Slovenia: The Erased People

http://www.insightnewstv.com/d77/
watch the video

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Borders of existence

Don't know how you choose real estate, but we spotted this place while browsing the internet, and virtually all the positives have become negatives and everything we've come to expect of the Slovenian lifestyle has, for various reasons, been eroded to the point where every day is a challenge of just getting motivated to tackle the next hurdle.

I'm a 'go and do it' sort of person, and create from whatever I have, a decent environment to be at peace with the world in. We had to wait over three months to get electricity. It's all around us, closest we've ever been to a nuclear power plant, but we've been overcharged and overburdened with power cuts to a degree that deserves investigation. Our water is a sorrier story; the connection at the edge of our property remains untouched. Recently taken over by our supposedly service orientated corporate suppliers, what was once a funky rural development of a decent spring has become an expensive adjunct to yet another leaf of the corporate's portfolio. Talking with these guys is an encounter devoid of any compromise; I left it rather than take it, but of our five water pumps, all new, only one seems to function well, and getting our recently completed reservoir correctly sealed required three attempts, the first two products failing totally, only one refunded, when out of the blue our nearest wholesaler gave us the right stuff from his sample stock; no charge, throwing into stark contrast the services and retailers we have to deal with. Every cloud has a silver lining?

Which side are we on?

It is our proximity to the Croatian border which has benefitted us most of all; the same shops across the border have better ranges, more up-to-date, and we get a decent tax rebate when we pass through customs, but spending half a day searching big, homogenous shopping centres for little bits of plumbing's niceties/soldering flux that doesn't spoil your water supply/adhesives that are taken for granted elsewhere, yet cost double what we are used to in France, for example, (where our dream place is totally unaffordable) makes me wonder why Slovenia fails to learn by peering at its neighbours, and why, when their workers earn nothing, and supplement with cash deals on the side, the price of a roof of insulation costs more and offers last century's technology, when a six week search yields finally a newtech supply of custom moulded foam, which we are just getting to install, now I've come to terms with the abysmal supply of rafters I was forced to accept, and have worked into the structure with only the usual trauma, and a lot of help from my partner's new colleagues, who, fourteen months into our search for suitable employment for her, have achieved the 'What Colour is my Parachute' optimum, of allowing her to work in just the right environment with just the right people.

We love this country; it has been the battles with supposedly friendly people that has rattled us so. How has this thing evolved? Try www.insightnewstv.com/d77/ for maybe a side of this place none of us could anticipate.

About this Blogger

I'm not big on buying magazines, but I subscribe to Technology Review, which is my source for a lot of facts on all manner of global issues. It tests my patience at times though, as I've always been a keen observer with vivid memories from before I was two years old, and have always exercised my brain in as many multitasking ways as possible. I've also dealt with a lot of people in my time, having logged over four million kilometres in company cars representing divers fabricants and suppliers of fashion clothing, timber, footwear, hi fi, photographics, electronics, TV, home renovation, auto electrical, computer graphics, and IT, and I've been using computers since 1967, starting with IBM mainframes, and have been using internet since 1989. So there's not a lot of opportunity to pull the wool over my eyes.

Blog T2

Well I´ve seen it all now. Planned to bring a guitar back from my next trip to the UK. The airline insisted I book a seat especially for the guitar; It did not allow me an extra ten kilos of hand baggage, just the seat for the guitar..... but now plans have changed, I figured `well, if I´m not bringing back a guitar, there´s a couple of nice bathroom fittings I could get instead´...  No, the ticket is solely for a guitar; no guitar, the seat goes empty; no extra 10 kilos of something else?; I booked in advance like setting my life in concrete. Know any Irish jokes? I know one; RyanAir; my recommendation? If you can find another carrier, DO, as these guys have barely gotten beyond neanderthal in their abilities to accomodate a slight change of plans; I once heard `autistic´ described as `like a train, not easy to change tracks quickly´, and that is how I´d describe RyanAir; Autistic Air; cheap but stupid. Welcome to the 21st Century. If I can choose an airline again, I´ll make sure the Irish are at the bottom of my list. I fly EasyJet usually; WizzAir is another option. I´ve just been stymied by a crap website, a crap level of interactivity, and, damn my prejudice, by a set of Irish rules as thick as two short planks.
I´d like to cc a copy of this to RyanAir, but they don´t offer such a relationship.
Nuff said.