To begin with I would like to apologize for my missing installment to the blog of last week. The reason for it was 100% stupidity, the internet connection in the apartment where we temporarily live was down on Wednesday evening when I sat down to write my post and no amount of tweaking, unplugging or kicking the router had the effect of jumpstarting the connection. Not very surprising considering that the internet provider had shut us down due to non-payment of bills for this same service. Where these bills are I do not know – probably in the apartment’s mailbox that we have no key to.
On the horizon however a brighter future, one where we get our house and our old revamped mailbox back and life will get back on the cozy, yet sometimes bumpy, track it was on before we made the renovation detour that has not been easy on anyone – least of all our cat. However, having first been promised to move back in mid-October, then November, then before Christmas, then between Christmas and the New Year, then at the beginning of January and finally at the end of January we saw the writing on the wall and set our own deadline. On the 15th of February we are moving back in. Those unfortunate enough to be still inside working will at that time leave, never to return.
So soon I will again be the proud owner of a camera that has been M.I.A. since we packed and my posts will as a result be more personal when it comes to photos. On top of this I will not have to worry in the morning if I can find two shoes that match before going to work and I will have a chair and a desk to write on. I will no longer be confined to sharing a small living space with two adult men that have just quit smoking, a teenager and a four year old – to say nothing of a grumpy cat that wants to go outside. I will have space and more importantly I will get my stuff back – not stuff of any particular value or importance to anyone but me – yet sadly missed when not in reach.
Can’t wait. Too bad the house doesn’t come equipped with longer days to enjoy it more, not to mention to catch up with everything that has gone amess (this is not a typo) during the almost a year now that we have been semi-homeless.
I cannot end this without mentioning that I know very, very well there are countless people in the world that suffer a thousand times more than I have in the past months, living in circumstances in which I would not last a day. I consider myself immensely lucky to be born in a country where the living standard is high. And that is what it is – luck. It has nothing to do with any birthright or superiority. Simply luck. But life has never made much sense, has it?
Yrsa - Wednesday
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I thought contractors' hell only applied in this country. Sorry to hear you have it in Iceland, too.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if you could send some your attitude our way. Too many Americans feel they're entitled to a favored status merely because they're Americans. I was born and raised in the States myself, and it drives me crazy.
We added a two-story addition to the back of our house when we had more children than bedrooms.
ReplyDeleteThe people who decide to put an addition on a house should be confined and sedated until the idea passes. We had a particular problem in that the house is built on a granite ledge. In order to build the foundation, it was necessary to use much more dynamite than was initially expected, leaving me to wonder about the sense of the project. Before we had a chance to rethink the production, the frame and roof went on so fast that an addition seemed a good thing again.
Unfortunately, the next step was taking down the entire back wall of the house, a brick house with a cement foundation. This step required the use of jackhammers. There is no plastic sheeting on earth that can prevent cement dust from coating everything in the house. As I dusted off one layer, another layer was floating down to replace it. A year after it was finished I was still chasing cement dust and the plaster dust that had joined it.
Every time one step was completed an inspector had to come out and examine the work. On occasion it was three weeks between completion and inspection and all work stops until the inspector says it is safe to move on. By the time the plumbing is deemed safe, the electricians are on another job so it can be a few more weeks before they are available.
And on and on it went. I have told my children that when I die I want the urn with my ashes to be placed on the granite ledge in the basement. After living through the construction, I am never leaving this house.
Beth
www.murderbytype.wordpress.com
Thank you Dana for your comment, remember that every country has amongst its citizens people who believe themselves entitled. This is a result of conditioning by politicians that do it on purpose. For what purpose I can not imagine.
ReplyDeleteBeth - I hear you, thank you for this wonderful story, I am not leaving my house either except in a box or a stretcher.
By the way, we still haven't moved in. The latest loopy turn this has taken is that our tiles were delayed because they shared a container with some viagra that was being smuggled into the country (not by us) and were confiscated by the customs officials while investigation was ongoing - they have now been released but have yet to be placed. We have not been very lucky in the construction department.