A star is born.

 There is a house here in Clontarf where I live and every time I pass it this remarkable story comes back into my mind.

The owner of the house was Doney Potter (Donald). he loved opera. He worked with the Rathmines Rathgar choral society and they needed a new voice to wow the audience. So Doney went to Italy and found what they hoped would win the hearts and minds of the Dublin people. The son of the house told me that the star loved football and he brought him down to Inshacore to kick the ball around.

The show was a huge hit and the manager of  Covent Garden operatic society in London brought him over to be an understudy for a show they were doing. 

On the second performance the leading singer was struck by something. 

The understudy stepped on to the stage and Pavarotti wowed them.

As a thank you to his beginning he came to Dublin and did 2 shows for no fee as a thank you to them all.

The house was sold around 15 years later and the new owners gutted the house and things were moving on. One of the kids wet the bed and the au pair  popped it into the tumble drier and they hopped off to mass. Someone passing noticed the smoke and the noise of a frantic dog barking. He called for the fire brigade and later the assessors arrived.

An electrical fault was the verdict and the electricians head was on the block. His insurer had a retired Garda working for them. He spoke to each person alone and took notes. When he spoke to the girl who had put the duvet into the tumble dryer his electrician was off the hook. The dryer filter had not been cleaned for months and it had overheated,

 

When I was on holiday in Spain I was talking to a guy who lives in California, the topic came around to the fires and the exotic homes that were all destroyed. 

He told me that the insurance companies will not be paying . The reason is that the home owners were warned long ago to remove all the scrub bushes around their homes, This was not done So they will not pay.