In regard to amazing coincidences, this is the most amazing one that has ever happened to me. True story.

St. Patrick's Day 2011. I was spending a very quiet evening at home. I remember thinking to myself, "This is nice," because over here in America, people get crazy on St. Patrick's Day. Then I felt a little chilly.

Now we had a Waterford fireplace insert- propane- made in Ireland. Because they had stopped selling Waterfords here, parts for repairs were unavailable. My boyfriend had a special method of lighting it because the ignitor did not function properly and we couldn't get a replacement. He had already turned in and I thought, "How hard can it be?" I had watched him do it several times.

You guessed it. It blew up in my face which was like inches from the thing. Glass flying everywhere! I was wearing my reading glasses at the time and all the shards that were heading straight for my eyes were deflected. One or two minor scratches on my face. I didn't catch on fire. No fire at all in fact. Just an explosion. All that happened to me was a face full of soot- comical, like in the cartoons :-)

Irish stove, St. Patty's Day, lucky me!!! It was as though I had received a visit from the great saint himself! St. Patrick is actually British if memory serves.