Rob Muldoon
About me
- Living in:
- Ipswich (United Kingdom)
- Languages:
- English
- Looking for:
- Friends
- Communities:
- Aberdeen
Wall
- Rob Muldoon
I had this idea of having a holiday home in southern France and after spending a holiday there searched around and found a small apartment which, although rather tatty, I could see potential in refurbishing it which I did. It was a small development in Vernet Les Bains formerly a row of mining houses converted to apartments and at some time past, another block was built. I bought one of those. I gutted the place, rewired throughout, double glazing patio doors, new, pretty much everything. Very soon I was the enemy invader. It was without a doubt the best apartment there. Big mistake. One of the owners wanted to be made a member of the syndique in order to make anybody that had made improvements put it back as it was, tatty and worn out. French call it rustique. There was an expat from the UK who lived there all year round who treated the entire place as if it was her own who spent most of her retirement stirring things up, fluent at French, she knew which buttons to press to get the mostly other French owners angry, mostly with me! the central heating system had been de- commissioned as the other owners didn't want to pay to have it and the rubbish chute was de-commissioned for the same reason. This left two empty units. One the expat commandeered for her own use, the other laid waste for years until somebody thought they might find a use for it. Me. I cleared out years of rubbish and took truck loads to the local dump. Fitted a lock and stored bikes and stuff in it. Big mistake. I built a small decking in the back shared garden over a dangerously cracked concrete block to make it safer to sit out on. Another big mistake. I did some gardening when it got so overgrown it was not only an eyesore but difficult to get around, yet another big mistake! The blatant envy and obvious jealousy came back to bite me. I shouldn't have used the cupboard without permission - the fact that for years it had been allowed to stand there rotting made no difference. I shouldn't have built the decking unless everybody could share it, it was tiny, I never said they couldn't anyway. It was illegal for me to do gardening as it was the syndiques responsibility along with the cleaning which we all contributed towards but in five years I had never seen a cleaner there. The expat used to go around stealing anything you left out. The syndique used to send you leaflets, mainly about an upcoming event using one of their yachts. For them, not anyone else. I sold the place, it went on the first day unsurprisingly and I moved to St Cyprien on the coast. My experience with the french has been one of total disillusionment, they are happy to help but want paying for it, no Good Samaritan amongst them. They befriend you you but only to see what they may get from you. They are petty minded and very mean people. I love France, shame about the French.