We’ve been here six weeks now; we’ve had our first real storm, the days are getting noticeably shorter and the shine is definitely starting to wear off.
I’m hoping I’ll look back on this in a few months or even a few weeks and laugh at my silly English up tight attitude and initial teething problems. But right now, I’ve had enough, I’m fed up and I’d just like someone to show some basic manners and common courtesy – apparently, these aren’t common concepts up here. In all the years we’ve been coming up here, there was always one stereotype that seemed to ring true; everyone is very friendly.
The local villagers have been very friendly, our neighbours lovely. I had an incredibly informative chat with the local butcher. She told me all about the local area, recommended several amazing sounding walks (including the Big Burn which we did) and some local restaurants (one of which we’d already tried and she wasn’t kidding, it was delicious). People are just friendly and love to talk.
Unfortunately, that friendliness doesn’t seem to transfer through to action. One of the biggest challenges we thought we were aware of before we moved from Sussex was just how sparsely populated it would be up here. We picked a small village but knowing we had three towns within a 15min drive and Inverness less than an hour away, we very naively thought it wouldn’t be so isolating. At least not when it comes to reliable, competent tradespeople. Clearly they’re so few and far between up here and therefore so in demand, they can not only be incredibly selective about who they chose to work with, but they can also play cat and mouse with anyone who tries to get in touch.
In the past four weeks, we’ve talked to five electricians, plumbers and heating specialists. Explained our current problems and what we (as laymen) think we might need. Complete rewire, new central heating system, new bathroom, new utility room plumbing etc. They’ve all explained how very busy they are and all said they’ll come round and take a look.
We’re not looking for someone to do the work next week. In fact, if someone were available that quickly, it would raise some red flags. All we want is a professional’s idea of what work we actually need doing, some quotes and the ability to get onto someone’s waiting list.
Not a single person has called round yet. Obviously, last week’s storm threw a spanner in the works, some cancellations would be expected. But we’ve since had two more no shows with no explanation. Someone says they’re going to come round, then they don’t.
Of course, this behaviour isn’t exactly unheard of for tradespeople. We had the same thing when we tried to find people in Sussex.
But not getting in touch or following through on a communication just seems to be a theme up here.
We asked the local pet shop if they could order some dog food for us, I prefer using independent shops and would rather avoid ordering too much online. They kindly agreed to this but six weeks in, only one shipment has actually showed up. The other times, the delivery lorry broke down (which I only found after chasing them) and I ended up having to drive to Inverness in a red weather warning to the only pet shop I know stocks good quality raw food. I’ve given up chasing this week’s delivery, if they want to let me know it’s arrived, I’ll be happy to collect it.
No bother is a phrase I hear constantly up here. I’d always assumed it to mean ‘no worries’, ‘it’s all good’, ‘everything’s fine’ but clearly I just hadn’t acclimatised yet. Clearly, when used in a business context, ‘no bother’ means ‘I can’t be bothered’. ‘I can’t be bothered to return your call’, ‘I can’t be bothered to turn up when I say I will’, ‘I can’t be bothered to let you know I won’t be making the appointment I originally agreed to’.
All I want is a house that’s warm, comfortable and at least somewhat energy efficient. Apparently, that’s too much to ask.
My Highland Haven 