Bombfire

A few days ago I was invited to the event ASE Bombfire by my friend John. Apparently he didn't know that the word was "bonfire." I'm not kidding. Anyways, this bombfire/bonfire was supposed to take place from 8:00-12:00 p.m in a 'secret ASE location.'

Around 6:15 p.m Brooke from Flat 3 came upstairs to invite us all to dinner. Her mom and dad were visiting and they were cooking a home-cooked meal of chicken parmesan, penne alla vodka, salad, string beans, French bread and wine. Of course, we accepted. The meal was excellent. All of Flat 3 and all of Flat 5 (minus Alli) were there, and Brooke's parents were incredibly nice. It felt so homey to be sitting around a real dinner table eating with everyone and talking about our experiences since we've been in England and beyond. I really enjoyed it. Dinner didn't end until around 8:15, though, so we were late for the first wave of people heading up to the bonfire. We called over to Prior Park and were told that a second wave would wait for us. We headed over about 25 minutes later, and soon began a thirty minute trek up the hill, past a residential area, through a football field, down a creepy little path, and into another field where the bonfire was started. Just as we neared, however, we got a phone call saying that everyone was leaving and we should, too, just because they felt like it. We had come all that way, though, so we were in it. We headed to the bonfire anyway.

Once there, we found out that everyone had left because John told them to-- for some reason he, an Eagle Scout, thought that lighting a fire in a tree would be ok. Granted, the tree was charred so he was not the first to light a fire there, but it was a windy day. The fire had caught and the inside of the tree was glowing bright red. They refused to call the fire department, though, and we carried on making a smaller, more controlled bonfire next to the tree. The tree continued to smolder though, and the winds whipped up the fire again. I, and a few others, kept advocating calling the fire department, but instead a few guys ran back for a fire extinguisher from one of the houses. Of course, that did nothing because it took them about 45 minutes to go and come back and by that point the fire had grown. We stood watching the flames for a long time-- people were throwing mud in the tree, like that would help-- and still no one called the fire department. Finally, John gave in and did. No harm, no foul-- the firemen thought it was funny, apparently, but I had left by that point because John didn't want ALL of us standing by the tree when the firemen arrived, and it was cold and late so I was only too happy to leave. Especially because when we left the bottom portion of the tree had pretty much burst into flames and as we walked back down the hill we saw the fire engine with its lights and sirens on coming up to the bonfire location. At that point we still weren't quite sure if it had been legal for John to start a bonfire; we were all a little fearful that he would be deported.

Ooodalalee what night!