Keys and boxes

Little things. We still notice the small differences though more and more the Spanish way has become our normal way.

We're still settling in to the new flat.

There are a series of letter boxes in the entrance way to our block each with a lock. For some reason the boxes don't have a label assigning each box to each flat. On the front of the building there is a separate lockable post box. I presumed that somebody must collect the mail from the exterior box and then sort it into each interior box. So we set about finding out how to get hold of our mail.

The estate agent told me that the President of the Community (each block of flats has an annual President and there are meetings to decide things of communal interest) had the keys. When I asked him for our key today I was told that we do not have an individual box. I can get the key from him any time and go through the post in the external box. Strange system I think but so Spanish.

We're also trying to get a phone installed. This is the fifth phone we've arranged so the fact that it will take a couple of weeks and that an engineer actually has to come to the building to install a phone line didn't surprise me at all. The engineer came yesterday and needed to get into a junction box to make the connection live. The box is locked. I guessed that the President would hold the keys. The President didn't seem to be in when the engineer and I rang his bell so the engineer went away.

I tried the door bell of what I had been told was the President's flat three or four times yesterday and again this morning. Today someone answered but it turned out that the President lived next door. If the estate agent had given me the correct information in the first place we would have a phone by now.

Slightly dodgy information is another Spanish given.