Iona Winter

This morning I have Firestarter by The Prodigy pumping in my head. I’m a strange woman. Who else has songs running through their head when things go arse-up?

The challenges of late have mercilessly continued, and while I know that I’m made of strong stuff, sometimes events in my life are almost unbelievable. I mean one thing after another—it’s like a really bad movie. I notice that my tough skin has become less so (over the years), but my toes are still able to remain firm on the ground, in all weathers (which is a blessing).

Fires. Yeah, we had an small electrical fire last night. The whole house filled with a fetid smoky haze and all the smoke alarms went off. Thanks to me, I’d recently changed all the batteries. I know they’re filled with some kind of nuclear toxicity, but if they can save my life then I am happy to forego any health concerns about radiation. Not that it got to that point, of life-saving. Once I’d turned off every switch known to man, the smoke stopped. But it gave me one hell of a fright.

I stood outside during these proceedings, on grass already creaking with frost, and shone my head-torch up onto the roof. Just to check if there were flames leaping out of it—thankfully there weren’t. But it has made me put ‘FIRE EXTINGUISHER’ on the shopping list. It pays to be ready for any eventuality, AND the fire brigade are ages away when you live in the country.

Life can be very fragile, and over the past month I’ve been reminded of this (on an almost daily basis). I wonder what is going on in the ether, to create such a strong wave of  ‘facing one’s own mortality’. Like really universe, so much of it all at once? Come on!

I’m a wee bit over it. Can you tell? The temptation of running away to a tropical island for some sun is strong. But I can’t. And history has shown me that running away actually solves nothing. Never has, never will. So my toes are to remain spread over the whenua, and I get to breathe in deeply (more than I probably have been) in order to reassess things.

Being a very practical woman, I’ve cancelled a lot of activities this week. It’s very easy to become too busy. Oh the things one has to ponder.

After I re-read the lyrics to Firestarter, I’ve decided that I really like the line…punkin instigator…so I think I’ll be that today. Oh and maybe check your own smoke alarm batteries too—just to be safe.