Tuesday was the day. After 4 months of being apart, Sue and Lexi were flying into Faro airport, arriving at around 7:15 pm.
I’d spent the last few days trying to tidy and clean the house. On the whole, I’d managed it, but just never got round to mopping the floors. Sorting stuff for Vitor and the house renovation in Olhao was (I won’t say more important) more imperative. It just had to be done.
So what did unmopped floors mean? Lexi’s dirty feet on the sofa… oh well, a small price to pay, and I could always cover it with a blanket.
First thing I had to do was collect the car from where I’d left it near Faro airport. That meant catch a train to Faro and then walk from the station to where the car was in Montenegro. Not a problem, except it was a scorcher! By the time I go to the car, I was dripping.
I opened the car doors and let the heat out, then got in, started her up and slammed the air con onto full. Ahhh… bliss….
I then had to head to Olhao to see how Vitor was doing.
The first thing I saw when I arrived was the fridge/freezer. They’d made it! I don’t know how… and I didn’t ask. I really didn’t want to know. But at least it was there – another piece of the puzzle complete.
I walked through the house, and there was Joao installing the kitchen. Great news! Things were really moving ahead, although Vitor wasn’t happy with all the sawdust settling on his newly-painted walls. Ah well, I’d let Vitor fight that one!
So everything was moving ahead. All I needed now were the shower screens and the showerheads from Leroy Merlin – Friday was D-day for those. After that it would just be the granite in the kitchen and the house would be finished. Woohoo!
So now seemed like a good time to broach the subject of money.
Throughout this process, I’ve managed to keep a spread sheet of all my outgoings and all expenditure. Keeping track of the money I’d given to Vitor and the money I’d spent personally. But concerning the money I’d given to Vitor, trying to differentiate between what was for Vitor, what was for other tradesmen, and what was for materials was proving to be bloody impossible!
Today was the day that I was going to try to get to the bottom of it.
Two weeks back, I’d managed to reconcile everything and both Vitor and I were happy with what had been spent and where. I still had no idea of what still had to be spent obviously. Trying to get that information was like trying to get blood out of a stone!
Anyway, everything was reconciled two weeks ago and a week later, Vitor gave me another scrap of paper with various amounts on it, describing what he’s spent and on what.
Mmmm…. I couldn’t make head nor tail of it, so today, I needed to get to the bottom of Vitor’s bit of paper, so that I could ask the real questions:
How much of the money that I’d given him remained, and how much would I still have to spend?
I would love to know…
So I pulled out my spread sheet and said:
“Vitor, we need to talk money.”
“OK, David.”
I explained that I didn’t understand what was written on his bit of paper, and that I now had no idea what I still had to spend.
“OK, I call Lilliana.”
Lilliana is Vitor’s wife, and she looks after the money – I think.
They chatted in Moldovan, and Vitor started running round the house pointing at things that he’d spent money on, and I began to realise that I really didn’t care what he’d spent the money on. I trusted him. What I did care about was how much money he had left and how much I still had to spend.
“OK Vitor, OK Vitor, I trust you. Just tell me how much money you still have to spend, how much I will need to pay you after that, how much I will need to pay Vitor No 2, and how much on other things. That’s all I want to know.”
“OK, David.”
He spoke to Lilliana again – things seemed to be getting more animated, but since they were speaking in Moldovan, I had no idea!
“OK, David, I have spent money on cement, I have spent money on Yuri (the door frame guy) I have spent money on Carlos (the painter), I have…”
I stopped him.
“I don’t care Vitor…”
He seemed surprised.
“All I care about is this:”
I took out my piece of paper and wrote upon it.
‘How much of the money I gave you do you have left?”
I’m not sure he can read English so I read the question out to him.
“I think €8-900.”
I have no idea whether this figure was right or not, but I was losing the will to live, so I accepted it.
“OK – €8-900.”
I wrote on the paper again.
‘How much will I have to pay you when you have finished?”
And again, I read the question out.
He responded immediately: “I don’t know.”
I took a deep breath and persevered.
I wrote down another question, and read it out to him:
“How much will I owe Vitor No 2 when he’s finished?”
“I don’t know.”
“And how much will I have to spend on other things when you’ve finished.”
“I don’t know.”
Believe it or not, this was progress. Vitor didn’t know the answers, but he understood (I think!) the questions.
“OK Vitor, that’s fine. Forget about your list of invoices…”
He picked it up and started to go through it once again.
“No Vitor, I don’t care about that. You think you have €8-900 left?”
“Yes.”
“OK, I need to know exactly how much. I also need to know how much I still need to pay you and Vitor No 2 and anything else you need to spend money on.”
To emphasize the point I wrote the following:
Total left: €8-900
Vitor No 1: ?
Vitor No 2: ?
Anything else: ?
“Ah, yes, yes, I understand David!”
At last! I didn’t have any answers, but I think I now at least had the questions in place.
Lilliana was still on the phone. Vitor explained which led to another (what seemed to be) heated exchange, then Vitor ended the call and told me that he would let me know.
Good! Finally! Hopefully…
And with that, we said our goodbyes, and I headed back to Fuseta to continue getting ready for Sue and Lexi’s arrival.