Explosions at dawn

This morning, back at my London home, the boyfriend and I were woken by the sound of a muffled explosion. Whilst I simply rolled back over, momentarily stirred, the boyfriend heard what sounded like tiles falling onto or off the roof. Dazed by the noise, he told himself it was nothing and went back to sleep. It was still too dark to see the plume of smoke gradually emerging somewhere off in distance out of my window.

The source of this plume of smoke was the oil refinery in Hemel Hempstead blowing up bit by bit after what's currently considered an 'accident'. Throughout the morning, my family and I watched the big grey cloud drift slowly over most of West London. As we drove back down this afternoon, I annoyed my boyfriend by constantly marvelling at the massive plume and remarking on the rather spectacular sunset that was the result of the smoke.

Apparently, the blast was heard as far away as the Netherlands. Not really surprising when there's 150,000 tonnes of petrol, diesel and aviation fuel as your accelerant. We certainly heard it 20-odd miles away, but can you imagine living two roads over from this giant factory? Your patio doors would be ruined.

They're predicting that the fire will carry on for a few days until the fuel's burnt away, so here's hoping for a bit of rain over the next few days.

I can't believe I'm saying that when I have to drive to London again tomorrow.