So about an hour ago, I'm in the middle of the "Ok, Haroon, nursing time is REALLY over" battle, when I hear a boom and the windows rattle. Lately the house has been over-run by painters and workmen of various sorts, so I think "Someone must have left the terrace door open, oh no, wait, I hope that wasn't an explosion." Twenty minutes later I hear another boom. The battle with Haroon was still not over, so I couldn't go check the TV. Then I realised that in my ongoing saga with the cable provider, I had agreed not to have TV service for one evening while they tried to figure out why my internet connection kept going on the blink. So I checked online, and couldn't find any mention of anything untoward, so crossed my fingers that it was just a transformer going kaput or something like that.

Fifteen minutes ago, my sister-in-law called to say there had been an explosion at the performing arts festival going on at the open air theatre complex a couple of miles from my home. I still can't find anything on the internet. As I write, I can hear sirens going past. God have mercy.