Smoking

It was back to the interface today with a vengeance - fortunately the fact that approximately 90% of the organisation regarded today as a public holiday it was very quiet in terms of email and other interruptions, and at least permitted a certain amount of the backlog to be dealt with.

I had been thinking that since it was such a boring day it would be tricky to find a blip, until I looked up from my screen and saw this out of the window. The metal chimney stack that is on fire belongs to the China Palace restaurant and can be glimpsed here, in less exciting times. There were no flames to be seen, but I think the kitchen must have been on fire too. There were many firemen in attendance, police blocking the streets, people in parked cars who couldn't leave at the end of their working day... I went down and spoke with a couple of the staff who were standing gazing up at it in horror, but at least everyone was safely out and no one was hurt.

Later on a fireman went aloft, presumably to check the upper reaches of the chimney stack.