The Great Generator Crisis

Weds 7 December 2011

Dave at work, me writing all day, using what little power the overcast sky could provide.  Then in the evening, just at dusk, the generator refused to put out any power.  It was cold and we needed a little electricity just to run the fan in the camper heater which won't start without it.  Nothing doing.  Too dark to investigate, so we decided to vist Elite for info about the olive trees, where it would be warm and light.  Adonis was there, and read through our contracts.  

I had insisted on having the contracts translated for me line by line before I signed and was confident there was nothing in there excluding the trees from the purchase, but not sure there was anything definite about them.  Adonis found a line that included ‘everything on the land’ – apparently sufficient to confirm our purchase of the trees in good faith.  It remains that someone has cheated the Man from Eglouvi of his rights. 

I asked how it is possible to sell trees but not land.  Adonis explained it used to be quite common.  When a daughter was getting married, the father would give the groom trees, but not land.  Trees were considered valuable – providing oil and fuel; whereas land gave you status and a bit of grazing, but not good growing without a lot of work and water.  However, without a land registry, these deals are not centrally recorded – and people don’t want a land registry (too constricting, someone said conspiratorially).  

The piece of land we bought was obtained by the vendor only a year or so before it was sold on.  The vendor owned the other half and when this one became available, snapped it up, but then had to sell when his debts became pressing.  He may or may not have known about the trees.  Adonis said he'd tell the Man from Eglouvi that he had no claim against us, and suggested we tell Vassillis, our land agent, about this development.  Meanwhile, we decided we'd better not do anything with the trees - except continue burning the wood from last year's pruning (no options there if we want to heat the shed).

We went home to shiver overnight under piles of duvets, and woke up with the camper v cold indeed.  Generator fix needed urgently.