keep all windows and doors closed...

[Annpan]

I had a knock on my door around 20 mins ago from a gas man saying to keep all windows and doors closed and make sure no one is smoking there is some kind of leak in the village from someones gas tank

There is now police standing at either end of the village. I have closed all windows, doors, curtains and blinds - thinking well if the windows smash the curtains and blinds might help protect the res of the housed being covereed with glass

My baby is away with her grandparents for the day *phew* but this is rather nerve racking

BTW I don't smoke but there was no mention of not lighting my open fire (I'll take it as red )


Well I was going to spend the day doing some much needed gardening and planting out some desperate looking runner beans but, looks like I am stuck in the house, for the next few hours at least

[Thomzo]

Oh Annpan - how worrying for you. They are obviously giving it high priority though which is good. I don't suppose it'll take them long to get it sorted out and at least you are warned. Good that the little'un is away.

I do hope this is sorted quickly.

Zoe

[Bonniegirl]

Dont switch on the lights either!

[Cassiepod]

Let us know when you get the All Clear. Enjoy the enforced rest

[Andy Hamilton]

When I lived in the center of Bath I got a knock on the door one morning. It was a police man telling me to stay in my living room and not use my kitchen , bathroom or bedroom. Why not? For you your own safety, we have had a bomb alert and you will be safe there if there is an explosion.



I decided to go out for the day and when I got back my flat was still there.

I hope it all sorts it's self out, can be a little frightening can't it.

[Annpan]

Thanks for the support guys, it is a weird reaction that you can have to these things. You don't want to over-react but you do want to take precautions - just incase.

Well... just as I finished typing the post another gas man (in a bigger flouresent jacket, so he must have been more senior ) came to the door to tell me to switch off the electricity. He said that they HAD been told by the police that they should evacuate the area, but, it was pretty far away, so its probablly OK to stay It might all be over in an hour, they would let me know if I had to leave.

So I switched off the electricity and packed a bag with my i-pod and phone (neither of which were charged, so I don't know what I was planning with them ) in case I had to be moved somewhere for the rest of the day

I sat knitting in the dark with the curtains closed, waiting for the all clear -quite pleasant, but it would have been nice to listen to radio 4 (wind-up radio is going on the shopping list)

Anyway I peeped out of my curtain (for fear that my head would be ripped off by a massive gas explosion) and everyone was gone, no police, no gas type people apart from one of the flouresent jacket brigade who was returning to her car, smoking - So I guessed it was all sorted - Thanks very much for letting me know guys


The last time I had an odd knock at the door it was immigration trying to deport me and asking to see my passport (I don't travel so I don't have one) and I had to answer questions about where I was born, where I had lived, where my husband was born, etc.

I have to admit that the immigration story is much more exciting (especially because I was 2 months pregnant at the time and thought that I was going to be carted off somewhere to be questioned.

[Shirley]

How scary - and how bad of them not to let you know that the all clear had been given. You could have been sat like that for hours... your neighbours might still be!!

The immigration story sounds scary - where you from originally then??

[the.fee.fairy]

glad to hear that nothing blew up!

Hope you got some good knitting done too.

I'm interested in where you're from as well now/

[Annpan]

Thats the weird thing... I was living in the southside of Glasgow at the time and I am from....


The west end of Glasgow, sorry for being so boring
My husband is from 2 miles south from where we stayed.

I don't know what immigration thought or who had grassed us in

It was a proper dawn raid type as well. There were 7 of them; 3 big police men in stab proof vests, 2 normal beat bobbys (1 male, 1 female) and 2 social workers (again 1 male, 1 female) It was 7.30 in the morning and I alone in the house in my PJs. They nearly broke the door down banging on it.
They asked me loads of questions, what school did I go to? what school did OH go to?, who owned the house?, etc
They were not too happy that I couldn't produce a passport or driving licence and ty didn't seem to appreciate the joke when I said that the cat was from Dumfries and that maybe it was her they were looking for

It makes me really afraid for the poor families they do that to



Anyway I did get lots of very nice knitting done thanks fee (a bright orange jumper - just to let you know)

[Millymollymandy]

Cor blimey I'd have been petrified! You'd think with your fluent English and Glasgow accent (I presume ) they'd have realised they'd made a mistake!

Or maybe they thought you were a 'sleeper'?

[baldowrie]

ah well Annpan that explains it...territorial lot these Glaswegians

[Stonehead]

I don't know what immigration thought or who had grassed us in

They don't think!

I'm Australian with UK right of abode and have lived here for more than 10 years. But, I can't travel outside the UK and have the ever-present concern of immigration officials descending on us.

Why? Because of stupid bureacratic rules here and in Australia.

As I've lived in the UK for so long, I can't renew or replace my now lapsed Australian passport as I don't know the type of professional Australians who can vouch for my identity. Whenever I've spoken to the Australian High Commission, their response has been that I should return to Australia for two years, develop contact with a suitable professional for that period of time and then use them to vouch for my ID.

Of course, you can't do that if you don't have a current passport or want to stay with your family in another country.

I've looked into becoming a British citizen but the problem with that is that I'd require a current Australian passport first with a valid right of abode entry. My now lapsed Australian passport does, of course, have the right of abode sticker but even though that's on file it's no longer valid for getting citizenship - even though it still entitles me to be here.

Add in all the new "anti-terror" legislation both here and in Australia, and there's no chance of me getting a passport from either country thanks to the ID requirements. (Although I used to know a couple of people who could have sold me a passport illegally and I could then have travelled on that!)

On the plus side, it does mean that I'm effectively banned from doing long-haul air travel so being stateless is a very "green" position to be in!

[Wombat]

Thats the weird thing... I was living in the southside of Glasgow at the time and I am from....


The west end of Glasgow, sorry for being so boring
My husband is from 2 miles south from where we stayed.

I don't know what immigration thought or who had grassed us in

It was a proper dawn raid type as well. There were 7 of them; 3 big police men in stab proof vests, 2 normal beat bobbys (1 male, 1 female) and 2 social workers (again 1 male, 1 female) It was 7.30 in the morning and I alone in the house in my PJs. They nearly broke the door down banging on it.
They asked me loads of questions, what school did I go to? what school did OH go to?, who owned the house?, etc
They were not too happy that I couldn't produce a passport or driving licence and ty didn't seem to appreciate the joke when I said that the cat was from Dumfries and that maybe it was her they were looking for

It makes me really afraid for the poor families they do that to


Anyway I did get lots of very nice knitting done thanks fee (a bright orange jumper - just to let you know)

I'm glad they didn't find the exploding haggis factory under your house!

Nev

[Annpan]

Yummy, I love haggis

Unfortunatley not enough sassonachs eat them, I'll have to re-develop it into exploding yorkshire puds

I like the idea of exploding wild haggis though, just think of the tourists faces watching the wee hairy haggis bouncing through the glens and then *BANG* (has anyone else read 'wasp factory'?)

[Muddypause]

I like the idea of exploding wild haggis

Wild? They'd be absolutely livid.