Let There Be Lights, Dang It.

IT’S SATURDAY MORNING. IT’S STILL DARK OUTSIDE, BUT, “HEY?” IT’S DARK INSIDE TOO. I flipped the switch on the bedside lamp…nothing. The power is out.

THE POWER IS OUT!

Oh, Man, what’s next – a plague of locusts?

Never before on our four previous trips to Ireland have we had this many Snafus, Breakdowns, and Fubars. Over the earlier visits to this island with forty shades of green things had gone smoothly and we were able to relax in comfort. This trip? No way, Paddy. On this five week trek back and forth across this beautiful country we have had little irritations (The neighbor’s cats getting into our house and not wanting to leave), to maddening annoyances (A slow moving toilet that needed 20 minutes to be ready to go), up to the Wrath of God blowing in off the ocean knocking out the power to our whole neighborhood. All of that was just the opening act for our fourth and final rented house.

We have been here a full week now with one more to go before we begin to follow our footsteps back to the other side of “The Pond.”

So far, and I hope no farther, we have had to deal with a house that differed inside from the advertised pictures with missing furnishings, burned out ceiling light bulbs, another balking toilet that has a mid 19^th century reliability (imagine 8 hours to get an effective flush), sporadic and then no water, and finally (I hope) complete failure of the electric power system.

We are getting really tired of calling the owner who lives a few doors away.

When the power went out this morning and we notified the owner he was here within minutes but totally clueless about what could be the problem. He used to live in this house and he admitted that he had done nothing – not even looked at the circuit box – in forty years. His best move was to call his brother to come over. Brother Paddy (I kid you not) is an electrician. It took Paddy about an hour to solve the problem. I asked him what caused the blackout. He said that the main fuses had not been maintained and, over time, had just melted away.

Lovely, just lovely.

All of the problems in this house can be attributed to seriously dangerous owner neglect and non-existent maintenance.

The Rental Agency that lists hundreds of houses throughout Ireland asks for and needs feedback from their customers (Us) about the properties and the property owners. The review we give about this last house is going to be a doozy. I may just cut and paste this blog post into their online form. Personally, I think we should be given a refund on this mess of a landlord and his property.

By and large (not as large as I was before this trip – I think I’ve lost a kilo or two) I am an easy person to get along with. I don’t make undue demands on people. I just request and expect fair and honest treatment. If I get those two things I am a soft and cuddly kitten. However, if I feel that I am being cheated or being played – watch out. I come within a hair’s breadth of morphing into a version of Travis Bickle (Download “Taxi Driver.”) All I can say right now about this house in Mountshannon, County Clare is –

“You talkin’ to me?”

Single Post Navigation

← Older Entry

Newer Entry →