"Now Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke
because the Lord had descended on it in fire,
and its smoke went up like the smoke of a great furnace,
and the whole mountain shook violently."
-- Exodus 19:18

I finally fell asleep at 5 AM- was waiting for the shock to set in.

It didn't.

Woke up at a quarter past nine, HDB called.

Mum's handphone was with me- She's in no state to handle these kind of matters now.

Being the control freak I was, I took charge of the situation.

Time for me to look after Mum.

Called AIG, got our policy number, arranged for the contractor to come down and fix everything.

Good, at least we had basic fire insurance. That would cover the four walls of the house.
Electrical wiring and painted walls.



Okay, that's a start.

So, an appointment was fixed with the contractor for 12.30PM.

Great, it was 10.30AM then. Quite a bit of time for me to handle police reports and the Fire Investigation Bureau.

They would be coming down at 4PM.

11AM came fast, and the contractor called again, saying that he would have to meet me earlier, at 12PM, instead.

Great, so Jerico and I walked over to Rivervale Plaza to grab a bite- Not that there was much to eat, anyway. No appetite, either.

It was 11.45AM when I got another call- The contractor has arrived.
Talk about punctuality.

So Jerico, the nice guy that he was, offered to get me food while I rushed to my house.

This was what I was greeted with.



Huh. Televisions aren't as hardy, I suppose.

Mum looked worse today. She must have spent the night worrying.

So did the Buddhas in the room, I suppose.

Just had no time to save them.



Funny enough, religion kicked in. Maybe I needed faith during that time, but I swore that I could see that the Buddhas were actually still there.

Y'know, in spirit.

Or maybe I'm just turning mad.

Still, I lighted up the candles and set a few joss-sticks.

The sight of the Buddhas... existing in spirit- It kinda gives you assurance.

Strength.

Well, I heck needed alot of that.

Mum's room was devastated.



Well, at least everyone got out safe and sound.

Town Council and RC came down, offering their assistance.



They sent some help to clear the house.

A foreman, with his four workers.

I thank the Sir who offered his men for this work.

But.

Damn, bloody Bhanglas.

There is mucho reason for me to feel this right now- Bhanglas are blood-sucking leeches.

They were LOOTING the burnt coins on the floor while cleaning up, even right in front of me.

It's alright, really- The coins can be given to them. Coffee on me, lah, for helping with this.

But I flipped when they just... Didn't stop.

Oei, too much coffee = Lao sai, leh.

On top of that, the shit that they were clearing had Mum's wedding ring.
(I was pretty hopping mad when I heard that.
WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT WEARING IT RIGHT NOW?!)

I'll have to leave that pile of melted piggybanks and jewellery boxes to another day as I differentiate them from the rubble.

It was just a huge mess.



Air conditioner melted and molded to the metal bed frame.

Walls cracked.

Glass on the windows, broken.



And the bed?



Well, whatever's left of it. King Koil does prove to be partially fire resistant, though.



At least it did better than this Dell.

And I just fixed this little baby up less than a week ago!

So, this was what I was faced with.



Crap.



Right, faith, right.

Okay, let's start with...



Maybe the...



Or the...



This is bad.

*blink blink*



Really bad.



At least we did get most of the job done today- Most of the stuff that could be saved, were salvaged.

I thank Jerico, Jasmine, Meigui (most efficient person, ever), Jia Ru and Yiling for taking time out of their busy schedule to help with this.

Even the neighbours were awesome.
Sponges, old cloths, pails, brooms...

Hong Xuan and his father, from the thirteenth floor, contributed their help to cleaning up, too!



You just had to be there.

Everything has to be cleaned up ASAP, so the wiring can be TAKEN OUT.

Then installed.

Then the paint can be applied.

Well, after the scrubbing of walls.

And the walls in Mum's room has to be plastered back.

It would take approximately 3 months to complete the job, they say.

And block tests start in 3 weeks.

I'm so gonna retain.
.
.
.

WHAT YOU GUYS WANT TO KNOW

I know, everyone's asking what happened, and what's happening now.

The fire was caused by some aromatherapy oil.

It ignited when it struck the fire accidentally, and Mum was burnt when it combusted.

One thing led to the next- And there was a flash fire due to all the flammable liquids in the room, like perfume, etc.

Mum, Granny, Yati, Golden and I were at home when it happened.

Don't ask what happened yet, I'll talk about it when I finally feel ready to.

Mum is alright now- Recuperating at an aunt's.

Granny is at another aunt's place for good, all her needs are being taken care of.

Yati is going back to Indonesia to visit her family.
Can't let this spoil her trip- Not fair to her.

Golden is with Mum- I may have to relocate her soon.

I'll be livin' with Wei Hong for the next week or so, as I clear up the place.
No one was hurt too badly in this.

I'm handling matters in the meantime.

AS FOR NOW...

Town Council is helping- and has helped with cleaning.

Mr Palmer, the MP of our constituency will be coming down tomorrow- Mum wasn't feelin' too well today and re-scheduled the visit.

The electrician would come at 9AM tomorrow.

Cleaners would arrive around 12PM, if memory still serves me well.

Nice Jia Ru volunteered to help me from the morning. I owe her big-time for that.

I would have to call YJC tomorrow, and inform my CT.

.
.
.

And now... Yeah.

Please,
I'm asking for help to tide over this crisis.

I would appreciate if you could help me with the clearing of the junk in my house, and cleaning.

Gloves, sponges, old cloths.

For all those reading this blog and knowing me, you should have my number.

I'm now asking all of you as a friend, an aquaintance, or as a fellow human being, while trying to handle this situation as calmly as possible.

Please help me.

I thank you all.



P.S. There may be some HTML coding errors, do pardon.
It's kinda hard to type on a thrashed keyboard.