After The Fire - A New Home
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In 2013 I bought a house. Not big news for many people but HUGE for me - because I was faced with the choice of homelessness in my elder years; cramped community living or moving miles out from Melbourne. I managed to convince the bank to give me a small loan and armed with that and the small amount of money I got from the meagre superannuation I had, I bought a house...
Miles from Melbourne, maybe, but... all mine! And the banks lol.
Not just any house. A gorgeous 1917 original Federation home. Filled with period features, she became my home. Somewhere I could grow old and die. Somewhere I could finally call MY home... I filled her with my beautiful treasures - my artwork, my friends artwork, my collected artwork. I filled her with books and music and gorgeous Chinese rugs and antique furniture. I hung crystals in her stunning timber double sash windows with the unique green and gold glass tops. I decorated her art nouveau and art deco fireplace mantels. I fell in love with her and in doing so, began to heal from years of stress and suffering.
On June 28, a lithium battery pack for an electric bike caught fire while charging and exploded, filling my beautiful front guest room where my friend was staying with exploding lithium cell batteries - it was like being in a war zone, with flash bang grenades going off and starting fires everywhere. It was terrifying. Horrific. Unbelievably cruel and fast.
In a few short minutes, my house burned and I lost everything. Everything except our lives and my beautiful cat Mister Tigger. I am so grateful that we all got out.
I was insured, but I was underinsured. I'd been about to increase my insurances on the 1st July. That never happened. My policy was 'like for like' which I didn't know meant that it was the replacement value for a Federation style dwelling the same as mine, not a normal 2 bedroom weatherboard house.
Please, check your policies. Make sure you add on your mortgage to your sum insured - the insurance companies pay the banks out first and you get whats left. If you're not insured, please get some. And get fire extinguishers and fire blankets, too - you never know when you will need them.
So while I'm insured and I will, one day, be recompensed monetarily for some of what I have lost, that money will never replace what I really lost - my home. My art. My life. So many things gone. I'm still so shocked and hurt and angry and filled with grief. I'm living in temporary accommodation until the house is demolished. I don't know where I'll go to after that or where I'll live or how. But I'll worry about that when the time comes.
Many of you suggested I set up a campaign but I kept saying there are so many more people more deserving of help than I. But I understand now that many of you can only give IF I allow myself to receive and so I have set up this campaign for you to help me in whatever way you can. I am so grateful for everything that comes to me, so very grateful.
Thank you, much love, many blessings
Marg
www.fullcirclemandalas.weebly.com
Miles from Melbourne, maybe, but... all mine! And the banks lol.
Not just any house. A gorgeous 1917 original Federation home. Filled with period features, she became my home. Somewhere I could grow old and die. Somewhere I could finally call MY home... I filled her with my beautiful treasures - my artwork, my friends artwork, my collected artwork. I filled her with books and music and gorgeous Chinese rugs and antique furniture. I hung crystals in her stunning timber double sash windows with the unique green and gold glass tops. I decorated her art nouveau and art deco fireplace mantels. I fell in love with her and in doing so, began to heal from years of stress and suffering.
On June 28, a lithium battery pack for an electric bike caught fire while charging and exploded, filling my beautiful front guest room where my friend was staying with exploding lithium cell batteries - it was like being in a war zone, with flash bang grenades going off and starting fires everywhere. It was terrifying. Horrific. Unbelievably cruel and fast.
In a few short minutes, my house burned and I lost everything. Everything except our lives and my beautiful cat Mister Tigger. I am so grateful that we all got out.
I was insured, but I was underinsured. I'd been about to increase my insurances on the 1st July. That never happened. My policy was 'like for like' which I didn't know meant that it was the replacement value for a Federation style dwelling the same as mine, not a normal 2 bedroom weatherboard house.
Please, check your policies. Make sure you add on your mortgage to your sum insured - the insurance companies pay the banks out first and you get whats left. If you're not insured, please get some. And get fire extinguishers and fire blankets, too - you never know when you will need them.
So while I'm insured and I will, one day, be recompensed monetarily for some of what I have lost, that money will never replace what I really lost - my home. My art. My life. So many things gone. I'm still so shocked and hurt and angry and filled with grief. I'm living in temporary accommodation until the house is demolished. I don't know where I'll go to after that or where I'll live or how. But I'll worry about that when the time comes.
Many of you suggested I set up a campaign but I kept saying there are so many more people more deserving of help than I. But I understand now that many of you can only give IF I allow myself to receive and so I have set up this campaign for you to help me in whatever way you can. I am so grateful for everything that comes to me, so very grateful.
Thank you, much love, many blessings
Marg
www.fullcirclemandalas.weebly.com
Organizer
Marg Thomson
Organizer
Tarcombe VIC
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