Årsstämma

This Sunday is the annual meeting of our body corporate. I usually quite enjoy these. Not because of the formal process, which seems to be pretty much a rubber stamping process. But it's a chance to sit down and have a natter with some of our neighbours who we don't normally see a lot of. There are about 45 (I think) apartments in our building and I would say that about 40 of those apartments are owned by pensioners. It's mostly positive because there's hardly a sound around the place after 8pm every night. They are all tucked up in bed by then. The downside is that, because we're both away at work or at the stables from 7am till 8pm every weekday, we rarely get to see any of our neighbours. We've been living there for about 2 and a half years now, and I think that our immediate neighbours have almost accepted the young 'uns next door.

A couple of weeks ago we wrote to the chairman and expressed our regret that we wouldn't be able to attend the meeting on Sunday. We had another event which had been booked long before the date for the annual meeting was announced. That was fine. A few days ago we get a rather grumpy email (to the whole group) about how few people were planning on attending the meeting, and about how the residents didn't seem to care.

Possibly. However, I think that the board could have helped their case considerably. Of all the dates to pick in a building full of grandmothers, they chose 6pm on Mother's Day. That's the very reason why we aren't able to attend. Next they pick a date when the weather is pretty much always fantastic. On a weekend. Summer cabins, everyone. Finally, in a building where 90% of the occupants are at home all day, they chose a weekend. Summer cabins galore, or the only chance that they few working couples in the house have to do stuff. We all live in the building, the meeting is help in our communal room down in the basement of the building, pray tell what was wrong with holding the meeting early on a week night ? Before 8pm, obviously. Yes, we should all take more interest and support the small team who do a great job of making sure our building runs smoothly, but they could have thought a little before casting the blame onto other people.