Oh yeah, fear of fire is a big one for me too.

When I still lived in Amsterdam, I experienced an apartment fire. I was living on the top floor of an apartment building, right underneath the roof. At some point, roof workers were burning the roof with tar, which I think is an accepted technique for making the roofs water proof. But one day they went for their lunch break, while leaving the torch ignited. What happened is that the roof caught fire, crept towards the gas canister attached to the torch, which then exploded with a bang loud enough to put me on local television because the canister happened to have exploded directly above my bed.

Thank God I was working at the office that day, because from the place where my bed was, you could look up straight to heaven after that explosion.

You wouldn’t want to know how many times I lay awake asking myself what-if questions after that. Can’t recall the nights.