Burning bright
I decided to inaugurate my fireplace! What a lovely idea. I even remembered to check the flue by burning a piece of paper: it was open.[1]
I set up the kindling and two logs and then used my weird special match (they were out of the normal matches) and lit a lovely fire, which caught and the smoke drifted serenely up the chimney.[2]
So I took my friend into the office to show her look! I had a photo of her, and when we went back into the living room, it was suddenly full of smoke. In fact, the entire apartment is now full of smoke! Because the smoke is backing up into the room. (Trying to open the flue closes it, because it is already open.)
Eventually we give up and pour water on the fire, and now I am just waiting for the smoke to dissipate.
[1] Foreshadowing.
[2] More foreshadowing.
November 26th, 2005 at 1:50 am
Almost the exact same thing happened to my family when we moved when I was in junior high school, only I don’t remember anyone pouring water on the fire. I think we managed to get the windows and flue open in time to be able to air the house out.
(Also, congratulations!)