On what might every well be the hottest day of the year here, I had to call a gas-fireplace repairman. It may have hit the 80F mark in New Westminster for the first time in 2011. I shall not complain about the heat. I was screaming and complaining about the lack of it for pretty much the entire last 10 months. I will never say anything negative about our current little heatwave. Phew.
While sweating, it did seem a little strange telephoning a gas-fireplace technician. Back in June, when the fireplace was last lit, the ignitor knob flew across the room. What was that, I wondered? It had a spring and shot past me landing near the television. Could've lost an eye, I muttered. Oh, okay. I see.Of course, just last year we had the technician in for a thorough cleaning for the first time in a decade. I think he replaced the ignitor switch then. You know, modern replacement parts are cheap crap. I thought we'd better call to see if he could come in this week and because it's the slow season, he will. He's coming on Friday morning. We leave for China a week from today and won't return from Malaysia until the middle of October. By the time we return, we may well need to be able to have a little heat.