Thursday, August 11, 2022

Landlord shenanigans, Sandra Dee, power players

My mother's landlord is playing 'hard to get'. He's not yet signed for the post sent via registered mail. She's poised to send a second letter via the same route. However, if he simply refuses to sign for the post yet again, then I need to be ready to plot next steps. I have a lawyer pal whose services might come in handy should the retrieval of the security deposit continue to prove elusive. 

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When I was a little girl, my friends and I used to 'play Grease'. This meant that who ever owned the soundtrack to the film Grease had friends over for an album sing-along. This also meant that she who possessed the record got to sing all of Sandy's parts. The subject was not up for debate, ever. I did not own the record, so I was usually Danny. :S 

I know Olivia Newton-John is one of Australia's biggest exports and beloved back home, but she was very much loved on these shores as well. I mean, heck, I even liked Xanadu; Newton-John was a delight in that film.


A still from Grease.


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We're cleaning windows, inside and out, and pressure-washing the exterior of a property comprised of multiple buildings of a long-term client down on the Peninsula this week. I don't think we've been in the house, actually, since the kick-off of lock-down back in 2020. The client's husband is usually not home when we're there. Although I've not seen the client's  husband in real life, I have had the--ahem--pleasure of seeing his collection of photos showing him with various heads of state and lesser US government officials. His penchant for the powerful is not very discerning, and I was wondering if I'd still see his snap with Putin at the helm of the photo collection. And wouldn't you know it? I did! 
 

22 comments:

  1. I hope that lawyers do not have to be involved to get your mother's security deposit back. Hiss and spit.
    Olivia Neutron Bomb will be mourned/is being mourned the world over.
    And sigh the husband of your client. I suspect I would be thankful NOT to meet him.

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    1. I've contacted the tenants' rights org in the county where her tenancy was and been instructed to pursue taking the landlord to court. Ugh.

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  2. Yes a sad loss, who doesn't remember Sandy? I wasn't a great fan of the film Grease but that's because I was really into the 50's and thought their portrayal of the era wasn't very accurate. Now I can look back and see I was just being a musical snob.

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    1. Singing the songs off the album were pretty cringe, to be honest. I just wanted to hang out with the neighbor girl.

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  3. I have never seen Grease... People used to have photos of themselves with Hitler and it never seemed to do them any harm.

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    1. You can pass on watching Grease unless you have a hankering for 50s nostalgia pieces.

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  4. Watching ONJs obituaries you realise just what a lovely voice she had and how good she was, not only Grease but in a lot of other things too.

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    1. Lovely voice and seemingly a very lovely person.

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  5. Call your lawyer friend. It's clear the landlord intends to keep the security deposit.

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    1. Yes, I think we're heading into Small Claims Court territory.

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  6. My advice, too. I had to use Small Claims occasionally, and found it very effective.
    I'm finding people my age dying. ONJ was one. Very disconcerting.

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    1. I'm glad to know it's work for you. Hopefully, it will for my mother, too. x

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  7. I had good luck in small claims court. The judge has seen it all and will probably brook no shenanigans.

    I didn't see Xanadu until I was an adult, but I had the soundtrack as a kid. Loved that.

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    1. Great music on that soundtrack as well.
      Thanks for the well wishes, Liz. x

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  8. Your mother's ex-landlord sounds like the try-it-on type, operating on the principle that 9 out of 10 people won't put up a fight and then the tenth will take him to court, he'll end up coughing up and just shrug and figure it was worth trying. Hopefully! A pain for you in the meantime, however.

    Grease I never saw, for my own stubborn refusal to get swept up by a phenomenon - even aged 12 I had Opinions - but a few years later, before leggin's became the International Uniform we see today, tight lycra-fueled leggin's were known in my family by the unwieldy name Olivia Newton John-Pants.

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    1. Right?! I think that's his M.O., too.
      Olivia Newton-John-Pants has an ungainly ring to it! :D

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  9. Hope all goes well if you have to go the legal route for your mother.

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  10. Sorry to hear the landlord is still being a jerk. I hope you're able to resolve it soon. Don't give up. Was sad news about Olivia Newton John. The Greese parties you had sound fun. I've not seen her in anything but Greese. Window cleaning, argh, that's hard work.
    Sandy's Space

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    1. Yeah, Grease was *the* film for maximum ONJ. Hope your windows now sparkle!

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  11. Grease left an impression on me as a youngster as well but. I didn't do the sing alongs. I think I might have made out with my pillow wishing it was ONJ. =) And the "Physical" video. That is a lot for a teenager to handle. Hope the landlord quits being a jerk and does right by your mom.

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    1. Ha. That video was nuts. I had heard that she was the one who sort of shifted the focus of the song to exercise (although it's still pretty saucy) by setting the vid in a gym donning the Jane Fonda workout look.

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