box was on the bike with my helmet, electric heated gloves and my lock. All of which mount up.

Mark Paris will tell you that I am very good at what he calls Bonesisms.  Apparently I always come out with something. So, let me share with you last nights:

The fire engine is 8tonnes. The lift bridge limit is 7tonnnes so they had to stop short of it.  As they unravelled their hoses I turned to Lillian and said ‘is there a fire hydrant here then?’ to which her reply was ‘ no… there is an entire canal’…