gaseous moments.....

Such a long way I have come!  Irene and I swapped a couple of texts today about the possibility that she could smell gas coming from the gas connection at the house.  Smelling gas is a BAD thing (as we all know).  Given San Bruno isn't that far from us (single digit miles!)  I was quietly concerned and suggested she call the gas company (almost 100% certain they would come out asap).  As it turned out Irene was entirely conservative about it and wanted me to check she wasn't overreacting and was prepared to wait until I came home (this likely to be 6hrs after the text exchange).  I arrived home 7ish and tracked her down (well if she is at the house she is either downstairs in the office or upstairs at home so took me about 30 seconds!).  Long story short she took me to where the gas smell was - it didn't smell gaseous to me BUT (here's the coming along way part), I still didn't rule it out that she was on to something as it did smell and we might have a gas leak.  There was a smell and I simply said "well in NZ that's not what gas smells like".  For those not in the know, gas has no smell, the providers add "something" to give it a smell so we can detect gas leaks.....that much I knew (don't ask, I have no idea why I knew that, but I did).  So cultural difference and all I didn't assume that the "smell" added would be the same.  Immediately Irene suggest "Well let's go turn on the gas on the stove and see if it smells the same".  This was a VERY smart idea I might add......we did, smelt different from the "other smell", at least to me, agreed we need not panic and most likely it was all good....living in America is full of little moments.....this is one of them!