I'm sitting on my dining table, sipping on a Marqués de Caranó Gran Reserva 2001 and wonder whether anyone has missed the oenophilic intros? When I lived in Grenoble, when I didn't have a dinner without a glass of red wine for a solid two years running, it was pretty much de rigueur to start a post with a reference to a current or imagined red delight in my glass. To me as a writer it was very interesting to see in how many different ways stories could evolve that all started from the same liquid premise.
In a very similar way, I'm curious to see where this post is going to go. Some things have happened; they deserve mentioning. Surprising connections have been imagined; they have an equally prominent place here. Nothing is as the readers' eyes see it. Or is it? Ask me – it's my blog.
The other day I got a letter from Morgans, the trading name of Morgan Management, as the fineprint helpfully informs. I was advised of an upcoming property inspection sometime during the next months. That's how vague the letter was. It would take place "during the course of the next month", the letter said, expecting that I'd happily give up any claim to privacy during that period.
I don't. I've argued my case before. I don't appreciate the possibility of someone walking into my flat while I'm taking a shower or practicing a post-modern dance routing in the nude down my endless corridor. This time, this wasn't even my greatest concern. I was much more preoccupied with the sudden name change of the company that I'm dealing with. How does Kingstar turn into Morgan, with a new telephone number but the same old address? Am I under the spell of a tax-evading letterbox company?
I called to find out. There wasn't much to it. One is the rental agent, the other the management company, but the operate from the same offices. This resolved, I found myself absorbed in an animated discussion with a telephone wallah who was not in the least sympathetic to my situation. She reminded me that I was in breach of contract for having changed the locks but couldn't be bothered to schedule an appointment for the inspection. The letter said that "we do not propose that any specific arrangements be made in advance", and there was no way for me to convince her otherwise. It mattered not a bit that they would again be in breach of contract if they tried to enter my flat without my explicit consent.
Tomorrow I might call the company enlisted to execute the inspections. From their website (They do have one!), they seem to be more legit than Morgans/Kingstar. I can't see they would do their business in disregard of the law. But tonight I don't much care. The Marqués de Caranó is far from the best wine I've had. But it put me out of my mind and into the right mood to enjoy the four CDs I've recently purchased, four CDs that, as a set, would expand almost anyone's collection.
- Fondo by Vieux Farka Touré
- Juno Soundtrack
- The Division Bell by Pink Floyd
- Quatour pour la fin de temps by Messiaen
2 comments:
I have two outta four. And speaking of music, one of my favorites is playing in Hyde Park on June 30th. Mumford and Sons, maybe you could check it out. They were one of the groups in the second round of CD's I wanted to send you. But I haven't heard much of a review from the first round ever. ;)
Stacy, I can guess the ones you have.
I'm almost ready to give you a personal ranking of the CDs you sent, but a review is much harder ;-)
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