GAS METERS

GAS METERS
An incredible tale by Eamon Henry 1 July 2008

Who could believe that this is a true story, only with changed names of persons and places? Many years ago there lived a young couple named Jack and Jill and their children on the outskirts of a large town. Their home was supplied by town-gas, with the meter being read every two months and a follow-up bill sent by the gas company. Everything was fine until one sunny June morning, when a boy on a bicycle read the gas-meter and triggered the chain of strange events to be described below.
The typical bill would be some two to four pounds, making roughly twenty pounds for the full year. Following the visit of the boy on the bicycle, the bill received was six hundred and seventy two pounds plus some shillings and pence. At going prices, this would cover gas costs over more than thirty years. There was definitely something seriously wrong!
The wife Jill called on her man to research the problem, starting with the gas-meter itself. In the old days, boys on bicycles were required to do hard work in earning their living. That may explain why gas-meters were hidden away in dark dusty holes under stairs, as far back from light and air as possible. Her husband Jack after strenuous efforts emerged sneezing from the glory-hole, but bearing in triumph an un-attached gas-meter. Simple calculation linked this with the daft amount on the bill. It was an old meter, taken out of service some time earlier when a new meter was installed, but read by the boy on that fateful June morning.
Some follow-up action now proved possible. The clerks who sent the bill for six hundred and seventy two pounds could be confronted by the facts. Visiting their office at the gas company, Jack was surprised by their reaction. The amount on the bill was defended as valid. Only after a heated argument was it agreed that this bill be ignored, and the next bill cover the previous two periods. As for taking away the old unattached meter, so as to avoid future mistakes, this was no concern of theirs. All meter fitting and removal was done by a servicing firm located in another town. Jack at this point heard a faint but clear cracking sound within his mind. This last straw had broken the back of a camel that lived somewhere deep inside!
With no regrets nor apologies available from the gas company clerks, nor any admission of mistake, Jack saw clearly the final necessary act. Justice must be done. He secured the old gas-meter on the carrier of his bike, and a little later on a sunny July morning carried it into the gas company office. He placed it on the desk of the most aggressive clerk of his last visit with the words “This belongs to you”. Jack could see that the man was becoming rather angry, as he turned away and headed out. But the joy swelling up inside made him break into song as he stepped out onto the sunlit street. No other song but “I did it my way”!