Well, last night (or should I say early morning) presented an unexpected event. I’ll say upfront that no one was injured, thank goodness. However a raging #fire completely destroyed two cars and melted a third so severely it’s a write-off, all in the driveway of the Airnb I stayed at.

The episode began for me around 1:00 a.m. I was sleeping away nicely in a room that backed on to a patio and swimming pool. I wear ear plugs to help sleep while traveling, thus the first indication I had of a problem was muffled knocking on my door, and the faint sound of “feu, allez” making its way into my dreams. Initially I didn’t want to acknlowledge it. Tried shooing it away like I would a pesky mosquito. But as the wording registered, and there was now pounding at my door, I pulled the plugs out of my ears, and heard people scurrying about.

When I opened the door separating me from the kitchen, all hell was breaking loose. Guests were running out of the house, some not fully dressed, as police went from room to room searching for stragglers (like me). Now I knew things were bad. I grabbed my crucial items: laptop, phone, wallet, and one bag of three I’ve been riding with. Just as I hurried out the front door the smallish explosions started. Looking to my right, the driveway was awash in flames and toxic smoke. More small explosions and a spread of sparks. Wow.

In case my narrative didn’t capture the severity, check out the accompanying video. Amazingly, after about 90 minutes, the apocalypse was extinguished and we were given the OK to return to our rooms. No one injured. Quite a night!