Monday 6 July 2009

The curious incident of the fish in the chimney

A post of David's (David Isaak's blog - Tomorrowville)in May concerning the problem of birds in the chimney reminded me of something that happened to us. We were in our living room one evening, when there was suddenly a strong smell of fish coming from the chimney. This was uncharted territory, but since chimneys mean fire, and fire means danger, we phoned the fire brigade. Just for advice. To be on the safe side. We didn't want to be a nuisance. After all, fish in the chimney is hardly an emergency. But the fire brigade are very consciencious, and they said they'd send someone round. Well, just one man then, I suggested. On a bicycle, perhaps, to save petrol? But they were having none of it. This was obviously an all or nothing situation, and so we got a fire engine complete with four burly firemen. All with colds. So they coudldn't smell anything. Not fish, not anything at all. Never mind. They took my word for it, and tested the chinmey for gas leaks (not fish) and there weren't any, and kindly fitted us with free fire alarms, which was nice, and had a cup of tea, and left us to it. But the question remains. What happened to the fish?

3 comments:

  1. Clearly, the raccoon that fell down my chimney last summer is the one responsible for no sign of fish in your chimney! A long-distance fish-feast, as it were.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Maggie. David said that a raccoon is like a '45-pound cat with hands'. Might have a bit of a problem getting down the chimney? Or do you have very large chimneys in the US?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Fish in chimneys. Yes. Worthy of my home town.

    ReplyDelete