Be yourself; Everyone else is already taken.

— Oscar Wilde.

I’ve never had a problem being myself, and being Married to the Viking is great, because he’s larger than life and let’s me live large next to him. So, without further ado, here we go.

I’ve already talked a bunch on the social webs about my experiences, so my first few blogs will be repeats, cleaned up, and enjoyed on this blog. But first, one that hasn’t been published.

The first flat I started managing now has several years of great reviews, hundreds of guests and lots of great memories. But the one taking the cake right now was just a few weeks ago.

Our city is cold in the winter and hot in the summer. We have aircon splits to help manage the extremes, but like all things, they break.

Unbeknowst to me, Christmas Eve, one broke. But I wasn’t informed until the 28th of December. The sms’s informing me and my reaction (measured, controlled, g-rated) went like this. My internal reactions in BOLD,

Guest: Hi, its 915 and we are leavning.BTW, the heat never worked. We downloaded manuals and followed instructions but it never worked.

Me: So, when did this happen. AND YOU ARE TELLING ME NOW????? AFTER YOU STAYED THERE FOR FOUR NIGHTS?

Guest: Nop. Never worked. Oh, and our car in your awful parking space has a dead battery.

Me: So did you call the rental company? They should send someone…

Guest: Yes, have a nice life.

So, please keep this in mind, its the 28th of December, its cold, and I HAVE NO HEAT for the next guests. The flat owner doesn’t respond instantly to my SOS texts, and I scramble to call my guy, a technician. OF COURSE he understands my problem, and NO, he can’t come till the 30th of Dec.

The owner does write back, runs up to check on it, yes, we are screwed, and rushes out to buy space heaters. As of this date, we are still waiting on a part from the guy in the thing in the place and I suspect we are paying through the nose for the electric space heaters.

SOOOOOO, these hosting websites ( where you find your cheap apartment for vacation) not only making YOU the guest write something, I get to write something.

Usually, its guests were great, they didn’t smoke or put their feet on the wall while having a loving moment, they picked up after themselves, and they only drank 7 liters of beer instead of 23.

However, I sometimes do fill them out honestly as per request. I told the webs my guests 1. didn’t leave things very clean (pubes every where, footprints everywhere, didn’t even try to hide the fact that four people used the toliet for 4 nights) and 2. they didn’t communicate well. They snuck out saying, OH YAH THE HEAT IS BROKEN. And I couldn’t do anything. Until after. And now a whole pile of guests have to live with it. So I was honest. Not rude, honest.

That night, the guest writes me back, seething…..HOW COULD YOU WRITE SUCH HONEST AND TRUTHFUL THINGS?

I didn’t write back. I’m ok with it. I slept well. Because tomorrow is another day, another guest, and another story…..