El Andalous - Giving Up (For Now)

Completed - New Bathroom Wash Unit (plus Mirrored Cabinet)

I’m almost done with my reorganization, although that’s a bit of a fateful thing to say. All that’s left to do is to get two new shelves for my kitchen, remove my broken dishwasher, and install a cupboard in its place.

Once again, I asked Medhat to sort a carpenter out for me and once again, he was just too slow. I told him not to bother.

I took a taxi, all the measurements in hand, in order to go to “my” carpenter. The taxi driver decided to speak to me in Arabic – I could understand that he was asking me if I wanted to go to the carpenter, so I confirmed. He said something I didn’t understand, but I guessed he was asking me what I wanted the carpenter to do, so I was able to say “one cabinet and two shelves” (I’d looked up all this vocabulary beforehand). He phoned Esmat and, again, it appeared that Esmat was very concerned about the colour. This time, the taxi driver explained that I’d brought a sample with me.

The taxi driver asked if I had a picture, so I showed him the photograph I’d taken of my existing cabinet and my diagrams with the detailed measurements. He looked at it and asked me (in English, once I couldn’t understand) if I’d measured the items with a tape. I found this highly amusing – as if I’d just guess at the measurements! I know I’m not the most practical of people, but I really wasn’t as incompetent as they were expecting me to be.

We got to the carpenter but when we arrived, his place had been completely cleared out! It looked so different from the bustling place it was before with loads of work ongoing; it was like he’d done a runner. I’ve asked Esmat three times now to find out if he’s back, but Esmat isn’t getting back to me. I’m now beginning to think that I’ll just leave this until I’m back next winter. I’d like some time just to sit back and enjoy life a bit.

One other thing I did get done (sort of, which is always the caveat over here) was to have my lounge walls painted. They were a magnolia colour, which is fine, but it somehow makes the room quite dark. A couple of people have told me that if you paint your walls white, it really lifts them.

So, I decided to have the walls painted white with one feature wall by the patio doors painted the same green as my cushions. This too has taken me months and months until they’ve got round to it.

Ksenia had warned me that when you ask for your walls to be painted, you’ll have one idea in mind and they’ll have another one. Consequently, I explained quite clearly that I wanted the wall to be the muted green of my cushions. They informed me that they’d taken a photograph and would get it digitally matched in town. What could go wrong? What was unclear about that?

To give praise where praise is due, they completed the painting really quickly – the paint dries fast here, which helps. I kept out of it and just sat on my balcony. But when I went in to see the finished product, they’d painted the feature wall a really bright primary green, and they praised me on my good choice of colour!! I didn’t have the energy to argue. Maybe it will grow on me.

I’ll see how I feel when I’m back next winter and if I decide I don’t like it, I’ll have to go into town, buy the paint myself, and ask them to re-do it. We’re finally back to having good weather now for a while and I want to enjoy that. Also, after paying out so many “baksheesh” – I’ve been quite generous since the work has been done for free and I know the men aren’t paid very much (and I’d rather they get the money than the management company) – I’m starting to feel like my money is just draining away before I can even touch it. It’s time for a rest!