The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!
Lewis Carroll
Word of the day: Barbastelle – a hairy lipped bat
For anyone not keeping track of all my nonsense, myself and my three flatmates recently discovered that the landlady, Julie, has been paying us little visits while we were out.
Having made it clear with our rental contract that we can’t stop her, she’s started popping round every few evenings and using our flat like some kind of storage facility. So far we’ve acquired a broken toaster, a vacuum cleaner that smokes when you turn it on, a bag of plastic spoons and two packs of doilies. Then this evening, Jinjing and Hamoudi were in the kitchen making falafel and I was hanging about hoping to either get some leftovers or summon up the energy to go and get popcorn, when Julie showed up again. She poked her head round the door and said,
‘Ohhh, are you having a party? Alright for some.’ Then went back out into the hall. Hamoudi watched her through the slightly open door, and gave whispered updates to us as to what Julie was doing. Apparently she was checking the paintwork, looking in the toilet and then she took a pile of notebooks out of her back and put them up in the cupboard in the hallway. Thoughtfully she took out Hamoudi’s bicycle pump and my spare towel first, before adding the notebooks and putting a padlock on the cupboard. Then she left. Hamoudi has spent the evening in the hall with a paperclip and YouTube trying to work out how to pick the lock.
‘I just want to know what’s in those notebooks. I’ll bet it’s all information she’s collected about us.’
‘Why would she keep it here then?’
Hamoudi looked at me with ferocious wide-eyes, a man pushed to the edge, I’m not sure what by.
‘To taunt us!’ he said.
inkbiotic 
Y’all need to check with a lawyer specializing in rentals.
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Not sure my gardener’s wages will stretch to a lawyer. Think I’ll go for the good old British way of doing nothing and hoping it gets better soon. 😉
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Oh, and put that ‘junk’ in her basement.
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Wait, is that a euphemism??? 😉
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aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahha!!!
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I think she is lonely. Seems she does things for attention.
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Definitely she likes attention. And yeah, lonely would explain why she spends so much time at our flat. Damn, you’re making me feel sorry for her!
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Gave you a mention at the end of my story -https://darnellcureton.com/2019/06/07/whats-my-name/
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Ooh, thanks 🙂 ! Going to go read now…
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Depends how much you want to let her get to you. Smash the padlock and then buy one just like it that she can’t open. Deny all knowledge…
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Ha! The innocently evil approach, I like it!
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What a nightmare. Maybe you guys should start walking around naked. If feeling modest, you can take it in turns when no one else is around (except the landlady). Of course, being British, that’s probably not in your makeup either.
By the way, I nominated you for a Sunshine Blogger Award.
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Oh thank you! I like a bit of sunshine!
As for walking around naked, maybe we could do a variation of that and walk around weird. Wear huge colourful hats or a jester’s costume, but never mention it. If she asks we look at her like *she* is weird. People tend not to like weird things, I find.
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It has to be some organization that helps renters for a very low money. I pay 50 € a year to be a part of renters association and that includes a lawyer should I ever need one.
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Thank you for your concern, it’s really sweet, but I am fine really. And if I solved all the problems in my life, what would I write about?
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Boring people have boring lives. Troubles are the bases for good story telling. You’ve got me hooked wondering what will be in your next episode of your LL.
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Well, thank you! I aim to entertain 🙂
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Love the Lewis Carroll take. However on a more serious note. Legally, your landlord is not allowed to enter your apartment while you are out. And she is supposed to give notice of any visit while you are in… I would look into that.
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I appreciate your concern 🙂 It was a whole discussion we had with her, turns out we don’t rent the apartment, we each rent a room, so essentially she is only meant to give notice before entering our rooms. It was in the contract, it’s very annoying. It’s not something I’ve seen before, but it does seem to be legal.
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Not to be a trouble causer or anything, but just because it’s in her contract, doesn’t make it legal. There are strict rules set in place to protect both the landlord a nd the tenants. While you are renting, whether it be a room, apartment, or house, that makes it your home. You have privacy rights which can only be infringed upon if you are breaking the law. be infringed upon if you are breaking the law. Anyway, as long as you are happy with whatever arrangement you have, that what counts. 🙂
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Thank you, I will bear it in mind. Maybe if it comes to a crunch point I’ll use that. 🙂
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