Thursday 10 September 2009

Rear Gunner & Furze Fire at L'Etacq

Today is the Jersey Air Display and I was lucky enough to finish work at noon, R, S and self loaded 'the rear gunner' - as my father calls Grumpy - into the car and took him to St Ouen's beach for a walk. Also a good vantage point to see the planes/helicopters flying across the bay before coming into land at the airport.



We then decided to have lunch at El Tico - very tasty it was too - when S pointed over my shoulder and said, "Mum, look, there's a fire." The smoke was blowing across the bay and the fire grew rapidly, especially as it's warm and very windy today.



It doesn't look too bad from my photos - ancient, useless camera - but we can see the smoke from our house now, and live in the opposite direction from where the wind is going. It started somewhere at the top of L'Etacq and dipped down the headland. So much going on in one day. Shame it didn't happen next week as S-S#1 and would love to photograph it.

17 comments:

Queenie said...

It looks fairly dramatic in that bottom photo. Glad you're upwind.

Carol said...

It does look dramatic...hope no-one was hurt!!

Glad you had a lovely day (apart from the fire!!)

C x

Troy said...

Looks like the result of a shot right on target by the rear gunner!

Flowerpot said...

Looks incredible - what a great day!

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

queenie - it was, and the camera didn't do it justice at all.

carol - they had to evacuate some families, but they returned to their homes last night. No-one was hurt.

troy - I know he's facing the wrong way (so husband reminded me) but he always stands up like that to see where he's going.

flowerpot - it was a wonderful day, thanks.

Shiny said...

Thanks for coming over to my spot to visit. I always feel a little daunted thinking that 'real writers' like you read my musings... x

Chris Stovell said...

Love the thought of Grumpy as 'Rear Gunner'... does that say anything in particular about Grumpy? Sounds like a good family day out - especially as you weren't in the firing line.

Anna Scott Graham said...

Oh I LOVE that nickname for Grumpy!!

Great pics! An exciting outing!

Unknown said...

Rear Gunner - love it!

What a fabulous day. And great pics!

DAB said...

Looks like a fab day. Good photos we'll make a photographer out of you. Of course it goes without saying that the visual image is far more superior than that of the written word ;-) (I jest!) :) TFx

Bluestocking Mum said...

Hi Debs

What a great day out, if a little eventful.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I see that you're the 'other' Debs who was on Marina's advanced novel writing with me at Caerleon! What a small world.

Now I've found you I'll keep in touch and see you around.

warm wishes
Debbie
x

DJ Kirkby said...

Geez is this a forest fire? They get them bad where my mom lives. Scary stuff.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

shiny - thanks for coming by, though I'm not sure about being a 'real writer'.

chrish - I know he's looking the wrong way to be a proper rear gunner, but he is very focused on taking note of where he's going, and any bicycles that may happen to pass and need to be told off, he hates them.

anna - it suits him.

shirley - it does.

It was a great day.

tf - the pics were taken by my daughter (with my crappy camera) as we drove passed the fire.

angel - Ahh, hello again. I didn't realize it was you. Glad to meet up with you again.

dj - it was a gorse fire (no forests here, probably too small) and they spread rapidly. It was the size of 12 football pitches, which is big in Jersey as it's only 9 x 5 miles in size.

HelenMWalters said...

Great photo of Rear Gunner Grumpy!

Suzanne Ross Jones said...

Glad you had a good day. But, yikes, the fire - hope there wasn't lasting damage (how quickly does gorse grow back?).

claire p said...

Wow you live in a stunning place! It all looks very dramatic!!

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

helen - cute, isn't he?

suzanne - the furze will soon grow back, and thankfully no properties/people were damaged.

claire - it's lovely here most of the time.