I called our landlord yesterday to tell him we might have a slight gas leak down in our basement. And I stressed *slight* because you could only smell if if the door has been closed for a while.
S was home from school sick, so after placing that call I left him here in his pajamas to go pick up B. While I was gone the landlord came by, but S isn't allowed to answer the door when we're not here, so he just ignored the doorbell.
Apparently when the landlord called the people at the gas company they went into full-tilt emergency mode. They immediately dispatched a van which came screeching to a halt in front of our house. Neighbors are coming outside to see what's going on, and the landlord is ringing the doorbell nonstop.
The gas guy says that if he can't get hold of me in the next few minutes that they're going to have to call the police to break in! D is going insane barking, which was great, because our landlord (who's a slimeball) has the keys but is afraid to go in because he doesn't want to be torn to pieces by our vicious guard dog. :-D (I don't plan on correcting this particular misperception.)
I pulled up to see him standing on our driveway looking frantic, neighbors out on their driveways rubbernecking, and I knew poor S was hiding somewhere up in his pj's upstairs in his room!
All's well that ends well. The leak was very small and just due to an old washer-- they replaced that and went on their merry way. And luckily I gave the neighbors something to gossip about over their coffee this weekend. :-) (Oh, and I didn't end up blowing up the neighborhood. Maybe they'll even thank me for that!)
3 comments:
well yeah, potential gas leaks should be taken seriously so I'm not surprised
we had gas smell on the road parking lot for a long time and people phoned the fire department which also triggers an impressive code red activity with police trucks arriving and screaming whether they need to evacuate the street etc...
No, you're right, I'm glad they took it seriously, but it did get a little melodramatic around here, though.
Coincidence, we also had a gas leak at our place. It was coming from the little box thingy that stands just outside the house, on the footpath. Our neighbours smelled it and rang the gas emergency line as they couldn't get a hold of us. Then they left me a voicemail message. It was all OK as the gas people could access the box and replace whatever it was. Crisis averted.
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