"It's a lazy L"

I drove up I-95 yesterday to meet with the pool inspector, who was not there. Instead the seller of the house was there, and she showed me the pool. She told me she had swam in that pool all throughout her childhood and how, when it is clean, it sparkles with the sunlight. She said her mom had designed it and that it was called a lazy L. She was so happy to show me the open pool, until I told her that I did not come to see the open pool, I came to see the pool opening so that I could ask questions and make sure they were doing everything correctly.

She did not like this and immediately put herself on guard. Maybe she thought it was offensive that I did not trust the company she hired. Maybe she thought that I thought she was trying to hide something. I don't know. She could not even give me the number of the pool company, but told me I would be getting certificates that the pool and all its parts are functional at closing.

I end up on the phone with my real estate agent, telling her what a waist of time all this was. The agent wanted to talk to the seller, so I give that lady my phone and the two of them start yelling at each other. I don't really like confrontation, so I just stood there and figured on how I could trim down some branches without having the branches fall into the pool.

Before I left the seller starts raising her voice to me about how mean my agent was. She was almost in tears. I half wanted to yell back at her and half wanted to hug her. I ended up just walking away without saying anything.

War and Peace

I am about half way through "War and Peace". Its a long book. A huge part of the plot is the Russian aristocrats. All they do is party. They have fetes, parties, socials, and surreas (sp? its french). There parties are pretty lame due to the social rules of the time. A man can't be alone with a woman unless they are married, you must always address everybody the proper way, you don't talk bad about the Tsar. These people don't work and own entire communities, with the rights of punishment, taxes, and work schedules. They all have servants, which are pretty much slaves, and are called princes and princesses and countess, and countesses. This upper class is ultimately run by the Tsar, Alexander. He really doesn't know what he is doing and seems swept up in being a celebrity. Because of a few miscommunication between Alexander and Napoleon, Napoleon is leading his army, the greatest power in Europe, across Poland and into Russia.

Things are about to go bad in Moscow as the French army has just crossed into Russian territory. The families in the book are still merry making but if you know your history you know what is going to happen.

I can't believe so much has happened and I'm only half way done. Whew.