05 August, 2010

WHY...

...i will never live on a property shared with a landlord ever again.

I must say that up until this point, my landlords and i have gotten along rather swimmingly. We share recipes, share food when we make a ton, and casually chat when we see each other. I can't say i've ever had a bad relationship with a landlord - and i still don't want to say that i do, but man, it's hard to bite my tongue when things just "happen".

They have asked me on numerous occasions to watch their cats while they go away on vacation, and once or twice, even to watch the kids when they had to go into town or to meet someone over dinner. No worries, really. I don't even mind. When i'm in their house, i do not snoop (except for perusing their bookshelf which is in the kitchen where the cats eat - peruse, mind you... i don't touch), i don't take anything out of the house, nor do i go into rooms where i'm not invited. In fact, i don't go into someone's house uninvited... i'm like a vampire that way. lol i don't even touch anything that doesn't belong to me.
Or i just have manners...
At any rate, I have never seen the inside of their house other than the bottom floor when i was on a little mini-tour with the landlady. Why? Because even though i'm terribly interested, i'm polite and would never dream of invading another person's space. Mainly because people live a certain way, and i would hate to impose on that.
The same goes for the other way around. I would hate for someone to impose on my life. To be honest, no, i'm not the most OCD of all housekeepers, but i don't like to go away on vacation with a dirty house behind me.

When V and i went to Poland, i seriously scrubbed the bathroom, cleaned the whole house, and kitty-proofed it so that there would be few to no incidents while we were gone. I closed the bedroom door; i actually even went as far as leaving the house and coming BACK inside to make sure it was closed before we left. I didn't wand the kitty to climb all over our shelves and knock stuff off, as he has an affinity to do - also i didn't want him to ruin any yarn while we were away.
With the bathroom, we have a little cupboard in there that houses the water heater. I don't keep much in there because of a rat who decided to tear stuff up while trying to stay while it was cold outside. Against my better judgment, i keep our cotton balls in there because there's no better place for them, and i do keep rat poison in there to ward off future "stinky dead rat" problems. To keep Bilbo out of the cupboard though, i always (i mean, ALWAYS) keep a hair band tied around the handles so he can't get in.
When i came home from Poland... it was not to a nice tidy house. I mean no, the kids didn't mess my house up (that's another thing! Why, oh why send your 9 year olds over to do a job you're supposed to do when you know your kid has a problem with getting into stuff?! irresponsible much?!) but they DID open the door to my bedroom (which they claim was to let the cat sleep in our bedroom... sigh. innocent until proven otherwise, i guess - but why not text us and ASK about that?)
The cupboard in the bathroom? yeah... open. Guess what was completely gone? The rat poison. Now, i know it was there before i left because i checked. I am not diligent about many things, but keeping my home rodent-free is something i am quite determined about. I check the poison every day.
If the rat poison had been gone and the tray would have remained where it was, i would have thought that it was plausible that a rat came and ate it...
BUT the tray was on the floor OUTSIDE the cupboard, empty. Cotton balls were strewn throughout the bathroom and the house torn up, just the way the cat likes to do it (he really does have a method too. he unrolls them, and once they're unrolled - he gets a new one). Not to mention the hair band i keep around the handles was only around one of the handles.
The cat had no water. I mean NO water at all. Not a drop to drink!!! The landlady was adamant that she put water down for him in his dish by his food, and maybe she did - but he must have lapped it all up. The water dish i leave for him upstairs was not only empty, but DUSTY!

The landlady almost accused me outright of lying to her too, when i was explaining these things. She said something along the lines of "either you left the door open or my children are lying..."
i was incensed! I came home after that encounter and nearly threw things against the wall because i was so angry at being called a liar!
I've avoided seeing either of the landlords for the past week or so since we spoke, and it's really for the better, in my mind. Today the landlord came over and asked us to keep Bilbo on our side of the cottage.
Are you freakin' KIDDING me?! How? Please, i beg you... tell me how to keep my cat on my side of the building. What about your dog? Are you going to keep it on your side? What about your two cats? Them too? Does this apply to all the animals on the estate or JUST MINE?
Their kid brought me back my cat today. Allegedly, Bilbo was almost run over by their car. I highly doubt that, considering the cat hates running vehicles. If he's outside when V comes home, Bilbo immediately runs up the tree. If i'm holding him, i will get scratched because he squirms to get away. The cat does not. like. running. vehicles! So i honestly doubt he was almost run over unless they were holding him down (which i am not assuming they did, at all because that would be ridiculous). Additionally, the landlord said that the children will no longer be coming over to drop off the mail, and they'll be keeping their animals on their side. Sigh. What is this world coming to?

With that whole debacle and the septic tank taking well over 6 weeks to be cleaned from the time we complained about it, i am honestly really ready to throw down the towel and move out as soon as our lease is out... damn! Believe me, i'm counting down.

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