So what now?

I will skip the catalogue of awfulness of 2010 so far, apart from a few choice gems:

1. CBN (crazy bastard neighbour) has taken to cutting off the gas supply to the top floor flat by turning a valve in the hallway. He believes this is "his" pipe, so he is justified in tampering with it. This is for the heating and hot water for X & Y's flat. Not that CBN can do anything with this pipe anyway, though it originally supplied the gas to the gas lamp in his ceiling. Like, back in 1935.

2. CBN believes X & Y's cupboard that, admittedly a construction slightly "bricolage", sticks out over the hall, should be removed. Because it's "moche". Cupboard is part of X & Y's floorspace (it's built-in, or built-out I guess).

3. CBN wanted X & Y to stop using their terrace for safety reasons (the same guy who went walking on his own beams, 5 metres above ground, to fix ("fix") the drainpipe), and took pictures of them on their terrace as evidence (of what? reckless behaviour?). X & Y smiled and waved on all pics.

So anyway, there is more.  I will spare you.

9th of June is the date we go to court to sort the mess out. We are suing them to put right their damage. They are suing us for some sort of tenuous obstruction motive. I have absolutely no confidence in the legal system, nor do I have confidence in anyone ever anymore, so I am preparing myself for defeat and yet more financial burden. Boohoo.

The next plan is, what do we do to get into the flat without having to rely on CBN?
What I need to have, for moving in to be tolerable:

1. Cooking facilities (got microwave, toaster, fridge, kettle. Will live off tea + toast + Aiki noodles. Fine.)
2. Hot water
This?

It's a small water heater.
We could fit the old sink from the now removed kitchen, or one of these free-standing Ikea whatsits:

3. Heat: we have these old gas heaters still, of which at least one allegedly works.

Stylish, non? Made by Nestor Martin, still going strong after all these years (must be at least as old as me), Nestor Martin themselves going strong since 1854!
True Belgian quality :)
http://www.nestormartin.be


4. Washing facilities: fit a basic bathtub with shower attachment, it would be great if it could look nice and simple and non-building-sitey:

5. We'd also want to plumb in our washing machine to the existing old pipes, and perhaps a basic sink in the bathroom too, though we could use the kitchen sink for most stuff. This from Brico is only 25€

Finally, we'd need a place to store all our belongings apart from the basics, until the renovation project is finally complete, some time in the next decade at this rate. Storage costs around 70€ a month, that's not too bad.
Then we'll need to rearrange our floor to cover the gaps (we could call it "reclaimed flooring"), and live with mood-lighting due to no ceiling lights being fittable.

There's actually a hotel in London, the Rought Luxe Hotel, that seems to have made this style of semi-renovated living into an enterprise worth upwards of £250 a night. So we could find ourselves the height of fashion, you never know.

pics from Rough Luxe

Milan designers Emiliano Salci and Brett Moran have also made their home out of an unfinished rough-hewn style. And they were featured in Elle Decoration and Wallpaper* magazine (stupid farty asterisk).

pics from Wallpaper*

So a stylish Brussels* future may await us after-all!