mercredi 10 septembre 2008

I've (not) got the power

Paris. I'm home. Hooray!

Well, this was how I felt when I pulled up outside my apartment building and lugged my bags up the three flights of stairs. So exciting. So happy to be home - you know how long I've been desperate to get back here.

I turn on the lights. Nothing.

I check the fuse box. Nothing.

My estate agents are useless. Having been unable to provide me with the original meter readings (that I need to get an account set up with the electricity people), they told me that they would organise it while I was away. They promised that they would pass the information on to the electricity company and that all would be sorted for my return.

They said 'Go to England'. They said 'Don't worry'. 'We're onto it'. They said 'We'll sort it out'.

They didn't.

So I called EDF (the elctricity people) myself and they informed me that the power supply was cut on August 6th, but that they could happily organise a technician to perform an emergency reconnection.

"Excellent" said I. "When will that be?"

"Thursday morning" said the nice lady at EDF.

"But that's two days away" said I, with a hint of horror, alarm and panic in my voice.

"Yes. Normally it's a five-day wait" said Mme EDF.

"Book me in for Thursday!" said I.

To make matters worse, this week in Paris there are two of the biggest expo's of the season - Pret a Porter and Furniture & Deco. On top of this, Coldplay are in residence all week at Bercy. Unsurprisingly, every hotel room in Paris was apparently taken.

An hour of phoning and begging later, I find a room on the outskirts of town. I hump my luggage all the way over there and try my hardest to keep hysteria at bay. I'm not totally successful.

I settle down in my temporary lodgings and decide to catch up on my emails and the blog. Thank goodness that I did....

At the end of the worst day in a long time, three great things happened:

1. I receive an email from my boss thanking me for a great month in the UK - and confirmation of a very nice bonus for my efforts.

2. I find out that David over at authorblog has given me his award for the 'Post of the Day' and that this has brought lots of new people to my blog.

3. I get an email from my new assistant that proved to me what a fantastic recruit she is turning out to be, and made me realise how much simpler my life will be with her around.

Wow. How great is that. I have an awful day and these things are sent to me as little pick-me-ups. Almost like someone knew I'd need something to make me realise that life really is good.

A more religious person than me (a less religious person doesn't exist) would see this as the Lord moving in mysterious ways. I call it serendipity, happenstance and straight old-fashioned damn good luck.

As I counted my blessings, my hysteria slipped away and I settled down for a big old sleep.

So, rested and in control, this morning I headed for the offices of the estate agency. You can imagine how well that went.

They should just be grateful that I got a good night's sleep...

20 commentaires:

Daryl a dit…

I am the first... I am so happy things got better and I sincerely hope you ripped the estate agent a new one .. and bill him for any spoilage ...

(((TBNIL)))

:-Daryl

travelling, but not in love a dit…

D, it was a super-size can of wupp-ass that I opened on him...!

And I did it in french too, which made me very very happy.

Anonyme a dit…

So.. you moved into a hotel room because you didn't have electricity in your house? You're going to have to explain this to me.

Anonyme a dit…

Oh man, someone would have to DIE if that happened to me...

Let's hope the fabuleaux fancies in your fridge weren't irreplaceable. (The Stolli was unharmed, I trust)

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Marjolein, it's kind of difficult to live in the dark. And without hot water. And without anywhere to cook (I don't have gas in the apartment).

I appreciate that candles exist, but who can put up with that for two days?

Enda, I lost some frozen stuff, but nothing exciting or important.

The Stolli - well actually, it's the Vanilla Absolut and the fridge bottle (as opposed to the non-fridge bottle) of Bombay Sapphire - survived intact. God is good.

Anonyme a dit…

Hmm okay. We've got standard camping equipment we use for power cuts (gas burner, petzl headlights, and I'm a big candle fanatic).

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Marjolein, I forgot that you're a camper...that would explain your horror at my tale! I'm really not that organised, and the only candles in my house are the perfumed kind that you get as a present from people you don't know - the ones that induce asthma attacks and irritate allergies!

Next time, I know who to call though!

A Lewis a dit…

I could see a 4th great thing being added to that list.... a dream, perhaps? I can't believe that crap....they turned it off??? I'd have screamed. In horror!

aims a dit…

Darling - I do hope if there is a charge - that you are making the agent pay for it? If not - perhaps he can wipe his sleazy ass with the bill then?

Just thinking of you as you can see. Not trying to get any type of sadistic revenge from over here...oh no....(pick on my friends and watch out)

red a dit…

le pauvre...but i have to say that i am impressed by your optimistic powers- a lesser man, or me, in your situation would have found it much more difficult to look on the bright side.

Louise a dit…

I love it when good follows bad. But MAN would that whole electricity thing be annoying! OK, more than annoying. But the kudos from the boss. That's my favorite. WITH bonus. (I think kudos without bonus are pretty ridiculous. Don't praise me, PAY me!) So does that sort of make up for the whole book thing? I guess just putting up with that was reason enough for a bonus.

Unknown a dit…
Ce commentaire a été supprimé par l'auteur.
Unknown a dit…

a least you're back home, right? that happened to me once when i was studying in manila. i came back from a 3 week summer break from the us. in my case ... i just forgot to pay the bill. lol.

Anonyme a dit…

Could you not have made it into some sort of romanatic candle lit camping like experience? You could have eaten in McDonalds and washed your clothes in the Seine :-)


I'm jealous that you have an assistant. I want one of those!!

Unknown a dit…

Hope you hurt him.

The Woman who Can a dit…

TBNIL, when your power comes back on ( dear God for everyone's sake I hope it's back on now), I've finally done that post I promised...

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Lewis, such a dream you are! Especially the way you handled that wonder bread....

Aims, sadistic revenge works for me! every time!

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Red, looking on the bright side was hard - good job that good news came following on....

Louise - pay me don't praise me - I love that!

travelling, but not in love a dit…

Mike, you're right - at least it wasn't my fault....this time!

Big C - Romantic candle lit camping experience? tell me more...

travelling, but not in love a dit…

KP - I wish I had. I think the bill will hurt them enough though!

Tina - I'm on my way over girl!