A few months back, I was smoking a ciggie on my rooftop late at night.
What I saw in front of me, a few hundred meters to the West was a huge tower of black smoke billowing up from something in the distance, clearly a big fire!
I didn’t hear any sirens of firetrucks, which are pretty common here in Valencia any time of day, and as it was already around 3am I decided to give the firemen a heads up.
So I called 112 and explained to the guy on the phone in my best Spanish that what i saw from my terrace had to be a big fire! The guy asked some question about directions, but as I only have a bird’s eye view from the top and not very familiar with the street names around here, I could only give him compass directions from my location.
We eventually settled on a location where the fire must be and there were already fire engines being sent there, so not to worry. OK vale.
About a week or 10 days later I received a call from the police. At first I didn’t have a clue who was on the phone and what this person wanted, but after a while I understood the meaning. This guy wanted to know why I called the fire department 7-10 days ago.
“Uhuh, because there was a fire?!”
“Was the fire on this and that address?”
How the fuck would I know? So I explained (again) that I saw the fire from my terrace late at night and thought it a smart idea to call the fire department.
In the end the guy thanked me and hung up.
This evening Mia and I went for a smoke on the terrace and again, in approximately the same direction as last time, I saw an enormous amount of smoke rising up from whatever apartment building.
This time however, I just stood and watched, being my total ignorant self, as it is clear to me that calling the fire department in this country is not entirely appreciated…
As I write this I smell melting plastic and faintly I heard a siren in the distance. I guess they found it…
hahahahah! briljant!
that’s what i have been doing babe!!!!