I have a rather romantic attitude to fire.
Fire lighting was one of the earliest skills I acquired, whether laying the fire in the hearth, or to brew a cuppa on a day out hiking in the country, or for cooking while camping, burning waste or just for something to do in the garden
I always feel a faint twinge of sympathy for an arsonist – at least for juvenile ones. Who knows, if I had not had those opportunities I might have been one myself
Smog was mostly a thing of the past in this country by the time I grew up, but I enjoyed the few I did experience, even the alarming time when a bus chased me (at very very slow speed) to seek shelter in a shop doorway – the driver had not realised he was on the pavement.
It seems incredible now to think that we then thought that black was the natural colour of the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey & all other buildings in our cities. Just as now we take their wonderful honey hues for granted
I know air quality was bad, it was an iniquity that so many should die from smog, the state of our buildings an outrage. It was good that we took action to limit burning & smoke production
But things have moved on now & I am hopeful that we will follow the advice in A Wasted Opportunity
