Back in Europe

Back in France

Back at home

Back at the office

Sorry for the lack of posts, I’ve noticed that the sms’s that I sent from Tunis to Twitter never arrived bummer!

I’ve managed to upload some pictures… The delay was caused by the stupid Windows Vista installed at home , I’ll try to upload some more soon (when possibile )

Cheers.

P.s. The missus and I are fine and happy all is well al7amdulillah

What do you think?

Sorry for the lack of posts, I’ve been extremely busy lately.

As you all know I got married and my wife & I will have the wedding party (reception) in a few months, then we’ll move back together to Montpellier (insha’ Allah!!)

• House hunting. (no luck with this)
• Various preparations to do in Tunis. (she’s handling it ;))
• Wedding invitations. (work in progress on both sides)
• Wedding clothes. (Thank GOD that I finished 1 thing at least)
• Buying furniture. (planned for the coming weeks)
• Rearranging the apartment and cleaning. (planned for the coming weeks)
• Attend my friends and colleagues wedding. (DONE!)
• TAXES!! (I’ll never be done with this :’( )

I keep dreaming that everything is OK and that all the points are done, unfortunately as the cartoon states I need to wakeup and start moving  to make my dreams a reality

P.s. To all the people who tried to contact me, I’m really sorry for the lack of replies, I’ll get in touch with you ASAP!

I remember hating small cities/towns, shopping is not easy (you can’t find everything you want/need), nothing to do after a while (seriously what can you do after 10+ years is a city of no more than 300′000 people?)

2 week-end’s ago I went to Milan to visit my aunt and cousin and do a few personal things, as you may imagine I was happy and excited to go back to Milan (Caput mundi — capital of the world in latin at least for me), shoping, people, friends, being able to do what I wanted (in terms of going around and sight seeing).

Boy was I wrong!

I would have never imagined to say this, but I got accustomed to living in Montpellier. Let’s face it

• Limited/no smog
• No traffic (at least not close to the one’s in Milan)
• I can find more or less the same things available everywhere else

On the other hand I’ll always miss Milan for

• My Family (Aunt, cousins)
• My grandmother’s home
• GOOD FOOD!
• Transportation (when not full)

I just realized that I kept only the good memories and stuff in my head, all the bad stuff (traffic, smog, politics, …etc…) I erased it from my head (it’s common right?)

The good thing is that  my aunt and cousin are OK

This thing said, I need to go ahead and think about my future (preparations, re-establishing contacts with friends, and work).

[Flashback]

I have an appartment that my grandmother [God rest her soul] left to me after she died in Milan.
A few years ago before she died my mother and myself decided to rent it out so that we can cover tax and building expenses, we didn’t want to make any money from it, so we rented it at €700 a month (It’s an extreemly cheap price for an appartment of 50sq. m. in Milan, they usually go for over €1′200 easy).
We rented it to an Italian/Tunisian couple after the we asked the doorman (doorwoman to be pricise) about him since he already lived in another appartment in the same building, she told us that they were clean and that they were nice people …etc… (all good things) so we gave them the appartment.
The guy [husband] signed the lease in his name payed the 3 moth’s bond and all went well for the first 6 months.
Shortly after he stopped paying, I called him and he complained that water was leaking from the roof and that he will not pay till all is fixed, I explained that the roof is part of the building and that I can’t fixit without the approval of the counsel, so I called the building administrator and explained to him the situation, he promissed to fix the issue asap, and the guy started to pay rent again. all was fine for a couple of months till he stopped paying once more, I tried to get in touch with him but he would’nt answer the phone, and when I was in Milan I tried knocking on the door but no one answered (I remember clearly that someone was in the appartment when I rang the door bell) I tried many times but never managed to get in touch with him, so I (my mom) hired a lawyer, he worked for over 2 years to ask for the money and evict the people from the appartment.
Unfortunately Italian law is very protective of the people who rent appartments if it’s nothing to do with taxes, we tried to kick them out in winter but there is a law that prohibits us from doing that if there were children involved (they has 2 children and a third on the way). Spring came and we tried again only to discover that we can’t because the guy was under house arrest therefore he cannot be evicted (too many people in Italian prisons ), seeing this I really got pissed off of the doorlady (she added an enemy to her list ) so the lawyer asked the municipality to pay the rent, they rifused and we filed another motion to evict him in summer, all seemed to go well till the trike of the Italian legal system that happed a couple of years ago related to the political elections, so that got postponed, autumn came and we filed for another eviction, suprisingly it got accepted (finally you would think!!) but AHHH we are in Italy and by Italian law the owner, lawyer, justice department representative and the police should be present, and as luck would happen the police was not available, a month later the representative from the justice department wasn’t present .
Winter came so we can’t kick them out, but the lawyer asked to see the house and the various issues that the guy complained about, but he never got any reply, he tried more than once, till he recieved a letter from the guy saying that he will give us the keys and the appartment if we forget about the back rent (at the time it was around €15′000) I replied that he will give me back the appartment with ALL the rent that he owes me (that was the last I ever heared of him).
The lawyer tried to get all 4 parties together again so that we can get in the house, so finally 3-4 days ago EVERYONE was present (and that’s why I had to leave for Milan in a hurry).

[The story]

I got the locksmith and we met on 24/5 to open the door.
As soon as we got up to the appartment, the representative of the legal dept. started to bitch seeing the armoured door saying “I’ll not stay here if they will take long to open it!” and “I’m not staying here at the stair well with this heat,bla, bla, bla…” I looked at her surprised and she quited down a bit, luckly the locksmith told us that we would take 30 minutes tops (he was a man of his word) after hacking/cutting/sawing/hammering the locks gave in and I entered my home for the first time in 3 years

I was first to enter the appartment and I was shocked!!! (I’ll post pictures here later)
IT WAS A MESS!!! ALL THE DOORS WERE REMOVED (including their frames), BATHROOM IN A DESASTER, THE MASTER BEDROOM… ARGH!!! :cry:
Not only that but the small room (it used to be a small salon) with a bed a broken closet and the house was full of trash/bags and clothes.
I started to take pictures, the justice dept. lady started to note things and the police started to check out the bags and stuff.
The showed me pictures of a guy with girls and such, and asked if he was the guy, I told them no the guy was much older, they continued to look thru the bags and found a passport, a theft clame, credit cards, Italian driving licence for various people, shopping bags with clothes and hats & caps, one of the bags had a tag on it of a Canadian guy with his address in Canada.
The first thing that popped into our heads was that there was an (or more than one) illegal immigrant who stole stuff and sold clothes in the street, they took all the legal documents, told me that I was the legal guardian of the stuff for 15 days and left.
I stayed there to take more pictures, thinking poor Canadian guy, my idea was to ship the bag to him after I find him when the 15 days are over.
I leave the appartment, close the door, and see 2 guys coming up the stairs (wait a minute the only appartment on the 7th floor is mine what the hell are they doing?!) they see me and ask if I could open the door so that they could get their stuff, I GOT PISSED!!!
I told them that the appartment is mine and that we just evicted the people who were living there, they asked again if I could open the door so that they could take their stuff, I obviously said no. (shouting and yelling soon came after) I told them that they needed to go to the police, so we went to the nearest police station where they told us that we needed to go another station.

On the way to the second station one of the guys started to explain the situation, he was a male model (early 20’s) and that we was in Milan for a photo shoot and that he met the other guy who gave him the keys of the appartment so that he could leave his stuff in it (he wasn’t helping… I got more pissed), the other guy (totally gay) was a model recruter or something, we reached the police station where we explained the situation and they told us to come back in the morning since the office was closed. (I had planned to comeback to Montpellier on the 25th) they were scared that I would leave them and don’t give them back their stuff (they tried to explain their situation over and over, the male model also showed me a picture of him and Byonce) [I'll be damed if I cared!!! the guy who rented the appartment owes me more than €50'000 and I really don't think that she will help by paying that sum], I promissed to stay to try and help them get their stuff back and called my lawyer, he explained that for 15 days I was the legal guardian of all the things in the appartment because it was still the property of the guy who rented it, and only he can ask for it otherwise I could get in jail if he claims that something is missing, then he advised me to give them his office number and tell them to get in touch with the guy who rented the appartment and call him to get an appointment to get the stuff.

{remember he is under house arrest therefor he cannot get out} They managed to get his wife (she’s an UGLY!!! woman who thinks that she is smart) who in turn managed to get her self delegated from her husband to get the stuff. but as luck would have it my lawyer was out of town and would get back on Monday. I got sorry for the guys (they seemed honest and in the middle of something they don’t know anything about) so I told them to go to the police station so that they could validate the woman’s piece of paper, (the police called saying that it was OK) so they came and took their stuff around 9pm and I started to note all the things that were going out of the appartment on a piece of paper (just to be on the safe side).
On the piece of paper I noted that the lady had seen the appartment and the stuff in it and any thing left she would reliquish her rights to them + that she has seen the damages to the appartment.
She refused to sign the paper shouting that the damages were not caused by her or her husband and that they fixed it because it was a dump yada, yada, yada ….. I stopped the guys and told them that nothing goes out till the lady signs the paper, she get’s pissed off and threatens to call the police, I told that she can call whom ever she wants.
She calls the police and we wait for them to arrive…. 2h pass and the police didn’t show up!! so she calls again and she “discovers” that the door bell isn’t working, anyway to shorten the story, the police get’s to the appartment were the door was wide open, look in and see me and a friend of mine in the hall way, one of the guys asks who called them and I pointed to the lady who was standing in the balcony, she comes in all shaking and the police started to shout saying “did you call claiming that the owner didn’t want to let you out of the appartment?” she didn’t know what to say (I started to laugh) and told the police that the door was open and that I said that the stuff cannot leave not them.
The police asked what was the issue, she tried to explain but he cut her short stating that I was the legal guardian and that she needed to sign that paper since this is a legal despute, he then asked me to be a bit more precise regarding the damages, and left.
I added some of the visible damages and she signed the paper and they left with the stuff (around 11:30)

The thing is not over yet, I asked my lawyer to add moral and material damages to the plaint, and told him that if he will not pay the money I hope that for every €1 he owes me he would get a day in prison.

I don’t think that I could get 20% of the sum, but I won’t back down!!!

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I hope to find everything in good order, otherwise I’m going to sell it and get rid of it (I really don’t want to, but if the costs are too high then what other options do I have?)

On the bright side it seems that all the trip will a be sunny and temperate (not that I care about the temperature I’ll use the AC )

Therefore, with my crooked smile I wish you guys a happy and good end of the week.

Ciao

It wasn’t me (honest)… Some personal stuff came up so I have to go to Milan.

The plan is this…

23rd I leave to Milan by car ~650km

25th I go back to Montpellier by car ~650km

27th I leave Montpellier to Cagliari via Paris by plane ~1800km

1st I leave Cagliari to Montpellier via Paris by plane ~ 1800km

That makes a grand total of 4900km’s (give or take a few km’s ), and to think that I asked the company to book me a flight from Milan and Back, not only it would have been cheaper but it would have saved me 1 car & 2 plane trips. Unfortunately it wasn’t possible due to ticket pricing limitations.

Well, I seem to have 2 very tough weeks in my hands. Wish me luck.

P.s. The Gallery is up and running properly, I’ve managed to add a few pictures. I still have some issues with the “Photo” link available on the top of the blog (I’m working on it).

Hopefully I’ll be leaving soon, I’m not going to say when since I don’t want to jinx it

Don’t worry camelette I’ll send you an SMS soon to tell you

Wish me luck!!

P.s. I miss my family/friends and the dessert (I have butterflies in my stomache)

I can say that managed to cut my hair today I feel like a little kid ~yay~

And today I started a one week Six Sigma course at the office (obviously in the office we call this BPI)

It’s not easy, it involves a lot of statistics and researching but if this can help us stay at the top why not?! My company is planing to save over 600M+$ this year, and I can get certified if I manage to save over 50k$ (wish me luck ;))

Ohh.. By the way I managed to get the envelopes, Inshaa’ Allah I’ll send the (very late) by the end of the week

(p.s. yes yes… my moral is up!! I don’t have to be at my desk the whole week ;))

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