After the Fire

Ikea burned down. Many people have lost their workplace, and much property and money was lost.

However, another result of the fire that surprised us, was the rain:

What you see in this picture are two water vessels, usually used to collect rainwater from the roof’s drainpipes. This weekend they were filled with what seems to be black soot. I think the reason it’s so concentrated is because the water containers act as filters: some of the soot stays down, while the relatively cleaner water overflows. This way these two containers collected soot from all over the roof.

These two containers made me think of air pollution, and the effect it has on us. Air pollution is usually invisible. Sometimes you can see it from afar, as a brown cloud of smog over the city, but when you get inside you don’t see it. Once you get used to it you don’t feel it either. But here before me was the result of a single fire, and it doesn’t look pretty.