All afternoon, as I knelt on the ground peacefully weeding the asparagus rows, I heard the sound of sirens. First one, then a few minutes later another. Finally I got up, pulled off my gardening gloves and walked out of the gate onto Mill Road. At the end of the lane on Church Road a fire engine/ water vehicle was parked attached to a water supply that I didn’t know was sited by the road. The drivers were directing vehicles past The Gable’s gate and as I stood with them to find out what was happening my friend from the golf club stopped her car. There is a fire raging at the brick reclamation yard half a mile along the road, the yard that used to be owned by J’s dad and where she told me a huge pile of wood chippings has caught fire. The swimming pool where she teaches is next door to the yard and all her lessons have been cancelled and she (and everyone else) hopes that the fire can be contained and will not spread. There are three fire engines at the scene and two water vehicles that keep rushing up and down Mill Road to fill up with vital water. I hope all are safe and that the fire can soon be put out.