Diary 24th And 25th April 2017

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Diary Monday 24th April 2017 A day spent in, and mostly catching up on paperwork, writing a long detailed publisher’s letter. I phoned my Mum to see how she is and though fine, she was distressed as the cat that she has had for nearly 20 years is gravely ill, having virtually lost control of her back legs. She plans to take Smudge (the cat) to the vets tomorrow and fears that the only option might be to put her to sleep. Diary Tuesday 25th April 2017 My mum’s fears were realized and Smudge was put to sleep at the vets. Very sad, as my mum has no plans to get any more pets now. Without human visitors she will be very much alone. The rest of my day went well. I bought some food in, and after my job search I went to a talk at the local community centre. Today we had a lady from the Lancashire fire department discussing fire safety and prevention in the home. She pointed out that while factories and public buildings are very safety conscious with careful frequently rehearsed evacuation procedures, our homes often have bad fire safety provision. A few smoke detectors are often not enough. We watched a film about how quickly the average bedroom takes to burn from the first spark of flame to total destruction. My estimate was ten minutes. It took two minutes and ten seconds. Smoking in bed was surprisingly not the number one cause of fire, though it is the primary cause of fatalities in house fires. Most fire start in kitchens due to over-used electric and unattended appliances. (I realized how often I set my washing machine working before going out. Bad move). Smoking related fires kill more often as the victim is usually much closer to the fire as it ignites though often asleep, when even a few wisps of smoke make them sleep even deeper until it Is too late. I asked about e-cigarettes which I despise and found that they not only often catch fire when being charged up, but have also been known to explode in people’s mouths. Ouch. A thoughtful, sometimes scary talk that could help save many lives. Arthur Chappell