Baby, It's Cold Inside

Back home to Amagansett.  All set to get organized and wrap presents.  Just one problem.  There's no heat on the lower level of the house.  The level that just happens to contain my bedroom.  After some poking and prodding and convincing myself that this was something I couldn't deal with, I called my propane supplier, who also does repairs.  We carefully discussed that I had checked the level of fuel just before I left on my trip and my conservative estimate of the reading was 80%.  The agent agreed that there was no way this would be a fuel problem so I needed a repair visit.  I was told that the repair person would call me to tell me when he would be arriving.  This was classified as an emergency call, by the way.

Four hours later, having received no call, I called the provider back.  They were very courteous and very sorry, but there was no way they could give me any estimate of when repair would arrive.  I tried every form of the question I could come up with.  Where was the repair person at this point?  Was I the next call or were there others in the queue?  Could they contact the repair person and get an answer to any of these questions?  No to everything.

Sometime after midnight, the truck arrived.  Just one problem.  It was a fuel truck, not a repair truck.  The driver confirmed that I had more than enough fuel and that I did not need a delivery.  He said he had no idea why they had sent a fuel truck instead of a repair truck.  Obligingly, he took a look at the heating unit and confirmed that it was the problem.  He said he thought it could be fixed easily but, of course, he had no tools.

My next step was to get back on the phone.  The emergency office was very concerned to know how the mistake had been made.  I realized they would need to know this at some point but somehow I was much more interested in when I could get heat.  They said they could correct the information and put in a call for a repair truck but once again they could not give me any estimate of when he might arrive or what else he might have on his agenda.  Based on past performance, I had very little hope of resolving this before the dawn so I asked that they schedule it for tomorrow.  Sorry, but they couldn't do that.  I would have to call back next morning before 8:00 am.  I decided to call it a day and set my alarm.  I piled on every blanket I could find on the couch upstairs, where the never very satisfactory electric heating helped a bit, and settled in.

Next morning I placed the call and a repair unit did arrive.  The blockage was cleared and once again I had an operational furnace.  I basked in the heat and took a nap to make up for the night before.  Heat is a wonderful thing.