Confusion Reigns Supreme

A few weeks ago our gas cooker malfunctioned. Nothing too serious, just that the igniton for the hob no longer works and we’ve had to resort to the use of a cigarette lighter to light the burners.

So mother went shopping for a new oven/hob unit. Or even just a hob as in the eight years we’ve been in this house the oven has been used precisely zero times. She came back with the guidelines for fire saftey areas with regard to gas hobs. It seems these guidelines have been updated since our kitchen was botched together and it is now no longer deemed safe to install a gas hob in ours unless we completely revamp the entire kitchen from work-surface level upwards.

This meant a trip out to the local kitchen showroom to book a site visit to measure us up for new cupboards, shelves and other sundries.

We selected a nice, fairly plain but somewhat stylish look for the whole lot and were pleasantly suprised with the 3D rendering that we were eventually shown.

And then we saw the price…

And then we looked into getting it done on credit…

Maybe some day, we’ll get it done. Instead, mother has been out and bought a new electric oven with a ceramic hob.

It was due to be delivered and fitted last Thursday, but apparently it was damaged in transit to the shop and they had to order a new one to be installed today.

Two lads arrive this morning to take the old cooker out and cap the gas lines before installing the new one. Well, that was the plan.

Instead, as they moved the old one out, one of them said “Erm, we can’t do this without an elecrician being called in first. You’ve got no power to the back of the cooker. You’ll need to have a new line fitted and we can’t do that, we’re gas fitters.”

So how come the electric ignition worked on the old one up until a couple of weeks ago?

“Must be battery powered or something, cos it ain’t got any cables to the back. Anyway, we can’t take this one away and leave you without a cooker…”

“It’s alright, we do most of our cooking in the combi-microwave these days, anyway.” says mum.

“So you’re alright for us to take this and leave you with the new one not connected, then?”

“Yes, that’s fine. I’ll just have to arrange for an electrician to install it, that’s all.”

Many, many phone calls have been made this afternoon. All resulting in this one question – How easy do you think it would be to get an electrician in this side of Christmas?

And one more, supplemental – How the hell am I supposed to make myself a cheese omelette now?