More Walk-Thru than Walk-In, Closet

We've survived wall to wall floating nastiness. We have slept, despite the jet-propulsed roar of fans and air-filters. Our whole lives are condensed into half the space it was before and, now that the Asbestos and Lead-Paint abatement crew have left, We have a see-thru style home, minus two of the vanities, and a toilet that was really quite useful.

A couple of things that have been keeping me awake are the random cigarette butts that the abatement crew saw fit to drop around my patio; the, same, lazy and inconsiderate bastards that tramped through the front door and sullied our small uncontaminated area upstairs, rather than use the back door. Especially compared to the marvelous, considerate and hard working,emergency clean up disaster crew, who spent almost ten days here, without messing up a thing. Lest I forget to mention, they obstructed our heater, which I can understand. I don't really want asbestos blowing around the rest of our living quarters. However, don't leave me to discover for myself, at 7pm in the evening, that I have no heat for the night. Don't promise me an update the next day by 5pm and slide silently away, like the worm you are, and leave us to shiver once again.

The City Utilities' insurance adjuster kept congratulating me for being "Reasonable". I'm pretty convinced that he understands the word reasonable to equate with "Stupid". His enlightenment will come in due course. 

My renters' insurance covers everything, except other folks water, shooting in reverse direction up my pipes. My landlord just decreed that he has bills to pay and will not be reducing our rent for the duration.

I detoured to my office this morning to pull the file I needed. Our lease, signed in 2008, clearly speaks to pro-rated reductions in rent, if portions of premises become uninhabitable. I believe the terms stay in effect, even after expiration of such a document.

I know exactly who will answer that for me, once he returns to his office after a few days away. The other clause that will be of interest is one describing the award of legal fees to the winning party in any dispute.

The Shark is sure to smell blood in the water.

The five paintings, behind the sodden cardboard, are original ink stippling on paper. Thousands of hours to create each one. They all have high tide water damage that cannot be redeemed, as far as I know. These are part of a collection we've purchased one at a time over a long time period, from an artist we used to represent, when we had a Gallery.

I Googled a search on him and several articles popped up, not least of which is an interview by a major Newspaper stating that these works were selling for between $5,000 and $12,000 each, five years ago.

I don't usually "Go-Legal" but, in this case, I've been informed that I'm going to be making a claim against a government entity and all sorts of rules apply. Best share whatever compensation we may get with a proven pro at this kind of thing. If he can arrange a hit on my landlord, whilst he's at it, or expose him for the cheap scum he is, all to the good. That would be the best sleeping potion I could wish for.