Yes, I'm closing this blog down. Well, I'll just leave it on the web as a kind of archive. But I've decided that from now on I want my rightful share of the advertising profits you can gain from a blog. Hence, I'll continue my adventures on my own website:
www.whyamime.com
Just click on "blog" and there you are. As my website mainly deals with autism, I'm also going to write a bit more out of my autistic perspective. I hope that people who're looking for information on this subject will find this interesting. But don't worry, you're still going to get all of our troubles and - hopefully from now on - good times in our new Italian life.
And if you'd be so kind... if you could click every once and a while on the ads on my website, this would be highly appreciated!
If you'd think that we'd give up, then you're mistaking. Especially Christine has worked so hard to make our dream come true and we're not going to let it go that easily. So, what are we going to do?
First of all, Christine's already found a small warehouse where we can store our furniture until we can render our house habitable. Then, she's made an offer to rent a small house just a kilometre from our own. Hopefully the owners will agree. This house has already been for sale for quite a while and it would also be beneficial for the owners that somebody actually lived in it and maintained it. And they can earn a bit of extra money on the side as well. So we hope that they'll agree.
Next, she's also had a word with the plumber because he's by far the most expensive part to be paid for the remainder of the restoration. At first, she wanted to ask him if he would not agree to monthly payments until we'd have more cash. But as was to be expected he refused. After all, he'd have to pay for the solar panels and - more important still - the central heating station. However, he agreed to already install the tubing for the floor heating system. This wouldn't cost us too much right now and then we can already lay the concrete floor which would make the house habitable. This would mean that we wouldn't have any hot water yet. But if we want to already survive in our house the first couple of months, this would be a discomfort we'd be willing to bear. We won't be able to rent a temporary house, pay the mortgage and pay a monthly amount to our first contractor (who already agreed on this) for long. And the temporary house would only be available for 3 to 4 months at most, after which we'd be forced to move to our own house. We'll have a stove in the living room and this will be more than sufficient to make at least this room pleasantly warm, even during the cold winter months. Given that we'll still not be able to afford the central heating system by then. We can perhaps heat up the bathroom with a petrol stove. And if we really want to take a hot bath during winter, we can always heat up some water on our stoves. Nothing's impossible. As long as we can be together and finally start living in our new house. We wouldn't want to be anywhere else anymore, even with all these discomforts.
And finally, Christine's also been to our bank. She's asked them if she could already withdraw a large sum of money in order to pay a couple of very urgent bills. Even though the act for our mortgage still hasn't been signed. And apparently this would not be a problem (to be confirmed). So also this issue's hopefully been taken care of. When I'll be in Italy (as from the 29th), Christine and I'll immediately return to the bank to ask if we can have the full amount of the mortgage we requested. As you may remember, they only wanted to give us half because at the moment only Christine is already residing in Italy. So they based the amount only on her income. They said that they'd reconsider our request for the full amount when I too would be residing in Italy. But added that we should not take this as a given. Let's keep our fingers crossed...
Eventually, we're also still involved in a big lawsuit against the guy who originally did the soil improvement works for the garden of our Belgian house. Eventually, after more than 6 years (!), the appointed expert delivered his final report. In it, our claim is fully supported. If now the judge will follow this advice and grant us the compensation for the cost we've incurred because of the mistakes of that idiot, we'd again be entitled to a pretty hefty sum of money. But again, this is not a 100% certainty yet and it remains to be seen when we'll eventually going to get this money.
So you see, there is still hope. We keep holding on, even there are time's I'd much rather jump off a cliff. I can now really understand those Wall Street brokers who jumped out of the New York buildings on the day of the big crash two years ago. Christine's all that keeps me going for the moment. But then again, she's worth everything to live for.
I'll never give up. The word simply doesn't appear in my dictionary. Yesterday I spent all day working on a small video clip. It's not reallly a video, but a flash animation. Well, I hope you enjoy it. Please, feel free to add your comments and spread the word!
At last, after having worked so hard for many days and nights on the English translation of my book about autism it's finished!!! I'm completely exhausted and haven't seen my bed for almost 20 hours. But I'm very happy with the result and I hope so will you.
I'm begging you... please... pass the link to my website on to as many people as you know. And ask them to do the same. And so on... 1 out of 1.000 people is suffering from a form of autism so I really hope that my book will be a success. Not only in order to revive our Italian dream, although we could really do with a bit of luck on the financial side. But most of all because I'd like to breach the general misunderstanding that people still have about autism. If I can contribute in the slightest way to a better understanding of this horrible condition, I'd be the happiest man on Earth.
So let's get a move on! We've got a world to conquer and I can't do it without your help! Here's the link:
I wish so hard that I could fill this blog with happy and optimistic messages. Unfortunately, someone up there must hold a serious grudge against us because we're being hit by one misfortune after the other. Christine's had to stop all of the works on our house until further notice because we've completely run out of money. First of all, the restoration eventually cost twice as much as the original estimation from bloody Danilo. Then we only received a loan for half of the money we requested. And to put the icing on the cake, we were unlucky on the stock market where I tried to make up for all the additional expenses we were suffering. So there we are. We'll just let the workers finish what they're doing at the moment and start looking for a house we can rent for a longer period. Then we'll have to finish the house bit by bit with the money we can save. We both hardly sleep anymore. I'm constantly feeling a throbbing pain, deep inside my chest. We're both completely worn out. Especially Christine, although she will not admit it.
That being said, I'm trying to channel all the energy I still got left into something positive. I'm working day and night on the English translation of my book about autism. When it's finished I'll put it up for sale on the internet as an e-book. Hopefully it'll sell pretty well so I can earn a bit of extra cash for the house. I'm counting on you to make some publicity for it!!! And most important of all, soon Christine and I will be together again for ever. It's all we can think about for the moment.
You'll probably remember all the trouble we've had when I had ordered a new kitten for Christine so she would no longer be all alone. The Maine-Coon kitten we eventually received was badly mistreated and severly undernourished.
But we're 2 months later now and Flora, the new star of the family, is doing just great, thanks to Christine's love and care. She's leapt from a meagre 1,9kg to 3,3kg and she's full of joy, energy, playfulness and love. You can see for yourself in this video Christine made over the weekend. And according to Christine, this was one of her "calmer" moments...
Time's running out and there are still so many things to do. But all the people who're currently working on our house would deserve a medal. They're doing a terrific job at trying to meet our deadline. The firm which is doing the internal plasterworks is from the city of Modena, 45min away by car. But the lads have actually rented a small house nearby so they wouldn't lose as much time driving up and down every day. Can you believe that? On top of that, according to Christine their work is absolutely stunning. And if Christine says such a thing, these guys really must be artists rather than workers. She's also very positive about the contractor, the plumber and the electrician. So all in all, we've finally found the perfect team to make our dream come true.
Christine also received a rather angry phonecall from our first sollicitor. She had forgotten to inform him that we'll no longer require his services so she apologised tenfold. According to Mr. Caselli, our geometer, our new sollicitor (Mr. Saporito) is in fact the sollicitor of all geometers and really THE authority as far as building law is concerned. He was actually surprised to receive a phonecall from him on our behalf and was very impressed that we now have him on our side. We haven't heard anything yet from Danilo or his sollicitor, but according to Mr. Caselli chances are high that they'll not pursue the case any longer. They've got too many things to lose. We'll see... In any case, we're no longer worried so we just carry on with our house and if Danilo still wants to bark, we'll let him bark.
In Belgium, tension is also rising. I'm sorting, packing and throwing as much rubbish away as possible. I already managed to give some old stuff along with a couple of Romanians who happened to be passing by, looking for old iron, machines and other things people don't need anymore. I've also sold our big wardrobe for a fair price - they'll come and collect it tomorrow. The result of my activity is that our Belgian house actually is a shambles for the moment. Boxes are stacked in most rooms and everywhere there's stuff laying about, waiting to be sorted. Not to mention all the dirt (and the odd mouse, rat or mole) that our cats bring inside. Last week they'd still caught a poor bird and the whole groundfloor was covered in feathers... The little rascals...
Yes!!! At last some really good news!!! The bank called Christine this morning that they had well received the report from their expert and that everything is in order. They're willing to grant us the mortgage and will contact a sollicitor as soon as possible to prepare the act. Even though it will only be for half of the money we requested, it will enable us to at least make our house habitable. This is an enormous relief to us because "plan B" - having to rent another house until we'd have the money to finish our own house - was looming over our heads. As a matter of fact, there's still a possibility that we'll have to revert to "plan B". But this is merely due to the incessant delays we have suffered because of the terrible winter and predominantly the Danilo affair. So all in all, even if we have to rent a temporary home, this will only be for a short while. Just a few weeks until our own house is properly finished.
Yet, Christine is doing everything she can to make "plan A" work. The plasterers have started and said that they'd need about 3 to 4 weeks to finish the job. Christine explained that we're due to move in on the 29th of May and made it clear that it should rather be 3 than 4 weeks. The men were quite shocked by our time constraints and promised that they'd do their utmost. After the plasterwork, an insulating foam has to be sprayed on all floors. This has to dry for a day or two. Then the floor heating system has to be installed. Then a concrete layer will be laid. And if there's still time, we hope that they can still do the pavement on the ground floor and in our bathroom. Otherwise we'll have one or two difficulties because we'd constantly have to move all of our furniture around while they're laying the floor tiles. So you see, it's getting very tight...
Unfortunately, this mortgage will probably not enable us to already start our B&B. For instance, we can't receive guests in an appartment without even a proper floor, let alone a decent bed or a well-finished bathroom. The bank said that they will consider the rest of the mortgage we requested when also I'll be officially residing in Italy. Although they added that we should not take this as a given and that it can still be possible that the rest of the requested money will still be denied. But this will be the least of our worries. Our main priority is to make the house habitable so our dream can finally take a start. We both still have our disablement pensions so for the time being we're financially safe. Given my condition, it is even very likely that I will receive my pension indefinitely and this was already confirmed by our social security company. For as long as a doctor considers me to be "ill", I will continue to receive my pension. Since there is not really a cure for autism, I believe I can take this as read. At last, the sun is breaking through the clouds...
Cosetta advised Christine to contact another sollicitor, a certain Mr. Saporito. Apparently he's quite famous in Italy. He's even been on national television several times and he's specialised in building law. Much to Christine's surprise, yesterday evening he already had some time available for our case so Christine went to visit him.
To Christine's surprise, this famous man took more than two hours to talk to her. He totally reassured us that we shouldn't worry about Danilo or about more delay and cost for our building project. He explained that it is customary in the Italian mountains that the laws are not always adhered to as strictly as in the cities. If our new geometer hasn't already registered himself at the commune today, he can always do it tomorrow. Or within three months. Whatever. And he confirmed that we have every right at our side in the case against Danilo. He suddenly took a pen and wrote a very nice letter, made a copy for Christine and said that he'd post it tomorrow to Danilo's sollicitor. We're thinking (or make that hoping) that Danilo will be so impressed, just by seeing Mr. Saporito's name on the envelope, that he'll let the case drop. Mr. Saporito agreed that Danilo knows all too well that he's totally in the wrong. He's just trying how far he can go. Then he picked up the phone and called Mr. Caselli, our new geometer. He said that "Christine's very dear to him" and urged Mr. Caselli to do everything in his power to speed up the building and to protect Christine. Mr. Caselli immediately replied "that he'd do his utmost for 300%".
And you know what? Mr. Saporito told Christine that she didn't have to pay a penny! He said it was a real pleasure to help her. Well, I'm pretty sure that if this case does continue and we truly have to hire Mr. Saporito to go to court, he will not come cheap. But we'd rather spend x.000 on Mr. Saporito and make Danilo bleed, than to give in and pay x.000 to Danilo, just to keep him quiet.
I'm terribly sorry that I can't bring any more positive news. I wish so hard that I could write messages about how well everything's going and how we're looking forward to our new life in Italy. But at the moment, all Christine and I can feel is despair and anger. Our beautiful dream is slowly turning into a nightmare. A whirling hurricane that will sweep us away and throw us into eternal darkness.
Today, the man from the bank has come to value the house. He asked for two documents: the building permit and the official plans with the commune's stamp. And it turned out that neither of them were present at the commune. Yes, there was the forged building permit. Christine gave that to the man, hoping that he would not find out about our quarrels with Danilo. But nevertheless he also needed the plans. So he will go to Danilo tomorrow in order to request them. Christine urged him not to mention to Danilo that it is for our mortgage. But this will be very difficult. And obviously Danilo will tell the man "a thing or two" about us which may result in us not receiving the mortgage after all. This would be a disaster because we have now planned the works exactly because we had the agreement on the mortgage. We didn't have any time to lose because by the end of May we have to move out of our Belgian house.
As it stands now, Danilo's probably right when he claims in his letter that the works on our house are illegal. Our new geometer hasn't taken the time to request a new building permit and he also has "forgotten" to register himself as the new "director of works". We can only guess why. Christine's going to ask him tomorrow but we'll probably get yet another excuse.
And if that is not even all, also our sollicitor turns out to have less of a backbone than we were hoping for. He said that we could best settle for a "compromise". Christine couldn't believe her ears when he told her this. We've paid Danilo already 4.000 for a "work" that was nowhere near of being in order. No building permit, no plans, no seismic study and all the rest. And now we should pay him another x.000 so he'd just keep his big mouth shut? So he can indeed take full profit from these "ignorant foreigners"?
Christine was in tears just now. She can't take it anymore. And also I'm at the edge of breakdown. We can truly do with a bit of good news. But I don't think that we'll be in for a bit of good news any time soon.
On top of that, according to Christine their work is absolutely stunning. And if Christine says such a thing, these guys really must be artists rather than workers. She's also very positive about the contractor, the plumber and the electrician. So all in all, we've finally found the perfect team to make our dream come true. 
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