PS

A freakishly lone lightening strike hit the house at the other end of Elm St on Harvard St at about 5:25 yesterday afternoon. I was sitting at my desk facing the window in that direction and had not even noticed rain let alone thunder when the clap made my heart beat double. I thought it hit David and Helen's DeLancey's infamous back yard tree two houses away, the bang was so close to the flash.

I feel like an idiot because I rushed out to dinner at 6:12, noticed smoke and did not make the connection. It was not a B-B-Q. Lightening starts fires. Doh!

Unfortunately for the house on Harvard St., about 50 milliseconds further away if you have a more acute sense of short time intervals than me, the owner is in London and his upstairs tenant was not home either. The fire smoldered without being reported for about an hour or more.

I returned from dinner after 8:00 to find fire engines still screaming and racing towards the scene. However, the fire was already out and there were at least six fire trucks there already. The extra roaring around town seems was just the usual boys will be boys at play with their toys.

I empathize with the sleep deprived landlord in London who turns out to be Steve Bailey, apparently now an editor for Bloomberg but formerly a business columnist for the Boston Globe.