Last night when I went to cook dinner, I found there was no gas coming through my stove. So I switched off the gas at the handle on the wall and had cold meat and salad.

This morning when I stepped into the shower, the water was tepid. What gives? I checked the stove again and the gas was still off. Well, that explains it. The water is heated by gas!

A little later I spoke to my neighbour, Maria, and asked her if she had gas. She explained that there had been a gas leak in one of the apartments, so the portero immediately reported it to the gas company and the gas was turned off. I’m OK with that, as you can’t mess around with gas.

BUT, imagine my chagrin when she told me it would probably be off for more than a month! When I told my friends, they were surprisingly unsurprised about the whole thing. Apparently it’s not that unusual. Venetia lives quite close to me and she has invited me to drop by for a hot shower when I want to, so that’s helpful too.

Fortunately, I have an electric frying pan which can stand in for an oven in many ways, as well as a microwave, a kettle and a toaster. There’s also the option to eat out or order in, so there are plenty of food options.

Not having hot water is more of a problem, but even that’s not really bad because it’s summer and the water isn’t stone cold anyway. I’m a Scot and we’re hardy, so I’ll be fine!

Welcome to life in South America!!