The Italian judicial system

Yesterday was a very big day for us, and more specifically for our little Flora. We were summoned to go all the way to Rovigo, a two and a half hours' drive, because the judge wanted to see me in person. You may recall that the malignant cow who sold us little Flora was a bit upset about me asking (and receiving) my money back through VISA because to me (and also to VISA) it was a clear case of internet fraud. The most important victim of which was a poor little kitten, almost starved to death and with a severe infection on her lungs, nose and eyes. "Well, if half of the truckload of kittens coming from Hungary dies, that's just too bad. As long as enough survive which I can sell for an exuberant price via our fraudulent websites". Yes, you read it right. In the mean time I've discovered no less than four different websites, possibly more, all from the same vendor and all showing the same, heartbreaking pictures and clips of the most adorable pups and kittens. I've decided to name and shame them after all, hoping that this message will spread and that this horrific animal trade will be rooted out. Idle hope, I know, but doing nothing would be even worse, wouldn't it?

http://www.vendita-cuccioli.com/

http://www.venditacaniegatti.com/

http://www.venditacuccioli.com/

http://www.vendita-cuccioli-caniegatti.com/ (now all of a sudden closed)

So as I was saying, Christine and I drove all the way down there, to arrive at the local courthouse. "Courthouse" is in fact a bit exaggerated because it was just the first floor in what rather looked like an appartment building. The only things that betrayed its true nature were the Italian and European flags which were proudly decorating the façade. By the front door we saw Floriano, one of our two sollicitors, making a call on his mobile. We had been a bit surprised that both of them would be present here because also for them it was a long drive. Well, as long as the other party will be paying the bill... :-D Sabrina, our other sollicitor, warmly greeted us when we arrived on the first floor and explained that it was better that they'd also appear in person, rather than to hire a local sollicitor for this session. The judge had after all summoned both parties "in person". Then again, we were in for a little shock. The corridor on the first floor was absolutely packed. Sabrina told us that our case was number 66 in line, whereas they had only just begun case number 34! We had anticipated on a little wait, even though the invitation had carried a specific time. But the way things were going, we would be standing here until nightfall. Oh bother... Sabrina tried to console us by telling that this is mostly what a sollicitor's life in Italy is all about: waiting. By a strange coincidence, the police had chosen the very same morning to present all of the pending fines to the judge. In Italy there's no such thing as a "police judge"; a person who only deals with traffic fines and incidents. All traffic cases are presented to a common civil judge, who in this case happened to be ours. And it goes without saying that all of these fines took presedence over our case. Grumble... The only wicked sort of amusement we got was staring at the faces of the people coming out of the judge's office. Most of them looked as if they'd just done the latrine's job in a major pig stable. Their noses pulled up high and their mouths closed so hard that their lips went all white.

We had been ordered to be there at 11:40, but by 01:00 we were still standing there, together with a whole bunch of other people who still had to present their civil case. The judge, obvioulsy concerned about his lunchbreak, then ordered all the remaining people in at once. It didn't look very good but Sabrina and Floriano assured us that they would press the judge to still hear our case. After all, we had come all the way down here on his orders. Alhough Sabrina wondered how the judge could still be all ears to our story if he had just had a hell of a morning with about 70 traffic cases to do.

The judge's office was, well, like a normal office. It certainly wasn't the sort of court hall that one could expect. Needless to say that when all of the remaining people were in, there was hardly any room left to breathe. The judge put the files of all of the remaining civil cases on a big pile on his desk and started to call all of them, in order to see who was still there. About half of them turned out to have already gone out for lunch! The remaining half were then divided between urgent and not so urgent. Meaning, to be postponed until March or some even until September! "My agenda is totally full", he apologised. Well, if it had to be September also for our case, personally I wouldn't mind. It's that wicked bitch who wanted her money, not me. Although we're still hoping to have all of the veterinary expenses refunded of course.

With those non-urgent cases out of the way, he still had half an hour to deal with all of the rest. "I'll continue until half past and that's it", he said.

So all of us had to go out again and wait for our turn. In the mean time Sabrina had already pointed out the vendor's sollicitor to us. A nasty old, little man; exactly the sort of person who'd make the kinds of remarks that we found in his reply to our defence. But there was another interesting detail: the vendor herself hadn't shown up, even though also she had been summoned. This normally shouldn't go down too well with the judge. I had been looking around to all of the women I saw, wondering who it would be. She certainly wouldn't be very young because setting up the whole animal trade business would take a certain amount of time. And it had to be a person without a heart. I can't imagine any other person doing the things she does for a living without the slightest sense of remorse. In the end I asked Sabrina if she could find the lady's age in the file. And indeed she could. Apparently, the vendor was born in... 1931!!! That bitch was eighty years old!!! Sabrina grinned that she'd probably provided her sollicitor with a medical note so she wouldn't have to appear. I said that perhaps they'd have to wheel her in on a wheelchair. Christine on the other hand wondered how such an old lady could still be running such a big business. Obviously she'd still be in charge on paper but leave the running itself to someone younger, like the nasty man who had delivered our Flora. In any case, even if she'd only be responsible on paper, that's exactly what she is and she'll have to bleed for what she did (and is still doing to other unfortunate animals).

Finally, at 13:25, it was our turn. We all went in apart from Christine. The case was started against me personally so she wasn't allowed to take any part. The judge began by saying that this was a "compromise" meeting. Sabrina immediatly intervened that if this were so, we hadn't been informed about any possible "compromise" by the other party. The judge said that in that case he'd propose fifty-fifty, which neither I nor the nasty sollicitor could accept.

- "If that cat were really half-dead as you claim, then why didn't you inform my client about it?", he said in a very arrogant way.

- "As a matter of fact I did", I replied, "I've tried to contact her for days on end!"

- "That's a lie", he said.

- "No it is not!", I replied and Sabrina added that we have copies of the e-mails to prove it.

The nasty sollicitor went on and started speaking to the judge.

- "That man", pointing at me, "just wanted to buy a cat from my client without paying 5 bloody Lire for it! If he's truly so unhappy, then he should give the cat back."

I was perplexed. How low can anyone go? As if Flora is just a stupid cupboard! A heartless stone which you can chuck away if you grow tired of it! This was indeed the "compromise" he proposed.

- "And what about all the medical expenses then?", Sabrina also mentioned. The other sollicitor didn't care to reply. Sabrina took the conversation back to the heart of the matter we wanted to discuss here. The European consumer's law stipulates that, unless otherwise agreed, any dispute following a purchase should be treated by the court at the buyer's residence.

- "Can you believe that?", the nasty sollicitor intervened, laughing and looking at the judge, "They'd want this case to be treated in Belgium!" He shook his head in mockery.

- "Or in Castelnovo ne' Monti", Sabrina went on without paying any attention to that prat, "the court where our client now resides."

The judge, clearly tired and unmotivated, said that he wouldn't take any decision now and that he'd let us know. He typed the names of the people present in his computer and added a note about our sollicitor's claim about the transfer of competence to either Belgium or Castelnovo. He would let us know as soon as possible. And we were sent out again.

Now we'll have to wait once more. Probably for months, but I don't care. Sabrina said that technically the judge wouldn't have any other choice than to declare himself "incompetent" in this matter and to pass the case on to Castelnovo. This would already be a big blow to the vendor. Sabrina added that she'd then have a word with the Castelnovo judge, apparently a good lady with a heart for animals, and that she'd have high hopes. Although she warned us that the Rovigo judge might still decide to keep the case at his court and that he may summon me again. Perhaps - if he's really stupid - to treat the entire case and at the end declare that he's incompetent after all so the whole thing will have to be done over again by another court. It's like looking at teabags for the moment.

But in any case, I'm not afraid. And above all, NOONE will ever take our Flora away from us. Even if we have to send her temporarily to Flanders or whatever. She's OUR little baby now and we'll never allow anyone to take her away. We love her with all of our hearts and she loves us back at least just as much. Every evening while we're in front of the telly she comes jumping on our laps, rolling about and thoroughly enjoying our caresses and the brushing of her tummy with a special cat brush. Oh yes, she definitely loves her daily beauty treatment! :-) And isn't she a beauty indeed?

Busy busy busy...

Oh... I'm so sorry that I neglected my blog for a while. The thing is that Christine and I are so busy for the time being. Much of this has to do with the strict deadline that Christine set for the opening of her B&B. She wants to be completely ready by April and there are still so many things to be done. Moreover, we'll receive her sister's family for a break early March, so already by then most of the work should already be finished. It's going to be tight!

To make things even more hectic, Christine and I've started to grow our own ideas about what "being ready" implies. When we were having such fine weather last week, I felt I had to start building my own observatory. Yes, you read it correctly. With all of the original floortiles of our house, which have been laying about in our field for more than a year now, I've started making a foundation of 4 by 7 metres. This should be big enough for a shed in which to store my precious telescope, king-size binoculars and other astronomy stuff, plus allow for a sizeable terrace, or rather, observatory platform. But more about that later.

Christine on the other hand, thought it would be absolutely necessary to make a special box in which our hens would be able to lay their eggs in comfort. I already finished the henhouse in September (see picture below) but according to Christine chickens prefer a more "confined" space to brood...

So she made a covered box out of scrap wood. Yes, Christine admitted that it does look a bit "antique" as she put it, but the hens definitely seemed to love it, as you can see...

In fact, from thereon they always lay their little eggs in the box! :-)

Christine was also preoccupied with our kitchen. For the moment we only had the "structure" of the cupboards made because we don't have any money for proper doors. Christine thought that as a temporary solution she could make a couple of curtains instead. But now that she's finished them, we are inclined to make that "temporary" solution a lot more permanent. What do you think?...

Please don't mind the drawer on the left because I still have to finish a front for that...

Now as I was saying, the weather last week was pretty much like an early summer. But two days later we had... HALF A METRE of snow!!! It's just amazing! In two days time from over 20° (in the sun) to 0°! Which meant that I had to abandon my observatory project temporarily. Which also led Christine to remind me of something much more "important" (what does she know... :-) ) I still had to do: making the website of her B&B. I already showed you a couple of trials I had made some time ago, none of them really satisfactory. So I started over from scratch and this time Christine is extremely pleased with my work. She absolutely wanted a flying bird on it, so she got a flying bird - which I didn't copy from the web but honestly created myself. The attached AVI file is giving you a glimpse of the title page, without the buttons or pictures. Its quality isn't near as good as the original Flash file (which "Blogger" refused to accept) but I hope you like it.

Who says we'll be cold???

"You'll always be cold in that house! You just wait and see! You'll never be able to heat it up properly!", a certain idiot once told us. Not coincidentally the same idiot who was responsible back then for making the house habitable and who had assured us at the time of purchase that we had found "a rare jewel" which would become a real "dreamhome".

So when winter came, we were anxiously waiting for the cold to kick in, carefully wrapped up under a pile of blankets. But one after the other we had to throw these blankets away because it felt we were living in a sauna, rather than an igloo. The materials we used during the restoration obviously had something to do with that, as did the state-of-the-art floor heating system. But since this week, we won't have to burn any expensive propane anymore either. Yes... Dopey Dwarf returned! Since he received his money last month, he's one and all flattering and kindness! How's that for a change?

After two days' work, our brand new wood stove is connected to the central heating and hot water system, which means that we are now virtually independent! With the enormous supply of wood that we've collected from our grounds, we are good for at least a couple of years to come. The chimney still has to be finished with plasterboard, but what do you think of our stove? :-)

What do you think we did this morning???

We've had... (NO, YOU PERVERTS, NOT THAT! :-D )... breakfast outdoors! This morning when we stuck our sleepy heads outside, we thought that we were still dreaming because it felt like early summer. Yes, you read it correctly, summer and not spring. So we had our first breakfast on our terrace of 2011! With locally made ham, and delicious honey and marmelade from one of our friends.

What do you think of that? I even had to take off my sweater because it was too warm! Christine immediately took her mobile and rang Cosetta, asking her the same question about what we were doing. When she heard, she almost went ape! She's spending the winters in the valley, just like most Italians, and only comes up here in the mountains when she opens her B&B in April. But down there it is cold and there's an unpleasant, thick fog! Unbelievable, isn't it? Well, she was very happy for us anyway.

Also Christine couldn't resist making a photographic composition...

The meeting with our sollicitor

Since things are going so well with us lately, one would almost forget that we're still involved in two courtcases. Last week we met with our (very good!) sollicitor in order to find out how things are going on the legal front.

As far as the case is concerned that the seller of our little Flora started against us, a first hearing was held last month at the court near the vendor's residence. The judge heard the two sides of the story and scheduled a second hearing, where we should be present as well, on the 31st of January. In the mean time we've received the response from the vendor's sollicitor to our defence. It's in one word: shameful. Our sollicitor said that this guy really doesn't show any respect and that is obvious when you read his letter. He says i.a. that I "only wanted to make a good impression on my wife, if that is really what she is, giving her a kitten without having to pay a single € for it" and "if the kitten truly was not the one I wanted and if it really was in such a bad way, why did we keep it?" I'm not sure about you but this is so respectless. Well, I suppose that's just what certain sollicitors do. I won't lose a night's sleep over it.

But now comes the good part. The vendor made the big mistake of not removing my e-mail address from her contacts. That's why I received a rather stunning e-mail from her, addressed to all of her clients, the day after this hearing. It said that the website will be closed with immediate effect and that she had opened a new one, under a different name, where the esteemed clients would receive an even better service and blablabla. I checked and it's true. The day after the hearing the website shut down, without even leaving a link to the new one (where she also upped the prices BTW)! If that isn't a sign that she's getting the impression that things are going pear-shaped for her... :-D Oh... I'm not going to mention the new website here. It's not worthy of your click.

And then there is the case the Big Bad Wolf started. The first hearing for this one was scheduled last Friday, also probably just to hear the two sides of the story and to determine a date for further proceedings. Two noteworthy items to mention, though:

1. The Big Bad Wolf is all of a sudden willing to settle. His sollicitor proposed LESS THAN HALF of what they originally claimed as settlement. Which we haven't accepted yet. We believe that we'll be able to settle for a whole lot less still.

2. The Big Bad Wolf, nor the Nasty Little Man have yet responded to our sollicitor's letter regarding the water in our walls. The NLM did send Christine a text message, asking about his money. To which Christine replied: "I will be able to tell you when you'll get your money when you tell me what you're going to do about this water problem". To which he replied: "The water is coming in through the gas tube (???) so deal with it yourself". Obviously both gentlemen are in a bit of trouble about what to put on paper regarding this water issue. Whathever they reply, they'll either incriminate themselves or demonstrate their total incompetence.

So that's it. And today I went for a nice evening walk in the vicinity of our house. The weather is exceptionally mild, whereas two days ago the temperatures were still around 0 and the roads were covered in ice. Today you could almost walk about in a T-shirt! The following picture and panorama were taken from a spot about 1km from our front door. Oh... I'm feeling so happy... :-)

The eclipse

This morning there was a solar ecplise! Unfortunately not a total one; for that treat you had to go to Poland, Hungary or the Ukraine. But nevertheless, here in northern Italy the sun would be eclipsed for about 75% so well-worth getting up early. Around 8:30 that is... ;-) I grabbed the camera and went out, immediately followed by Blu, Thomas and Flora. Whenever Christine or I go out, so do they because they just love playing outside and even more so when we're around. It was a pity that there were a lot of high clouds. But here and there some blue appeared so I was having high hopes to get at least a glance of the eclipse. In the mean time, when I was waiting in the freezing cold, I already took a picture of another interesting phenomenon. I'm not sure what kind of strange turbulences caused these bird-like clouds but they were truly fascinating! Pity the picture doesn't really show these clouds in 3D because they were absolutely stunning. Also note the vail of cloudiness covering the summit of Mount Cusna!

Just when my toes wanted to tell me that they were reaching critical temperature, the sunrays broke through the cloud cover and I managed to take this picture of the eclipse being more or less near its maximum. It's a bit hazy but clear enough.

And then quickly back inside for a mug of hot tea!

Bingo!

The day before yesterday, a local friend of ours invited us to the yearly Sologno bingo night. Sologno being the village, or better the metropole, where Danilo and his clan are in charge and where Christine and I stayed during our first months in Italy. Every Italian town worthy of this name has a so-called "pro loco", a committee which organises just about every social get together. Such as this bingo night. The Sologno pro loco people think, let's just say, a bit high of themselves because they're such good friends or even family with the Apenninian mob boss. But Christine thought it would be fun to go there nonetheless; even if it's just to participate in the Italian social life and to be together with our many friends over here, who were also going to the event. I, on the other hand, was quite reluctant to go because I've never been good at social venues and certainly now I wouldn't be able to cope very well. It's all become a bit too much for me and the thought of all these many people cramped together in a reasonably small hall frightened me a lot. So I asked Christine if she wouldn't mind going there by herself. Of course I didn't want to force her to stay at home with me. She's a very sociable lady and I realise that she needs to get out from time to time. It's something that I wouldn't want to take away from her because having to live together with an autistic man must already be more than demanding enough.

- "Bring back the big prize!", I told her, just before she went.

- "You can rest assured of that", she replied with a big smile.

And off she went, into the lion's den.

A couple of hours later she returned home with an even bigger smile. I immediately sussed that she hadn't just been enjoying the evening out. Oh no! There was this twinkling sparkle in her eyes that told me that she hadn't come home empty-handed. Suddenly, she brought her right hand from behind her back and showed me this...

Can you actually believe that she had won one of the main prizes??? :-D The leading ladies of the pro loco apparently went green of frustration and jealousy! It can't be... Not that bloody Christine again!!! Hehehe... Can you also believe that Christine used to be a keen and, dare I say, very good tennis player when she was younger? Perhaps it's a hint that she should take it up again? ;-)

Once more this confirms that fortune has finally taken a turn for the better. Christine holds the strong belief that her late grandfather is watching over us closely. And who am I to disagree? After all the pain we've been through, the sun is finally shining. Today it actually shone so warmly through the veil of high clouds and Christine and I really enjoyed an afternoon walk... our first walk through our new home in 2011.

A very happy New Year to all of you!!!

Christine - Hunters: 1-0!!!

This morning we woke up a bit later than usual. It has been a very hard couple of days on the digestive side. Friday evening we hosted a very copious dinner because we wanted to show our Italian friends that the Belgian cuisine is quality-wise a very good match for the Italian one. And yesterday we were invited for an extensive lunch ourselves. So after two days of hard labour at the table we thought that we could do with a small break. I opened the curtains around ten and was thrilled to see that at least we'd have a white Boxing Day. The past couple of days have been quite warm and a bit rainy so the sight of the snow-covered trees and fields was quite a lovely surprise.

But then came the shock. Christine was raising the curtain at the side window of our bedroom and suddenly screamed that there was a car parked in the middle of our garden! I couldn't believe it at first, but indeed, there it was. Someone had driven by our letterbox and the pillar which will one day hold one part of our entrance gate, made a 180 degree turn through our rose beds and parked his car just there. We immediately sussed that it must be one of those bloody hunters again. I took the camera and went outside to take a couple of pictures as proof, while Christine called the Carabinieri. Who obviously didn't feel like driving half an hour through the snow on a holiday, so they advised us to call the Provincial Police (who's responsible for hunting issues) the next morning. So that was that.

Suddenly, Christine had a brilliant idea. She asked me to go and park our car at the entrance gate in such a way that the stupid idiot wouldn't be able to leave anymore. Which I did right away. That should come down as a shock to that bastard! A bit later we saw him, walking across our field. Again we took a couple of pictures. This man was in breach of the law no less than 4 times:

- Parking on private property

- Walking through a private garden (I'm not even referring to our field because this would be regarded as "agricultural land")

- Hunting in the snow (only allowed to a very select group of special licence holders)

- Hunting less than 100m away from a house

So we prepared ourselves for the confrontation, which obviously wouldn't be far away anymore. It was nearing lunchtime and the guy certainly wouldn't want to miss his hot tortelli. And indeed, Christine shouted at me that the man was headed for his car. Showtime! Just to be on the safe side, I quickly installed a very powerful studio microphone by the window just above the front door. In the not unlikely event that the man was going to utter threats to Christine, he wouldn't be able to get away with it so easily.

But eventually, the man turned out to be very... apologetic.

- "Private property is private property and this should be holy to everyone!", he exclaimed with a big, shining halo above his head. He probably realised that Christine was not the person to mess around with and he certainly didn't fancy walking home several miles through the cold and snow. His tortelli would probably also be cold by then. So he suddenly was the holy pope himself and assured us that he would make it clear to everyone that they're not to come onto our property!

Victory!!! :-)

BTW, if any of you speak Italian and fancy a big laugh, the recorded audio file is available on request in mp3 format! hehehe...

Merry Christmas to you all!!!

With this picture of our first Italian Christmas tree, I'd like to wish all of you a merry Christmas and a very happy New Year. You've all been such a big support to us and you've contributed so much to our survival through this horrible year. Therefore Christine and I would like to say a big "thank you" and we wish you lots of happiness for 2011. May all of your wishes come true!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Do you remember that you used to love playing in the snow when you were a little kid? Our children seem to love it too! With "children" I obviously mean our cats of course. :-) Especially Blu and Thomas, our two Norwegian rascals, truly live up to their breed and adore rolling and jumping about until they're totally covered in snow. It's so delightful to see them at it. Why does anyone still need a television, we often wonder.

Canelle, our oldest, prefers to stay away from all that juvenile violence and is carefully threading on the big, white carpet, stearing well clear of the other three...

Here's Blu. She's just had a couple of rolls and a big shake to get all the cold snow off her. And then she lays down in the hole she's just made in order to enjoy the warm sunshine which is shining abundantly on her thick fur.

Flora, our Maine Coon kitten and the youngest of the pack, tries to follow Blu's example, be it a little less enthusiastically...

Thomas, on the other hand, doesn't need any convincing to go out in the snow. On the contrary; he just loves it! Just look at him... He can't bury himself deep enough in it! :-)

Flora eventually returns to a spot where she can rest high and dry while she's watching the two Norwegians making havoc.

"I'm the king of the hill", Thomas squeaks. Apart from me he's the only man in the house. Well... err... was apart from me the only man in the house. :-) And indeed, there's nothing "macho" about him. On the contrary, he wants to be friends with everybody - humans excluded because apart from Christine and I he doesn't want to get to know them at all.


Blu quickly follows Thomas onto the "throne" he's just discovered. Isn't she a lovely lady?

So you can see that our cats are absolutely happy in their new home. For Christine and I our new Italian home is a dream, but for our cats it truly must be paradise. So much space to play, so many trees to climb and so many things to discover... They've had a very difficult move from Belgium which must have scared the living wits out of them. And after that they still suffered for months because when they were finally getting used to the small house we rented at first, they had to move again to our new house. But now, if you ask them, they never want to go away from this place anymore. Just like us... ;-)

I'm going to be a teacher!

That's right! A real teacher teaching real students. Well, kids actually, which is probably even worse. Remembering the good old days of my own childhood I know what a cunning horror children may be to a teacher. That being said, poachers make the best forest keepers, so to speak, meaning that my own experience as an inpertinent little brat will certainly have me prepared for a situation in which the tables are turned.

Now, what is this all about? This morning I received a phonecall from the head master of one of the local schools. She's a very friendly lady (well, she sounded very friendly over the phone anyway) and she's very much concerned about the level of English that Italian children are being taught. I already told you the story about that little lad who's had five years of English in primary school and who can't even say something basic and simple like "How are you?". The head master wants to do something about it and heard about me as an "English mothertongue" teacher. Even though the word "mothertongue" is a big exaggeration, I was honoured to receive her request for help and I assured her that it would be a real pleasure to become a part-time teacher at the two schools for which she is responsible. She offered me a contract for 16 hours a week, 8 at each school, and for a very interesting salary too. The details still have to be finalised of course; for the moment she only had to be certain that I was interested. In any case it would be just perfect for me because a part-time job will allow me to make myself useful to the community without (hopefully) overstressing myself. It'd give me enough time to recover and to remain my "normal" self. She'll contact me later this week in order to sit together and discuss all of this a bit better and to share some ideas about a better approach at teaching English. Since I completed this TEFL course I have quite a lot of them, such as games and other fun exercises which will let the children assimilate with the language in a much more pleasant and above all effective way than simply learning words and grammar rules by heart. Oh yes, I'll be very well prepared and motivated! :-)

The lessons should start in March so I'll keep you informed about how well it goes! Oh... I'm so excited! Finally things really seem to be going our way now. I think that we deserved it after all the hard times and I'm sure that you'd agree with me on that. So... on with OUR NEW LIFE IN ITALY!!!

A new home for my mother-in-law

Last week my mother-in-law received dreadful news. She'll be thrown out of the cottage she rents because the owner's daughter cast an eye on it and fancies living there. She has until summer to find a new home.

This news didn't come totally unexpected. The owner's father had promised my mother-in-law she could live in that cottage for as long as she wanted. But when he came to die two years ago, this promise died with him. My mother-in-law had already picked up some rumours about the daughter wanting the house a couple of months ago. So she wasn't totally unprepared for it. But nevertheless the official announcement came as a total shock which was even aggravated by the blunt, careless and truly arrogant manner in which the owner came to tell her.

He barged into the house with a big cigar, polluting the air with the foul breath he belched forth. Then he asked for a drink. He didn't wait to be offered one, oh no! He wanted a drink.

- "Allright", my mother-in-law said, "I have water or orange juice..."

- "Don't you have anything else?", he asked.

- "Well...", my mother-in-law wittingly replied, "I've still got a bottle of Champagne in the garage."

- "Oh, that'll do nicely!"

And he meant it! Upon which my mother-in-law exploded and asked him whether she should really serve him a bottle of Champagne when he came to tell her he would throw her out of her house.

But there it is. Christine and I have already offered her the room of our B&B, even if it's only temporary. But in the end we believe that she prefers to stay in Flanders where all of her friends are, in stead of moving to a foreign country where she'll be much more isolated and where she doesn't speak the language. Today she's actually living in the same street as her other daughter and her two grandchildren, so that must hurt very much too.

Well, mum, the room's still available if you want it. It's up to you. In any case, Christine and I would like to send you lots of courage and support, even though we're 800 miles away. We're sure that in the end everything will be ok. Remember that we told you that you'll certainly find an even much nicer home? Just like Christine had to do two times in a row. When she left her ex-husband for me, she also had to leave the house of her dreams behind. But then we built an even much more beautiful house together. Which we sold in order to achieve our Italian dream. And now, we're living in this Italian paradise which you visited only two weeks ago. So if we can do it, so can you. Never give up hope. Keep believing in yourself and keep repeating that you've deserved a nice place of your own. And everything will be just fine. Just trust me! :-)

The following picture was taken last September. Do you remember that I told you that Christine had won this private concert from one of Flanders' most renowned artists? Well, here's Christine on the left, Paul Michiels (the famous singer) on her right, then Christine's mother and on the right is Jeroen, Paul's pianist...

Fear of confrontations

What a busy weekend this was with my mother and sister in law staying for a couple of days. Christine and I very much enjoyed this visit and it really was a pity that they had to go back again so soon. But there it is. Back to "normal" life again. Today life really became back to "normal".

Someone knocked on our door this morning. I was a bit surprised because we've had a lot of snowfall last night and you'd have to plough through at least half a metre of snow on foot to reach our house, along a steep uphill entry road of more than 100m long. Not the sort of thing someone would endeavour unless it was absolutely necessary. So I opened the door, curious about who it might be. To my horror it was... the Nasty Little Man. He wanted to know when we'd pay him. I was a bit in shock and luckily Christine immediately came down and took over from me. There was a brief discussion about the origin of the water in our walls. According to him the water now comes from the top of the entry road because from there the slope goes a bit downhill again towards our house. And on the sides there are still a couple of holes from the unfinished ground works which according to him accumulate the water and send it to our house. Christine asked him why the water is not in our kitchen then. Obviously no reply. The Nasty Little Man even said that the drainage behind the house had become obsolete since we've had the wall constructed to stop the hill behind our house from crumbling down. Yes, you read it right: "obsolete". Nonetheless we've had to pay thousands for these drainage works and the Big Bad Wolf still wrote in his letter to court that he had drainage works done around the entire house "to the benefit of the entire structure". This means that he, our so-called "expert geometer" had us pay thousands for "obsolete" drainage works and then afterwards told us we'd need to have a wall built behind the house - yet another five thousand - to stop the hill from falling down. Oh yes, this'll look nice in court! Definitely it will!

Sadly... I can't take it anymore. Last time when the Big Bad Wolf and his Nasty Little Creep paid us a visit to inspect the damage, I already had to hide behind Christine's (very slim) back because I couldn't face those two bastards anymore. I was a total gonner for three days, trembling and totally in shock. I've got a feeling that after today it will not be very different. I can still get my thoughts together and hence I'm still capable of writing this blog post. But at times it feels as if a knife is cutting straight through my heart. My head starts spinning and all I can think of is escape. Escape to a place where noone can ever find me. Especially those irritating voices in my head. They're driving me insane and I wish so hard that I could shut them up forever. Why can't I just leave it be? Why does such a small event, an event that once again clearly demonstrates that we were in the right from the beginning and that we shouldn't pay that ghastly man the rest of his money until all problems with our house have been solved, have such an impact on me? It's even more surprising because especially my former colleagues will remember that I could be very ad rem and assertive during the meetings when I had to defend the interests of my clients. Sometimes even a bit too much... Without the slightest blink of an eye I could tell directors and even state-secretaries what I thought of them. And now, I can't even look a stupid, incompetent builder in the eye anymore. It makes me realise that what I did at work was only a front. A very good acting game, perhaps even worthy an Oscar. It was the enormous firewall that I constructed around me in order to protect my true inner self from the outside world. A true inner self that noone must ever discover. Today, it feels like this firewall has been torn down completely. I can't pretend anymore. All that's left is a shy little boy that just wants to be left in peace. Autism has caught up with me at last. I just have to accept it. Fortunately, Christine won't have me any other way. She's so sweet... I love her so much for that. And at least she takes my defense whenever necessary, like today. I can't thank her enough... She really makes me happy. When I got to know her, it was the first time in my entire life that I enjoyed true happiness. And it's still lasting, strong as ever... :-)

Christmas, Christmas, what a lovely Christmas...

Perhaps a bit early to start singing this lovely carol. But it was the song that immediately sprung to mind when I woke up this morning and opened the curtains...

Up here in the mountains the weather can truly change overnight, can't it? Yesterday we were still having a pleasant sunshine and you could almost walk about in a t-shirt. This morning however, there is 15cm of snow.

It may just be a coincidence, but... Today is also the day that my mother- and sister-in-law arrive. True, it isn't one and a half meter of snow like in March. But I can only conclude that my mother-in-law must have a truly amazing impact on the weather over here. Fortunately, she now already knows where to find the Sheraton airport hotel! Hehehe... :-)

Just kidding, mum,... Welcome to Italy! :-D

A new book

I really must be feeling better lately because I've just started writing a new book. And the good news is... It's like if the book is writing itself! Haven't you ever had this experience when you were writing something... a story, an essay or, why not, a book... and you just couldn't stop because you were having so much inspiration that you thought that you could keep writing for ever? This is exactly what is happening to me right now.

All in all this should not come as a surprise because, like you've certainly already noticed, our Italian adventure has turned out to be just hat - a very big adventure indeed.

The book begins just a short time before the point where my first book ended: buying a new home in Italy. It describes my final years at work and how my autism is slowly getting the better of me. And in the mean time the Italian dream matures and eventually we want to make it come true. With all the highs and lows in between. I'm already extremely happy with the first 25 pages and sincerely hope that my editor will be equally pleased.

In any case, let's see first whether my first book will become a success. I guess that if it has to be pulped my editor will not be jumping to the moon from joy when I present her the sequel... :-D

Getting prepared for winter

The winters up here in the mountains are usually short but can be quite severe, as you'll probably remember from the images I posted in March. One and a half a meter of snow! My mother in law and I believed we had arrived in Greenland rather than in Italy! It was so bad that Christine couldn't make it to the airport to pick us up because her car had been totally snowed in. So we had to spend the night at the airport Sheraton. But now we're not in the least bit worried that we'll freeze to death. :-) Last week two strong and friendly men came to cut the enormous pile of wood that came from the various trees Christine had cut down in order to give our house a bit more air. In just two hours all of the logs and branches were cut to a size that will easily fit the wood stove we've ordered...

It was very hard work but absolutely worth it. Now we'll probably have enough wood to heat up the house for years. In fact, the toughest job is to collect all the pieces and logs and stack them in the small adjacent building on our property. This used to be a pig stable, hen house and typical outdoors oven but nowadays it's in a pretty derilict state. Nonetheless, it has enough space for all of our wood and at least it will be dry. Just a couple of days more work and it will be done... Phew!

For the moment we're still heating on (expensive) gas, although we're astonished how little effort our heating system must do in order to make the entire house snug and warm. The special state-of-the-art floor heating system we've chosen will eventually save us a lot of money. Even though our garage now more resembles the boiler room of a steamboat... :-)

But the mortgage should be finalised by mid-December and then we'll finally be able to have the wood stove installed in our living room. As it will be connected to the central boiler, the wood will be the main source for heating and hot water. The boiler is insulated so well that it can keep the water at temperature for 24 hours!

And we'll certainly not be on our own this winter. A couple of days ago, in early morning, a family of roe deers came to visit us. Aren't they just lovely?

Halt! Private property!

When we bought our house and the generous plot of land that came with it, we were hoping to find some tranquility at last. But this tranquility is currently far away at times. I already told you about hunters some time ago. And today I'd like to have another go at them because I'm slowly getting fed up with their arrogant and uneducated ways. Before you ask, I'm a carnivore and since humanity has survived primarily on meat and fish for the last three million years I see no need why I should change. But there are limits and hunters should learn to respect not only animal rights but also the rights of the people who live in their "recreational area". In brief, the hunters over here show absolutely no respect at all for private property. Yes, they have the law at their side. In Italy you have to enclose your land with a fence of at least 1,20m high if you want to keep hunters out. Otherwise they have the right to roam as they like. This right, however, is not absolute. They are not to come within 100m from houses and domestic animals. Meaning that, technically speaking, they're not allowed to come into our field. Fence or not.

Unfortunately, as I already mentioned, I have to conclude that Italian hunters seem to have failed to evolve since the dawn of the neolithicum. It's temping to generalise but really, I still have to meet the first educated hunter. All the ones I've come across so far are careless, arrogant, rude and have a serious portion of raving insanity over them. Some even seem that old that it would surprise me if they'd still see the difference between a deer and a man at 100m anyway.

My problem now is that they don't care about the chains with the "private property" signs through which I've closed off every entry to our house and field. They just do as they please. They even pass right in front of our house! Through our terrace! And then there are the excuses...

- "But we're not doing any harm to anyone"

- "Our guns are still bagged up"

- "I'm just going downhill"

- "We haven't got any dogs"

or the following hilarious quote:

- "I didn't know that anyone lived here" (strange if you've just passed the new letterbox that Christine made, ignored the "private property" sign and you're standing in front of a restored house with curtains, terrace furniture and the whole lot.)

To my opinion, hunting should be left to professionals. People who know what they are doing and who only hunt in order to maintain the natural balance, given that there aren't enough natural predators anymore. But who am I of course...

On the optimist side, we haven't had as much trouble with hunters lately as at the start of the hunting season. Hopefully they're slowly beginning to understand that they have to keep away. Obviously, if you only have one braincell... Perhaps we should give them a bit more time... :-)

The colours of autumn

One more "picture of the day", taken from our bedroom window this morning. On moments like these, we realise that it has all been worth it...

Two unexpected visitors

Knock knock knock knock!!! I just came out of the shower when I heard someone banging on our front door. Christine was downstairs and she took the honours of opening it in order to see who came to disturb us during this lazy Tuesday afternoon. I immediately recognised two voices. They were two men whom I had hoped never to see again in my entire life: the Big Bad Wolf in person with the Nasty Little Man right behind him (hiding in his shade). They came to inspect this "so-called" water damage. Christine was more than happy to show them the moist inner walls. But as could be expected, they weren't impressed at all.

- "Of course there is water in your walls", the Big Bad Wolf said in his usual arrogant way, "it's the sub-floor that needs to dry. You'll see that it will disappear in no time."

- "The sub-floor???", Christine answered in astonishment, "But that was laid last July! How do you explain that this water has only appeared after the heavy rains we had four weeks ago? And how come we only have it in our corridor and not in the rest of our house?"

Silence.

- "Who laid these floor tiles?", the Nasty Little Man interrupted.

- "A very good expert", Christine said.

- "Well, it's obvious. The water from the subfloor can't get through the pointing of the pavement. So it has to go through the walls."

- "What??? Water can't get through the pointing???"

- "That's right!"

- "Besides", the Big Bad Wolf continued, "there is no standing water behind the house at all!"

- "I tell you there is..."

- "Listen, I've got my idea about this water and you've got yours. I just wanted to see it so that I'd know what to reply."

And away they went. Afterwards I went round the house because after two days of rain I'd have been surprised not to find any standing water there. And indeed, at first sight there wasn't any. The pool of water was covered in leaves.

We'll see whether his explanation about the sub-floor will still hold up in court... :-)

P.S.: This sub-floor was dry after a day already (meaning you could already walk on it) and was exposed to the summer heat for weeks. The tiles and windows weren't installed until weeks later. It's so obvious that again he is trying to intimidate us.

P.P.S: Oh... I almost forgot to mention the juiciest detail! The Big Bad Wolf literally said that it wasn't his responsibility anyway because Christine had sacked him in February while the drainage works hadn't been completed until months later. But... dear Mr. Big Bad Wolf... You did have your sollicitor write in his accusation that you had resigned yourself in April and that the works you had executed included "proper drainage around the house to the benefit of the entire structure". It's one of the most important items which contribute to your exuberant €13.000,- claim. So... How do you explain that???

Out... out with the telescope!

It's been more than four months since I moved to Italy. To a place where the sky is still virtually unpolluted by useless streetlights. Where I live, the Milky Way is still a clear and soft veil across the night's sky. Isn't it a real shame then that I've never bothered to put my telescope together again to take it out for a night's observing? Last week I finally did it! I really must be feeling better... :-)

The things I saw were just amazing. You can't believe what a difference a decent sky makes compared to the wishy-washy, dirty orange-glowing smog we get in Flanders (and I suppose in most of the rest of Europe too)? The faint nebulae were so much brighter... starclusters so much more scintillating... Jupiter showed so much more detail...

Around midnight the moon rose above the horizon which meant the end of a wonderful evening under the stars. I just can't wait for the next clear night! Apparently they've forcast fair weather for the next couple of days... :-D

Hurray! We've got water in our walls!

To normal people, this would be a disastrous discovery. But to us, it is like a gift from heaven!

We've had quite a bit of rain during the 2 previous weekends. Probably, the water in the foundation of our house has already accumulated for months. But a week ago, it became apparent in all of the walls of our central corridor. At first we were afraid that our floor heating system would have a leak. But the pressure in the tubes hasn't gone down, even after we had closed off the circuit for days. So it has to come from outside. Probably from the drainage tube behind our house. Christine recalled that the men who constructed the wall behind the house had found this tube when they dug a trench for the foundation. And they had warned her that it had been put there in a way that violated all the rules of a decent drainage. The guys have tried to mend it for as much as they could. But obviously not enough.

So, why is this good news, you might ask? It's Danilo's first big mistake! He, who never bothered to show up at the construction site but nevertheless charged us €11.000,- just for being "director of works". He, and his buddy Nezio who did the actual work, will now have to answer for this major cock-up. We're very well aware that in the end we'll probably have to make a compromise with him regarding the lawsuit and the amount we still ought to pay him. After all, the works on our house have been completed, even if he is a big con who's brought us in so much trouble. But with this, we'll see how fast he'll be willing to settle...

Realistically, Danilo is far too arrogant and will probably not want to abandon the courtcase or settle for a reasonable amount. But now we're sure that he'll be digging his own grave in that case. Our new (and very good) sollicitor was very clear about that! She's going to send Danilo and Nezio a very juicy registered letter about the damage to our house. We can't wait for their reply!

Picture of the day

After rain comes sunshine. Proverbially and literally. The last couple of days were filled with rain and low clouds. But this evening the sky cleared up and revealed a magnificent landscape, with snow covering the hills in front of us. Autumn is such a beautiful season, isn't it?

Floating between hope and despair

It's truly amazing how my emotions can change from one minute to the other. From total exhilaration after the news about the mortgage to utter depression when the thought of the courtcase the Big Bad Wolf started against us took over again. Why can't I just be happy that our financial worries may be over and live one day to the next? Why must brain constantly process worst-case scenarios? It deprives me of a good night's sleep and keeps me on the brink of anxiety all day long. And for what? I was doing exactly the same thing when I was worrying about the loan and that turned out allright, didn't it? It just seems stronger than me and there's absolutely noone or nothing that can cheer me up. Hopefully our sollicitor can do so next Thursday, when we're having another appointment. She's very good at what she does and she gave us renewed hope that our arguments aren't as void as the "famous" sollicitor we previously consulted tried to make us believe. All of a sudden. It's quite unnerving that now also our new geometer seems to be making a 180° turn. Christine could barely convince him to join us for the appointment. The Big Bad Wolf is a very powerful man in this area and probably has a lot of influence everywhere. It feels like David against Goliath.

But in the end, David won, didn't he?

There is a light

I want to be very careful with this. But Christine called the bank this morning and... they said that our mortgage will be approved!!! We just can't believe it! It's the most wonderful news we've heard in a very long time, perhaps apart from my book. At last we will be able to start enjoying our Italian dream!!! :-D

But like I said, we're not jumping about in total euphoria yet. It was just a spoken promise and we still haven't seen anything on paper. But we have absolutely no reason to believe that the lady from the bank would be leading us on. She's always seemed very honest and never made us any false promises. Unlike most of the other bank managers we've encountered. She said that they'll still have to look into the precice details, such as the timeframe (20 or 25 years) and whether it will be an additional mortgage on top of the one we already received in June, or if the old one will be closed and we'll receive a new one for the total amount we've originally requested. And they're also going to send an expert to ouor house to value it. Well, he'll be more than welcome. Our house is worth at least three times than what we're asking for. So no worries there. The only problem we're still facing is having to tell all of the workers that they'll have to wait another month or so before they'll see their money. We're feeling very much ashamed about this because they've done such a wonderful job and under normal circumstances we would have paid them right away. Then again, at least they'll see their money in the end. And in these days of crisis this already means a lot, don't you agree?

Tomorrow's the day

Tomorrow we'll know whether our request for a mortgage will be accepted or not. It's our final chance. Not really according to Christine though. She says that if we receive a "no" tomorrow, that she'll mail all of the people we still owe money to to explain the situation and to ask for a bit more patience. Where she gets the courage is beyond me. Last Friday she drove 400km to see the most renowned Italian professor specialising in the chronic fatigue syndrome. He told her that (at first sight) she only seemed a mild case. Well, what does he know? Christine collapsed yesterday when she was merely painting a cupboard. She had been feeling a strong dizziness for some days now. Today she couldn't leave her chair and she looked as pale as a sheet. But like I said, even in this condition she still finds the courage to continue fighting a seemingly hopeless fight. If tomorrow the answer is "no", I don't know what to do anymore. This morning the guy who laid the floor tiles came to visit us, asking why we hadn't paid him yet. I explained that we were still waiting for the reply from the bank. My answer was true, but must have sounded like a pretty lame excuse. He reminded me about all the favours he's done to us and that he had even sacrificed two days of his vacation because of us. I felt so terribly guilty. I wanted to explain all that had happened to us; about the Big Bad Wolf and all the rest. But that's not his problem, is it? He's got a family to feed too. And debts to pay. And he's not the only person we still owe money to. We're really wondering what we've got ourselves into. It's such a mess and so far away from the dream we were pursuing. Is it our fault? Certainly not. With the right people we would have made our dream come true. It's all "ifs"...

And that's not all. Yesterday I noticed that a couple of our (new) internal walls were moist at the bottom. First we were afraid that our floor heating was leaking, but we soon found out that it's not losing any pressure. The moisture comes from the outside, from behind our house.

And to round it off, this morning one of our bathroom windows exploded. Well, it didn't blast out of its frame. But it did make a big bang and now it has a crack from top to bottom on the inside. Probably a construction error...

Well, we're not too worried about these last two things. In fact, we're not too unhappy about our internal walls sucking up moisture. It proves (like was already pointed out to us by another worker) that the Nasty Little Man has made a mess of the necessary drainage pipes behind the house. And who's the person bearing all of the responsibility, you might think? Yes! It's the Big Bad Wolf himself! So if any sollicitor is still asking (with a smirk on his face) whether we're pleased with the house, we'll tell him: "definitely not"! Apart from abusing our trust, throwing the geometers' ethical code out of the window, ignoring nearly every building law in existence and forging Christine's signature, we now also have a big structural error to hold against him. And Christine just found the perfect sollicitor for it. A woman and... a real pitbull. Christine can't wait until January.

Personally I just hope that we'll survive tomorrow...

Thomas, the mountaineer

Cats have an adveturous nature. Sometimes a bit too adventurous. So Christine and I always call all of our cats inside in the evening so we can rest assured that they won't get into trouble in the middle of the night. Especially Flora and Thomas, our little ones. They're still too unexperienced to be left outdoors the entire night. Even if they wouldn't really mind themselves; on the contrary...

So a couple of nights back, I went outside to call our cats when it was time to go to bed. Flora, Canelle and Blu quickly responded to my call and happily entered our house in search of a late supper. Thomas, however, was nowhere to be found. I called and I called... and suddenly, I heard a faint "meow" coming from the northerly border of our field. I called again and once more I heard Thomas replying. His "meow" sounded a bit afraid. Oh no, what's he been up to this time? I took a torch and went into our field. It was utterly dark. But the "meow" got louder. Yes, it definitely came from the edge of our field, by those oak trees on the border. There's a well over there so maybe he went for a late-night swim? It wouldn't be the first time he came back in a wet suit. But what made me anxious was that he didn't seem to come any closer himself. As if he were trapped somewhere. Slowly I came nearer to the trees and his cries definitely came from over there. Cats... trees... I understood that he had climbed in one of them and didn't want to come down anymore. Thomas is a very good climber and I had already seen him go up and down trees before. His "meow" also sounded very close by so he couldn't be all that high. Or could he? I pointed my torch upwards, hoping to find the reflection in his eyes soon. He had to be right above my head somewhere. So why couldn't I see him?

And then... finally, I saw the reflection. My mouth fell open wide. As I said, I've seen him climb a tree before. A couple of metres and back. But what I saw then filled me with horror. He was somewhere near the top of that tree! Christine had also arrived in the mean time and while she kept calling Thomas, hoping that he would still come down on his own, I went back to the house to get our ladder. Although I wasn't very optimistic. Our ladder consists of three parts and reaches about 5,5-6m high. My impression was that Thomas had climbed a whole lot higher than that.

It wasn't all that easy to install the ladder against the tree with all of those branches in the way. But I managed to put it more or less stable against the main trunk. And up I went. Higher and higher in the direction of the twinkling eyes and the desperate cries. Obviously the ladder wasn't big enough. Trembling of fear, I climbed so high that my feet were standing on the penultimate spoke and my left arm was holding the trunk very tightly. Fortunately there wasn't a lot of wind because the slightest breeze made the trunk swing. Way too much to my liking. But there I was. And Thomas... was still about 2m above my head. I kept calling him and eventually he carefully tried to come down. He extended his paws towards me. He twisted and turned his body around the branch he was sitting on. Finally he managed to turn himself in such a way that he could climb down with his bottom first. Until he arrived at the branches right above me, but still too far away for me to be able to grab him. And when he saw my arms reaching out at him, he fled further and further away from me again, onto those branches which were not very thick at all. Nothing seemed to work anymore and I climbed down in despair, hoping that Thomas would follow my example.

Fortunately there was still Christine. She had gone back to the house to get some tuna. Thomas is a very good eater - to say the least - and a bit of tuna would certainly attract his attention. So I went back up, with some tuna in my hand. And indeed, it didn't take long to get his interest. I put the tuna on a fork right above me on a place where I hoped to be able to grab him. And after some hesitation, Thomas moved back towards the safety of the trunk. Finally I managed to grab him, albeit only just and not without danger of falling myself. Thomas clenched the branches with every claw he had so I had to use considerable force to drag him off and hold him close to my chest. But at last I had him. I climbed down again very carefully and under protest from Thomas who tried to grab every branch within his reach. But eventually, after having tried for about an hour, we were both back on the ground, safe and sound.

In the house, Thomas received a very nice treat under the form of a big plate of tuna. And afterwards he came to thank me with a lot of purrs and friendly gestures. We hope that he's learnt his lesson because when I went back the following day to look at that tree, to see where exactly Thomas and I had been... no... please... not again... :-)

The return of Dopey Dwarf

At last!!! Our central heating system has arrived!!! After a 3-month wait, Dopey Dwarf finally knocked on our door with our new boiler and state of the art gas heater. He's done everything in his power to stall delivery as much as possible. Probably hoping that in the mean time we'd be freezing cold in our house.

- "Oh, you want that boiler?"

or

- "Sorry, but I'll be away on holiday then."

or

- "I've just called the factory, but they can't deliver until October." (this he said in September, meaning that he failed to order it in July)

Tough luck for him, but we're already feeling the benefits of the materials we've chosen for the restoration right now, such as a sub-floor in terracotta. Even at night the house still seems to keep a pleasant temperature. These materials were much more expensive than ordinary plaster or concrete. But we're already certain that we'll win this investment back in no time.

But then Dopey suddenly said:

- "But... you are living here?"

As if he didn't know that. Or perhaps it was his twin brother who installed the temporary gas heater about a month ago.

- "Yes, of course. Why do you ask?"

- "You realise that you'll be without hot water for at least three days, don't you?"

I was shocked by this announcement but didn't twitch the smallest of my facial muscles. I didn't want to give him the satisfaction. I replied:

- "Well, that's allright. We're already used to camping here anyway."

And I left him to it. His assistant later assured me that we'd have hot water again by Friday afternoon. Certainly before the weekend. So that's ok by us. If Dopey believes that he can lower our spirit with such childish trivialities, he's sadly mistaking. We'll see who'll be the last to laugh. When he'll have to wait a couple of months for his money, or something.

- "Oh, you want that money?"

or

- "Sorry, but we were away on holiday so didn't make it to the bank."

or

- "We've just called our Belgian bank in order to transfer the funds to Italy. But they won't be able to do it until next year." :-)

Heartache

Hello!!! Welcome to my new blog! :-) For those of you who're still visiting me on my personal website (whyamime.com), I'd like to advise you to visit me on

http://understandautism.blogspot.com/

because whyamime.com will be closed soon.

Anyway... I know that I have been neglecting my blog a bit over the past weeks. The reason is that things aren't going all that well. Even though we're now living in our own house and we're slowly constructing our new lives here. It feels as if the sword of Damocles his hanging right above our heads and that the last little threads that are still holding it are breaking off. The tension is rising. Debts are growing. Lawsuits are becoming bigger uncertainties. And both of us are feeling tired. Very tired indeed. Last week I started wondering whether it would not be better to just sell everything and try to find a smaller and less expensive house. I just can't cope with this financial pressure anymore. And all that because of one man: Danilo. Yes, I know, I also lost a great deal of money by taking too many risks on the stock market. But if Danilo hadn't put us in this dire position in the first place, I would never have tried to find alternative ways to make a lot of money in a very short timeframe. When we were going through our documents in order to prepare the courtcase, we were shocked to find that the price we eventually had to pay for just the structural works was 67% (!) higher than Danilo's original estimate. The estimate which seemed pretty complete at the time and through which he lured us into this adventure because otherwise we would have looked for another house. Probably one with less work to be done and hence less money for him to be made. The things he "forgot" to mention... The wrong estimates he made... It's just incredible. And then they say: "But technically speaking everything's fine with your house, isn't it?" Yes. Technically speaking our house hasn't collapsed yet. And we won't know whether it is technically ok until it collapses. But what about "a person of trust"? "Transparency"? "Honesty"? These are all words which can be found throughout the official Code of Conduct for geometers. Don't they mean anything then?

So back to last week. Christine and I had a frank conversation about giving up and selling everything again. Some time ago I wrote about having reached the point where some of the people who share the same dream would give up and where we were still full of courage to continue. At that time I thought things couldn't get much worse. But they can. And now we are on the brink of giving up. Christine had to shed a few tears, mostly because of everything she has left behind. Her garden for starters. Although I'm sure that she exaggerates the good bits. Yes, our old house was lovely and the garden was just about to grow into its full splendour. But there were also a lot of bad times. And we've never really felt "at home" there. When things get bad, you tend to idealise the things you don't have anymore.

But the last couple of days, Christine changed. She said that suddenly she had received the firm conviction that things will get better from now on. Yes, she said that suddenly she was dead-certain of it and that she could feel it strongly within. And with her, also I started to get a grip on my feelings again. We're entitled to a bit of good news. Let's say that my book was already a start. Last week, our cooker finally arrived (be it with a small and nasty surprise, but nothing so serious that it would make us lose spirit). From now on, we should receive more good news. I'm so terribly convinced that we deserve it after all that we've been through, and especially Christine. If I don't deserve it, then at least she does. That our mortgage request is being accepted, for example. That would truly fill us with joy. Christine's worked her socks of at making a business plan for our B&B. Truly a great piece of work which must make the bank very impressed. We keep on fighting then. We must keep the faith...

Sorry... Moving to yet another website... :-o - 03 Oct 2010

Yes... my book is going to be published in May next year by one of the biggest and most renowned publishers in Flanders: www.houtekiet.com Unfortunately, this means that I will have to close down my website. The contract firmly states that I have to hand over all the rights to my work - something which is only logical. Rights which also include the English translation and the Italian version which two of my dear Italian friends are working on.

But for you, loyal readers of my blog, there's absolutely nothing to be worried about. From now on you can follow my adventures on the original site:

http://understandautism.blogspot.com/

I preferred to have everything on my personal website so that I could earn a bit of extra cash through the advertisments. But there it is. I hope to see you all on the other side. And the good thing is... Blogspot is in English so no more problems for English speakers if they want to leave a comment... :-)