Renovation project - The kindness of strangers

Renovation project - The kindness of strangers

Our long day did not stop with the end of the blog yesterday. One of the guests that we had the other week was coming back to view another house, this time not with us and we did not have any vacancies for her either but she still arranged to come for dinner, we really are making some good friends through the B&B and the estate agency.

She calls at the house and it is like welcoming a long lost fried, it's hard to believe we only met her a couple of weeks ago, she heads straight for 'her chair' on the kitchen patio and we share a glass of wine (or 2).

All of our guests are settled in and I go to start dinner, when the door knocks again, it is the return of our new neighbour, this time, terribly upset, they have just turned the shower on to find a big leak and the toilet is not working, there is water coming through the living room ceiling they have traveled so far and are exhausted.

John grabs his plumbing tools and heads down there to sort it out, a couple of hours later he is back, he has stopped the flood but cannot fix the problem, the saniflo toilet is completely knackered.

These people had been paying a management company to oversee their property whilst they were in a different country, it was obvious that nobody had ever been to the house in all the years they had been paying.

They were distraught. I am distraught as there is nothing we can do to help now, we are full, they cannot stay in the house and it is August, the busiest month for B&B's in the town.

I start to ring the other B&B's and find a room for tomorrow, we do have a tent and this looks like it maybe the best option, but I call a friend and see whether there is anyway they can help out for tonight.

After I have explained the situation, my friend insists that they stay the night with her and her husband.

Our new neighbours are amazed by the kindness of strangers, but this is one of the reasons we love here so much, the place really is this friendly and helpful.


I take them to my friends and go back to cook dinner, John is knackered and hungry so we end up going out for dinner, now I really do need that glass of wine, and so begins a week of wine, friends, more wine, food, more wine, visiting and yet more wine!!!!

But I really don't go out very often!!!!!!