And then came the Gas Strike…

There are a few things in our house that run on gas – that is, liquefied petroleum gas (LP gas), a mix of propane and butane. It heats our water, heats our dryer, and runs our stove and oven. All of which is common here (ok, except most people don’t have dryers, and rarely use their ovens).

We usually have a lot of gas on hand – in fact, enough to last for weeks. But once in a very blue moon (maybe once every year?) we run out. Completely.

We can either go somewhere to get the tanks filled (and there’s a 24-hour place in Ixtapaluca) or wait for the gas truck to come. Well, we’ve been waiting for the gas truck to come. We were listening for it over the weekend, but we just never caught it.

So, on Tuesday morning, Nathanael and I went to the 24-hour gas place – only to find a sign that said: “Opening at 7 pm”. Then we went to another gas place. Closed – and lines of gas trucks outside. Hmmmmmm.

With a little research, Shari discovered that there was, indeed, a strike.

And it’s actually a long story, an ongoing story. But essentially, it has to do with rising gas prices, government control, and organized crime. So you can imagine.

Anyway, of course this would be the one time in years that all our gas was gone, right at the beginning of the strike, which began on Tuesday.

So, I checked the news (often) today, and found that the strike was (more or less) national. And then the President got involved. And the second day dragged on.

But later this afternoon, I checked Twitter – let’s face it, Twitter is great for things like this – and discovered that the strike had just ended. Like, minutes earlier, as far as I could tell. So I dashed downstairs, and hopped in the van, and went to a nearby gas dispensary to see if the line was already ridiculously long.

Well, I must have got there very soon after it opened. In half an hour (of standing in the rain – but just a light rain), I had one tank of gas.

Meanwhile, the gas truck also came by our house, and by the time I got home, Shari already had another gas tank connected (and clothes drying in the dryer, I might add).

Looking at the way things are going, I would guess that gas troubles will continue in the months ahead. But for now, we’re good for a few weeks! As as we always say when our gas is close to running out – we’re never going to let it get that low again. Well, at least not this year. Right?