Guardian/Cat Comparison, Ghosts In The Walls, And The Indonesians Did It

Here in Paris, the folks who manage apartment buildings are called "guardians" and they come in all shapes, sizes, and nationalities. Our guardian is from Columbia and she definitely knows what she likes and what she doesn't like. Those of you who keep up with this blog might remember mention of her in 2010. Since our arrival here we ended up with a large shipping box of old clothing and shoes we have been unable to get anyone to come for (French agencies don't pick up clothing, only furniture) and the reason I know this is when my old friend Chris visited late last year he made a number of calls for me regarding this issue and was told by several very snippy Frenchmen that we'd need to bring the box to them which I nixed and decided to just fill a number of smaller boxes with the clothing articles and take them into the basement with the trash where they would then be taken out with everything else. I wondered how that would be received and found out this morning that our guardian had complained to our neighbor 2 floors up who speaks English that she didn't like taking out boxes filled with "usable" clothing and suggested "we" take the clothes down to the local Hispanic Catholic Church which of course is her way of telling us that SHE didn't like taking it out to the street. What that telegraphs to me is the same thing it did in 2010 when she decided she didn't want to clean our apartment any more due to her "sudden" allergy to cat hair which of course is bullshit. The truth is that she is lazy and doesn't want to be bothered helping us or anyone else in this building. We hear great things about other friends' Portuguese guardians who are all dynamos. I guess it was just our luck of the draw. I find it comical that now our guardian is deciding what is trash and what isn't trash.....I guess that's one of her core competencies...*

What our guardian doesn't know but will soon find out is that we'll continue to take the boxes downstairs and she's going to have to GET OVER IT......and do her job. She like so many other people here in France have overinflated ideas of their importance and look for just about every opportunity they can find to not do their jobs.

Personally, I'm over all of it and am looking very forward to returning to Lynchburg.

I apologized to our kind neighbor for her being dragged into this and she is looking to find out whether the church down the street will actually take the clothes. In the meantime our guardian is going to have to "cowboy up".

Since last October a there's been a strange noise in the ceiling of our main bathroom which sounds to me like some kind of electric machine that vibrates. It comes and goes and over the last couple of months has gotten louder until last Friday when it receded and now is not so prevalent. My neighbor from upstairs came down last week and wanted know if it was coming from our apartment and I told him no. He came in and listened and then informed me that the lady who lives below us could also hear it.

The most interesting thing is our esteemed guardian evidently knows the guardian from the Indonesian Embassy across the street who told her that the noise was coming from their central heating unit which is in a shed on their compound. Of course.......the Indonesians are responsible........ That would mean that the noise leaves the closed shed on their compound and travels through the air across the street two buildings down and then settles into my apartment's bathroom ceiling to make the noise. And of course, pigs fly too.......* No wonder the people in Central and South America are still in such a state.....* My neighbor upstairs didn't buy it either.

I get it.......say anything to get people to stop bothering you........but wait........some of the people who live in this building actually are "intelligent"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps our guardian should become a politician...........*

Over and out from fruitcake central....

I'm going to get my aluminum foil hat as the voices are starting to get loud in my head again.......

Sid

Oh, I forgot, I suspect our guardian is actually a reincarnated cat hence the photo above.......

Tundra In Paris, Blood Day, And Allman Brothers In The Streets

We're currently in the middle of the worst cold wave to hit Europe in recent memory although it's not as bad here as places east of us where hundreds of homeless people have perished. It snowed here yesterday and it was only about 1/2 inch hence the posted pic here. According to the weather predictions it's going to continue being at or near freezing for the near future so we're finally getting some real Winter weather instead of the usual gray and rainy thing that's the norm around here. I hear there have been records set for a warm Winter back in our neck of the woods in Virginia. This Summer should bring mosquitoes the size of chihuahuas in the absence of freezing temps to kill off the eggs from last year. Should be fun.....*

For those who've followed this blog you all know of my continuing treatment for Dermatomyositis which of course involves lots of doctor visits and blood being drawn before each visit. My next appointment with my main man Dr. Khayat at the American Hospital here is tomorrow so today was "blood day". There are no near Metro stations in the vicinity of the American Hospital so I always take a cab. Most times the cab drivers here are listening to French talk radio or stations that either play the hits or other music that need not be mentioned in these pages for the sake of my being kind this morning. Also, whenever I'm heading out for these lab visits I've been fasting so I'm hungry and maybe not as perky as usual but this morning, the cabbie looked at me and took a chance with his I-Pod that was hooked into his car stereo.........and......out came THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! As soon as he saw my huge grin he CRANKED IT and after 5 or 10 minutes switched from the ABB to THE DIXIE DREGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and then to STEVIE RAY VAUGHN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I tipped him 5 euros and what a lift that was this morning for me as I NEVER look forward to going to the lab. Truly a magical beginning of my day that still has me grinning. The cabbie of course was delighted that I knew about his love of American music and he too was grinning. Go figure......* Paris is truly an amazing city even though I gripe a bit about it sometime.

It also comes to me that this lab visit will probably be one of my last visits with those nice ladies and tomorrow's appointment with my doctor who's done quite well by me will be the next to last visit with him before we return to Virginia in May.

Life is good here in the city of lights........*

Love to all everywhere!

Sid