We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember Appelation Controlee
saying something like:

Boiler is now running, but, lo and behold, there's a bit of a seep
from the inboard union attached to the gas meter... can't make my mind
up whether or not it's a left-hand thread. Anyone know?

Gas meters have two ordinary threads, iirc.