Another Day in the Life

Today I was in a great mood at work, which was pretty remarkable considering it was a Monday.   On my lunch break I started realizing the world was working against me.

No, that’s a lie, I really started noticing it on Saturday.

We were leaving our flat and the sun was shining.  I commented as we were walking out of the door of our flat.   By the time we walked down the three flights of stairs and stepped outside, it was raining.

I know that’s how Dutch weather works, but I was already starting to think I was jinxed.

This afternoon I went for lunch.  As I walked out of the cafe where I went for lunch I was thinking how lovely the weather was.   This cafe is about a 1.5 minute walk from my office.  Before I got to the office, I was being rained on.

I’m starting to think I shouldn’t even acknowledge good weather because it’s somehow connected to my brain and turns on me every time.

This has nothing to do with the weather though.  It has to do with this building we live in and how INCREDIBLY ready I am to move.

I’ve been trying to talk Xander into it for quite a while. We need more space, a garden, and it would be nice to not have to take three flights of stairs every time we want to go anywhere.   Also, since I’ve settled in and am prepared to stay here for the long haul, I think it’s time to get our ‘forever home’.   I don’t know about him but I sure as hell don’t plan on spending the next 20 years in this flat!

Last week we went to a VVE meeting, which is the homeowners association.  They informed us that the water boiler which is used to heat the building needs to be replaced and that it would cost 80,000 Euros.  That’s 2500-3000 euros per flat!  Not just that but they want everyone to pay it all in one chunk.

I don’t know about other people, but while we may be able to afford to do that, we can’t afford to do it without some major sacrifices in other areas… like, I dunno, food…

I had already gotten Xander to agree to move within the next year, so when they agreed at the VVE meeting that it would be brought back up for discussion in next year’s meeting, for me it was a done deal.  I was getting the hell out of dodge before that meeting and before it was decided that we’d have to pay for a boiler we wouldn’t even end up using.  I mean, it makes sense right?   Why pay almost 3000 euros to replace something in the flat when we might be here for 1-2-3 months after.  Screw that, I’d rather put that money torwards moving costs.

Ok, I’m so getting off track.  So tonight I get off work and walk out of the building.  Once again I’m thinking about what nice weather we are having, that I couldn’t wait to get home and open the balcony door while we were making dinner.   I got on the tram, and by the time I got off… it was raining!

&&@!!^!^#!~~@!~!

I don’t know why I bother with those symbols when I swear anyway most of the time but I think it shows the extent of my anger.

I came home from work, curled up under a blanket on the sofa and got comfy, then a few minutes later I had to go into the bathroom.

SPLASH!!!

The minute my foot hit the bathroom floor I thought ‘oh shit’.   The entire floor was flooded and I had no idea where the water was coming from.   The shower stall was dry, the towels in the cupboard under the sink were dry… but the floor was covered in water.

Turns out it was one of the pipes.  There’s a thick pipe that runs up one corner of our bathroom from the floor to ceiling, and it goes through the same place in all the flats.  It’s the pipe that carries the water (from the fucked up boiler) throughout the building for the heaters.

See, today they were working on the gas in our building which meant that we had no gas and no heat all day.  This also meant that this pipe, which usually carries warm water, cooled down.  I guess it was already going bad but this caused it to crack and the water leaked into our bathroom.

We’ve been using a one of those things you sweep dirt into to scoop the water from the floor into the shower.  Like we’re trying to bail ourselves out of our own bathroom!

We called and the VVE sent a guy to look at it.  He basically said there was nothing he could do and that he’d have to arrange with us and our downstairs neighbor to come and replace the pipe.  Great, so now not only do we have to wait for their schedule, but our downstairs neighbor too.

Oh, and the solution until then?  Xander ripped all the kit out from under our shower doors so that the water can run through to the shower drain.  Ok, so it’s a good solution but it makes me nervous because average timeline for DIY jobs in this house is anywhere from 6 months to a year! So I have no idea how soon I can look forward to this being fixed.   Plus, not only will the unwanted water be able to drain into our shower, but hello… we still need to HAVE SHOWERS and the water isn’t going to stay in.

I’m so tired of this flat.   It’s done us good for a long time and it’s been a great starter home for us… but after 8 years of living here and this rotting pipes, endless stairs, lack of space and garden, and future boiler-replacement crap, I’m SO ready to go.

Now, if only houses weren’t so BLOODY expensive in this country.