The Day After The Fire!

Trying to deal with this and my Father very poorly in hospital is testing me to the limits. Back at my house this morning waiting for insurers to come out. Everything has to come out of the house. Everything material, everything. The stench is overwhelming and I was coughing for hours last night at Sarah's. I shouldn't have even been in that house last night. It's still unbearable this morning. Thank god I didn't still have my beloved persian cats Tiger and Sapphire – they would have died by the time I got home with the smoke. At least no one died. But I don't know where to begin today. I should be at work. Washing machine on, but will have to take it to laundrettes as don't have have a tumble drier and in any case, can't leave any clean clothes in the house until smoke is out. So my car will be my wardrobe - the only sane place right now! Took my duvets and pillows to the launderettes to collect at a later date.

Washed clothes on 40 degrees  – clothes still stank of smoke – going round again on 60 degrees. A Loss adjuster from Rainbow Cleaning team is here for 3-4 hours and then the house has to be fumigated for 24 hours and I can't enter the property until its finished. Then a whole team will come in Monday (ish) and clean everything in house and take stuff away to wash eg clothes etc.  All my camera gear stinks, even in the camera bags. All electrical equipment has to be checked. What a nightmare. It's so cold trying to sort stuff. I didn't expect to be eating porridge in a deckchair outside in bloody February!

A horrible day, so shocked at what's happened, it took me ages to think about what I needed for 24 hours. I was told that even after my house has been totally cleaned, the smoke from next door's house will leak back into mine until they clean their house, so what's the point in cleaning it yet! Left my house around 4pm when the fumigating had finished and went straight to the laundrettes at Gaywood. It's years since I have been in a laundrettes and it was pretty depressing, waiting for my dustbin bag of clothes to dry.

At this point I didn't know where I was sleeping tonight. My insurance company text me with details of the hotel that I would be staying at and off I went. Unpacked my stuff which didn't take long. Then had to go to a supermarket as realised I had forgotten a few bits and pieces. I was beyond exhausted now, but went to visit my Father in hospital for a short while which wasn't a good idea as he was tired and fed-up and demanded to go home – so sad. Back at the hotel I went to the restaurant to have soup and bread at 9.30pm and then retired for the night. I didn't sleep well with coughing and generally feeling rough. Think I need to go and see GP in the morning.