[Stuart]

Grr. The local gas company have apparently found they need to upgrade the entire network.

This process involves digging up the pavement outside every house in the road, replacing both the gas mains. They chose to start this last Thursday, so they left a message stating I would need to speak to the engineer at 8am on Saturday (I usually have a lay in on Saturdays), as the Engineer needed to confirm every gas appliance we have was turned off. We only have two (the hob and boiler), so I turned them off at the time he was due to come.

He turned up at nearly 10am.. He did replace the main fairly quickly (still took an hour), and frequently left the house, so I had to leave the front door open. I needed to do this anyway as there was a strong smell of gas while he was working. It was rather cold in the house when he finished.

However, when he was finishing up, he noted that at some point in the past, someone has removed the earth bond between the consumer unit and the gas main. Don't know who, as in the last few years, both our internal gas pipes and the consumer unit have been replaced, so it could have been either the company that installed the heating or the electrician who replaced the consumer unit.

I'm expecting more bloody expense getting it fixed..