Dear LPG

Can you cast your mind back to the end of the last century when getting letters informing that our water, gas or electricity would be cut off sometime in the near future, was not an uncommon occurrence?

Back in the 1970s and 1980s we were used to that happening from time to time.  We would get at least a couple of days’ notice and have the extra water or food for the day prepared in advance, but it has been a really long time since the last such letter was received, and it does not occur that much anymore. 

It did to me recently though because of an emergency need to change the gas pipes all the way up the road that I live on, and just to make things a little worse, the letter arrived on the day that the news forecast a significant drop in temperatures.  As usual with such letters, there was a telephone number included.

I think that what horrified me most is the time of year that this work needed to be done.  I am a pensioner who lives with a disabled daughter and the thought of no heat or hot food for hours was not good news. 

I telephoned and told them of my fears with the result that the company doing the work arranged for me to have some electric heaters and a hotplate while the work was being done, although I was a little concerned about how much extra money the electricity used will come to. 

The moral of my story though, is that anyone who finds themselves in the same situation would do well to find the telephone number on the letter, call it and find out what contingencies they have in place for a person in your predicament.

Apparently they have to leave a telephone number somewhere.

YM, New Cross