Got Gas !

I guess it has been a while since I last posted huh ? Been doing some of this and some of that , but not a whole lot of any of it , if I can get by with it .

The big project of the week was grocery shopping this past Saturday, which of course , my luck , wasn't so cut and dry .When ever I have to buy grocery's or have a ton of shopping to do , I try to get one my friends sons to carry the bags up the many stairs for me since that is way beyond my ability anymore .I of course bribe them shamelessly and they accept happily .BUT ..... they are growing up and are becoming too proud to do this much anymore . Their mother nags them into Thank God !I really don't know what we would do with out them to tell the truth .But in order to use their services , I have to do these errands on a Saturday when they are off from school .They like to sleep late and so do I , so that works out fine most times , BUT this last Saturday was different.

I needed a new tank of propane cooking gas, as the one I was using ran out in the middle of baking a casserole ,of course ! So ? You say ? Well , you see , the petrol station has tanks of propane gas , but they come only on certain days of the week and go quickly . That day isn't a Saturday , of course . Wouldn't that make my life easy ? There is a little hole in the wall place that sells the gas tanks not too far from the Condo.Most of the times their tanks are fairly newish and do not leak .This is important as there is nothing worse than NOT waking up in the morning due to dying in the night from being gassed to death by a leaky gas tank , right?

One problem with this little place,the man that works it takes his siesta to heart and has one everyday promptly at 1:30 in the afternoon . He doesn't reopen until around 5 P.M.ish . Ok , well.....the boys don't like to wake up before 2 P.M.ish and are not very happy with me when I make them wake up earlier .Especially when this involves carrying very heavy things like gas tanks up flights of stairs .

My friend and I managed to convince one of the boys that it would be well worth his while to wake up early on his day off and do the gas tank for me .I go get the guy . Drive to the Condo , wait in the car while he goes up and gets the old tank , brings it down to the car , puts into the trunk of the car and away we go to get the new tank from the hole in the wall place. Sigh !

We get there . The pickings are slim this time around , which means the gas station didn't get their tank supply this past week.The man has had a run on his supply's . I remind my guy to make SURE the tank doesn't leak . Be SURE to check it . Ok he says !He picks one puts it into the car trunk and away we go to the Condo .By the time we get there we can already smell that distinctive rat poison smell that the gas has pouring out of the car trunk when it was opened .Oh DAM !So .... we get back in the car and dash back over to the place to make an exchange of tanks .The man was closed . Gone for siesta time and not coming back until early evening .Double dam !!Now what to do ?

If I have managed to get one of the boys so early in the day , it is a cinch I won't find them anywhere after 5 P.M. when the place will have opened back up .What to do ? I think about it for a few minutes and come up with what I think is a fool proof plan .I tell the guy I will pay him when I pick him back up around 5ish to change the gas tanks and he agrees . Yeah !!!Problem solved .

5 P.M. rolls around.I go down to the car and smell that smell . I open the car door and wave after wave of gas comes pouring out of the car .Thank God no one lite a cigarette near my car !It would have blown up like a terrorist car bomb!After I air the car out I drive to the boys house to get the boy . I honk my horn , which is the signal to come down to my car , and no kid . Shock horror !I honk again and still no kid .Finally after a 15 minute wait a different kid comes down to go with me.Ok , whatever , a kid , that's all I need .We drive back to the place . The guy there laughs when my guy tells him our tank leaks and we need to exchange it .He points out one he thinks will be ok .We take a chance and get it .

We get to the Condo. He hauls it up all the stairs . We connect it to the stove . The I light the burner to see if it works .I then found out why it doesn't leak .... hardly any pressure ! Oh well , at least it sorta works .I have a tank and am not complaining at all ! It only takes 3 hours to cook a meal now , as opposed to 1 hour before ,but hey , who cares . Another adventure brought to you by Life in Libya !