I received a letter yesterday, by registered post, from M Sire, the owner of the vacant space on the ground floor where I temporarily dumped a load a debris during my renovation, demanding that I relocate the water supply to my apartments.
My water supply runs through this space of his and not in a particularly well thought out way - but then so does everybody elses water supply and indeed electricity supply too. As far as I can see they were all installed at the same time and all well before I bought my apartments.
I had a chat with Bridgitte about it and asked her opinion - she phoned the notaire that had handled my sale and was pointed in the direction of the rules and regulations governing the building which is now in her hands as Madame La Presidente. It turns out that all pipework not inside the proprietors own flat is the responsibility of the managing agents, i.e us as proprietors jointly.
That is good news - M Sire is the only proprietor that owes money and he now has to face all the owners rather than just try to bully me separately. It will be interesting to see if he turns up at the next meeting, which is imminent, to pursue his case.
I'd actually be very happy to see the pipe re-sited because M Sire has stated his intention to sell - mind you he wants €20,000 for an uninhabitable space with no bathroom or kitchen - he is clearly bonkers. Bridgitte referred to him as 'con', which my dictionary translates as bloody stupid but I am sure that it must have a much more colourful translation from the way that the phrase was delivered - I can certainly think of plenty of different words to use .
So the matter will go on the next agenda and Bridgitte will draft a reply to him and we will see what happens after that.
In the meantime, my Irish guests left to be replaced by London Aussies on a two day break without their kids - which means that I am all Aussied out in both suites - cripes mate. The new guests apparently hitch-hiked through here some 15 years ago and have vague memories of it all - isn't that sweet.
I have a bit of a weekend from hell actually - after a room change today and then another tomorrow, I have a double changeover on Sunday - which means a lot of cleaning, washing, ironing and airport drop-offs and pick-ups - not to mention dinner on Saturday evening. I don't normally accept one night bookings, but with Debrah in London this weekend on account of an early Monday departure on a photo-shoot trip to Turkey, and a dinner to do on Saturday night for the Aussies, I figured that I may as well fill the vacant night.
It should keep me out of trouble anyway.
Showing posts with label water supply. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water supply. Show all posts
Friday, 3 October 2008
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Water of Life
Have just finished the washing up and tidying after another client dinner and was wondering why I feel so tired - it wasn't a particularly lengthy affair and nor was an excessive amount of alcohol consumed - and then I realised that it was the fifth night in a row of client entertaining. It has been a busy week - a really quiet weekend with no stress or demands would be perfect.
Instead of which I have to leave tomorrow for a family get-together and am feeling mildly stressed already about the prospect.
On the surface it should be an enjoyable weekend of celebration (my father's 80th birthday) and catching up ( I haven't seen Amy and Isabel, my daughters, for 8 months and 13 months respectively) and friends (we are holding the event at Anna and Aib's lovely chateau in the Dordogne).
But somehow, my family's occasional gatherings always seem very strained and very hard work. My mother has already told me what to wear on Saturday evening, as if I was 9 years old, not 49. I have very little in common with my two brothers and even less with their respective wives. Debrah is already dreading everything and might go over the edge at some point during the weekend and I think that my youngest daughter has an issue with me but won't admit it and everyone knows and pretends that it's not the case.
My family is very good at pretending things haven't happened.
Which probably means a weekend of politeness and banal chat with everyone avoiding what they really think or want to say - I guess I am as bad as they are because I am one of them too.
Meanwhile I had another mad encounter with M Sire and his scary mother, who own the wreck of a space on the ground floor where I had stored a load of rubble from our renovation. He ranted at me about a water pipe that runs through his space - the water pipe that feeds my apartments, and was demanding that I move it and then in the same breath was asking me to buy the space from him - for €20,000 !! I'd have to think seriously about paying €2,000 because it certainly isn't usable as a residential space.
He worries me though, and the fact that my water feed runs through that space concerns me too. It was there when I bought the apartments and that space looked like an unused and uninhabitable room and for two years the door was unlocked and nobody had ventured into it - suddenly he is throwing accusations about and my poor French puts me on the back foot. I need to take control of the situation to protect my own interests and that is what I intend to do.
Instead of which I have to leave tomorrow for a family get-together and am feeling mildly stressed already about the prospect.
On the surface it should be an enjoyable weekend of celebration (my father's 80th birthday) and catching up ( I haven't seen Amy and Isabel, my daughters, for 8 months and 13 months respectively) and friends (we are holding the event at Anna and Aib's lovely chateau in the Dordogne).
But somehow, my family's occasional gatherings always seem very strained and very hard work. My mother has already told me what to wear on Saturday evening, as if I was 9 years old, not 49. I have very little in common with my two brothers and even less with their respective wives. Debrah is already dreading everything and might go over the edge at some point during the weekend and I think that my youngest daughter has an issue with me but won't admit it and everyone knows and pretends that it's not the case.
My family is very good at pretending things haven't happened.
Which probably means a weekend of politeness and banal chat with everyone avoiding what they really think or want to say - I guess I am as bad as they are because I am one of them too.
Meanwhile I had another mad encounter with M Sire and his scary mother, who own the wreck of a space on the ground floor where I had stored a load of rubble from our renovation. He ranted at me about a water pipe that runs through his space - the water pipe that feeds my apartments, and was demanding that I move it and then in the same breath was asking me to buy the space from him - for €20,000 !! I'd have to think seriously about paying €2,000 because it certainly isn't usable as a residential space.
He worries me though, and the fact that my water feed runs through that space concerns me too. It was there when I bought the apartments and that space looked like an unused and uninhabitable room and for two years the door was unlocked and nobody had ventured into it - suddenly he is throwing accusations about and my poor French puts me on the back foot. I need to take control of the situation to protect my own interests and that is what I intend to do.
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