Tuesday, July 15, 2008

 

VA'AD BAYIT - or instant insanity - part 4


In my last "VA'AD BAYIT" post I told you that we would have our assifa clalit (Annual General Meeting) on July 8th. We had the meeting - although not at my house as I had planned - because I'm starting my shiputzim (renovations) shortly and my flat is not exactly organized at the moment....as you can well imagine. (More about the shiputzim as time goes on.)

In case you had forgotten, I am the Rosh Va'ad (head of the building committee) - and as such, I am in charge of everything pertaining to the building. And I mean everything. And I don't want to be the Rosh Va'ad any more. So - I began the meeting by saying "I resign". "No, you can't". "Yes, I can". "What part of 'I resign' don't you understand"? And this went on and on and on - and to put you out of your misery - yes - I agreed to continue as Rosh Va'ad.

You will say that I have no strength of character - and you will be right. I hate being Rosh Va'ad - I don't want to be the mommy of the building any more - I want to go back to being a private person. But - and here's the BIG BUT - I don't have to do it all alone any more. This time around I actually managed to enlist some help. This time around I actually have a Va'ad (committee). Two other owners have agreed to be an active part of the committee with me - that makes three of us instead of just me - and one owner has agreed to do the books. I think that this time they really believed me - and I really was prepared to resign. In fact - I was looking forward to it.

That's the big thing - I'm ashamed to admit it but I don't even know how to balance a checkbook. I keep records - for the building - in triplicate. Why in triplicate? Because I don't know what I'm doing and that way I have my own system of knowing what comes in - but I'm not always sure of what goes out. Some bills are paid by me - some bills are paid by the bank - I see numbers and my eyes glaze over.

So - we are at the beginning of a new regime. I will never have to ask anyone for money again. And that means NEVER. I will never have to balance a checkbook again. And that means NEVER. I will never have to lose sleep about the people who don't want to pay - that's someone else's problem.

All I have to worry about now is running the building. And to celebrate that, I'm having someone in tomorrow to take pictures of a pipe which we think has broken underground and which is causing a major leak. In the whole scheme of things that should be a snap.

By the way - in the "it can only happen in Israel" department - yesterday Marallyn and I were driving to visit her son and daughter-in-law for a barbecue - yes, another Kurdi barbecue - to celebrate Sweetsie-Tootsie's (her grandson) birthday. Between us we have absolutely no chush kivoon (sense of direction). Give us directions and we'll follow them to the letter - but don't ask us to improvise. So - just as we got to the street where we have to turn "right" - the police waved us off. Why? This is a quiet, completely residential neighborhood. What can be happening? Well - I'll tell you. A new torah scroll was being delivered to the neighborhood synagogue. That's a reason to close a street?

What would we do without cell phones? We called Sweetsie-Tootsie's mother - several times I might tell you - and finally made it to their house. As in all these new developments all the buildings look the same - exactly the same. But - Sweetsie-Tootsie and his Dad were outside - home free. Needless to say - all the Kurdim and the three Ashkenazim had a wonderful time.

Yalla, Bye.




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