Yesterday was surreal...it's Monday morning the sun is shining and it's a lovely day, what could go wrong...mmm
I 've got this driveway which visitors drive over and have been causing some damage to the concrete edging. So, the guy that comes and does my garden suggests he does some repair work, I agree and he arrives and starts work around 8:30 pm. all well and good. We've always got on well, he does the work, I pay him. He seems a nice enough man, got a nice partner and he's off on holiday soon. What can go wrong you ask?
I also had two other guys coming the same time to do so some repair work in my house, nothing major, they too are lovely guys. They potter about and I bring them water, they park in front of my house for a couple of hours and then go at lunchtime. Great.
The gardener is parked out in the main driveway under some trees to stop his large vehicle getting hot. He usually parks in front of my house but hey, it's hot. He;s not blocking the drive so my neighbours can still get out.
Meanwhile, I'm catching up trying to get my oven repaired, walking the dog, housework and stuff to do with my little business.
What can go wrong you ask? Well, lots actually, in the space of 3 hours.
Said gardener's girlfriend turns up and parks right next to the gardeners big 4 x 4 and blocks the drive. I don't know how long she'd been there but there they were, large and life, just standing chatting in the middle of my drive! He was supposed be working repairing my drive. So, I wander over and the girlfriend turns to me and says (rather aggressively)
"i'm not staying long I'm just bringing him his dinner".
The gardener is standing behind he and complains its hot and no-one has given him any water. He tells me that no one can talk to his girlfriend like that.
I'm not introduced to this woman who's on my property without my permission but I let it go as she says she is leaving. I walk back into the house thinking 'what the hell was that all about'?
Anyway, 10 minutes later she's still there, car parked across my drive, they are both chatting and I'm paying him! So, I go over to the gardener/handyman and say to him something along the lines of
"it would be helpful if you could have just checked with me"
He then enters into a rant about it being hot, he wasn't given a drink of water, the drives not busy so what was the problem with his girlfriend's car being parked across my drive which I own. Basically, I'm being really unreasonable!
I said I thought they were being disrespectful to me and I turn to the woman and I ask her if she wouldn't mind just reversing into my drive as she is blocking the main drive and again she said she wouldn't be long but very aggressive. At that point she suddenly got in her car and tore off down the drive!
At this point the gardener suddenly said:
"Don't you talk to my girlfriend like that"
With that he stomped off down my drive and to finish the job. I was really anxious to get the job finished so I apologised to him and gave him a bottle of water and that was that. I was a bit taken aback by it all to be honest.
The gardener finished and left a whole load of hardcore from edging on the garden. He texted me with the cost of the work but he seemed reasonably friendly. I asked him about the hardcore and he said that he could move it immediately and that he would do it gradually over the next few months. I really wasn't happy about this as, it seemed to me, the job was not finished. So, I texted him back saying that I'd pay him 3 quarters of what I owed and the balance when all of the hardcore is taken away.
Whoa...I then got a phone call from this guy and rude, you wouldn't believe it. He accused me of being rude to his girlfriend, he said that if I didn't pay in full he'd come back and rip the whole lot out! I just stood and listened to a long diatribe of, basically threats.
He told me that my driveway was shared with my neighbour therefore he and his girlfriend could park where they liked. He told me my text was childish. He said that he had never agreed to take the hardcore away anyway. He said that if I didn't pay in full he'd order a skip and dump all the hardcore in that and I'd have to pay for it. It was awful. I couldn't get a word in edgeways. After he'd finished ranting I'd said I'd pay in full as I accepted he'd not agreed to take hardcore away.
He accused me again of upsetting his girlfriend. It just went on and on.
After he stopped for breath, I asked him what I had supposed to have said to upset said girlfriend and apparently I'd told her to get off my land as it was private which I certainly had not said and I told him so.
It was surreal, bizarre.
He told me he got on very well with my neighbours and, as far they were concerned the driveway was shared and I was making a fuss over nothing. He was patronising, rude and unkind. Totally different to this kind, sweet guy that came very two weeks to mow my lawn.
So, I've decided that I pay him because he has threatened to rip up all of the work if I don't. I cannot have him coming to my house any more because I'd be worried his mad girlfriend would turn up with his dinner! So, I'm looking for another gardener sadly.
I've got find someone who will take away half a ton of hardcore which is now sitting on the grass next to the drive.
The day started so well.