Busy weekend

I have been busy again with no time at all for blogging.  We finished painting Saskias bedroom on Friday and she has got everything arranged now.  This means that the house is a little tidier now without her stuff everywhere. 

She met the agents for her flat on Friday morning.  It did not go well!  Two people came, a man and a woman.  Saskia said the woman was ok but the man was really nasty.  He insisted that the carpets were dirty, which they most definitely are not.  He said they should have been steam cleaned.  They were...... I did them all myself.  He says if they were steam cleaned then the pressure marks left by the furniture would have been removed!

He insisted that there can be no "indentations" left by the furniture.  What?  Doesn't furniture that's been in place for a year leave "indentations"??? Not to mention there were "indentations" from the previous tenants furniture when Saskia moved in. Maybe she shouldn't  have had a bed, she could have slept in a sleeping bag on the floor.

To cut a long story short, they bullied her into signing an agreement, that they can have the flat professionally cleaned and the cost will be taken from her deposit.  In other words we are not getting our deposit back.

The funny thing is that they gave her a list, 3 pages long, of the cleaning they expected to be carried out.  On that list they say, that to guarantee return of your deposit, you should use their recommended professional cleaning Company.  Oh yeah?  I wonder who owns and runs that Company and what the pay back is, also how much would it cost?

As I have been cleaning all my adult life, I could see no reason to pay someone else to do it.  After all, by the time we paid out, we wouldn't really be getting all our money back would we?  We would have to deduct that cost from our deposit money!  It seems to me, that if you refuse their "offer" of "professional" cleaning by their "recommended" Company, then they are just going to come in and pick holes in anything they can, even if they have to make it up.  So they still get your money.  It doesn't sound like there was ever any way they would pay back the deposit.

They did tell Saskia that if she refused to sign, she could contest their decision.  If she did that then another representative would come out and they would have to take photos etc.... and guess what?  There is a fee for this!!  The representative would no doubt be someone else who is in on the scam and would still say the place needs to be cleaned.  IT DOES NOT!  We spent a whole day cleaning and doing everything on the list, it is currently cleaner than my house.  They are out for every penny.

We are considering getting Sam or Coralie to make an appointment to view the flat as prospective tenants in a few weeks time, to see if the flat is still the same or if the "professional" cleaning has been carried out. I wonder if the furniture indentations will have been removed?  We took our own digital photos before we left, so we do have something to compare to. I suspect that they charge you for this cleaning but don't actually carry it out. 

Anyway............ Saturday and Sunday were spent carrying out my own house cleaning!  I am beginning to get organised now.  I do have one problem though, the door switch on my tumble drier has broken.  Simon tried to mend it on Saturday, but he needs to get a new switch. 

So that I could still use it, he pulled the wire through to the front and I have to use pliers to pull it up and unlock the door!  The first time, I didn't realise I was supposed to use pliers and used my fingers which resulted in a  nasty cut!  Today all was going well for a while, until the door popped open on its own.  Now it won't stay shut.  I have resorted to tapping it up!!  I have loads of washing to get done as once a month, I do the washing for a friend as well as all of our own.  I have done this for years now and I do get paid for it.  I can't even put the washing on the line because of the rain.

Saturday evening we looked after baby Evan so that Coralie and John could go out for a meal with some friends.  He was very good.  We got to give him his bath too.  Unfortunately it had to be done in the kitchen sink as the hinge on our shower door has just broken and it means you can't open it fully.  I didn't fancy trying to bath him in  the big bath while leaning round the door.  Seems like it is one of those times when everything is breaking or going wrong!

   

On Sunday we went to Sam and Lisa's house for dinner with Saskia, which was really lovely.  Little Ellie is such a good girl but she is cutting some of her back teeth at the moment and has been a bit poorly.  She is hardly eating.  After dinner we went for  a walk, which was good apart from the rain!!

Today I am here alone.  Simon and Saskia are both in school.  It is Saskias first day back.  Simons new school started a week early.  Josh went with Charlotte to Southampton yesterday to spend a few days with Verity.  It is Veritys first day, in her first teaching job today!  Josh still has until the end of the month before he starts University.  Unlike Saskia he chose not to work until then.

I have been working my half hour system so that I get some time for myself in between all the washing, ironing, cleaning etc... I am hoping to get some time to do some embroidery this afternoon.  Tomorrow I am going to see a lady at the local Sue Ryder hospice with a view to possibly doing some voluntary work.  I am probably going to go and see my Mum and Dad on Thursday and on Friday, Coralie and I are going to take Evan for his first swim!!  Busy, busy, busy!