And "Ohlalalalalalaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" means "no".
The people who both installed and have subsequently, year by year, opened and closed our swimming pool, disappeared last year. No, not an odd choice of words, they just went. In the much-vaunted style of French customer service, they were there one minute and gone the next. No warning, no "we're retiring/closing down" no message on the answering machine or any kind of e-mail reply.
So, this year, I have had to start hunting for someone to open our pool. TH can't come to France right now, and there are all sorts of electrical/mechanical/technical things to do which are beyond my ken, so I need a man who can.
I was given the name of a man who could by my neighbour. They know him, their son knows him, and, as is so often the way in La France Profonde, dropping the right names is the key to getting people to come and do work. I learned this once, when trying to locate a plumber over the Christmas holiday period on behalf of some friends who had a serious water leak. "Do I know them?" He asked, when I phoned "I don't know" I said, "but they live just round the corner from you". "I don't know them" he went on "and I'm on holiday. Can't they get the person who installed their plumbing to come?" "Well" I replied "He may no longer be with us. The plumbing came with the house, and the house is over 100 years old". He wouldn't come. He didn't know them, and that was that.
Yesterday, then, I called the pool man. "Could you possibly come and open up our pool?" I asked.
"Oh la la la la la la la la la laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah" he said, laced with all the gravitas and intonation necessary to convince me that this was impossible. "Look, it's not urgent" I said "I'm still in the UK at the moment, and I'm not arriving for a couple of weeks" "Oh la la la laaaaaaaaah" He said again " I'm snowed under for at least the next month"
I can't face any more Oh la laaaa- ing, so TH and I have agreed that the pool can stay closed until TH can open it in another month's time.
Hello:
ReplyDeleteHow well we know these kinds of frustrations. Not, it has to be said, in the nature of swimming pools but of plumbing, gas and electrical work. It has taken us over ten years to build up the connections necessary to ensure that, when required, someone will come. But we never take it for granted!
Hello Jane and Lance. Yes, connections are crucial to getting things done, and as you so rightly say, not to be taken for granted. Thanks wholly to our neighbours who were born in the village, know at least half the inhabitants and are related to the rest, we've had luck when needing someone to do most jobs, but this time their recommendation didn't work out.
ReplyDeleteSame in Costa Rica - you need to get to know people who will then haul out the person you require....I'd like to see any tradesman try oh la laaing Dona Mery, all four and a half foot in a flowered pinny with a will of iron...
ReplyDeleteFrance could be frustrating, once the old boys we had known from the start began to retire, but luckily we had access to the Turkish community who could dig up most of the skills required for whatever emergency we had.
But how your description of the plumber and the pool man takes me back! I can almost hear their voices.....
Ah, Fly...it's obviously the same all over! The plumber (not an old man, and we hadn't had need of his services) died of a heart attack some years ago, and the neighbours were devastated. For him and his family, of course, but for themselves and the prospect of finding another plumber, too. Luckily, through the grapevine, they found someone. We've used him now, a few times, and he is lovely: efficient, reasonably priced, unbelievably lax about sending his invoices promptly, equally relaxed about getting paid (I've twice had to ring and almost beg him to send me a bill!) but, above all that, he's only about 35, so we'll be good to go on any plumbing work for a good many years to come!
ReplyDeleteLucky for me, anything which requires muscle, brute force, mechanical know-how or other things way beyond my capabilities have often been solved by simply stepping out of the gate, spying my neighbours and saying "J'ai besoin d'un homme!" (something that could well get me sectioned in the UK). And not an Oh la laaah to be heard, as a rule!
We've been lucky so far, CB, but I've heard very similar tales from unfortunate friends in need. DH can turn his hands to most things, but on the odd occasion he can't, we do now have a invaluable contact or two. How frustrating to have a pool you can't swim in for the first few weeks. I'd love to have a pool, but not just to look at....
ReplyDeleteLuckily, Perpetua, it's only a week without the pool, as I'm coming back, and then the next time we go, TH will be with me. And besides,I'll be quite busy: there's the car to get fixed and CT'd, and a get-together planned with a number of people whose names you may know..... ;-)
DeleteHave fun! Lucky you....:-)
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