Fires – Extinguished or Burning

Yesterday morning the fire engines, blue lights and air ambulance arrived. A house round the corner from us was on fire. Neighbours were evacuated, the road closed for a couple of hours…

‘The fire spread to at least three rooves along the row of terraced houses but was stopped from taking hold. One patient, an adult man, was transported to the James Paget Hospital for treatment for minor burns.’

The fire was soon extinguished.

In the afternoon I met a friend at The Three Horseshoes, North Cove, a typically British village pub, a few miles away. Whilst it was freezing outside, we sat round a roaring fire that was warming and comforting.

This fire was certainly not extinguished

…Remembering the old WW1 song ‘Keep The Camp Fires Burning’

Keep the home fires burning,
While your hearts are yearning,
Though your lads are far away
They dream of home…

The tune starts similarly to the carol ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’… The picture is of young men away at war, whilst their loving mums or wives maintain their homes and daily routines…

Another fire not to be extinguished…

My friend Edwin sent me this clip of Jason Manford singing old school assembly songs. I was in schools that sung them – sometimes enthusiastically, sometimes begrudgingly but never like this!

‘Give me oil in my lamp keep me burning…’? I really don’t know what children thought this means. A child asking to be refuelled and perpetually burning? I could have got myself into serious trouble! ‘Multiple patients, children, transported to the James Paget Hospital for treatment for extensive burns.’

Musing… Perhaps it is more ‘this little light of mine’… the light of joy and peace… the  joy and peace of the baby in the manger… with his followers called to let their little light shine.

Musing… Dangerous fires to be extinguished… welcoming fires of warmth, comfort and love… the burning fire, the light of joy and peace… my little light… its warmth and brightness.