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.

Categories: Construction
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