Fire on the horizon?

Well its been a traumatic week.  It started by me burning the rice dry and nearly setting lite to the hallway.  You may ask why the hallway well my gas bottle cooker is in the hallway as I have no room for it in the Kitchen.  You may ask why I haven't got a cooker in the kitchen, well I have but due to the bad installation by David, the man who conned us, I cannot use it.  He apparently used the wrong wiring and it could catch fire at any point, hence why I am now using a gas cooker given to me by a friend.  Anyway I now have to remember that I have something boiling away in the hall which is something I find difficult.  The out of sight out of mind syndrome kicks in and I have burnt many things since using this cooker.

When I found the rice it was black and smoke was pouring out and along the hallway round the corner and up the passage to my dad's side of the house.  The smell was disgusting a smell that lingers and still smells out there!

Secondly my father's wood burner nearly setting light to the roof and now we are unable to use it.  After spending all today phoning around I have found someone to come on Monday to have a look at it, fingers crossed they sort it before the temperature drops to -4 as predicted on the weather charts!

Thirdly I fill the dishwasher up, my only luxury and most loved piece of equipment, turned it on and left it.  I then went back to it to see if it had finished opened the door and everything was still dirty and a terrible smell of burning hit my nostrils.  On further inspection I noticed no water was in the bottom and the heating elements were hot and burning! So I had to drag all the dirty pots, pans and plates back into the kitchen to hand wash them all.

So today I found a pack that I've had since October containing a smoke alarm and a carbon monoxide alarm.  After fitting the batteries, testing and locating a good place for them to go, finding the double sided tape I took great pleasure in slapping them up on the wall.  Hopefully these will stir us if there happens to be another 'almost nearly' fire incident.

Let this be a lesson to everyone - you MUST have a smoke alarm and if you have any fires a Carbon Monoxide alarm.  These could and do save lives and are essential.