As it turns out, being hooked up to the water mains really doesn’t mean having the water supply for the house switched on. The sub-contractor for the utility company came along this morning (in fact, three trucks and about seven or eight people came, three of whom did something!), installed a water meter in the house, tested it, and promptly sealed the pipe. The next step is that an inspection must be made of the pipes in the house, and only once these have been certified will the utility company send somebody to unseal the mains. Then, and only then, can the builders connect the water mains to the house’s own pipes. Realistically, this could take two to three weeks.

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This is the current state of construction. One working day left before I need to move in!

The living room.

The kitchen. Impressive mixer, though.

The bathroom. Note the space-age toilet.

The bathroom. With a basin, but no water.

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Well, as I predicted, “hooking me up to the grid” did not in fact mean that I have electricity. An inspection has to be done of the electrical wiring in the house, and a certificate issued to prove that everything was done to specifications. The builders were supposed to organise this several weeks ago, but I haven’t heard anything about it since. Had I known he significance of this certificate, I probably would have asked for it more often. Only once I hand this certificate over to the electricity company, allowing for a delay of up to eight working days, will they throw a magical switch that will unleash the graceful blue eddies of current to wash up our electrical piping.

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Well, the latest is that the water guy will try and fit me in to be hooked up on Friday. No guarantee that “hooking up” actually means running water, but it’s a start. However, if not Friday then early next week. I might still in fact be moving into a dry house.

The electricity guys will be along this afternoon to hook me up to the grid. However, nobody can tell me if that will translate into actually having electricity in the house.

Several things need to happen to the internal wiring and the switch box, including inspection by an authority I’ve never heard of. They will then issue a certificate, which presumably needs to be handed to someone else, who in turn would need to do something before the power supply can officially be switched on. The Polish builders are handling this side of it, and I haven’t heard anything from them lately.

So in addition to moving into a dry house, I might also be moving into a dark house. A good argument for being off the grid if I’ve ever heard one.

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A wise man once said: “Every cloud has a silver lining.” I would like to meet that man, and then punch him in the face.

The house was supposed to have been ready for occupation at the beginning of June. That would have given us a month of overlap before we had to be out of the house we rented for 10 years. Needless to say, nothing was ready. Not only did we not have electricity or running water, we didn’t have floors or plaster on the walls either.

The next milestone was to be the end of June, the deadline for vacating our old house. Nothing was ready. I started moving furniture and large boxes into the unfinished living room of the new place, leaving the builders free to complete the family room, kitchen and downstairs bathroom. A bare minimum would have to do. This whole process of moving took much longer than I anticipated, running well past our June deadline. Then the sub-contractors for both the electricity and water utility companies took off on their summer holidays. The new house wasn’t ready, but at least the builders were gearing up to plaster the inside walls.

And so on to another milestone, the end of July. This time the absolute minimum was to be ready: at least part of the house had to be habitable, and the water and electricity had to be hooked up. This would be the final deadline, no extension possible this time. Of course, we’re into August already, so it’s not looking good. The electricity company can’t tell me when the electricity will be hooked up, and they can’t allow me to contact the sub-contractor they use. They pass my details on to the sub-contractor, who decides when to call me for making an appointment. Presumably, there’s no rush.

As it happens I have the phone number for the sub-contractor used by the water company. We had an appointment to hook up the water several months ago, but as there was no electricity available he couldn’t complete the job. I’ll try and pin him down to get the water going before the end of the week, although I’m sure it’s going to be a struggle. He didn’t strike me as the pro-active and accommodating type.

However, come hell or high water, I’ll be moving in at the end of the week. And high water will be just what I need to make the toilets flush.

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