140116 power 1

Just the day before, on January 15, I had the following email exchange with Francois:

Tell me again: when do you have the disconnection date for electricity (toronto hydro)? Also, Chris told me that you want him to take the furniture, etc. Were the fridge and convection oven in the apartment when you moved in?

His reply:

Yea fridge and oven are not my proprety, all others stuff are mine. Hydro shouldnt be disconnected before the end of my engagement with the owner. If you received a bill for the hydro, send it to me asap I will pay it.

Initially, I thought that Francois had not paid his Hydro bill and I was now, in addition to being shafted over the Internet clause of our contract, facing the prospect of living without electricity.

I sent an email to Francois (he had not given me his phone number), then looked for James and could not find him. I then wrote the following letter.

I added a PS about my hopes that my privacy will be respected, then delivered it to the #500 mailbox.

I the ran into James who at first said he's busy with his dogs and it's not his problem, I should ask Francois. He then said the electrical panel is locked, but he will look at it after it after taking care of pups and then he will leave notice on the door.

I waited a bit, but without electricity I could not do much of my work, so I left. When I returned, the power had come back, but most of what was in the freezer had defrosted and what was in the fridge had a funny taste, so I threw it all out. Here's one food bill I could find (http://go.zodian.net/balmoral3, $52.71):

I asked why I could not fax my previous letter. James responded that "the fax was off because the landlords are not in the country, they’re on a holiday”. I mentioned to him what the letter was about and he said that the rent will not go down, but only up.

I also received (January 16) Francois' answer re: Internet after having asked him whether it had been disconnected on purpose and also asked him to reconnect it:

It shouldnt, i paid my bills. Did it went down when you were using the oven and baking trays at the same time ? Perhaps hydro hadnt been cut.

It seemed rather strange that power would go off right in the day after Francois had assured me that it should not, especially since I was not doing anything using a large power drain.