Really good Dinner this week. Roast beef. Ice cream for dessert.
Lovely stuff.
One of the members of the group providing Dinner brought a surprise. The members of her son's grade 3 class had drawn pictures of 'spring' and sent them to us to hand out to people.
A whole stack of brilliant crayon coloured tulips and birds and bumblebees, ducks and waterfalls, soccer and skipping ropes, cats and dogs and birds and trampolines.
There were two that tied for my favourite.
One is a scene of a boy who is standing on the shore of pond, (or possibly underwater between two dinosaurs) with his dog (or possibly a very small cow). Gotta love grade 3 art.
Here's the other one:
What makes it work for me is the bat winged guardian angel, complete with 'fro and halo. And the pumpkin - looking forward to Hallowe'en, I guess.
I handed out quite a few to people after Dinner. They seemed really pleased that somebody'd gone to the trouble to send them such a gift.
A few were PLAK'd by a local business and we'll hang them in the 'church' next week.
Things got a bit weird on Thursday morning when CL called me, in a panic. She wanted to know if I'd heard anything new. I said no.
So she told me what she'd heard.
"Everybody's" rent was going up $50 per month effective today, right now. Supposedly to help pay for the repairs. In a month's time cable TV, phone and "air conditioners" would no longer be included in the basic rent, and there'd be extra charges for those things.
Plus there were some new rules. She read them to me from the letter she'd received, with editorial comment.
1. All pets must be registered with the office, with up-to-date vaccination info.
2. Pet owners must curb their animals and pick up any poop. ("Well, what if you don't notice? What if you're standing there talking to somebody and you don't notice?")
3. Persons under the age of 18 must be under the direct supervision of a parent. ("What if you're there to visit your dad, but he's not home from work yet? Are you not allowed to wait until he gets home?")
4. Windows and doors must be closed and locked when the residents aren't in their units. ("What if you're just a few doors down, sitting outside having a coffee with somebody? You can see your door. Why does it have to be locked?")
5. All vehicles on the property must be licensed and in good working order. They must be registered with the office. ("Well, that's alright.")
6. There will be an 11:45 curfew. No noise, no outside activity. ("Well, that's just stupid.")
7. There will be no non-residents coming onto the property after 11:45. ("But what if...")
8. There will be no outdoor fires on the property. (I asked if indoor fires were OK. Apparently not.)
9. There will be a zero tolerance policy on violence. The penalty is eviction.
To be honest, I can't see anything in these rules that shouldn't have been there all along. Of course there is always room for common sense in enforcement, but that can be worked out as time passes.
But there should never have been unaccompanied minors wandering around, abandoned vehicles, piles of dog poop, violence, fires or unvaccinated animals. Those are the things that have given the place its bad rep in the first place.
And as for the rent increase, it's not "everybody". There are some long term residents who've had special deals with the previous management. Some were above board - in exchange for work - and some I don't want to know what they were for.
Those people have had their rates adjusted to be the same as everyone else who has the same sized room.
The phone and cable thing seems to be fiction.
So the drama dissipates until next time. We've all decided that when we hear a rumour, we don't believe it until it's confirmed by the principals.
Check first, panic later.
r
Lovely stuff.
One of the members of the group providing Dinner brought a surprise. The members of her son's grade 3 class had drawn pictures of 'spring' and sent them to us to hand out to people.
A whole stack of brilliant crayon coloured tulips and birds and bumblebees, ducks and waterfalls, soccer and skipping ropes, cats and dogs and birds and trampolines.
There were two that tied for my favourite.
One is a scene of a boy who is standing on the shore of pond, (or possibly underwater between two dinosaurs) with his dog (or possibly a very small cow). Gotta love grade 3 art.
Here's the other one:
What makes it work for me is the bat winged guardian angel, complete with 'fro and halo. And the pumpkin - looking forward to Hallowe'en, I guess.
I handed out quite a few to people after Dinner. They seemed really pleased that somebody'd gone to the trouble to send them such a gift.
A few were PLAK'd by a local business and we'll hang them in the 'church' next week.
Things got a bit weird on Thursday morning when CL called me, in a panic. She wanted to know if I'd heard anything new. I said no.
So she told me what she'd heard.
"Everybody's" rent was going up $50 per month effective today, right now. Supposedly to help pay for the repairs. In a month's time cable TV, phone and "air conditioners" would no longer be included in the basic rent, and there'd be extra charges for those things.
Plus there were some new rules. She read them to me from the letter she'd received, with editorial comment.
1. All pets must be registered with the office, with up-to-date vaccination info.
2. Pet owners must curb their animals and pick up any poop. ("Well, what if you don't notice? What if you're standing there talking to somebody and you don't notice?")
3. Persons under the age of 18 must be under the direct supervision of a parent. ("What if you're there to visit your dad, but he's not home from work yet? Are you not allowed to wait until he gets home?")
4. Windows and doors must be closed and locked when the residents aren't in their units. ("What if you're just a few doors down, sitting outside having a coffee with somebody? You can see your door. Why does it have to be locked?")
5. All vehicles on the property must be licensed and in good working order. They must be registered with the office. ("Well, that's alright.")
6. There will be an 11:45 curfew. No noise, no outside activity. ("Well, that's just stupid.")
7. There will be no non-residents coming onto the property after 11:45. ("But what if...")
8. There will be no outdoor fires on the property. (I asked if indoor fires were OK. Apparently not.)
9. There will be a zero tolerance policy on violence. The penalty is eviction.
To be honest, I can't see anything in these rules that shouldn't have been there all along. Of course there is always room for common sense in enforcement, but that can be worked out as time passes.
But there should never have been unaccompanied minors wandering around, abandoned vehicles, piles of dog poop, violence, fires or unvaccinated animals. Those are the things that have given the place its bad rep in the first place.
And as for the rent increase, it's not "everybody". There are some long term residents who've had special deals with the previous management. Some were above board - in exchange for work - and some I don't want to know what they were for.
Those people have had their rates adjusted to be the same as everyone else who has the same sized room.
The phone and cable thing seems to be fiction.
So the drama dissipates until next time. We've all decided that when we hear a rumour, we don't believe it until it's confirmed by the principals.
Check first, panic later.
r
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