Villa
Tranquila received some interest a few days ago from a French couple who
thought they might like to overwinter there, next winter. Nothing unusual
about that as parts of France can be particularly cold and unpleasant during
the winter and we find that a lot of French inhabitants like to get away to our
sunny warm climate.
After
sending the usual reply we received an email back saying that as they were
staying, this winter, in the area at Almuñecar, they would like to have a look
at the house. Nothing unusual about that either, so we wrote explaining
that Sunday morning would be a good time to view as we had a changeover and new
people would be arriving in the afternoon and the next viewing opportunity
wouldn't be until February 3rd.
That
was when things began to not make much sense. The letter we got back said
“THANK YOU FOR YOUR FAST ANSWER,
IF IT ARRANGES(SETTLES) YOU, WE CAN COME TOMORROW 0 11 HOURS PM
THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING US HOW TROVER THE HOUSE
CORDIALLY “
IF IT ARRANGES(SETTLES) YOU, WE CAN COME TOMORROW 0 11 HOURS PM
THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING US HOW TROVER THE HOUSE
CORDIALLY “
Writing back, assuming that they had really meant AM
and not PM and enclosing the directions we said "not tomorrow, Sunday at 11? I am enclosing the directions. You can phone
us on 699158769 if you need to. Hasta Sunday,”
Back
came the reply " It is sunday at 11pm is that good for you?
best regards...."
Thinking ....how can they possibly view the
Villa at that time of night?, wondering if they were working in Almuñecar and
couldn't get away, were they responsible people?, would the rent be paid?, was
it a scam and I had given them directions and maybe they were trying to find
out when the villa would be empty so they could break in? Help?
I replied saying...
"Oh dear, no I
am sorry, 11 pm is far too late. We have people arriving at the villa on Sunday afternoon and they will
be staying until Sunday morning February 3rd. If it is possible for you to come another morning next week, I
will arrange it with the people that will be staying at the villa.
Best regards,........"
Saturday morning came the reply.... " a another week is verry
difficult for me , but i can to go earlier on the morning at 7,8 or 9 pm
is good for you? I could wait for you in front of the church
Regards"
By
this time, worry along with serious frustration had set in and it was a matter of simply
couldn't care less if I never heard from them ever again, but not wanting to
appear churlish I wrote, for the last time I thought,
"We will be at the Villa tomorrow morning at 10.30
am. We can meet you at the bus stop outside the village, not at the
church. We do not go into the village, the house is up the hill by the
cemetery. There are people
staying in the house until 10.30 am and we cannot disturb them before
that. Regards,"
To our utter amazement came the reply.........
“C OK I believe that I had made a mistake by
answering I had put PM instead of AM excuses but I do not well speak English
and I translate with REVERSO
has tomorrow”
has tomorrow”
Saturday morning.......
The
German couple staying at the villa overslept so when we arrived just before
10.30 to begin the clean up, we found the
place a complete mess and them lounging outside drinking coffee. We are not in a hurry they casually told us.
Well,
I am sorry but we have some people coming to look at the house at 10.30 I said
by which time the Germans should have been well on their way down the hill.
Sure
enough, on time, arrived an extremely pleasant, French couple and all was chaos
for the next 20 minutes or so.
Later, as we were saying our goodbyes to the German
couple, the male suddenly asked ‘himself’ did he wear shirts. ‘Himself’ did look rather scruffy at the
time which was excusable seeing as he was in working gear but naturally said
that yes he did wear shirts. The German said well, we have found a good bargain
of Burberry shirts very cheap in Motril, I will give you the name of the shop,
they are only 49.50 euros each and cost far more at home, I have
bought 4 and proceeded to rush back into the villa. No, no don’t worry I shouted after him, It’s
OK and as he came back the words came out of my mouth “That is half a week’s rent for us” and as an afterthought, “anyway he (himself) would only get paint all
over them.” The German, unsurprisingly, was a little embarrassed
and we laughed it off but, he had only paid 100 euros rent for the week!
The
French couple stayed for about hour asking questions and trying out the
armchairs and finally deciding that yes, they would like to stay next winter if
the Internet could be arranged after
which we said ‘hasta luego’ and got on with putting the house back to rights
for our next visitors who were due in at Malaga airport from Norway at 11.30 am.
Much
later in the day, hours later than expected, came the phone call.
“Where
exactly are you? The costa tropical she said. Are you on the N340?
We
are on a roundabout. What can you see? Can
you see any shops? Shops?, No, no shops. We have been to Motril. Shall we go to Almeria?
Stay
there, I said, finally giving up. Stay
where you are, my husband will come to find you, but not actually at the time being able to
guess where they were.
He
did find them, after trying all the
usual roundabouts, down on the Port road.
The map that we send out clearly
says “
Do NOT turn off at the Port sign” but, did they bring the map with
them? No, of course they didn’t need the
map, they had a Sat Nav.
When
they arrived at the villa they said to ‘himself’
that there must have been new roads recently built as the Sat Nav couldn’t find
the way. No new roads said ‘himself’. They
then said that the Sat Nav was an old one perhaps not even realising that Sat
Navs need updating now and again. They were in their 70’s, poor things, and
clearly exhausted.
Not that updating the Sat Nav would have made
any difference here.
Why do so many
visitors think we go to the trouble of providing them with maps if they don’t
need them?
We
finally got our lunch about 6 o’clock.
Just
another day!
