Plumbers, ceilings and black mold ...oh my...

We’ve had problems with the upstairs bathroom since we first moved into this house a year ago. Since December it’s slowly become worse, with floods, water pouring through the kitchen ceiling and finally we’d had enough. We’d asked the landlord to get a plumber in back in February, then again in April. Once again he sent someone just to snake the toilet and this time the man took a good long look at the problem, shook his head and did the ‘you need a plumber love, I can’t fix this.’

So on Thursday of last week the plumber arrived and took a look see.

The news wasn’t good. The pipes were cracked. He’d have to be back on Monday to fix it as he’d need to rip out part of the kitchen ceiling.

All through the weekend there was a slow drip, drip, drip onto the kitchen floor, even after the plumber had turned off the water up there, so when he arrived this morning the look of horror on his face was a sight to see. After digging his way into the ceiling the swearing and ‘oh shit’ commenced. It was a mess. Black mold in the ceiling. The boards and plaster were sopping wet and it was lucky it hadn’t caved in on us all. But, after 5 hours work he had the pipes replaced. Unfortunately we now have a large hole in the ceiling and mold to deal with.

We have to wait a week to help dry it all out, then call a contractor in to fix that. Which could mean all the boards up there being removed, the ceiling replaced and dust everywhere. Including some of the kitchen cabinets being removed whilst they work.

I don’t think the landlord is going to be very pleased. But he should have had someone out months ago after the first flood. And this is coming out of the rent we pay him.

On top of that a week ago our room mate, John, left, without warning, to run off to his latest fling. At first I was very hurt by this. We’ve put a roof over his head and paid his way for the most part for the past 16 months. But now I realize just how much stress his growling, scowls and shouting at the children had caused. I feel lighter. I’m also physically lighter as well. We’ve also found out many of the lies he’d told us. Including work on the chat site I own that he failed to do. Some of it dating back up to six months as we’ve now found out from room controllers on the site.

I wish him and his new lady luck. But I’m reminded of the fact that a leopard can’t change his spots.

Do I miss the friendship with him? Of course I do. He was a big part of my life and the lives of my husband and children for a long time. But we’ve learned that it meant little or nothing to him by the way he’s acted towards us. Perhaps, in time, he’ll finally make amends by treating us as human beings, not disposable people.

However – I’m not holding my breath.

So onwards and upwards. My husband now has to work longer hours as John isn’t here to do the work he gave his word to do. I now have to juggle things even more as he isn’t here to help with the children and give me the dedicated writing time he promised, yet again, only three weeks before he left. And I’m not going to go into the rest of the details as – well the lady he is with deserves a chance to see if he can change, without having my doubts whispering at the back of her mind.

Triskelion, one of the companies I am with, has lost some of its best and brightest, so I’m watching to see what will happen there. I have to admit being a little uncertain as, despite comments on list, I’ve yet to see a royalty statement for a book that has now been out 2 months. I’m hoping this is just a glitch.

Loose-ID. I’ve got two releases coming soon with them. And they are still a joy to work with. I’m currently working on the second in, I hope, a series for them.

Mojo- what can I say. I love working with Stef. She’s a hoot. And she treats her authors like people instead of cattle.

Chippewa/Lady Aibell. Major issues there. One book was published without a contract it appears. And efforts to sort this out have been met with silence and apparent ‘email’ issues. Oddly enough I didn’t have any problem with Catherine Chant, the editor I was working with there until recently. Add to that the lack of royalty statements and the haphazard way payments show up (when/if/maybe) I’m at the point of pulling everything from there and washing my hands of them. I don’t like that. Rebecca is a nice person, but she currently seems unable to manage the situation.

So that’s where things currently stand and now I need to go back and focus on my writing. I’m 10,000 words into Magic’s Line right now and hoping to get the first draft finished by the 15th.

Terri Pray