it was vindication, if unfortunate, walking to the front entrance
today and getting a rush of hot air from upstairs. you know when you
come in from outside and can feel the heat rushing at you? it was like
that. except i was walking from a basement to a main floor, and feeling
the heat coming from behind a closed door and *down* a flight of stairs.
and it's 13, not -20. and it's electric radiator heat, too. indicating
that it was just right cranked. no doubt to fight the air conditioning
on the main floor. i've mostly avoided raising it past 21, which has
mostly kept it off. i'm not likely to crank it more than 22 more than a
few hours at a time. so, somebody else is more irritated than i am by
this unseasonable air conditioning...
i slept through
most of the afternoon; a hot shower warmed me up nicely and then knocked
me out cold. but it does seem as though it was on again a little after
4:00. i'm still feeling it a bit...
that's another
possible answer, for the short term, that i can accommodate better than
my neighbours. if he's going to turn the air up in the afternoon and
leave it off overnight, i can sleep in the afternoon and stay awake
overnight.
there's a bunch of reasons i don't really want
to crank it. the rent is low here. i'd rather wear a sweater than see a
rent increase, but it's within reason - what's a piss off is how
unreasonable setting the air to below 20 is. which i think is the real
reason i'm concerned, rather than the actual temperature. that, i can
deal with. but if we get into this a/c v radiator fight, it's going to
fuck the landlord and that's going to fuck us. electric heating is also
quite dry. and the truth is that i like it a little cool. it's one of
the reasons i like basements.
we might finally get a real warm up next week, but it looks sketchy.
i'd
normally go talk to the guy, but it's not a situation where we're legal
under the law. tenant law is badly skewed towards family members. if
it's intended to intimidate non-family members, it's worked. i have to
be careful to not get into conflict with them and more or less resign
myself to his right to have the air as he wants it.
see,
the flip side is i have the right to get the heat up. and the lease is
the lease, regarding rent costs. there was a verbal agreement to keep
the rent static. i think that endows me with a responsibility to try to
minimize heating costs. the day i get a rent increase, that's out the
window. but, for now i'd like to try and stick to it.
it's
just...it all revolves around being reasonable. and the actual owner is
reasonable. but i don't feel like i'm getting that from his brother
upstairs.
i mean, it's hard to compute the idea that he
doesn't realize turning the air on in an unseasonably cold early may and
late april is unreasonable. this has to be "i don't fucking care". and
it can't really be something that an explanation can resolve.
wonder
how successful a claim that current tenant law is unconstitutional
would be. it's clearly discriminatory; not clearly enumerated, but
perhaps analogous. see, it pits s. 15 rights directly against "property
rights", which are in quotes because there is actually no legal
recognition of property rights in canada, despite the idea being thrown
around by various types of liberals. i mean, there's contract law. sure.
but it's not at all the same thing. i would *hope* that s. 15 would
trump these imaginary "property rights". but that's up to the judge...
i'd
be skeptical. but it would be an interesting case that would bring to
light a lot of interesting questions. or, at least it would if i was
orchestrating it.