The following morning a tractor managed to pull Christine's car out of its parking spot and onto the main road. So she finally could come to pick us up at the airport hotel. Even all of the locals agreed that they had never witnessed such terrible snowfall ever, or at least not for a very long time. And certainly not in March when the Italian spring should already have begun. When we drove back to Christine's temporary residence, the good men from the local communes were still working very hard to clear all the roads with their tractors. They eventually didn't know what to do anymore with all of that snow...
But on Fridaymorning, the sun was shining brightly again. This is something that is so very different from Flanders or the rest of Western Europe. It can be freezing cold with very bad weather one day. But the next it's like spring has returned at full power. The Italian sun is also so much more pleasant than the wishy-washy yellow disc we get up north. It's so inviting to just grab a chair, close your eyes and let the sun caress your face.
Armed with a snow shovel, we drove to our future house. The driveway was obviously also covered by a thick snow carpet. But in the presence of two ladies I was more than happy to dig out a trail for them. I have to say, never in my life have 100m ever seemed so long...
The reward was worth it. I was totally exhausted when I finally arrived at our house. But there it was, majestically standing tall against the deepest blue sky you could ever imagine. The pictures below can never live up to the "real thing" of actually standing there. But they give an idea about what's it like to stand on our future terrace...
Isn't it just a dream? Christine and I feel like we're the most fortunate couple in the world. We still have a few very long and hard months ahead of us. But after that we shall be the happiest people on Earth. It does show, doesn't it?
On Wednesday the 10th my mother in law and I happily went to Charleroi (to the so-called "Brussels South") airport to take a Ryanair flight to Bologna where Christine would pick us up. What we weren't aware of at the time of booking, was that the clever Ryanair marketing division had once again come up with one of their all-time favourite jokes. You'll probably remember that when they launched their flights to Santiago (de Compostela), many people believed that the destination was in fact Santiago (de Chile). To their surprise they disembarked at the famous Spanish pilgrimage city and not in the capital of Chile, South America.
My mother in law and I were just as astonished to learn when we landed that Bologna also happens to be the name of the airport of Norway's Spitsbergen islands. No... this couldn't be true... I must be dreaming...
Christine also couldn't believe her eyes that same Wednesday morning when she opened her front door. More than one full metre of snow had fallen the previous night! It came almost up to her shoulders! So she had to dig her way out.
And not only that. Her car had totally disappeared from sight. That's how bad the situation was. She tried everything she could to dig herself a trench to her car, removed as much snow as possible from the car and the path behind it and tried to drive out of her parking spot. In vain of course. To make things worse, one of the (very efficient by the way) snow removal tractors had broken down and the roads in Christine's village could not be cleared in time. As a last resort Christine asked if she could borrow a big 4x4 from one of the locals, but the guy didn't fancy a trip all the way to Bologna.
So also my mother in law and I were stuck. With the slight difference that we spent the following night in the Sheraton airport hotel. Christine in a freezing old house...
Since it is now certain that we're not going to move before the end of April, I decided to buy a couple of cheap tickets and pay Christine another visit. We're missing eachother so very much that another two month's wait seems like eternity. And this time I'm bringing Christine's mum along as well. She had already promised to come for a visit often. But the poor lady is probably a bit anxious about such an "adventure" all on her own. So now that I decided to go, she happily accepted my offer to join me. Next Wednesday we'll be off and we'll return exactly one week later. I can't leave our animals behind for a longer period, even though I'm sure that our neighbours will take very good care of them. They just need so much attention...
It's a bit cynical that a few hours after I bought the tickets, our beloved Chloé had to die. Then again, I'm glad that soon I can be with Christine to comfort her. And by then... my little surprise should have arrived. It took some delay because the local vet had to approve of the kitten being delivered. But the last info I received is that delivery will be either today or tomorrow. I just can't wait to see her face...
Please don't be alarmed if you don't see any new posts on my blog until the end of next week!
I didn't plan any new posts until after my return from Italy, but the story Christine just told me is just too ludicrous and I have to share it with all of you.
Danilo's just sent his final bill to our new geometer. Guess what the amount is...???
16.000,-!!!
And it's highly detailed too:
- xxx for accompanying Christine to the bank (you remember... Danilo's "friend" who was certainly going to give us the mortgage...) @ xxx km and xxx h of his precious time - xxx for helping Christine to find a temporary home (at his uncle's place...) @ xxx km and xxx h
and so on...
Even our new geometer is totally astonished. He told Christine that if he were walking in Danilo's shoes, he'd be as quiet as a mouse. Danilo's mistakes are so terrible that he could even face a closure of his business. But apparently good old Danilo's gone round the twist. Christine's going to reply that we won't pay his bill and that we believe that what we've paid him so far is already far more than adequate to cover the work he's actually done for us. Danilo's taking a very dangerous road and Christine believes that he's gone too far now. She wants to wait until after the move and then raise an official complaint against him. I'm still a bit in doubt because Danilo knows a lot of people and starting an open war could perhaps turn some of the local people against us. On the other hand, it's Danilo who's just started the war and if he's officially punished by the geometer's association it will be clear to all that he's been up to no good. It's a difficult balance. But I agree that if Danilo tries one more little trick we'll go for the kill.
That being said, we've also just learnt that Danilo's mistake with the "forgotten" seismic evaluation will stall progress until the end of March. That is the timeframe that the authorities have to make any objections to our project. Even the beginning of May is starting to look unfeasible for our move now...
I already elaborated on our intentions to render our house as environmentally friendly as possible. For this reason we've e.g. chosen to install solar panels for central heating and hot water. If the mortgage comes round, we may even have enough money to order photovoltaic panels for electricity as well.
We also want to make as much use as possible of rainwater. The Italian summers can be exceptionally dry. Last year for instance it hasn't rained a single drop in our village in three months. Therefore we had already decided that we wanted a big (10.000l) rainwater tank. Given the fair amount of rain and especially snow during winter, we'd surely have enough water to completely fill two or even three such tanks. How improbable this may seem however, it is quite impossible to find rainwater tanks in Italy. Well, you do find them. But don't expect to pay less than 10.000,- for it. Another option which is much more common in Italy, is to have a tank made out of brick. But this option wouldn't be any cheaper either.
So we contacted the company which had delivered the tank for our Belgian house and asked them whether they could also deliver in Italy. Which they can. Last Wednesday the lorry with the large concrete tank arrived at our contractor's depot. It has a special filtering system which hardly requires any maintenance and a "floating" tube so that the pump will only suck out water and not the dirt from the bottom. Talking about a pump, Christine asked the company at the very last minute to include a pump as well, since the price for an equivalent pump in Italy was... 4 times as high!
And last but not least, we had also ordered the biostation for our waste water. You'll remember that Danilo had told us that, given the absence of a sewer, we should just let our waste water flow into the woods. No way were we going to do that! So now we'll have a state of the art sewage filtering system to protect our environment. The cost for all of this, transport to Italy included? Only almost a third of the price we would have paid in Italy.
It's not as if Italy is really lagging behind in the environmental debate. The country is going at great lengths to e.g. promote solar power. Yet, it's astonishing that a Mediterranean country with such long and dry summers doesn't invest more in rainwater recycling. Apart from this, it has to be stressed that Italy is not as cheap a country as some may think. Don't expect to pay less than in any Northern country. Although on the other hand, there are some exceptions like (local) food and wine. You can go to an excellent "trattoria" and eat all you can have for under 20,-. And there are lots of excellent outlet stores where you can buy high-end products at a very large discount. But for the rest, before you decide to move to Italy as well, you need to know that your money will not get you any further in Italy than it will in your own country. Or indeed perhaps not even nearly as far.
It was just a little too easy. Replacing Danilo and continuing the work with a new team. Danilo's left us a couple of very nasty surprises. Normally, any new construction or restoration has to be preceded by a seismic evaluation before any building permit can be delivered by the local administration. In our case, no seismic evaluation has been carried out at all. Well, it appears there is one in fact. The one that Danilo submitted to the commune last week. This means that all the works that have been carried out so far were illegal. Fortunately for us, we discovered Danilo's fraud just in time. Imagine that we had nicely paid all of his bills and that suddenly there was an accident. Or indeed an earthquake. You can easily imagine that the insurance companies would immediately take their hands off. Remember that I told you how angry Danilo was that we only paid 3.300,- (+ tax) of his 7.500,- bill? We're beginning to wonder how much work Danilo's effectively done for us. Drawing up a quick plan with his computer, with wrong measurements (two hours of work perhaps?). And making a totally wrong estimate of the cost (15.000,- lower than the lowest offer we received from the various contractors and forgetting a couple of crucial items such as sewages etc.). In the light of all this, we're feeling a bit gutted that we eventually still paid Danilo about 4.000,-.
Then again, there is also some good news. Danilo can shout anything he wants. Or send us as many bills as he wants, like the one we're now expecting form his engineer for the (late) seismic evaluation. We won't have to pay them at all. First of all, Danilo can't hire anyone, not even an engineer for a seismic study, without our consent. More importantly, we fired Danilo weeks ago already through a registered letter. But better still, since no official go-ahead was ever given by the commune's administration, the works on our house have never taken place on paper. And Danilo never was our geometer. Technically speaking, he never existed. Danilo now obviously realises that he's made a terrible mistake with these two little Flemings (well, with Christine in the first place ). He tried to scare us off and threatened us with legal action and so on. Well, I'd love to see him go to court. He could just as well close his business because if his fraud becomes public there'll be some very nasty people wanting some answers from him. After the L'Aquila disaster, earthquakes have become a very sensitive issue in Italy. It's so obvious that he still clumsily tried to cover his backside by depositing the evaluation in a hurry last week.
Another positive side to all of this is that everybody's being very nice to us again. Especially Nezio, our contractor, had become very difficult and accused Christine of "having changed a lot for the worse". But now that he realises that Danilo has also put his business at risk by having him carry out illegal works, he doesn't say any unfriendly word about us anymore. And it has also inspired our new geometer to give the full 100% and to be totally on our side, without any "fraternal courtesies" towards a fellow-geometer.
Alas, the only negative consequence is that we'll once more run into a delay. We're totally in the dark about how much it will be, but it could possibly be weeks. The seismic evaluation needs to be sent to an administrative body that was specifically created for this purpose. And when they give their go-ahead, the file returns to the commune which then has to issue the official permit to start the works. Our new geometer told Christine that he knows a couple of people here and there and that he was going to do his utmost to speed up things. We'll see. But one thing is now for certain: it will take half a miracle if we still want to move before the beginning of May...
Yesterday, Christine went with our new geometer to the local commune administration to sort out a thing or two. We were a bit anxious because we didn't know what a mess Danilo would've left behind. You'll probably remember that I told you that since the tragic earthquake in L'Aquila all renovations must be done according to certain seismic standards. There has to be a report from an architect or an engineer confirming that all of the works have been carried out according to these standards. We were suspecting Danilo not only from having spiced up the bill for his own work, but more importantly also from never having ordered such a seismic evaluation. And that he charged us nonetheless an exhuberant amount for it. If no such report existed, we could be in a lot of administrative trouble.
But to our great relief, everything appeared to be in order. There was indeed a seismic report included in our file at the administration. It was dated... the 25th of February 2010! Therefore it appears that our suspicion was indeed correct. Danilo never had an engineer examine the place and wanted to charge us anyway. He must have panicked and arranged a report at the very last minute. After all, we would probably only suffer a couple of administrative difficulties. But as our geometer he would've been into it up to his neck. Probably even deeper. We'll now probably receive a bill from Danilo's engineer shortly. But it will never be 4.000,-
The new geometer said that it would be a pleasure to take over the work and he was absolutely astonished when he saw our future house. We will also hire his contractor because Nezio is also being difficult. We understand that he's under a lot of pressure from Danilo, but we expect him to at least finish what he was doing. Christine gave him an angry phonecall yesterday and by matter of speaking put the knife on his throat. Hopefully he's got the message.
Chloé is gone. Christine and I are devastated. Everytime I play the "Romance" from Chopin's first pianoconcerto, I start to cry. It's like I'm playing it for her.
Last wednesday I've had her cremated in the special crematory for domestic animals. We've sworn her that we'd never leave her behind and that we'd take her with us to Italy. And that is exactly what we're going to do. It was most painful to leave her on the table before she was put in the oven. I couldn't contain myself any longer and cried my heart out. But afterwards, on the way home, I already started to feel a bit better. Our other cats, Canelle, Blu and Thomas are all being so nice. They probably realise what's happened and feel that I'm sad. They constantly jump on my lap and comfort me. Oh... how wonderful these cats are. It's amazing how much love you get back from them...
Unfortunately, Christine is all on her own in Italy with her sorrow. There is of course our Italian "mum" Cosetta who does everything she can to console her. But obviously she can't be around all of the time. So I started browsing the internet in search for a new kitten, especially for Christine. Not an easy task because it is absolutely not the season for it. Most catteries are only starting to plan new kittens right now, or their cats have only just given birth. A kitten needs to be at least 12-13 weeks before it can be adopted. But... after days of searching I found one. It's not a Norwegian Forest cat like Blu or Thomas. But it's a little Maine Coon lady. In fact, the Maine Coons are very closely related to the Norwegians and also have the long hair and lovely "squirrel tail". They become even bigger than the Norwegians and are probably the biggest domestic cats around (males can easily go up to 10kg). But most important of all, the Maine Coons also have a very affectionate and kind character like the Norwegian Forest cats. They're said to cling even stronger to their masters, whereas the Norwegians are more sociable with other cats, people or whatever else. So chances are high that the new kitten will become just as close with Christine as Chloé was. Because that's what we'll miss the most. Chloé always had to be close to us and gave us so much love. So much as I've never experienced with any other cat before. Hopefully the new kitten will ease Christine's pain a bit.
She'll be delivered early next week and I haven't told Christine at all. It must be a total surprise for her. Well, if I told her she'd probably be a bit angry because I haven't discussed it with her first. Or because of the cost of such a kitten. Or... because I'm interfering with her work planning. Well, that's exactly what I want to achieve! Christine is working so hard for the moment that she'll probably crack one day. She already spent two or three days in bed early this week because she couldn't cope anymore. The responsibility for the new kitten will force her to make shorter working days and spend some more time quietly at home.
Here are two pictures of the kitten I just bought. Isn't she adorable? I was thinking to name her "Cioccolata" because I think she has a "chocolatty" appearance. But if you have any other suggestions, they're most welcome!
Bad news never travels alone. Christine and I are already in a down period. Up to the extent that Christine's chronic fatigue syndrome has seriously caught up with her because of all the worries. Yesterday she went to bed around four in the afternoon and when I called her at nine this morning, she was still lying in bed. In fact, I should've brought her a very positive message because Christine's mum and I've decided to book a couple of tickets and fly over for a week on the 10th of March.
Alas, this happy news was totally overshadowed by a tragic event. Yesterday evening, our most beloved kitten Chloé was run over by a car. I was already worried about her all night because usually she doesn't stay outside for long and always wants to be with me. It was in fact our neighbour who found her this morning, quite a bit further down the road than I had believed possible. Of all of our four cats, Chloé was by far our favourite. She was always so high-spirited, always wanted to be with us, always wanting to sit on my lap and let herself be caressed, always "talking" to me with her funny purrrs and squeaks and almost every night she wanted to sleep next to me, sometimes with her paws resting on my forehead as if she wanted to ask me never to leave her.
But now she's left us. Christine and I are heart-broken. I'm afraid that especially for Christine this may be a blow she will not recover from very soon. She told me over the phone, in between her tears, that she would start looking for a temporary home so that at least we could move away from this wretched place and be together again. But I'm afraid that this will be quite difficult. Not only would we have to move all of our furniture twice, the cats still need their rabies shot and then we need to wait at least one month before we can move. Given the strict Swiss customs, we can't take any risks in that regard. The chickens also still need to be checked against Salmonella and also that will still take a month. I told the vet that he still had time, given that we certainly weren't going to move before half-April. But then... here we are...
I don't know what to say anymore. To us, this feels like we've lost a child. Even though some people may frown when I say this. Our cats mean everything to us. We'll deeply miss her...
Danilo is currently behaving like a spoilt brat. A week ago he shouted at our new geometer that he was going to send us a very spicy bill. He claimed that he had used the services of an architect, an engineer and god knows who else. That was fine by us. We were impatiently awaiting his bill so we could examine it. And if eventually it turned out that these expenses were genuine and that the bill was not exaggerated, we would of course immediately pay it.
But a week later, we haven't seen any bill yet. Our new geometer has been on the phone with Danilo every day and every time he promised that it would most certainly arrive "later today". He said he would "even charge us for the coffees he's had". But as time goes by, it becomes clear to us that Danilo is squirming and that he just can't send us any detailed bill that justifies the 4.000,- extra he charged us.
On the other hand, this makes our new geometer quite anxious and he currently doesn't want to continue the major part of the work yet. Even if legally he could. Danilo for instance claimed that he had contacted an engineer to calculate the reinforcements for the new roof structure. Since the disastrous L'Aquila earthquake a new law has been put in force, obliging all restoration works to be in line with certain earthquake tolerances. But we're now assuming that Danilo never contacted an engineer. Christine's been in Italy since half September and she never saw any engineer or was never told that an engineer's been over for a visit of the site. We are starting to believe that Danilo made the "calculations" for the new roof structure himself and told the comune's technical department that an engineer had done it - in order to be in line with regulations. This would allow him to charge us the services of an engineer and stick another couple of 1.000,- in his pocket.
The problem now is that the new geometer may be taking over a job with a lot of irregularities. A real can of worms. Christine's taken a few pictures of the works on the new roof, but none of them show beyond doubt that a ring of armed concrete was used as a foundation for it, as is legally required. You can e.g. see a layer of concrete, but obviously not the iron reinforcements within.
In the mean time, I've found a real architect on the Astronomy Forum and he's already given us some very good advice. He's from the region of Genoa but I truly hope that he can help us out. Even if it's just to temporarily take over the works and then hand them back over to the new geometer. At least he would have the authority to shut Danilo up and to declare that our house is within regulations.
After all the worries and bad news, here's a more positive post!
The Italian Astronomy Forum, of which I'm a proud member, annually organises a big star party on the top of the Amiata mountain, in southern Tuscany. It is one of the best viewing spots in the whole of Italy and the event has always been great fun. Unfortunately, last year the party ended a bit off-key because of arguments with the local hotel owner. The service we received was at times appalling and there's been a nasty discussion between the owner and the Forum Moderators. Hence it became uncertain whether the 2010 Star Party, normally due half-May, could still be organised there. The Moderators have been trying everything in their power to smoothen the waters. But as time was passing by, many Forum members were getting a bit anxious.
So Christine and I took the initiative and announced that we'll organise the next Star Party at our place, half June. We've got a large meadow which is just perfect for astronomical observing. The night's sky here would also be a very close second compared to the one at the Amiata. In fact, it could be even better because unlike at the Amiata there's no public road where cars are constantly passing by with their headlights on. The downside is that the preferred hotel is 15min away by car. We can offer enough space for tents, but as we only have two bathrooms we can not host 100 people. Then again, the people at our hotel are thrilled by the prospect of having so many guests. For a long time they've been complaining that they hardly receive any guests anymore. I'm sure that they'll do everything in their power to offer a memorable stay to the Astronomy buffs. And the rates are incredibly cheap as well.
Response has been great so far and everyone announced that they'd bring along some local produce from the various Italian regions which we can use to make a mega-BBQ on the first evening. Even though it currently looks as if the Amiata party is still going ahead and that some people can not spare the time/travel to go to two parties within a month's time, I'm sure that our "Star Camp" will be a memorable event.
It was to be expected that Danilo wouldn't let us off lightly. On Monday morning he summoned our contractor to his office and forbade him to continue working for us. What's more, he also sent Christine a text message saying that he closed the site until further notice. Probably meaning until we paid the full amount he asked.
As if we'd be impressed by that. Then he doesn't know us (and especially Christine) yet. Christine started talking about the situation to a friend, whose friend of a friend is a sollicitor. The friend called the sollicitor on the phone and then passed the phone on to Christine. The man was very friendly and appeased us immediately by confirming that we haven't got anything to worry about. We did everything as we were supposed to. The good thing is even that we paid Danilo, be it the amount that was calculated by the other geometer according to the official fees. It is now up to Danilo to contest our payment (through a sollicitor's letter) and prove that his work was worth more than the amount that we paid him. Since he's hardly shown up at the site, this should be rather hard for him. In any case, Danilo can not close the site at all. Only a court could do that.
When I was mailing with some of my Italian friends, they came up with an even sweeter idea. Danilo seriously overcharged us, probably thinking that we were stupid foreigners who either wouldn't notice or wouldn't dare to protest. It is likely that he also wanted to bypass a large amount of taxes - only declaring tax on the correct amount of money for the work he'd done. If Danilo continues to be difficult, we could always have a chat with the local tax department. This could have implications for us as well since it turns out that we were a bit in the wrong too, not having a contract with Danilo. But given that we're "stupid foreigners who didn't know any better", given that we've asked Danilo on numerous occasions for a contract and given the fact that we've come to declare the whole situation ourselves, should make us the good guys in their eyes. Danilo on the other hand, could expect a nasty visit from the Italian tax inspectors. Well, we'll see what happens. We just want to end the collaboration in peace and so we're not really inclined to use this "weapon". But if he forces us into this position, we'll not hesitate.
In the mean time Christine also asked the other geometer if he wants to take over the work from Danilo. It's a sensitive issue because to him it must feel like stabbing a colleague in the back. But today he confirmed that he'll do it and that he knows more than enough workers who're currently out of a job. He's been trying to reach Danilo over the phone but didn't succeed so far. He said he's going to try again tomorrow.
Last Wednesday, Christine went to visit the other architect. Well, let's make things clear. We're not talking about "real" architects here. The Italian title is "geometra", which is only a secondary school diploma in Italy and certainly not a university degree. He was very happy to take over where Danilo left off and made a quick calculation with the geometer's handbook as a reference. Danilo couldn't have billed us more than 3.300 (+ tax) for the work he had done so far. Less than half of what he charged us!
Christine immediately sent Danilo a registered letter, saying that we would no longer require his services and that we were only going to pay the 3.300 (+ tax) as this was in accordance with the official fees and wages. Period.
On Saturday, Danilo tried to call Christine all morning, but she didn't feel like answering. It would certainly lead into an argument and Christine was too tired. He left a message on her voicemail saying: "You're joking, right?". If Danilo knew Christine only for the slightest bit, he would know that she'd never joke about things like that. So she replied with a text message that she didn't want to talk to him over the phone right now and if he had any grievances he should put them in writing.
Unfortunately, Christine also received a phonecall from Nezio, our contractor. He's now caught in the middle and told Christine that he's summoned to Danilo's office next Monday. It is more than likely that Danilo will forbid him to continue working for us, hoping that he can blackmail us this way. Nezio told Christine that 70% of his work comes through Danilo, so we're indeed afraid that we're going to lose him. What's maybe even worse, Nezio so far turned a blind eye when we were late with a number of bills. Given that the mortgage still hasn't been finalised, we're a bit short on cash right now. But Nezio told us he didn't mind and even offered us a loan for a significant amount of money, just to help us out for the time being. This meant that we didn't have to pay him all the money we currently owe him yet. But we're certain that Danilo will try to undo this deal. He knows that we're behind with our payments because these payments have to pass through him. And he will not let go. In fact, this is strange because Nezio has at least two other clients who owe him maybe three times as much as we do and who haven't paid him in six months. Why doesn't Danilo go after these people first, you might ask yourself? We'll see what happens. We now have high hopes that the mortgage will be accepted after all. And Nezio has always been on our side which means that - translating an old Flemish saying - the soup is not eaten as hot as it is served.
And regarding the remainder of the work, the new geometer has a good contractor who's been begging for work. Apparently, he's even cheaper than Nezio and even wouldn't mind working "by the hour" in stead of for a fixed total amount. Given that Christine is always present to check what's going on, this will save us a considerable amount of money. So Danilo can squirm all that he wants...
After weeks of work, both day and night, my audio-book on autism is finally finished. I'm totally exhausted; perhaps even more because of sleep deprivation than of the hard work itself. But in the end, I believe that it was certainly more than worthwhile. Personally, I think it's the most beautiful piece of work I've ever made in my entire life. It fills me with pride, bordering even a bit of arrogance...
I know, the story is told in Flemish/Dutch so it'll probably not be interesting to all of you. However, most of the work went into creating background music and sound-effects. Apart from a few excerpts from e.g. Pink Floyd's "Another brick in the wall", Frankie's "Relax", the Carmina Burana and a couple of other songs I had to use as an illustration, all of it was created by me. I hope that this way I can let the listener "feel" what it's like being autistic. The whole audio-book contains 16 episodes with in total over 4h40 of audio!
I've attached a sample to this post in order to give you an idea. Even if you don't understand my Flemish words, I still hope that you enjoy the music.
In case you'd like to hear the whole caboodle, feel free to visit my website:
Another reason why I've not been too active on my blog is a lack of motivation. Not because I wouldn't want to keep you informed anymore about our Italian adventure. It's just that Christine and I have too many worries on our heads.
I already told you about Danilo, our architect, and how we're seriously displeased with his work. But at the moment we're really heading on a collision course with him and our prospect of beginning a quiet new life in Italy may receive a very nasty blow. For all of his "excellent work", he's sent us an initial bill of 7.500,-. This is absolutely proposterous because, as I already explained, he hasn't done hardly anything. Even if it's because he's so to speak "responsible" for the works, this amount is highly exaggerated. Furthermore we can only guess what his final bill will be like.
First of all, we've never signed any contract with him. We've asked him numerous times how much his services would cost and he always laughed or said that we didn't have to worry about such "triviality". I don't know about you, but considering that his final bill will be equally high, I would not call 15.000,- a "triviality".
Moreover, Danilo knew from the start that we needed a small mortgage in order to finish the house. We can probably make the house "habitable" with our own money, given that there are no more unpleasant surprises, but we can't receive guests with merely concrete floors and a camping bed, can we? Danilo said that a mortgage would not be any problem at all. In fact, he advised us to go to a certain bank of which he knew the manager very well. He said he had already spoken to the manager and that the mortgage would only be a "formality". But loyal readers of my blog will already know that this mortgage turned out to be anything but a "formality" and just like all other banks so far Danilo's "close friend" bluntly refused our request four bl#[dy times! With the biggest smirk on his face, I might add. First, of course, he asked us to open up an account with them. Which we did. Then he wanted Christine to already change her residence to Italy. Which she did. Then he wanted her to transfer her social security pension directly to this account. Which she did. Then he demanded that also I would change my residence and transfer my pension... Christine nearly exploded! Danilo, who was sitting next to Christine when she was negotiating with that manager for the last time, told her that it was all her fault because she hadn't been cooperating very well. He suddenly also denied that he knew from the start that we needed this mortgage.
Currently he's playing a very nasty game with us. First he tried to set Nezio, our contractor, against us. Nezio's a wonderful man who's always turned a blind eye when we e.g. weren't able to pay his bills in time. Fortunately, Christine and Nezio both prefer to talk things through before getting into a conflict so Danilo's faul play was quickly exposed. Danilo even had the nerve to call our Italian "mama" Cosetta, urging her to talk some sense into us. Which she of course kindly refused.
Christine and I've decided not to pay his initial bill for the time being. No matter how hard Danilo may be threatening us. Christine's found another architect who is willing to take over the work from Danilo if so required. He will provide us with a proper estimation about how much the work of an architect in our case would cost. Then we'll use this against Danilo in order to arrange a settlement. And we'll continue the work with the other guy. The problem is that before we can start living in our new house, an architect has to declare it "habitable". So Danilo believes he has us by the b... But then he doesn't know us yet.
We're now hearing stories that Danilo has in fact been establishing a very lucrative business in trying to rip off "ignorant" foreigners. We simply fell onto the wrong guy. He was so charming and down to earth. We really had a lot of confidence in him. But he'll be sorry that he betrayed our confidence!
I know, I've been neglecting my blog a bit over the past couple of weeks. One reason is that I'm terribly busy transforming my book on autism into an audio-book. I'm carefully reading my book and recording it on my PC. Then I'm creating background music, special effects and atmosphere sounds so that it's not just a boring read out of the book but that the listener will also have a (hopefully) enjoyable listening experience. I hope that I can let him or her "feel" what it's like being autistic. I'll still have about a week's work or so and then I'll add it to my website on autism. I'll also add a sample on the webpage so you'll get a taste of what I've been up to these last couple of weeks. I hope you like it! Again, it will be in Flemish/Dutch so if you don't speak this language I wouldn't recommend buying the audio-book.
My original e-book is selling quite well for the time being and hopefully this audio-book will also help earning us a bit of pocket money. We could surely use it, but I'll elaborate on that in a next message.
My apologies that it has taken me a while to add another post on my blog. This is largely because there isn't much to tell, really. At the moment there still is about 40cm of snow at our house and temperatures hardly rise above freezing level. This means that the restoration has come to a halt for the time being. Christine is waiting for the electrician and plumber to draw the trenches on the walls which she will cut out for the electric cables and plumbing.
In the mean time she was getting quite aggravated. Since she's still on social security, she has to pass a medical exam every once and a while. Long before she returned to Belgium for the Christmas holidays she informed her health insurance company that she's residing in Italy and that she would come to Belgium for these two and a half weeks. So if they were planning to call her for a medical check, she kindly asked to do it then. I suppose you can already guess what happened. The day before she was going to leave to Italy again, she got a letter inviting her for a check two weeks later. She was furious and called the company, but to no avail. Missing the appointment would mean that her insurance pension would be cancelled with immediate effect. So all in all it would be much cheaper to book a return Ryanair ticket than losing the pension. In the end we were both quite happy to see eachother again, even if it was for such a brief period. When I'm writing this, Christine has just arrived back at her temporary Italian residence and we're separated again. Well, we're in the final stretch towards the realisation of our dream now. Only a couple of month's patience and we can finally start our new life. That's the only thing that matters, isn't it?
I have high-functioning autism. This means that I've always been able to compensate this wretched handicap with my intelligence. Alas, as I already explained it eventually got the better of me and I don't think that I will ever fully recover from the final blow it gave me last July.
That being said, one should always look on the bright side of things, how unlikely this sometimes may seem. So I decided that finally I'd use my handicap to my advantage. Since I am capable of compensating for my autism, I have the ability to describe more or less how it feels like being autistic. Therefore I believe that I am best placed to explain to the "outsiders" what autism does to a person and how the world appears to us. So I've written a book on the subject. It's written in Flemish so all of you who don't understand this language will have to wait a while until I've translated it and created the English part of my new website. I'm afraid that this will not be for tomorrow because writing this book really wore me out completely. I'm also afraid that I won't be offering this book for free. Christine and I both have to survive on social security pensions and I already informed you about the soaring cost of the restoration of our new house. So if this e-book will generate a bit of petty cash I'd be more than happy. The link to the website is at the bottom of this post.
My apologies if it looks a bit too commercial but apparently if you want to sell, this is what you'll have to do. The trash publicity you receive every day in your mailbox clearly demonstrates that this is the best selling approach, how strange this may seem. If you know anyone who'd like to know more about autism or the Asperger syndrome, please pass on the link. I hope that my book can be quite useful to them.
Since we're having a couple of difficulties at the moment, why not round it off with yet another one? We were already aware that the electricity system in Italy is slightly different from ours and that it is also more expensive as Italy doesn't produce enough electricity on its own. But what we weren't prepared for is that the standard electricity connection in Italy is... 3,5kW! This is barely enough for a washing machine! Since we already consume a constant amount of Watts through appliances like a fridge, a seperate freezer and the odd lightbulb or two we'd already blow the entire fusebox just by washing our clothes. Without mentioning our electrical oven which has a maximum power of 4,5kW. 4,5kW is by coincidence also the maximum "domestic" connection that the few providers we've checked out on the internet offer. It's perfectly clear to us now why electrical ovens aren't a real success in Italy and why most people use gas ovens in stead. If we can believe our Italian friends, you can always get a more powerful connection but this would cost us a fortune. Allright, we've already settled for the fact that we'll have to buy a new cooker with integrated gas oven and that Christine will have to wait with her hairdryer until the dishwasher's finished.
To look at it from the bright side, this "problem" demonstrates how addicted we've become to the luxury of unlimited electrical power. We should all become a bit more modest if we'd still want to save this planet. A limited electrical connection is in this regard a very good lesson which will teach us to become more resourceful with less.
Christine and I would like to wish all of you a very happy New Year! As far as we're concerned, 2010 is probably going to be the most exciting year of our lives. We sincerely hope that also you may feel nothing but the overwhelming happiness that we are currently experiencing. And most important of all, we hope that you, your families and loved ones all enjoy a very good health. Because this is the most important asset in life.
I have to say, never in my life have 100m ever seemed so long... 
of snow had fallen the previous night! It came almost up to her shoulders! So she had to dig her way out. 
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