Chinese Curses Wilting Tomatoes

There is reputedly a Chinese curse "May you live in interesting times", or some such phrasing, which would seem to fit our current situation perfectly. Not only because we do live in interesting times right now, but also because the phrase is itself, not a piece of arcane wisdom derived from ancient philosophers, but more likely a made-up North Americanism, maquerading as truth or wisdom, made famous by one of the 20th Century's great Ploppyshankers, John F Kennedy.

And talking of Ploppyshankers, please refer to my post "The Ploppyshank Syndrome", then to these articles:

http://www.hfxnews.ca/index.cfm?sid=33541&sc=89

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2007/05/30/bbb-tivertons.html?ref=rss

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/839096.html

A journalist friend is also writing a piece, which I think will appear in the Daily News. Enough said about our circumstances really, except that behind the news, we spotted the trouble earlier than most of the badly affected people, and put massive pressure on anyone associated with Tivertons . Pressure included phoning their offices, cell-phones and e-mailing on the hour every hour for about two weeks while I was in a state of worklessness, plus a fantastic undercover operation, planned and executed by Idaho Burt. For us, this story is nearing the end, as the tenant should move out on June 30th, and realtors have been engaged to sell.

I know some people have considered the idea of property management, and this story should'nt put them off, except that I would recommend using one of the big national companies, because that way, if things go wrong, you are in a better position to direct any questions/lawsuits etc rather than being cheated by someone who can simply disappear.

Our second "interesting" issue is a lawsuit against a contractor who employed me last year in Ontario. I've hesitated to write about this in detail, mostly because it was hard to see the funny side of being owed $30,000. Not to say that its all been doom and gloom. Maurice (who from now on will be referred to as Little Bunny Foo Foo to protect his identity) and myself (who in future posts on this topic will be referred to as Mazzer in order to protect my identity) had plenty of laughs about this at the end of a night's drinking in the Oxford. "Mazzer," Little Bunny Foo Foo would say, as he fell off his bar stool having come to the conclusion we were going bankrupt, "We're screwed". A full reasoned post on this case will follow, in which any references to "revenge", or "a dish best eaten cold" or "six packs" should be taken as purely humourous devices, and not as literal references to options we seriously considered. This story too, while not done, is reaching its conclusion, as papers have been filed and we should be in court this Fall, after a year of legal fees. It is now in the hands of a judge.

Finally, for today, I can reveal that my plan to become Hull's leading scenic carpenter has swung into full effect. I'm off to Leeds tomorrow to start some freelance work. I almost turned the work down, because my tomatoes are wilting and Toshack has started to hunt in earnest, killing his first bird last week. How to stop him killing, while still enjoying the outside has occupied several of my hours. And that's when I realized that I'm finally beginning the process of settling in here - the emphasis of attention has gradually shifted from Nova Scotia, business and Ontario to Hull, tomatoes and dead birds.