hero moment passes by
On the skinny streets of Busan, as in every major Korean metropolis, there are food vendors selling fried chillies, dumplings, dakpokki (horrendous spicy rice cake and spagetti mix) and other assorted unhealthies. As I approached one on the walk home last night I noticed that the old man and woman running the thing (they are always old) were having some kind of drama. When I was past it I turned and noticed that there was some fire coming out from the side of their cart and the old guy was trying to pull this tank of what musta been LPG out from under there, fire all over the place. I had a half-second pause of "Woah," before alarm kicked in: "Hey... fire, plus gas tank? That equals boom! (At least in the movies)". So I stood there wondering what I could do. I certainly didn't want to go sticking my hands in there and I didn't have my phone. There were some people just standing around so I turned to one couple who were watching the show and yelled "Call someone! You moron!" and made the universal hand-waggle-near-the-ear telephone sign and he figured it out.
I kept walking figuring there was fuckall else I could do there. It was only later I realised I should have run into a restaurant or the 7-11 store and tried to get the fire extinguisher. I guess I lost it in the moment. Besides, I doubt I could have achieved anything.
So I kept walking and heard this soft "shoompfh" of the tank exploding. Not really exploding to y ears, sounded more like it was exploofing but there you go. Flames took hold of the cart's plastic covers and shot up the side, started attacking the building behind. It was quite pretty except for the fact that it was someone's livelihood going up in smoke. The guy had had the sense to move away when he realised that there was nothing he could do, just like me.
As I walked further, ambulances approached and I heard fire engines approaching.
It doesn't look as bad this morning, anywhere near like I expected it to be. I'll hopefully remember to bring my camera in this evening and get a picture.
So anyway, i'm not the quick thinking hero who saved the old couple's life. Guess I hafta wait for the next opportunity.
[Edit] Actually, it doesn't look all that bad. The fire was much more exciting than the damage turned out to be, as the whole cart was made of stainless steel and the musta put it all out pretty fast. Not worth a pic really.
I kept walking figuring there was fuckall else I could do there. It was only later I realised I should have run into a restaurant or the 7-11 store and tried to get the fire extinguisher. I guess I lost it in the moment. Besides, I doubt I could have achieved anything.
So I kept walking and heard this soft "shoompfh" of the tank exploding. Not really exploding to y ears, sounded more like it was exploofing but there you go. Flames took hold of the cart's plastic covers and shot up the side, started attacking the building behind. It was quite pretty except for the fact that it was someone's livelihood going up in smoke. The guy had had the sense to move away when he realised that there was nothing he could do, just like me.
As I walked further, ambulances approached and I heard fire engines approaching.
It doesn't look as bad this morning, anywhere near like I expected it to be. I'll hopefully remember to bring my camera in this evening and get a picture.
So anyway, i'm not the quick thinking hero who saved the old couple's life. Guess I hafta wait for the next opportunity.
[Edit] Actually, it doesn't look all that bad. The fire was much more exciting than the damage turned out to be, as the whole cart was made of stainless steel and the musta put it all out pretty fast. Not worth a pic really.
posted by wu-wei at 11:31 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home