This particular blog started as a way of recording the renovation of a property... much as many others have used a blog format as a journal.
However, it also became unintentionally, a vehicle for an emotional journey, after the break-up of what I thought was a relationship made-in-heaven. No such thing exists, I have discerned. My vulnerable dream was shattered by my own negative energies and those of another. My dream of having a relationship that incorporated all that I dreamt of in terms of 'happy family' sharing when my parents never did, came to fruition fleetingly and then was quickly dissolved by irritability. scorn, criticism and blame and maybe other stuff. Let's not go down that road for now!
This blog has seen a few up and down episodes of my personal life since 2010 or whenever I started to blog, in retrospect to that time that I bought my property. This blog has also commented on places and events. It has witnessed my observations of, and in, my village and surroundings. I try to avoid personal and family pics. I try to be cautious with global internet exposure but sometimes fail!
On occasions I tried the challenge of blogging every day of a month by writing articles ahead of time when the facility to do that became a possibility, or I discovered it! It takes time to get photos prepped and an article written. I have posted deliberately and unconsciously as a form of creativity, as well as avoidance of doing other tasks - let's call that procrastination!
Sometimes I write ahead, then edit and re-edit before publishing. Most often I write and publish. To the discerning few who bother to read this ego-centred self-published material, they may have identified that sometimes I edit after publishing. Sometimes I feel I've been too public with the emotional outpouring. Or a poem needs to be improved or altered to make it, in my mind, better! Or my form of dyslexia has come to be too garbled in its word-salad, so I have to rewrite the nonsense sentences into ones that can be understood and not misinterpreted!
Sometimes there have been major gaps between postings, where I've become silent, unmotivated, dispirited, when words or creativity are blocked. The gaps might signify I have been occupied or that I have nothing worthy of publication. The gaps may signify that I have been in a dark hole of depression or contemplation of the thought: "W--- t-- f--- i- i- a-- a----?"
This posting is in itself an admission of that. Excuse me for any sensitivities of the use of an expletive. Isn't it amazing how few letters are required for one to be able to read a sentence? My children at school loved that they could read, if I covered the ascenders or descenders of letters!
It is also an admission that I do NOT produce this for others... I produce it for me. Very ego-centred! I am aware and what is wrong with that form of artistry? I do not seek compliments but if you wish to make them then I feel honoured. If you feel you want to refute me or disagree then you can do that too! My blog is a kind of diary. I am proud of it. I am proud of the progress I have made in writing skills when at the end of my career I was writing absolute goobledy-gook for important documents: no one told me!!! - no one even understood - least of all did I realise that dyslexia manifests itself under stress. I feel it is remarkable what I have achieved given that at the age of 17 I had not much idea about literacy! From an early age I read the dictionary at bedtime to learn vocabulary and spelling because I'd read the main reading material - the family print company's selection of Charles Dickens novels.
I have made progress coping with and in the particular challenges I've experienced of living in France. All the downs and all the ups. It is called LIFE and possibly would not be any different wherever I lived. I am who I am! However, I think the very fact that one lives in a different culture where the primary language is my secondary language, does make an enormous difference to sanity, as also does the fact that the country is huge. To go to a supermarket or anywhere to experience culture is a often a long journey necessitating the ownership of a vehicle!
My former blog tried very hard to gloss over the hidden REALITY that was not exposed to others in the lifestyle that my former partner and I were living, although there were some who knew and who were helpless to help, because as for all of us, there is only one who can make a difference, and that person inside us needs a certain amount of knowledge, skills and talents that perhaps doesn't quite exist when it is required. Some friends and members of my family said they would not read either of my blogs because the first was not REAL! It was my real! It was often the better parts of life as it stood then in a chocolate box cottage surrounded by sheep and a pony where I learned to write poetry. We had some wonderful positive experiences and I really should find the time and expertise to transform these blogs into book format. For me. for my grand child. For posterity or they can burn it at a later date!
People make things. I have done so. I made music. I fed children's curiosity. I have in the past sewn, crocheted, knitted etc. I like to write. My poetry is quite substantial now and this too I would like to get published alongside my photography such as it is!
Meanwhile the spectre of a kitchen room haunts me...
It seems so obscene, the price it will cost to have the kitchen room electrics rewired for first and second fix! The flooring seems reasonable but I am undecided on wood or ceramic that looks like wood but I think real wood will win the day! Then the furniture and appliance costs seem so obscene. Yet what I love is expensive. I have expensive tastes as a pauper! My mother aged 89, said to my daughter when giving her a Christmas gift and not one for me, that I have everything I need!!!!!!! Maybe she is correct. I have relatively exceptional health for someone my age and I am stil young even if old but I hold no bars to my daughter...who gasps at some things I say... and yet it is tame, very tame, compared to some tigers! All my life my mother has always said that I have ideas above my station! And indeed I have... and wtfiiaa in this isolated west facing property on the outskirts of a beautiful ( so they say) village!!!! They don't live here! Let's not go down that road.
Showing posts with label Laundry Room. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Laundry Room. Show all posts
Wednesday, 10 February 2016
Monday, 21 December 2015
Surfacing from a 14 month Saga....
The meeting of October 28th was awful. Stress was unbearable. Now emotions were rising out of control as I had not taken anti-anxiety pills for several weeks. I succumbed to a secret swig of brandy at one point because I couldn't contain my despair, fear, frustration, sense of injustices, annoyance, plus a level of feeling rejected and abandoned by the lawyer, the expert independent assessor but more so by the electrician and the rep from THERMOR. It appeared to me and others that they had no CARE or APPRECIATION of my difficulties endured in the last year.
The invoice for this 2 hour plus meeting was absorbed by the electrician. I dread to think how much he was charged BUT GOOD... it is my only satisfaction from this SAGA.
The electrician who never deemed it 'entrepeuneurial' to look after his client deigned to come 35 minutes early. I wonder what he was hiding from!
On the day of the meeting I'd just finished the domestic cleaning for the morning and was about to have a much needed coffee. He'd arrived early. He insisted the meeting was at ten but I showed him the letter as he waited by the gate. He wanted to come and measure the room. OK. It wasn't in my interests to be unpleasant! He looked rough and unshaven. His mobile phone screen was smashed.
I let them pass my roadside gate.
From previous other electricians who had been invited to look at the machine I knew that the room was only just at its lower limit and the machine did not have sufficient ventilation. How odd that this is the first thing the elctrician wished to do as if he knew what the problem was!
The rep started to ask questions whilst he measured in what appeared to be frantic behaviour. I thought they'd purposefully arrived early to disturb me. She was aghast when I'd said I'd not had hot water for two months... clearly, she did not know the story! THIS shocked me. After 6 weeks of waiting since speaking with Protection Juridique insurance for which I'd paid monthly for five years why hadn't the lawyer communicated with the manufacturer?
Then these two asked for the electricity fuse to be switched on. Immediately the chauffeau thermodynamique blew the general electricity in the whole house. AT WHICH I asked them to leave to return in 25 minutes at the correct hour because I thought the independent expert should be present. Why should I have to tell the story twice? YES, he also did not seem to know the story. Why did it appear that Protection Juridique had not told him. i felt that I was being judged.
My point with P. J. insurance / legal support was that the electrician was neglectful and had not done what he said he would, i.e. return after May with information as to what was wrong. He had not CARED! I was bringing a case against him for that as well as that for course I needed hot water but now I had lost all confidence with this machine AND the electrician AND Thermor who I had contacted by email and spoken with on the telephone and each time they said I must call in the original installer. I had tried since October 2014 when the machine made large growling sounds in addition to the hum!
During the meeting the electrician phoned a frigoriste. I now know that although he installed this water heater he is not a qualified frigoriste! It took him over an hour to prevent the machine disconnecting electricity in the whole house!
Eventually, desperate to find a solution to end the SAGA and have hot water, I agreed under severe pressure to sign an agreement that I would pay 420 euros for the mains d'oeuvre / replacement of a compressor which was dead (oh if only I were!!!!!!) and the electrician and manufacturer agreed to pay 828 euros for the compressor. M y rising stress and tearfulness was unhelpful. It is always uncontrollable. There was no sympathy for my mental and emotional dis - ease as the independent technician spoke sharply to me and told me to stop crying. Believe me in situations like this the panic and anxiety arises and I revert to being like a child. I hate it!
So I signed. Breaths of relief could be heard from all.
THEN, the independent expert said I had to keep the doors open between the kitchen and the laundry room because the machine needed ventilation. They had not agreed what to do about that! I was even more upset and exasperated. They don't have to live with this situation which necessitates hearing the noise of 55 to 58 decibels (we recorded the sound level on an APP on a friend's smartphone)... plus having all hot air in other rooms being sucked into the laundry room to feed the machine!!!!!!!!
THEN they went away. I was exhausted.
Once calm and in discussion with others I realise that my anxiety and indecision comes and goes continually because it seems ludicrous to spend 420 euros with other ongoing issues, when for 1000 euros I could employ an different electrician to instal a chauffeau electrique in the same place. That is a normal ballon / tank. People had said to me: "Cut your losses and replace it with NEW."
As I'd had two estimates from two large companies quoting the same I chose one!
I called in an electrician recommended by Parisian locals. I call him 'The Man from Montmorillon'. He'd told me that the model is 'un mauvais serie' and he'd seen many of this model dead within a few years of installation - either le compresseur or le cuve is the reason. This was the prototype model and subsequent models were modified by the manufacturer. The rep never said a word at the meeting (well she wouldn't I suppose!). Unfortunately I was not aware of this factor until after the meeting on October 28th....
So because of that I cancelled the frigoriste making a second date into the next week in order to 'buy' myself more time to make a conclusion / decision.
Oh, more troubles!!!!!
The machine cut the electricity in the house again at 8h 20 on November 18th.
Immediately, I contacted MR COLLET the electrician who gives very poor service. I left a message as I had to goo out and he phoned three hours later. Reluctantly, he said he would be there the next morning at 8h BUT never arrived.
I have no qualms in mentioning his name in these days of Trip Advisor and other such exposing of malpractice. It had been set to heat water without using the compressor.
Weirdly, on November 18th, the machine connected again and the lights went on but the machine did not heat water as we discovered after 24 hours having used the water for shower and bath that day. So me and my lady guest had no hot water after that for two weeks, when then I went to UK for two weeks.
So, in a dilemma, I further delayed on the frigoriste replacing the compressor because I was anxious that I had signed an agreement and actually wished to withdraw from that agreement. Although I'd asked by letter and email and tried by phone to ask about my rights.. always I was told that I must have the compressor replaced!!!!!!!!!
Fear took hold.
When the lawyer made a three way phone call with him and I on November 23rd, he accused me of cancelling the frigoriste (TRUE ... when she asked :Is that true?) and he agreed he'd said he would come to my house, then never did (TRUE ... he said when she asked "Is that true?") Again, under pressure of not knowing if I could withdraw or not I agreed to do what she insisted thinking that this was a stupid step to take, because of what the man from Montmorillon had said.
So... I contacted an AVOCAT whose opinion I felt I could follow. He wanted a copy of the agreement I'd signed. I never received it and at that time neither had the Protection Juridique. The avocat commented that in his opinion water heaters were not worth repairing and they should be taken out and a new one installed... SO THAT IS WHAT I DID...it was the confidence I needed to make a decision.
How did I manage without hot water for two months then two weeks? With great difficulty.
Well... it took up to two hours depending on my activity back and forth to the tap, microwave and kettle to boil water and fill two orange BnQ buckets. Diluting hot with cold, I sat in an empty bath pouring water over me bowl by bowl! HOWEVER, this was easier than 2012 when I had to do that in the exterior bathroom when outdoors was -26 degrees. The radiator in the outhouse didn't much improve the heat of the room! Ah ... history and the joys of French housing!!!!!!!!!! One has to laugh at the memory!
The artisans working for the 'Man from Montmorillon' imstalled the new water heater on December 14th.
BLISS...
a) there is SILENCE IN THE HOUSE... even my English / Italian friend had said the previous machine was a racket. Poor girl she didn't get a shower or a bath either!!!!!!
b) There is NO COLD AIR IN THE HOUSE.
BUT all is not yet hunky dory as there are two small leaks on each of the hot and cold taps on the tank. I need a new disjoncteur and I need the machine connected to heures creuse and heures plein.
Yet yippppeeeee...enter the 21st century in Western Europe!
How lovely it is:
a) to have a hot bath to keep clean, enable bodily functions, relax and warm muscles and nerves at any time of day.
b) to wash the psyche and produce better morale to appreciate sanity ... a hot fall of shower water cascading onto my head or plunging head and hair under hot water is extremely good to combat dark bouts of depression that seem to beset me.
c wash pots and pans and do the dishes; it isn't such a chore when before I needed to walk back and forth with a kettle of water whilst not having a kitchen in the kitchen room.
d) hand wash clothes is easier.
ALMOST the END OF THE SAGA... all when there is no kitchen appliance or surface in the kitchen........ Will I ever face the fear of how much it costs when I'd lost contact with the price of things.
In the interim, the second roof ridge was repaired; they broke a load of tiles from the roof as they clambered to the ridge on roof ladders in two places. At the same time they repaired the second lucarne. The timber was soft and powdery. So there goes the kitchen funds saved out of pension!
Ah... did I mention the word BLISS???? Must have been an error!
The invoice for this 2 hour plus meeting was absorbed by the electrician. I dread to think how much he was charged BUT GOOD... it is my only satisfaction from this SAGA.
The electrician who never deemed it 'entrepeuneurial' to look after his client deigned to come 35 minutes early. I wonder what he was hiding from!
On the day of the meeting I'd just finished the domestic cleaning for the morning and was about to have a much needed coffee. He'd arrived early. He insisted the meeting was at ten but I showed him the letter as he waited by the gate. He wanted to come and measure the room. OK. It wasn't in my interests to be unpleasant! He looked rough and unshaven. His mobile phone screen was smashed.
I let them pass my roadside gate.
From previous other electricians who had been invited to look at the machine I knew that the room was only just at its lower limit and the machine did not have sufficient ventilation. How odd that this is the first thing the elctrician wished to do as if he knew what the problem was!
The rep started to ask questions whilst he measured in what appeared to be frantic behaviour. I thought they'd purposefully arrived early to disturb me. She was aghast when I'd said I'd not had hot water for two months... clearly, she did not know the story! THIS shocked me. After 6 weeks of waiting since speaking with Protection Juridique insurance for which I'd paid monthly for five years why hadn't the lawyer communicated with the manufacturer?
Then these two asked for the electricity fuse to be switched on. Immediately the chauffeau thermodynamique blew the general electricity in the whole house. AT WHICH I asked them to leave to return in 25 minutes at the correct hour because I thought the independent expert should be present. Why should I have to tell the story twice? YES, he also did not seem to know the story. Why did it appear that Protection Juridique had not told him. i felt that I was being judged.
My point with P. J. insurance / legal support was that the electrician was neglectful and had not done what he said he would, i.e. return after May with information as to what was wrong. He had not CARED! I was bringing a case against him for that as well as that for course I needed hot water but now I had lost all confidence with this machine AND the electrician AND Thermor who I had contacted by email and spoken with on the telephone and each time they said I must call in the original installer. I had tried since October 2014 when the machine made large growling sounds in addition to the hum!
During the meeting the electrician phoned a frigoriste. I now know that although he installed this water heater he is not a qualified frigoriste! It took him over an hour to prevent the machine disconnecting electricity in the whole house!
Eventually, desperate to find a solution to end the SAGA and have hot water, I agreed under severe pressure to sign an agreement that I would pay 420 euros for the mains d'oeuvre / replacement of a compressor which was dead (oh if only I were!!!!!!) and the electrician and manufacturer agreed to pay 828 euros for the compressor. M y rising stress and tearfulness was unhelpful. It is always uncontrollable. There was no sympathy for my mental and emotional dis - ease as the independent technician spoke sharply to me and told me to stop crying. Believe me in situations like this the panic and anxiety arises and I revert to being like a child. I hate it!
So I signed. Breaths of relief could be heard from all.
THEN, the independent expert said I had to keep the doors open between the kitchen and the laundry room because the machine needed ventilation. They had not agreed what to do about that! I was even more upset and exasperated. They don't have to live with this situation which necessitates hearing the noise of 55 to 58 decibels (we recorded the sound level on an APP on a friend's smartphone)... plus having all hot air in other rooms being sucked into the laundry room to feed the machine!!!!!!!!
THEN they went away. I was exhausted.
Once calm and in discussion with others I realise that my anxiety and indecision comes and goes continually because it seems ludicrous to spend 420 euros with other ongoing issues, when for 1000 euros I could employ an different electrician to instal a chauffeau electrique in the same place. That is a normal ballon / tank. People had said to me: "Cut your losses and replace it with NEW."
As I'd had two estimates from two large companies quoting the same I chose one!
I called in an electrician recommended by Parisian locals. I call him 'The Man from Montmorillon'. He'd told me that the model is 'un mauvais serie' and he'd seen many of this model dead within a few years of installation - either le compresseur or le cuve is the reason. This was the prototype model and subsequent models were modified by the manufacturer. The rep never said a word at the meeting (well she wouldn't I suppose!). Unfortunately I was not aware of this factor until after the meeting on October 28th....
So because of that I cancelled the frigoriste making a second date into the next week in order to 'buy' myself more time to make a conclusion / decision.
Oh, more troubles!!!!!
The machine cut the electricity in the house again at 8h 20 on November 18th.
Immediately, I contacted MR COLLET the electrician who gives very poor service. I left a message as I had to goo out and he phoned three hours later. Reluctantly, he said he would be there the next morning at 8h BUT never arrived.
I have no qualms in mentioning his name in these days of Trip Advisor and other such exposing of malpractice. It had been set to heat water without using the compressor.
Weirdly, on November 18th, the machine connected again and the lights went on but the machine did not heat water as we discovered after 24 hours having used the water for shower and bath that day. So me and my lady guest had no hot water after that for two weeks, when then I went to UK for two weeks.
So, in a dilemma, I further delayed on the frigoriste replacing the compressor because I was anxious that I had signed an agreement and actually wished to withdraw from that agreement. Although I'd asked by letter and email and tried by phone to ask about my rights.. always I was told that I must have the compressor replaced!!!!!!!!!
Fear took hold.
When the lawyer made a three way phone call with him and I on November 23rd, he accused me of cancelling the frigoriste (TRUE ... when she asked :Is that true?) and he agreed he'd said he would come to my house, then never did (TRUE ... he said when she asked "Is that true?") Again, under pressure of not knowing if I could withdraw or not I agreed to do what she insisted thinking that this was a stupid step to take, because of what the man from Montmorillon had said.
So... I contacted an AVOCAT whose opinion I felt I could follow. He wanted a copy of the agreement I'd signed. I never received it and at that time neither had the Protection Juridique. The avocat commented that in his opinion water heaters were not worth repairing and they should be taken out and a new one installed... SO THAT IS WHAT I DID...it was the confidence I needed to make a decision.
How did I manage without hot water for two months then two weeks? With great difficulty.
Well... it took up to two hours depending on my activity back and forth to the tap, microwave and kettle to boil water and fill two orange BnQ buckets. Diluting hot with cold, I sat in an empty bath pouring water over me bowl by bowl! HOWEVER, this was easier than 2012 when I had to do that in the exterior bathroom when outdoors was -26 degrees. The radiator in the outhouse didn't much improve the heat of the room! Ah ... history and the joys of French housing!!!!!!!!!! One has to laugh at the memory!
The artisans working for the 'Man from Montmorillon' imstalled the new water heater on December 14th.
BLISS...
a) there is SILENCE IN THE HOUSE... even my English / Italian friend had said the previous machine was a racket. Poor girl she didn't get a shower or a bath either!!!!!!
b) There is NO COLD AIR IN THE HOUSE.
BUT all is not yet hunky dory as there are two small leaks on each of the hot and cold taps on the tank. I need a new disjoncteur and I need the machine connected to heures creuse and heures plein.
Yet yippppeeeee...enter the 21st century in Western Europe!
How lovely it is:
a) to have a hot bath to keep clean, enable bodily functions, relax and warm muscles and nerves at any time of day.
b) to wash the psyche and produce better morale to appreciate sanity ... a hot fall of shower water cascading onto my head or plunging head and hair under hot water is extremely good to combat dark bouts of depression that seem to beset me.
c wash pots and pans and do the dishes; it isn't such a chore when before I needed to walk back and forth with a kettle of water whilst not having a kitchen in the kitchen room.
d) hand wash clothes is easier.
ALMOST the END OF THE SAGA... all when there is no kitchen appliance or surface in the kitchen........ Will I ever face the fear of how much it costs when I'd lost contact with the price of things.
In the interim, the second roof ridge was repaired; they broke a load of tiles from the roof as they clambered to the ridge on roof ladders in two places. At the same time they repaired the second lucarne. The timber was soft and powdery. So there goes the kitchen funds saved out of pension!
Ah... did I mention the word BLISS???? Must have been an error!
Monday, 28 September 2015
Laundry Room 2010
The second photo below shows where the water gutter from my building has to pass through a wall into my garden! Why it didn't go straight through at the higher height I don' know but the lower entrance is the height of the ground on the other side of the wall.
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