Day of Disaster

I had taken last Tuesday as annual leave. My intention was to recuperate a little and have some 'me' time. I was going to do some reading, go to the gym, finish my two Carcassonne expansions (which I did manage) and maybe do some gardening before cooking toad in the hole for Lisa and Ellie.

The pavement around our cul-de-sac was being dug up by council contractors for resurfacing....the noise was a little waring but I was managing not to get a headache thanks to my i-pod. Then at about 11.40am there was a frantic pounding on the front door. A man in overalls and a gas mask was telling me I had to get out of the house. The workmen were arguing with another spaceage looking guy. A smell of gas hung heavy in the air.

It turned out the workmen had punctured the gas feed into our house. Once at a safe distance the guy took off his gasmask and explained that they could only turn the gas supply off at our gas monitor, located in the understairs cupboard. They would have to bypass this for several hours. This involved running a yellow pipe from the broken pipe to our cupboard...where it was hooked up somehow. As a result I stood twiddling my thumbs for an hour whilst the bypass work was done. I obseved the contractors arguing with the gas men. They were determined to carry on digging up the pavement with their inappropriate power tools. The gasman was trying to point out that one spark and the whole street could go up. This appeared to sway them...for ten minutes until his back was turned!

I decided to go and buy fish and chips at this point (well I couldn't cook anything!). I then spent until nearly five o'clock waiting for another gas man to turn up and switch something allowing for the yellow pipe, which trailed through the front door, to be removed. As a result I didn't get much done and didn't feel particularly rested by my day off!

On the other hand....it was quite exciting! I thought the workmen and gasmen were going to fight....my money would have been on the workmen as they had more power tools.

That evening I managed to reverse my car and get a front wheel stuck hanging over where the pavement used to be. The car could not be moved and would have to be physically lifted 8" and pushed at the same time. I called the AA. They didn't laugh too much when they came. It was most embarrassing and rounded off 'one of those days'.

On the other hand....it nearly counts as off-roading...and that sounds MANLY!