Wednesday, May 30, 2007

More Stupid French People

Seven or 8 months ago, our downstairs neighbour knocked on our door complaining of water leaking through their bathroom light fitting. They seemed to think the water was coming from our bathroom and with a little investigation we agreed they were right. We got a plumber in and he 'fixed' the problem. A few weeks later it was leaking again.

Since then we've had numerous plumbers and architects and engineers and building officials come by to look at the problem. After many, many discussions they determined the water was coming from our shower. Really? That took us 5 minutes to work out.

Next came the endless discussions about who should pay to fix the problem. In Australia, structural or building maintenance is taken care of by the landlord (as far as I'm aware) and I would think that would be the case here but my landlord insisted that I should have to pay. I gave him my 'that's bloody ridiculous' argument and eventually he saw it my way and he paid for all the plumbers, who did nothing anyway.

A few months passed and they poor sucker who lives below me brought me a billion documents to sign so my insurance company would pay for the damages. I still think it shouldn't be my insurance who pays but whatever, the insurance companies can fight it out amongst themselves.

More months pass and today 6 more people came to look at the problem. They want to pull the shower apart to find the leak. Of course, I agreed to the work because I know it's coming from the shower. They'll be back next week to pull it apart and check it out.

The stupid architect guy thinks the problem stems from the fact that there isn't enough ventilation in the bathroom. Now while there may not be enough air passing through, it's pretty obvious that is not the cause of water gushing into my neighbours apartment. He insists it is and we need to cut of 3cm at the bottom of the bathroom door. What an idiot. Does he have a brain or what? I keep the bathroom door open 99% of the time anyway, including when I have a shower, so making a huge gap in the door won't solve anything.

He wouldn't listen to me and is going to send someone to chop off the bottom of the door. I'm pretty sure my landlord won't approve of that and neither will I so I won't be letting that guy inside my house. They can do that after I leave if they want but not while I'm here.

We'll see what happens next Monday when they come back and if they ever decide to actually fix the bloody pipe. I just feel sorry for my neighbour. He's been so patient. I would have moved out already if it had been me.

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