Phone rage

On 29th January I inquired about a tardy propane gas delivery.

Here is the text response I received:

...”our goal is to deliver by 01/27/2026.”

Having been advised that our trash pick up would be delayed 24 hours, two days after there was no sign of that either.

The excuse in both cases of course is the weather, which I fully understand and accept, except when it is nonsense.

In the height of a storm there is no reason for anyone to be on the road other than emergency vehicles or essential workers. Absolutely.

But three days after, when the roads and access points have been cleared?

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Trash collection is of no importance.

We could manage perfectly well if they came once a month.

But propane gas is another matter. In the event of a power outage we depend on it as a secondary heating source and to run our generator without which we have no running water.

We have a choice with the gas company of phoning them when we require a top-up, or being on their auto-fill system, which would keep us going without the need to constantly check the tanks behind the garage.

Having opted to switch to the latter, things were going well…

Until the predicted storm, when I suggested to Grant, since he was on his way out to the garage, to have a look at the tanks, just to be sure…

A level of 30% triggers a refill. We were down to 25%, which prompted me to contact the company but here we sit, 4 days later, storm long past, still waiting.

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This weekend we are expecting ever more frigid cold with wind becoming a factor, so it would be nice to have our propane tanks filled but if they are not we shall certainly survive.

Lately, though, I feel my resilience getting chipped away.

Every little thing these days becomes a problem.

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Because Grant pulled much of the snow off the roof, we don’t have large icicles.

The above are on a neighbour’s house.

This prolonged cold spell would be the perfect opportunity to build one of those ice palaces I had such fun with last year but that experiment proved to me that the cold gets into my bones with lasting effect. This year the cold is more intense, so it would be foolish to be outdoors more than necessary.

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Delivery trucks may be hampered by recent snow but the Amish are not..

The poor Amish horses seldom have a day off.

Sound carries from the state route and we often hear them clopping past, but the morning of the snow Grant came back from doing his rounds incredulous:

“Some guy just came past on a motorbike!”

Who rides a motorbike on snow-packed roads in temperatures well below freezing?

(It was about 4F/-16C at the time)

Was it a snowmobile? No, definitely a bike. Madness.

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Motorbikes are detestable contraptions, noisy and dangerous.

If I stretch my imagination, I can just about understand why so many people are keen, but it doesn’t alter my personal opinion that motorbikes are a menace.

Scooters aren’t exactly safe either but at least they don’t make a hideous racket. In my view, if you wish to endanger yourself, that is your choice, but inflicting damaging noise on other people’s eardrums is anti-social.

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Snow made a good back drop for Elana Mark’s house. She is a local artist whose home we pass every time we go into the village. Having run out of wall space for her paintings, she decided to hang them outside.

Why not? It’s better than having them sit in a dusty pile.

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Cambridge is terribly faded now but it has the appearance of having once been fairly affluent. We suppose that the above “pagoda” dates from that time, though we’ve never been able to find out anything about it.

It seems sadly out of place now, but the snow perked it up.

The stuff has benefits.

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At dawn yesterday the temperature was -7F/-22C but at 8 am the squeaking of brakes in the driveway alerted me to the arrival of the propane truck, so we will not freeze and happily I was saved from another 45 minutes on the phone listening to how an agent would be…

“excited to take care of your needs”.

Everyone knows about road rage. I am more prone to phone rage!

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