Daily photo theme 7

Daily photo theme time! 

7. Fire. (Suggested by Jenny)

Well sadly I do not have a fire in my house. I wish I did.  A lovely, roaring, open fire, how wonderful.  It’s on my wish list!  Mind you cleaning it and lighting it ...... not so sure I am keen on that.

 Maybe one of those that looks like a wood burner but is actually gas so it’s all nice and clean and easy would be better.

 Or even an ordinary gas fire like my Dad has and Coralie has in her new house.

 A fire makes a real focal point in a room.  Radiators are just not the same at all.  I remember huddling around the fire when I was a child.  It wasn’t a real fire just a gas one but it was just so nice to come home and have that instant heat.  You could sit really close and get toasty warm.  I used to like to put my feet right in front of it and my Mum would always tell me off.  She would say “You’ll get chilblains”.  I never did.  What the heck is a chilblain anyway??  I never heard of anyone actually having one.  Must look it up. *

Anyway, my photo for today was taken at the allotment last March.  It was the first time we had Simon’s gas bottle fire going. It’s a bit of a Wallace and Gromit invention.  It is (supposedly) a wood burning stove made from an old gas bottle.  It has a plate that goes on the top so that you can boil a kettle.....if you have all day!  It didn’t work that well and he has recently taken it over to his barn to make some modifications.

We also have big fires in our old oil drum.  It is mostly to burn off weeds but sometimes for heat...  We have a rack that fits over the oil drum so we use it to do barbecues.

Tomorrow’s theme is: 8. A photo taken a mile down the road from where you live.  (Suggested by Nancy)

*From Patient UK

Chilblains (sometimes called pernio) are small, itchy, painful, red swellings on the skin. Chilblains are caused by an abnormal skin reaction to cold. They tend to occur on your 'extremities' that more easily become cold. That is, your toes, fingers, nose and earlobes. Chilblains are common. It is thought that about 1 in 10 people in the UK get chilblains at some stage in their life. It is not clear why some people get chilblains when their skin gets cold. The tiny blood vessels under the skin narrow (constrict) when the skin becomes cold. The blood supply to areas of skin may then become very slow. As the skin re-warms there is some leakage of fluid from the blood vessels into the tissues. In some way this causes areas of inflammation and swelling leading to chilblains. The speed (rate) of temperature change may play a part. Some people get chilblains if they warm up cold skin too quickly. For example, with a hot water bottle or by sitting very close to a fire.

May be Mum knew what she was talking about!