Life’s not a gas when outlets don’t stock it

CAPE Town business people are apparently very slow learners. Last winter I bought myself a gas fired heater and enjoyed a delightfully warm home – until I ran out of gas. No problem, I said, and set off to the local LP gas provider.

The receptionist looked mournfully at my empty 9kg gas cylinder and shook her head. Sorry. No gas. Not to worry. There are plenty of places that sell gas, so I trundled off to a nearby garage that sported a large sign advertising gas, but was met with another sad face and a shake of the head.

Almost all of winter 2016 I drove hopefully from one supplier to the next, wrapped in my warmest sweater, gloves and scarf. But nobody had gas for sale.

During the summer, when I no longer needed to use my gas heater, I went to my nearest gas supplier and was greeted with a smile.

“Yes sir, of course we have 9kg cylinders of gas. How many do you require?” To be on the safe side I bought two cylinders and stowed them safely in my garage.

This winter I was prepared. Obviously it was likely to be cold, because that’s what happens in winter (has nobody noticed?) I enjoyed a few weeks of warmth, and my cats spent their evenings curled up contentedly in front of the gas heater.

When the first cylinder was empty I connected the spare one and headed off to the hardware store for a replacement full of confidence..

There I found the same mournful face that had greeted me in winter 2016.

“Sorry, no gas.” I was happy with the fact that I had bought a spare cylinder. For a week or two I called in at regular intervals to enquire about gas. “Sorry, it’s on order.” I have at last found a cylinder and am once again confident I’ll be warm for the rest of this winter.

It still puzzles me, though, how gas suppliers can run out of gas bottles two years in a row. They’d had all summer to stockpile cylinders. I presume the demand for gas is quite low during the warm summer months. I also guess even gas suppliers know that winter comes round every year at around more or less this time, whether there’s global warming or not.

You’d think they could put two and two together and write on their calendars: “Warning! Winter is about to happen. Stock up on gas.”

However, I am not in the gas business, so I don’t presume to know all about the logistics of the LP gas trade. I suppose there must be some complex reason why winter catches us by surprise every year.

The first thing I plan to do this summer is to make sure I am not caught gasless in 2018.

It’s not rocket science.

Last Laugh

Courtship and marriage are two very different things.

Courtship is like looking at the beautiful pictures on the seed packets.

Marriage is what actually grows in your garden.