It was raining quite heavily earlier on this morning here in Lewes, UK. Now the weather has improved slightly with alternate dry and drizzly moments.
In case you think I am showing a typically English obsession with the weather, there is a reason for this explanation.
That For Sale sign (see my blog for 28/10/2010 for the full story) across the road at what was Ron’s Inconvenience Store, is still there after two years as a blot on my landscape and the principal view from my living room window. Now don’t think ill of me or accuse me of getting obsessive about this. I was first promised that it would come down six weeks ago by a pleasant and plausible woman at Oakleys, the respected Lewes estate agents when I rang to ask when it was being removed as another respected estate agent, Rowland Gorringe, had removed their’s, on the 27th. September just a few weeks after yet another respected Lewes estate agent, Cubitt & West put up their Sold sign after successfully selling the property.
The nice plausible woman told me repeatedly over the next five weeks that the contractors had been told to remove the offending sign but they had told her they were very busy but would do it when they had the time but, as you can see, to no avail.
Then, a week ago, I spoke to a charming and effective-sounding man called Bryn who told me that he had rung the contractors at the end of the previous week telling them to take down the sign and that that was, in fact, the first time that the contractors had been asked to do it as Ron’s family wanted to make sure that the sale was going through before the sign came down. fair enough, I thought. Bryn promised me that the sign would come down by last Friday but, as you can see, it didn’t.
So the nice plausible woman had been talking through her “howz-yer-father” for five weeks – she should get a job in MI5. Maybe she has done. She is a master of disguise.
Anyway, to cut a long story long, I rang again today, having decided that I would speak to Lewes planning department if nothing happens this week, apparently there is a regulation that only one sign is allowed on a building that is up for sale. I thought though, I should give Oakleys one more chance. Bryn sounded like a decent bloke after-all.
I spoke to Chris, who is also a decent bloke I think, Bryn was “with a client.” Chris, who sounds as honest as any estate agent that I have have ever spoken to, told me that Bryn, true to his word, had rung the sign contractors “several times” last week but the contractors had told him that they couldn’t put their ladders up in adverse weather conditions and it had been too windy and wet for them to work.
Chris understood my frustration but added that I wouldn’t want the poor guys to get killed taking down the sign. I said that if they didn’t do it soon then I wasn’t so sure that I would mind their death by falling from a great height.
So I am on weather watch wondering what are ideal climatic conditions for those contractors to climb their ladder. Drizzle is too wet obviously so no hope for today. Let’s hope tomorrow will be hot and sunny – well maybe not hot, too exhausting, or sunny either I suspect, too damaging for the skin. I am hoping that this light breeze will drop too but, don’t worry, I shall keep you all informed.
In the meanwhile, to avoid the yellow blob that is the view from the front of my house, I shall look out the back at my garden where my roses, passion flowers, clematis and fuchsias are still blooming. My delicate flowers are a lot tougher than some English contractors.
