Griping - A very gross post
G'day all!
I haven't even started chemo yet and already I am b*ggered. We moved into our place on Sunday night.
DH has been madly ripping up more carpet with the help of his father and sanding floors. I've now helped with oiling one of them (orange and tung oils, nowhere near as lethal smelling as tung mixed with petrochemicals). We've been washing walls and ceilings and painting them. The bedroom is mostly done (enough that we are sleeping in it) but we need to do the second coat of paint on one wall and above the pelmet and also rearrange the furniture when we haven't got half the study in the room with us. The place looks like a bombsite but at least two rooms are mostly done.
There's a fault in the lighting wiring that DH has not had time to track down. So far he's found shorts or evidence of arcing in three different lights. (The shorts are not the sort you put on, btw, just to be clear.) He has to get into the roof to see if there is a problem with the wiring. So we don't have any overhead lights and Oz houses use overhead lights a lot. Just as well we have three lamps and a torch!
But the True Horror lurketh in the bathroom and kitchen. The bathroom was not cleaned before the house sitters left. It's ok! It's clean enough!
*shudder*
Half an hour of scrubbing had the bath half clean. The other half needs to be scrubbed. An hour has the accessible parts of the shower cleaned - the others were awaiting an unwanted toothbrush, now obtained. (I use a magic cloth and magic eraser on surfaces - no chemicals, no stinkiness, just plain clean!) The walls are covered in glod (the very opposite of gold). There's emerald green spots everywhere, the colour of some surface sprays and detergents. It appears that someone thought that to clean things, you just spray them with a surface cleaner and then walk away without wiping the stuff off.
*shudder*
The kitchen. Everything is sticky with grease. I know we don't have a fan in the kitchen. That is why you have to wipe surfaces down once in a while with some sort of cleaner. I find a sponge and some detergent works quite well as long as you don't leave it too long. Fridge wipe is my favourite grease cutter - it is just alcohol, water and vanilla ester. Fairly non-toxic and smells nice to boot.
We don't have a dishwasher - it's a 1959 kitchen. We haven't had the money to renovate it at this stage. You need to wash crockery, cutlery and cookware in a small stainless steel sink. I give you exhibit A, the dishrack.
I'm not sure what happened to the dishrack (it has some of the green glod on it, and looked almost furry even though it is chrome plated - pic doesn't show the true horror but it took an hour to clean with magic erasers) but when I opened the cupboard to get out a "clean" bowl and plate, I got a fair idea (exhibits b and c).
(Exhibit b)
(Exhibit c - I dare you to look at a larger size!)
EWWWW! Someone put away crockery that was that dirty? *Everything* in the cupboard was greasy. All the glasses were greasy. All the cups. All the pots. All the storageware. It is just totally horrid.
No apologies for embarrassing our house sitters. I cannot believe they left the place in the state it is, especially given I have cancer and am about to start chemo. Instead of being able to settle in, I have to clean the house from end to end. We have absolutely no recourse against them either cos we never asked for bond. OK, we didn't ask for the carpet to be steam cleaned or even vacuumed. But hell's bells, doing things like removing the cobwebs and dusting stuff would have been nice! Being able to use any of the crockery in the cupboard or having a clean glass to drink out of would be grand. Admitted the toilet has been cleaned recently. But finding a pair of women's undies soaking in the a bucket in the laundry trough - I am sure you can guess why they were soaking! - that were stinking cos they had been there so long, and the trough had not been cleaned in yonks either....
To say I am cranky is not stretching the truth, except in the wrong direction. I am pretty much livid. It never occurred to me that they would leave the house like it. Then again I am a goody goody suck suck who doesn't thrash rental cars, gets embarrassed if bend the corner of a borrowed book and cleans places that I've been staying in before I leave. I guess I am abnormal! All I wanted was to be able to move in, deal with the floors, repaint a couple of rooms and have everything nice before I start chemo.
Well it ain't nice, girlfriend. Suck it up and deal!
anon!
I haven't even started chemo yet and already I am b*ggered. We moved into our place on Sunday night.
DH has been madly ripping up more carpet with the help of his father and sanding floors. I've now helped with oiling one of them (orange and tung oils, nowhere near as lethal smelling as tung mixed with petrochemicals). We've been washing walls and ceilings and painting them. The bedroom is mostly done (enough that we are sleeping in it) but we need to do the second coat of paint on one wall and above the pelmet and also rearrange the furniture when we haven't got half the study in the room with us. The place looks like a bombsite but at least two rooms are mostly done.
There's a fault in the lighting wiring that DH has not had time to track down. So far he's found shorts or evidence of arcing in three different lights. (The shorts are not the sort you put on, btw, just to be clear.) He has to get into the roof to see if there is a problem with the wiring. So we don't have any overhead lights and Oz houses use overhead lights a lot. Just as well we have three lamps and a torch!
But the True Horror lurketh in the bathroom and kitchen. The bathroom was not cleaned before the house sitters left. It's ok! It's clean enough!
*shudder*
Half an hour of scrubbing had the bath half clean. The other half needs to be scrubbed. An hour has the accessible parts of the shower cleaned - the others were awaiting an unwanted toothbrush, now obtained. (I use a magic cloth and magic eraser on surfaces - no chemicals, no stinkiness, just plain clean!) The walls are covered in glod (the very opposite of gold). There's emerald green spots everywhere, the colour of some surface sprays and detergents. It appears that someone thought that to clean things, you just spray them with a surface cleaner and then walk away without wiping the stuff off.
*shudder*
The kitchen. Everything is sticky with grease. I know we don't have a fan in the kitchen. That is why you have to wipe surfaces down once in a while with some sort of cleaner. I find a sponge and some detergent works quite well as long as you don't leave it too long. Fridge wipe is my favourite grease cutter - it is just alcohol, water and vanilla ester. Fairly non-toxic and smells nice to boot.
We don't have a dishwasher - it's a 1959 kitchen. We haven't had the money to renovate it at this stage. You need to wash crockery, cutlery and cookware in a small stainless steel sink. I give you exhibit A, the dishrack.
I'm not sure what happened to the dishrack (it has some of the green glod on it, and looked almost furry even though it is chrome plated - pic doesn't show the true horror but it took an hour to clean with magic erasers) but when I opened the cupboard to get out a "clean" bowl and plate, I got a fair idea (exhibits b and c).
(Exhibit b)
(Exhibit c - I dare you to look at a larger size!)
EWWWW! Someone put away crockery that was that dirty? *Everything* in the cupboard was greasy. All the glasses were greasy. All the cups. All the pots. All the storageware. It is just totally horrid.
No apologies for embarrassing our house sitters. I cannot believe they left the place in the state it is, especially given I have cancer and am about to start chemo. Instead of being able to settle in, I have to clean the house from end to end. We have absolutely no recourse against them either cos we never asked for bond. OK, we didn't ask for the carpet to be steam cleaned or even vacuumed. But hell's bells, doing things like removing the cobwebs and dusting stuff would have been nice! Being able to use any of the crockery in the cupboard or having a clean glass to drink out of would be grand. Admitted the toilet has been cleaned recently. But finding a pair of women's undies soaking in the a bucket in the laundry trough - I am sure you can guess why they were soaking! - that were stinking cos they had been there so long, and the trough had not been cleaned in yonks either....
To say I am cranky is not stretching the truth, except in the wrong direction. I am pretty much livid. It never occurred to me that they would leave the house like it. Then again I am a goody goody suck suck who doesn't thrash rental cars, gets embarrassed if bend the corner of a borrowed book and cleans places that I've been staying in before I leave. I guess I am abnormal! All I wanted was to be able to move in, deal with the floors, repaint a couple of rooms and have everything nice before I start chemo.
Well it ain't nice, girlfriend. Suck it up and deal!
anon!
Thank you, I'd prefer not to click if you don't mind. Sounds like a very poor show indeed. Hope something makes you smile tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteOh Lynne that sounds so yuck,at least you have two rooms nearly there,light at the end of tunnel
ReplyDeleteWow. I can't imagine anyone living like that. I'm sorry you have to deal with cleaning it up and touching grody stuff. Just wow.
ReplyDeleteOh yuck, what grotty house sitters! Sadly people don't always take the best care of their own homes, let alone one they are renting. It's typical lazy selfish human nature. The likes of you and me would clean stuff, we have always cleaned before we moved house etc., but what we find is generally other people don't. Hope you don't get too knackered having to clean up, I'd be there helping you if I was local!
ReplyDeleteThe sockies are looking good in the Regia BTW!
There is simply no excuse, obnoxious, inconsiderate behaviour on their part. Hang tough. Read your blog lots, love the travel pictures. I have been thinking of you and will continue to do so in the coming months
ReplyDeleteEeeewww!
ReplyDeleteYou're not alone though ...
I rent rather than own, & always make sure to clean the house from top to bottom before I leave. But whenever I move into a house, I always have to clean it from top to bottom too. I'm not the worlds best housekeeper, but leaving gross stuff for other people to clean up is just not on.
Oh Lynne, that's nasty. And hugely disappointing for you. I hope you're able to get things to a point where you are comfortable without exhausting yourself.
ReplyDeleteEek - that sounds grim. Hope you get it sorted.
ReplyDeleteOh dear- I have a friend who recently returned from 6 months away to similar issues with the house sitters. As yet though I don't believe she has the big C. I wish you well with the cleaning and resettling, and the medical treatments and testing.
ReplyDelete