legends · 4 min read ·
Meter Route 14
A gas meter reader logs a meter at a house that does not exist, counting down by seven each week.
**Northern Gas Services — Meter Reading Route Sheet: Route 14, Larkfield Estate**
**Reader:** D. Marsh · **Date:** 7 October · **Properties:** 38
- **No. · Address · Previous read · Current read · Usage · Notes**
- 1 · 1 Larkfield Rd · 08411 · 08462 · 51
- 2 · 2 Larkfield Rd · 14902 · 14930 · 28
- 3 · 3 Larkfield Rd · 06117 · 06150 · 33
- ... · ... · ... · ... · ... · ...
- 11 · 11 Larkfield Rd · 22408 · 22440 · 32
- 12 · 12 Larkfield Rd · 31072 · 31065 · **−7** · **Meter reads lower than previous.**
- 13 · 14 Larkfield Rd · 07714 · 07752 · 38 · No. 13 not present on road.
· · ·
**Reader's note (D. Marsh, 7 October)**
At No. 12 the meter is in a box by the side gate. The dial is analogue, the old kind with the rolling numerals. The previous read, from July, was 31072. Today it showed 31065. Gas meters do not run backwards. I tapped the glass and reread it. 31065.
I noted the discrepancy and moved on. The customer, a Mr. Lowther, was out. The house was dark.
· · ·
**Route sheet, 14 October**
- **No. · Address · Previous read · Current read · Usage**
- 12 · 12 Larkfield Rd · 31065 · 31051 · **−14**
*Reader's note: the number at No. 12 is dropping faster. Seven last week, fourteen this week. I took a photograph of the meter. The photograph shows 31051. The dial in the photograph is turning anticlockwise, and the lowest numeral, which should be a blur, is a steady cluster of tiny scratches that spell out the same digits as the one above it.*
· · ·
**Supervisor memo (K. Haddad, 16 October)**
Mr. Marsh, please check the meter at 12 Larkfield Road. The customer has contacted us. He says he has no gas supply. He has had the supply capped for ten years. The meter you are reading is not connected.
The supply to No. 12 was disconnected in 2016 after the property was deemed unfit. There is no gas in the pipe. The meter has not been read since. We have no record of anyone being sent to read it.
Please do not attempt to read it again.
· · ·
**Route sheet, 21 October**
- **No. · Address · Previous read · Current read · Usage**
- 12 · 12 Larkfield Rd · 31051 · 31030 · **−21**
*Reader's note: I read it. I wasn't going to. I was passing, and my hand went to the box. The pattern is clear: seven, fourteen, twenty-one. The next will be twenty-eight. After that thirty-five. Subtract seven more each time. 31030 − 28 = 31002. 31002 − 35 = 30967.*
*If the sequence holds, the dial will reach zero in about eleven weeks.*
· · ·
**Supervisor memo (K. Haddad, 23 October)**
Mr. Marsh, I have looked at your route sheets. I cannot find any property at 12 Larkfield Road. The numbering stops at 11, then continues at 14. There is no No. 12 and no No. 13. The estate was built that way, as I understand it, because the developer was superstitious.
Your reads for 12 Larkfield Road have been entered under a customer account that does not exist. The account holder is listed as "the occupant." Could you please explain?
· · ·
**Reader's note (D. Marsh, 28 October)**
I have explained it to myself. There is a house between 11 and 14. It has been there all along. It is the twelfth house on the road, and the estate agent's plan leaves it out. The meter in the box is the meter for a house the gas company does not supply. It runs backward because it is counting down.
I do not know what it is counting towards. I know that the number on the dial, 31002, is the same as the number of days since the estate was built.
The occupant, Mr. Lowther, came to the gate today. He was polite. He was standing in his front garden with a hose in his hand, watering a bed of nothing. He said: "You've read it right. Thank you for coming. We don't get many visitors."
· · ·
**Route sheet, 4 November**
- **No. · Address · Previous read · Current read · Usage**
- 12 · 12 Larkfield Rd · 30967 · 30932 · **−35**
*Reader's note: the meter dial now reads 30932. Beneath the glass, in very small scratched numerals, is a second row of digits, below the first, that I had not seen before. It is today's date. And beneath that, another row: a date in January.*
*I have been asked to hand in my route sheets. I have handed in all but this one.*