It isn’t that all the cats here don’t get along – they (mostly) do. But Loki is such a big glomping galoot and sometimes he plays rough (clamping his massive jaws around Morcilla’s tiny neck, for example). But these two are pretty much evenly matched and I love watching them chase each other around until they get tired out and then curl up together for a cosy snooze. Here they are clearly planning some mischief…

Taken in March 2010… Loki was just a few months old (can you see his green eyes, Deb?) and Azar had finally decided that this stripy orange munchkin was his new pal. You know, I look at Azar in this pic, and his little bendy paw, and I can almost feel him, which makes me ache inside, and wish I could hold him again. Then I look at Loki… and cannot believe he was ever that small! Lovely boys, both of them.

Half the time you don’t even know Luna is here. She’s not as demanding as the other two and, frankly, she’s pretty weird. But hey, she’s my weirdo.

Looks like the landlady is NOT EVER going to fix the central heating, so it’s now up to several space heaters and these guys. Still do not comprehend how this is to her benefit because, if I leave tomorrow, she’ll have to repair the whole central unit and much more. And she may end up with someone who doesn’t maintain the apartment as well as I do, who doesn’t pay on time, etc etc. Anyhow, for now we are all cosy.

So… the landlady and the técnicos showed up yesterday morning and the solution for fixing one problem with the split heater wouldn’t have actually resulted in having ACTUAL HEAT in the living room, so they left without doing anything. One was the same guy who installed the machine, and who had told me at the time it wasn’t strong enough – a nice guy. I felt bad they’d showed up for nothing, and he kept giving me meaningful looks while the landlady ranted on and on. So I think he felt bad for me too.

Basically, negotiations have broken down and I am still left without heat since the central machine broke down a couple of weeks ago and apparently that’s not going to be fixed because, as the landlady says “I already paid for the split that you wanted last summer!“. The main problem is that I have a fast-talking landlady who is constantly whinging about ALL THE MONEY she has had to spend on various repairs and maintenance since I moved in six years ago. I don’t get it. Not only is this her responsibility as a landlady, but they honestly can’t be hurting for money. AND I maintain the apartment impeccably. WTF?

Why is it that so many landlords treat their tenants as though they are doing them a huge favour by letting them live in their “beautiful house”? Also, I am at a bit of a disadvantage because, even though I’m pretty fluent in Spanish, the landlady (a lawyer) tends to run rings around me with her fast talk, constantly changing the facts and leaving me spinning, trying to defend myself against something I never said or agreed to.

Anyhow, here’s a photo of the girls all cosy on the extra duvet I’m now “wearing” when I sit in the living room, in front of the electric radiator. The rest of the rooms are like ice boxes. Roll on spring…