Be A Tree

When we bought the house, 10 years ago, it wasn't really a house. It was originally built in 1903 as a smallholding, existing of a small farmhouse with a barn in which the family kept a couple of cows and a pig. After that it had lots of different uses until it was bought by a painter/decorator who attached two barns to the existing barn and used the house as his office (he actually lived in the neighboring house). The barns were used for storage. The painter at one night parked his car against a tree and did not survive that. The company did not survive the accident either and the house and barns were sold. It was bought by people who loved art and gardens. They turned the fields behind the barns into a beautiful garden that they opened to the public, the barns were turned into a modern art gallery and they turned the office back into a house. Then they designed their dreamhouse and bought a plot of land in our village to build it. And they went to live there. This was about 11 years ago. The house, barns and the garden were put up for sale, but nobody wanted it because of its strange lay-out and the huge garden. So it stayed empty for a year. At that time we were looking for a place where we would have enough office space for both our businesses and good living space for us and our dogs and cats. We sort of stumbled upon this house with its barns and glorious garden. And we could see the possibilities. The actual house was ideal for an office and we could turn the barns/gallery into our home (I never said we were logical people, did I?). Well to make a long story just a bit longer: we needed a bathroom. We went from showroom to showroom until we found a place where they had the ingredients we liked for our bathroom. They could install it too, the nice salesman said. And so they did. And then the bastards went bankrupt. And about two, maybe three years later the tiles started cracking, the whirlpool bath stopped whirling, the underfloor heating went cold and the whole bathroom started to look exceedingly miserable. And so did we. That the whirlpool did not whirl anymore and the heating did not heat anymore, well, we could live with that. Of course we expected all those things to last us for at least 10 years when we bought them, but shit happens. The cracks in the tiles however allowed water seeping through to the walls behind, causing more tiles to crack and then the paint on the other side of the walls started flaking. So, before the whole house actually fell down, we decided that we would gather all our courage to go shopping for a new bathroom. We found another nice showroom with nice people who seem to be very competent in what they do and they designed a nice new bathroom and are currently installing it. Fingers crossed! Last friday they started the work. The tiles that were delivered were the wrong tiles. That was soon corrected and last tuesday the right tiles were delivered. The shower will be separated from the rest of the bathroom by a wall. The blocks that were delivered to build that wall, were the wrong blocks. They were exchanged for the right blocks. The right blocks actually also were wrong. They will have to be exchanged too. But the rest seems to go smoothly and according to plan. We'll see. Apparently they will need a month (!!) to finish the work. I'm still feeling quite relaxed. The house is back to it's old use again: storage. We have to limbo dance to the downstairs loo because the access is blocked by a huge bath, boxes with tiles, wood, plasterboard, paint, mirrors, boxes with lighting and what else is needed to build a bathroom. And my mother and sister decided to celebrate all the upcoming birthdays (5 in 3 weeks) in one go and in our house. Because of all our animals it's quite difficult for us to go away for longer than about 4 hours. "So we'll all go to them for the party", they thought. Not a bad thought from their point of view. But with the house already in a big mess and layers of cementdust everywhere....pfffff. I will have to be a tree (tip from my sister, Be A Tree). By the time the bathroomguys are finished I will probably be A Forest.