Our gas supply has failed - water has leaked into the pipes and our house and 9 others have had the gas turned off .
The problem started on Friday, we returned from taking DGC home to discover one of our CH boilers was on the blink (so we thought) and the other was working but making worrying noises. On Saturday morning the other boiler packed in. It wasn't unil I put a saucepan on the cooker and the gas was popping and flickering and very low, it occurred to us that the problem was gas pressure. Then, if by order, we saw a man in a fluorescent jacket with GAS emblazoned on the back walk by. We went out and saw several gas vans at the end of the road and when we went to speak to them, they told us the problem. Later they came round and officially turned the gas off in each house.
We have now been without gas for two days and have been told we may be without gas for another two as they have still to find how and why the water is getting into the pipes so that they can repair it.
Thankfully we have a big wood burning stove and we can cut part of the house off and just live in one half of the house so we are relying on that for heat. We live in an old house and the burner is set in huge brick chimney in the centre of the house and the longer the burner burns, the more the hot smoke going up to the chimney heats up the brick chimney like a storage radiator and as the chimney goes through our bedroom, that too is warming up. We are managing for cooking because, for the first time ever, I am glad I have a dual fuel cooker. No hob but oven and grill are electric and I have a microwave.
The real problem is no hot water as both boilers are combi boilers, so no gas, no hot water. I managed to strip wash yesterday with a small electric kettle full of hot water, but tomorrow I will need to go to the local sports club and have a shower and hairwash there.
Meanwhile, it is harking back to childhood, waking to a cold bedroom, going downstairs and my first job is to empty the stove and get the fire going and then sit over it with a hot coffee until the heat starts to spread. Then there is keeping the fire going all day remembering to put more wood on it regularly and going down to the wood shed, even when it is raining to bring in more logs.
Never have I appreciated central heating and hot water more.
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