Whiff

Just now and then, as I’m going into my house, there’s a whiff of natural gas on the breeze.

That’s not a good thing, generally speaking. But it’s not unheard of. The infrastructure is aging. It used to be if you walked through my sister’s neighborhood, you were almost guaranteed to smell a gas leak somewhere. The utility was forever out, seeking out the leaks. Fix one, comes another. So it goes.

Here at my place I might smell it as well. But it’s a line of townhomes, one unit against the next, and winds blowing in all directions. I had it checked when I moved in. No issues here. At least not when they checked, not in the direction the wind was blowing.

Still. Now and then… it would be there for a moment.

Well, now we are 3 weeks into the 3 years of local construction shaking the houses. That probably isn’t helping us along. Or maybe it’s just another few years of the systems getting older day by day…

But today there’s a scent in the breeze and I’m trying to make it out. Is that something dead in the distance, or is that gas nearby?

Dad had thought he smelled something dead.

Mom comes up and says, “Why does it smell like a gas leak?”

Ok. So, let me call the utility. At least rule it out.

I half expected them to tell me what they did last time, years ago: must be the wind, nothing here.

They did not.

But the good news is no readings from my meter.

The bad news is it’s next door. Basically a foot from the corner of my house.

It is hours and hours of work for them.

The neighbors are out so they can’t go make sure it’s not leaking inside, but it has to get fixed now. So our street is blocked with equipment and guys — or I guess male-presenting persons — are digging up the meter next door. Close enough to me that I hear it all.

It’s also… vaguely unsettling.

But also – provided the footnote to this story doesn’t involve a terrible accidental explosion – it’s good that it’s getting fixed.

Postscript: Fixed, no explosions.