Great Cars-A-Fire

Chicago is an interesting city. We have some history in this city, as any city does that is this old and this large, and we have a particularly interesting history with fire. This city and fire are not besties.

So it was this morning that I woke up to thick smoke billowing past my 16th floor window. Being that we live in a high rise and there are other high rises around us, and understanding the history of fire in this city and that multiple buildings burn down every year, I ran to the window with half a shoe on to see what was going on.

It was pretty obvious what was going on once I got to the window. Here's the scene: man on cell phone screaming and pacing, taxi cab up in flames. Not just smoking, completely engulfed in flames. The entire cabin of the car had flames flicking in all directions. And in typical Chicago fashion, other cars just sped on by as if nothing was happening.

Now, I've seen an action movie or two, so I knew that at any moment that thing could blow up. Luckily, I could hear the fire trucks wailing down the road, but I still didn't want to go downstairs just in case something bad happened. I woke the boyfriend up to let him know what was going on because the wretched smell was already leaking through our vents, then watched as the fire fighters put out the flames. They were able to get the flames under control pretty quickly and with no explosion to boot, but there's not mistaking that car was done.

What I loved about this whole scene is that in this town, people simply cannot be bother with these kind of inconveniences. Cars were honking and blaring their horns, apparently hoping that the sound would help put out the flames faster. People strolled by with children and pets as if nothing was going on. To this city, it was just another day, another nuisance preventing them from getting where they want to be when they want to be there.

That was my morning, another shining example of Chicago living.