Recently Hubby and I attended an event at the college where I did my graduate work. It was the type of event one did not arrive at in jeans. Everyone was dressed in at least business casual attire, and all of the highest ranking facutly members of the department were present. The hall where they had the event was beautifully arranged. All the tables were covered with linen tableclothes and napkins and there was a bottle of red and white wine on each table beautifully highlighted by elegant tea-candle table decorations.
It was to be a 3-course dinner. It began with the salad course. The salads were placed at each place setting before hand, and had fruit and lettuce other than Iceberg. Our table had just finished passing the bread basket and Hubby found an open space on the table on which to put it. We began our meal to the sounds of fine china and silver clinking and academic conversation filling the air.
Our meal continued this way until someone at the next table looked at us and said "FIRE!!!!" It took a minute for us to realize what they were talking about, but as we followed the gaze of the woman yelling "FIRE!!!!" we realized what had happened.
The bread basket, which was elegantly lined with a linen napkin, had been set too close to one of those beautiful tea-candle table decorations, and was now in flames. While I tried to figure out a way to extinguish the flames that would be less of a scene than throwing the table's carafe of water on it, Hubby quietly used his Boy Scout skills to smother the flaming napkin, and then handed over it's charred remains to a member of the wait staff.
So at the fancy-schmancy elegant dinner, it was us that managed to accidentally set fire to something. I'm sure some of my former professors wondered how I ever managed to finish the program.
3 comments:
That is too funny!! That would have probably been something I would have done, I am not very fancy and can't pretend to be either!
I can just picture it! That's too funny! I'm glad you guys were able to extinguish the fire quickly before the building had to be evacuated! That would have been an even funnier story to tell.
Don't feel too bad - when I was a freshman in college, I started a fire in my apartment. I turned our oven on and it shorted out. There was a pop and then poof - flames shot out the front of the oven. I had to bust out our fire extinguisher and shut off the electricity to my kitchen at the circuit breaker. We had to call 911. I had the fire out before the firemen arrived though.
I think that you will always remember that dinner, just like I will never forget the day I tried to bake some frozen french fries and nearly burned down Gates Hall.
Carolee: I think it would have been easier if it was in a restaurant where I didn't know anyone--not with a bunch of people I went to grad school with.
Colleen: That was the best story ever! You should blog about that! :)
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