Man, I was sipping my coffee peacefully on Sunday morning, thinking about my loan payments and how much it costs me to fill up the BMW, when I hear Mioara: "Hey, something's burning on Colentina!" I look out the window, and I see black smoke that stings your eyes. I think, great, some junker in Băneasa caught fire again or something. But no, bro, it was a restaurant and three shops right on Colentina Road in Sector 2. The flames started around 4:00 AM, just when normal people are sleeping or coming back from a party. The firefighters came with 11 water and foam trucks, a ladder, an extrication vehicle, and SMURD. They blasted like crazy for hours to put it all out. The burned area? About 200 square meters, that's like one and a half studio apartments, only here it was work and merchandise worth thousands of euros.
Now, listen to the part that made me slap myself: the guy who owned the restaurant, the owner, had a panic attack! I mean, wait, he saw his business turned to ashes, and his heart said "stop." The SMURD guys bandaged him up right there on the spot, but he refused to go to the hospital. He says he doesn't want to lie on a stretcher when all his work is ash. I get it, bro, when I heard how much the BMW service costs, I almost fainted. But this guy is serious: he lost everything, and his nerves are stretched like a guitar string. Luckily, no one was inside, otherwise we'd all be crying.
What pisses me off is that the authorities evacuated seven people from a neighboring building as a precaution. I mean, come on, bro, you're chilling at home, it's Sunday, and suddenly you hear "get out fast, everything's burning!" Lucky it didn't spread to the nearby buildings, otherwise it would have been a disaster. The firefighters were heroes, no doubt, but why did it catch fire at 4 AM? Who starts a fire at 4 AM in a closed restaurant? Maybe some old wiring, maybe a short circuit, maybe a feuding neighbor. We'll see what the ISUBIF experts say, they're investigating now.
And let's not forget: traffic on Colentina Road was blocked for half an hour. Man, I've spent less time in traffic when I took Mioara to the airport. Oh my, a line of cars, honking, nerves. And everyone was looking at the smoke and saying "God forbid." What can I say, bro? A summer Sunday that started with embers and ashes. I'm not buying the story that it's just "an accident." Who pays? Insurance, if he has any, or us taxpayers again, because the firefighters are still state-funded. If you ask me, this is an investment of hundreds of thousands of lei that went down the drain. Don't worry, tomorrow the owner will show up on the news with a pack of cigarettes in his hand and say "it was a short circuit." We Romanians have a talent: turning any tragedy into a joke. I'm going to tell Mioara not to leave the charger plugged in overnight, because, you know, the building might catch fire. Until then, I'm drinking my coffee and hoping I don't have a panic attack over how much my bills cost.
