Gas Man (a la Jazz Man?)

The day I moved into this apartment, almost a year ago, I called the landlords about a smell I feared was natural gas. Mr. Landlord popped in and said he didn't smell anything, but that his sniffer ain't so great either. He didn't think there was a problem. I feared I was overreacting and carried on, still always worried.

Finally, last Thursday, I called NYSEG to ask if that sweet smell was OK. Their answer was along the lines of HOLD ON, SOMEONE WILL BE RIGHT OVER! I actually laughed. But around 7, Norman arrived.

And found a leak in the living room heater.

Well.

Now it turns out there was more to the problem than Norman found. Handyman T replaced the "whole heater" today. I walked in afterward and ... really really smelled gas. Handy T had checked everything thoroughly and not gotten any readings from his gas detector, so maybe it was something that happened during the changeout, but ...

See, the house next door to my parents' exploded a few years back. Yeah. Exploded. A guy was clearing bushes (hired to, not randomly roaming the neighborhood), and the roots must have been wrapped around a gas line everyone thought was shut off. The missus was home and somehow survived mostly unscathed, but the house was gone in like 5 minutes. Cracked our foundation and some walls, too, and made our siding look like crinkle-cut fries.

So you can follow the trail to my not being so comfortable with gas.

Now I won't turn it on until Norman comes back and smells the same things I smell and says it's OK. He is supposed to be here 7ish, which is now. I felt groggy till about noon this morning, so I am kinda concerned. The cats seem OK, but you never know.

NORMAN!!!

8:52 p.m.
Add carbon monoxide to the list.

That's right! Can I get a "radon!" from the house?

Gas is shut off to the heaters. So it's cold in here. Yes. Melissa offered their guest room, but packing up the cats is .... well it's something. So as long as we're safe here, and Norman ASSURED me we are (though he was pretty sure of that last Thursday too) ... space heaters? Well, the one time I plugged one in here, the wall outlet got hot. GOOD TIMES. Maybe I should rent that room ...

So I would like to make this funny but my hands are cold. What the landlords are going to do now I don't know. Norman recommended replacing the heaters. *Shite.*

SWEET DREAMS!!