Lo! The Gasman Commeth
This afternoon, a VERY BIG LORRY arrived. It grabbed up the spoil and deposited rather more fine material to go in the holes. This was tamped, and the lorry and the men went away with assurances that there would be people to replace bricks, pavings and asphalt in various drives.
A little later, a chap came to make a final test on the areas around the meters in next door's garage and our utility room - and found elevated levels of gas coming out of the electricity mains ducts.
We were, so help me, evacuated again. This time we stood on the other side of the street with various neighbours, including those from next door, while more vans arrived. Meanwhile, with the utility room windows open, the readings in our house went to zero. However, next door's were rising despite an open garage door. We stood and chatted while they dug up the areas around the mains.
The theory is that there is another mains leak (if not several) and gas, having been blocked off by the replaced soil, is seeping down the electricity ducts. They've found one so far.
Currently, we have been allowed back, and we have eaten, and the gas is still on. They are using us as a monitor - with the windows closed in the utility room they can check every half hour whether gas is still seeping back or whether it is either venting into the air outside or has disappeared entirely...
It has started raining. Oh joy.
In other news, the new DVD player came today. Currently, I am playing a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode (The Condemned, a near as dammit perfect Voyage episode) which never played properly on our old multi-region chipped player. It's playing perfectly now. I am very chuffed.
A little later, a chap came to make a final test on the areas around the meters in next door's garage and our utility room - and found elevated levels of gas coming out of the electricity mains ducts.
We were, so help me, evacuated again. This time we stood on the other side of the street with various neighbours, including those from next door, while more vans arrived. Meanwhile, with the utility room windows open, the readings in our house went to zero. However, next door's were rising despite an open garage door. We stood and chatted while they dug up the areas around the mains.
The theory is that there is another mains leak (if not several) and gas, having been blocked off by the replaced soil, is seeping down the electricity ducts. They've found one so far.
Currently, we have been allowed back, and we have eaten, and the gas is still on. They are using us as a monitor - with the windows closed in the utility room they can check every half hour whether gas is still seeping back or whether it is either venting into the air outside or has disappeared entirely...
It has started raining. Oh joy.
In other news, the new DVD player came today. Currently, I am playing a Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea episode (The Condemned, a near as dammit perfect Voyage episode) which never played properly on our old multi-region chipped player. It's playing perfectly now. I am very chuffed.