August 2023. We were no better then any one else in ‘A new life in the Sun’ or ‘Ik-vertrek’…
Summer holiday and it’s hot. It’s the first time that we are driving up the steep road to our new house since we bought it last April. The tons of water that have come down during spring, have unfortunately further deteriorated the state of the white road leading up to our property, water had clearly negated what was left of the gullies. That was bad news, thinking about the huge lorries that will have to go up and down in the near future…
But that was for later. First we were going to show our place to the girls! To avoid disappointment about not being able to move in directly, we had seriously tempered their expectation. So, thinking they would find something close to a ruin, they were pleasantly surprised and totally in love. And when the division of the bedrooms went smoothly (as one is bigger and the other one has a private entrance) and they could have their say on location of the pool, they were on fully board.
We also met with our new neighbour Lelle (short for Emmanuelle) and architect Luca. Lelle would inform us on the maintenance of the grass and the olive grove he could take on, as with Luca we would visit each room, so he could finalise the drawings in connection with all the permits that are to be requested…
So everybody would be good to go! ….If it wasn’t for the small talk that took place after the inspection of rooms and olive trees. I stated of nicely, with m participating lively (happy with every new person I can befriend in my new habitat). David, not yet able to understand much, had to wait for my translation. So he was in the blind when Lelle (whose surname is actually “Of the water”) frowned and proclaimed: “What do you mean by “a working Well”. Yess, there is a well, but it’s not adequate. The former owner came to me for water.” Silence.
Luca’s eyes left their cases, where David was waiting for clarification about the shock. We had bought a house without water supply. As in the TV-series. While we would have sworn something like that would NOT happen to us. Not to us. Of course not. Not us. In my head I saw the television crew of ‘a new life under the sun’ already driving up our path. Justifiably.
While Luca’s brain was working had on calculating the costs of having to dig a new well as well as the weeks of delay (“no water, no renovation”), I informed David.
The adventure had begun!
