Craft Beer Project

First the latest development with my landlady. If you are tired of my whining please scroll straight down to the beer part!

This exercise is destroying my nerves. Then I am up and next thing Im down! Yesterday afternoon it rained so the earth leakage tripped. Lightly were still working but all the plugs were dead. Appears that the new outside lights must have gotten water in them. I send my landlady an sms about the electricity (clearly thats how one should communicate) and in that message I added that I have videos from the weekend to show her. No responce. I see her in the driveway after our walk (in the rain) she scurries away from me as fast as she can. I am maniacally unhappy by this point.

Later I get a call from her about the electricity (she only got my message then). She was back to the happy, concerned, reasonable person I had first met. I again tell her that I have videos to show her "that will put your mind at rest". She says no. She hasnt heard him on the weekend, she is happy that he is not crying. I am overjoyed. I sleep like an absolutely baby that night - seriously I dont think I moved. This morning I see there is a new sms from her. Its a bit problematical this house is old with very thick walls so the reception is dodgy so messages and phone calls often dont get through, so I am generally unsure what time messages were actally sent. But the new sms states: "Please dont get a camera I am convinced hero is lonely no need for animal behaviourist either I feel a dog daycare may be necessary". 

Okay can someone please explain this to me? If she is happy that he is not crying then what is she still complaining about? As long as the dog is not disturbing anyone then how is he's emotional state or well being any of her concern?
She is also cutting down my options severely. On one hand she might just be trying to save me the money for these expensive "treatments" on the other hand its means I have less ammunition to fight my side. I really dont know what to do now - except go house shopping. I have called a local day care but (as per my recent luck) the daycare people were not available for me to talk to them. And thats not exactly gonna come cheap.

Anyway time for a beer (or several)

The Craft Beer Project is something like a club or fan base for craft beer brewers and drinkers.

 Craft beer has in more recent years become much more popular and new microbreweries have been steadily poping up all over the show. I was introduced to craft style beers during my jaunt in the UK after I finished school and its great to be able to get more of these beers and at better prices (since its not all imported). 

Mitchell's is one of the oldest microbreweries in the country.

On Saturday afternoon (when I should have been purchasing a camera) I went along with a friend to the Constantia Craft Beer Project where many local and few international microbreweries were showing off their wares and Damn it was good.

Great beer and some surprisingly good locking guys serving it!

This is a mobile bar! You can hire them to do the bar at events!

 There were a few breweries there that I had heard about and many more that I had never heard of, but they were all good and passionate about their subject. We tasted everything from light beers to dark, German, Belgium, American and English style beers. Even gluten-free beers and coriander beers (these were amazingly good).

You could buy tickets online before and your entry came with a free glass. You then needed to buy a pack of beer tokens that were used as currency during the event. There was also great food and even some hot rods to admire and bands to dance along to. There were even 2 token wine stalls for the wives that had been dragged there by their husbands.

Hot Rods

 I found many new beers that I want to try out some more in the future. In fact I trundled along to the bottle store the next day having forgotten that it was Sunday and that the bottle store would be closed. I cant seems to remember anything or think clearly at the moment. I hope its just all the stress and that it will pass - eventually - someday.

Pet monitoring

UPDATE (Sunday)
Well the meeting went appallingly! She basically teared me a new bum-hole! She explained how frantic and distressed my dog was - like I dont know what that looks like. She has come to the conclusion that the dog has been in such a state for the entire 2 weeks. In fact the only time she has heard him barking was the 2 days that I got messages from her to that effect.

She gave me a speech about how terrible it was and how its worse for an animal to be in that state cos they are even more voiceless (How do you like the irony of that one?). The underlying message in all this is that I clearly dont care for my animal or care about his well being! She goes on to say that she cant have this on her conscience or her Karma!
First of all its not her responsibility and secondly how will her Karma be cleaner for throwing me out after less than 2 weeks? She just wants the moral high ground - probably cos she knows on some level that she is out of line!
When I told her "you have to give me time to fix this" (that was me begging) she then explained that we were playing by her rules and not mine!I honestly stood there for a whole minute just staring at her I did not know what to say to that. Here I am begging for clemency. It is an absurd accusation. She is the one with all the power I am in no position to do anything but beg.

When I eventually persuaded her that I was going to try fix this (what does she think I have been doing for the last week?) she very, very grudgingly agreed to give me a week. Till next friday. So that basically gives me no time at all. When I explained that there were still thing we could try she demanded to know what they were (aggressively). I think the worst part was her telling me how reasonable she was being giving me a week while I am biting through my lip not to tell her what an unreasonable B* she is actually being. I still dont understand why she is so angry with me or how we reached this point in 3 days, without ever having a chance to discuss anything. Its common practice and decency to give the tenant time to resolve an issue. But I suppose that is too common for her!

Basically she believes cos she "is much older than me with more experience" and based "on her own experiences with lonely dogs" that this problem cant be fixed. She adamantly refuses to accept that a solution is possible. Nor does she believe me when I said (many times!) that this is not a problem I have had with this dog before. Clearly she knows my dog better than I do.

I have to admit a part of me feels like my efforts in the next week are going to be pointless, it doesnt matter what I do. She has already made up her mind - we have got to go. I also suspect that even if I can prove the problem is resolved it may just be an excuse to get rid of me for whatever reason. Its also suspicious that the dog next door is still absent. There is also the consideration that the relationship between her and me may already be broken beyond repair. Either way if we cant reach an agreement and she doesnt feel that the problem is resolved then she will give me 2 months notice. The irony, she will probably find a new tenant before the ink is dry on the ad, whereas I may well not find something for us within the 2 months. Not that she cares about that at all.

I cried for many an hour after our meeting. The next morning I set up my tablet in the window and set it to video. It only records a maximum for 45 min but for 40  of those mins absolutely nothing happens. The dog wanders around for a bit after I leave and eats some of the stuff I left for him and then he hops inside and goes to sleep. That afternoon I set up the laptop in the bedroom. it also bottoms out after an hour but its clear the dog is not distressed during that time. he doesnt make a sound.

I am going to get a Gopro camera just now (I phoned my brother for recommendations, after the shop assistants I spoke to yesterday were all useless) that will record a whole day - that will be a seriously boring tape! I suspect that part of the hurry is that friday was month end (the shops were insanely busy) and that is why she does not want to wait.

Anyway I will show her the videos - got to find a way to do that without giving it an I-told-you-so air that might aggravate her. I will let you know what happens. But if she gives me notice she is getting a piece of my mind. You cant do this to a person without getting any kind of come-uppance (I know it wont help and life is not fair and all that jazz, but Im tired of being stomped on and being powerless to do anything about it)!

Oh you know what my father said when I told him? "Welcome to the real world" Thanks dad your sympathy is touch! And my mother wonders why I never want to tell him my problems - he always makes me feel like its my fault (hey often it is, which is when his attitude just compounds the guilt).

Anyway had an awesome time with a friend Sat afternoon at a craft beer festival held near my home, it was super. I will try do a post on it, just to relieve that monotomy of my housing problems!
Keep well
PS anyone else run into these kinds problems with landlords and dogs?