h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Got a phone call from the 's secretary late on yesterday afternoon. The biopsy results are back and normal. While thats a relief on the one hand it also means we're back to square one about the B12, Folate, malabsorption problem. It looks like the consultant now wants to look at the intestine and lower bowel in more detail. I'll find out more on the 14th Dec. when I see him. In the meantime as the blood tests still show the deficiency I'm to continue with the Folic Acid Tablets and B12 jabs for the forseeable future. I'm starting to get seriously fed up with these pesky medical issues. It seems like I go one step forward and 3 back. It doesn't help that I'm not sleeping well either. The one consolation is I don't have any early morning appts so I can lie in if required. Having said that, I did sleep a lot better last night.
I'm going to have to make a trip to the camping and caravan store next week. No, I'm not buying a tent or caravan, I have a camping stove for use as and when we get power cuts. No electric here means no heating, no lighting and no cooking. We get on average at least 3 power cuts during the winter for whatever reason so the camping stove and gas light are essential back-ups. On checking the stove I discovered the rubber seal between stove and gas cylinder has perished, hence dangerous to use. The gasket is not available as a seperate part so basically the stove is scrap. I therefore need to get a replacement. You know what murphys law is, if I leave it too late we'll get a power cut and that'll be me stuffed for making a drink let alone hot food.
Under new regulations brought in by the housing association mains gas fires are being removed (mines already gone). That means in the event of a power cut there's no heating at all. Central heating systems are being upgraded to combi-boilers so again, no electric, no boiler. Easier to maintain and safer, (apparently) so as tenants move on they (the housing folk) set to and remove said fires and older heating systems. You can only have electric fires. Health and safety gone mad? Possibly but then again with gas there's no second chance, a major fault could have deadly consequences, I'd rather err on the side of caution I think.
The trouble is the electric fires they supply in place of the gas fires are straight out of the 70's. They're 3 bar, (each 1 kilowat) and have 2 red light bulbs beneath a fibreglass coal effect cover with, above each bulb, a tin foil fan that rotate from heat given off by the bulbs which in turn is supposed to mimick real flames. Its tragic frankly and an embarrassment to have on show let alone in use. The surround to the fire is veneered chipboard made to look like mahogany. Mine is currently sitting in the shed and its staying there.

that electric fire sounds horrible
it seems odd that your local council is doing away with gas fittings pretty much,
I agree gas fires aren't terribly safe but given the likely hood of power cuts in the area you think that they would give you something to fall back on

You can get nice (well, nice-ish) electric fires. We had one of the type you've described when I was growing up and they were awful.