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...
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