Chim Chim Chiminey Chim Chiminey etc....

Do you remember this song from Mary Poppins? One of the favourite movies from long ago  now…I am showing my age. But I couldn’t help thinking of this yesterday.

We got the chimney swept yesterday. You might think that living in tropical Queensland, no one in their right mind would have a fireplace. And when we moved her we thought exactly the same. But now, having acclimatised the winter nights get cold, and the house we are house sitting is not at sea level but at the foot of a high range of hills and the air is cooler here. So we know we will use the fireplace frequently.

In years gone by, in New Zealand, everyone had fireplaces, and the inbuilt type of fireplace was installed in most homes. They are clean, confine the fire so safer and nice to look at too. This house sit has one of those contained fireplaces, but we had no idea when the chimney had last been cleaned. Even here in Queensland houses burn down every winter due to negligence, often with heaters and fireplaces. So we thought we would get it checked out.

The chimneysweep of today is a much more sophisticated kind of chap, with a nice four wheel drive car, good equipment, and in our case yesterday was also an installer of these fireplaces, so he knew all about them.

 

The fireplace inside. Works a treat and heats the whole house.

 It was reassuring to hear him say the fireplace in this house was in really good condition and safe to use for years to come. I'm sure the home owners have looked after this too, and the appliances etc in this homesit are all good quality.

So now we can rest assured that the fire is safe to use for the coming winter.