Doofus Of The Day #45

With apologies to William Shakespeare - if candles be the flame of love, burn on!

A romantic young man from Taiwan nearly burnt down a hotel when he lit dozens of candles to form the phrase "I Love U" for his girlfriend, press reports said today.

Lin, a frozen food deliverer, booked a Taipei hotel room on May 31 to celebrate the one year anniversary of meeting his girlfriend, the China Post daily said.

Lin arranged dozens of tea-lights on the carpet to spell I Love U, lit them and then drove his car to pick up his girlfriend.

When he returned to the hotel 40 minutes later and pushed open the door to give his girlfriend a surprise, instead of I Love U in candle-light, they saw the room was filled with smoke, the flat-screen TV had melted and the carpet was singed.

Lin was arrested and brought to trial recently and charged with endangering public safety, according the China Post reported.

He agreed to pay 150,000 Taiwan dollars ($4,888) for damage caused by the blaze and donate 30,000 Taiwan dollars to a charity fund.

Lin said that when he bought the candles, the shop clerk assured him that the wax inside the tiny aluminum cups would not overflow and cause a fire, so he thought it was safe to light the candles on the carpet.

Let's sing it together: "Come on, Baby, light my fire . . . "

(And if she doesn't marry him after that, there's no justice!)



Peter