August 16, 2003
Lots of park time, albeit right here in the neighbourhood.
9:30 p.m.
For us, life is back to normal. The only big impact on our day-to-day life is the closure of the subway, which means no trips to High Park. The gallery was closed for another day, so Dusty and I stayed at home.
Meanwhile, the Landlord nightmare continues (yes, just when I thought it was all settled and couldn't get any worse). In the dogpark, everyone was sympathetic and the Cookie Lady pointed out that the reason people hate moving has nothing to do with the boxes, it's the hassle of dealing with move dates and landlords.
Here's the problem in a nutshell: The current tenant has told my new landlord that she won't give up her keys until midnight on the 31st - she can legally do this although it's not very neighbourly of her. When I told the old landlord that I would be moving on the morning of the 2nd (the 1st is a holiday), he blithely informed me that I would be billed for the entire month of September unless I vacated at midnight on the 31st. Doesn't give me much time, does it?
I was in tears yesterday, in an utter panic. My mover can only accomodate me on the 2nd. With today being a Saturday and the province in a state-of-emergency, there was no way to contact anyone to make alternate arrangements. Fortunately, I phoned a few friends and they talked some sense into me, pointing out that short of collecting this extra rent at gunpoint, the landlord can't take money from me unless I give it to him. In other words, he's a bully and I should just call his bluff.
I'm going to phone the ORHT and the Tenant Rights group on Monday, but I have a feeling they'll tell me exactly what my old superintendant told me when I phoned her: There's a reasonable expectation of a transition period at the beginning and end of a lease. At any rate, this slimebucket isn't getting my money.
Becaue of this situation, Dusty had a stressful day. She's never seen me cry before. She didn't know what to do. But we went out to the dog park several times and she had a good time playing with the other dogs. I took her to the Small Dog Park in the evening.
On an unrelated note, Dusty's back to sleeping in the crate. Last night, she had a accident in the house. I'm sure this has something to do with the stress of the power outage and the fact that my futon is on the floor instead of up on a frame (so it's easier for her to get off the bed without me noticing). Anyways, with the move upcoming, I was planning to make this transitition anyways, so she'll be in the crate at night from now on.