With the rental of the bulldozer the dirt pile is finally gone and we are at the beginning of project terrace, an enormous sunny place off the kitchen doorway where kids can play, I can keep some herbs and we can have a barbecue each night. A gorgeous terrace full of potted plants and a wrought iron table is a mandatory part of family life don't you think? A moroccan feeling, maybe a touch of Tuscany, and of course some wisteria.
I thought I'd share these before photos on my blog so we can all applaud the progress when it's finally finished in a few weeks, and also so I could talk about the freaky fence saga, or maybe the freaking fence saga is probably more fitting. The wall pictured here with the geraniums is the same wall in this post (scroll down through the post for the before photo), minus the crap fence. When we tried to take the rest of an old tree out and the tangled ivy that looked so hellish the fence came tumbling down too, all its rusty bits complete with barbed wire and pieces of tin roofing scraps (to cover the holes so stray cats can't get through, nice touch), all of it was just sort of leaning into our property after the tree came out because our tree was holding it up you see, our sad sick tree. It looked awful and it wasn't possible to repair the leaning part because the poles had rusted long ago and were already broken in two and being held up with old mop handles in a few places, so we just scrapped it and said we'd talk to the new neighbor in a few weeks to see if maybe they'd be interested in putting something nice. The house is empty and has been for 20 years or more. So the next morning as I'm innocently preparing breakfast I hear this high pitched woman's voice screaming "madame! madame!" and I walk outside in my jammies only to get assaulted by the 60 something year old voisine, apparently the one who just sold the house, "who do you think you are that was my fence, you imbecile, what is your right to ...blah, blah blah," and in between insults I figured out that it was her ugly rusty old fence, shards of scrap metal and all. And then later in the day after being contacted twice by the real estate agent and once by the notaire we find out that she is afraid that the sale of the house might fall through because we took out a small part of her l o v e r l y fence.
Deep breaths, so now we have to go the closing and sign a paper that says we'll replace the fence or a reasonable facsimile at our own cost. The funny part was that the real estate agent kept saying that the new owners had an 18 month old daughter who might fall over the wall or something and it was a danger for her. The fence is about 500 meters from the owner's house in a sort of side garden with a brick wall in front of it, so I really don't understand what the big deal is or how their little girl might be inclined to escape and run over to our house, unless she's attracted to the smells from our kitchen, (because Charlotte would totally do that if she smelled fresh baked cookies). We didn't bother to mention the barbed wire that made the back of our house look like a military barrack and which was a menace to our wee adorable tykes because we were wrong to take out the fence without asking so how could we be possibly jump on the defensive.
It will all get replaced very soon, and in fact we'd wanted to replace it relatively fast anyway, we just thought we'd wait and see if the new neighbor wanted to participate in the cost in order to put something fancier like bricks or stones. It's not like we were planning on leaving it all bare like that. I immediately put the geraniums there to make it look better because I thought they'd enjoy seeing something pretty while we finish up our terrace work. I was told by the p.o. that I didn't have the right to put anything on the wall, gah but I've left them anyway because people it's FLOWERS not nuculear waste and if they really feel strongly about it let them bomb them or something.
I just wish we hadn't started off on such a bad foot. Hopefully we can make amends. Brownies? Cookies? Babysitting? Money? ... Parading around in my skivvies?
13 comments:
The terrace looks lovely and I know you will make it the dream of the neighborhood. As the fence goes, maybe your new neighbors will be a bit more hip and understanding so as to be impressed with the replacement of the gulag-looking monstrosity. Good luck
Sigh......neighbors. I'm sure your terrace will be lovely. Here's hoping your new neighbors aren't as crazy as the previous owner.
Gah! The Europeans and their fences!!! Everything MUST be blocked off!
I hope the new neighbors aren't as fussy as it seems. Cookies and babysitting and wine work wonders :)
I'm pretty sure this is just the po staking her last bits of claim and the new neighbors will be nice about it. The other reason I left my flowers was to see if they'd react when they move in a few weeks from now.
As far as a wall is concerned I've read recently that a wall is a coproprieté in France (and in most countries) and no one actually owns it. In order to modify a wall you have to meet up with your neighbor and discuss it, the cost is shared and the materials have to please both parties, except of course the paint on your side which is your own choice. Her saying she owned the wall was daft and our tearing down the fence was daft too. We had a coproprieté at our old house in Th*n*n, another retired age lady with too much time on her hands, and that has been such a nightmare over the past five years. Through our insurance and our own pockets we've paid her over 6,000 euros for trivial things so we're going to be really careful here and we're not signing anything! Anyway the wall is so far away from their house its ridiculous for them to even worry about it.
You totally need to find a way to make your new neighbors hate you. Then you can be on the telly! "Sans Aucune Doute"! Woot!
Seriously? Old French people sometimes? Bonkers. Complete nutters.
Though I do recommend sending a registered letter to the notary citing the legislation about fences and that you do not plan to sign anything. If you need a hand in hunting this down, e me. I'll get my peep the documentalist at work to send you copies of the real estate code.
lol, oh I bet they'd dig the whole American slant on Sans Aucune Doute. I'd probably need to wave a gun around or something. Really though I think the whole thing will just die out bc the new neighbor has a hell house, ie roof is caving in and their house makes the fence look good by comparison. But it might come in handy to have the code just in case.
Careful. A notary called you. That's a legal professional. This may not die down and it may be best to grab the bull by the horns, showing that you're not some eejit that's easy to take advantage of. That's all I'm saying.
Oh! And when you get on Sans Aucune Doute, could you chew some tobaccy? I'd love that. Thanks!
:-)
I hear you about the retired old lady with too much time on our hands, we have on in our building and whoa is she a handful. Interesting to hear about fence legislation. Your terrace is going to be wonderful.
Jc - Thank you for helping. It's good to know someone with connections ;)
Lucy - Yep, but thankfully in our case she's GONE in a few short days. Hey aren't you supposed to be coocooning my dear?
I got yo back.
my wv is "cradisms" Crade being disgusting in French, that about describes your neighbors house and garden.
Interesting about the laws on the fence. I was going to say this was something that doesn't seem to have carried across the border into Switzerland, as I sit here seeing no real fence in sight and everything totally open. But then recalled the area my ILs are in near Geneva has clearly defined fences and it's all a Big Deal. But then those Geneva people are not really Swiss ;-)
Good luck!
so a few rusty metal poles and old chicken wire constitute a fence these days? harumph. greet your new neighbors nicely and you'll do fine.
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