An ode to the gas and electric meter

[Terry]

What was so wrong with the old mechanical meters? 

I had an email last week asking for an electricity meter reading.

Helen finds the meter with its forward and backward rotating hands impossible to read so, when she went down to the cellar for some potatoes, she took a picture on her phone and gave me the phone so that I could read the meter!

These old mechanical meters are easily confused if a strong magnet is placed next to them. As we only see a real meter reader once in a blue moon these days, I would imagine that the level of meter fiddling has increased considerably over the years.

I don't suppose my bills will go down when they've all been replaced by anti-fiddle types, though ...