That the weather gods fart – which is nothing to them but a hurricane-force storm for us – okay, apparently it’s bad to hold it in. But what the weather gods don’t realize is that their puffing has quite a few consequences for us little people. If your roof is half blown off by their fart, you’re glad you have insurance.
Although filing a claim with your insurance isn’t easy
Insurance companies want things – photos, quotes from authorized builders. That wasn’t so easy for the smashed rear window of our wonderful Building Bus; only after sending photos twice of the taped-up empty space in the back door were they convinced. “What caused it?” they asked at Carglass. “Sorry, but we have to ask according to the instructions of the insurance company.”
On January 28th, that was a rather unnecessary question. Everyone was panting because Kristin, the fart of the weather gods, had just blown past. It was impossible to contact the insurance company itself, but luckily, Carglass does that for you. We now have an appointment, and hopefully everything will be fine again next week.
Insurance companies are extremely busy now
Daniel the builder is finally coming. He’s making his quotes the old-fashioned way, with a pen and pre-printed paper quote forms. The White House was hit the hardest, and after inspecting it, we sit down for a moment to sort everything out.
The supplier of the aluminum door, which Kristin smashed, has already sent a quote. Now it’s my job to get everything submitted to insurance company Allianz. And that’s not easy!
They recommend their app, but there’s very little space there, even though they want to know what happened. They want you to tell it in your own words. That’s like an old-fashioned Twitter message—140 characters and no more. Days later, I get a message in my email saying they’ve closed their mailbox, and then that it couldn’t be delivered.
This is going to be a matter of perseverance, then. Patiência
Everyone else is doing their best. The fire brigade of course; hospitals are full of injured people—although it’s getting better now; even commercial companies are trying to serve everyone as best they can. MEO is offering 30 days of unlimited mobile data, and the EDP is happy to wait a while for the next bill.
A lot of people have been without power, in some areas for almost three weeks, so how high will your bill be then? Anyway, it’s a kind gesture. There are now voices suggesting that the government could offer some property tax relief, especially to those who now practically have no home (and contents) left.
We’re doing our best too. It’s been nice weather for a few days now, so off we go, onto the roof. Insuring things, removing them, sawing them down, waterproofing them, tidying up, measuring, making lists and plans.
We’re still dealing with the consequences of the weather gods’ bad congestion and the release of it, and so far, the insurance that it will never happen again has been lacking…
.
(Disclaimer: I’m a bit tired of the keyword stuff and Google’s dictatorship. So here they are, and I’m also hoping for the cleverness of AI in this matter that it will still be found and read, but that I don’t have to force myself to use the right terms in the title and headings.#Kristin #insurance #rooftops )
We moved here in 2000 from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to the Termas-da-Azenha, Portugal. We started to rebuild one of portugals cultural heirlooms: Termas-da-Azenha, an old spa.You’ll find mosaics and paintings everywhere.Since Covid we rent the houses for a longer period of time, not as holiday houses anymore.
Each week a little blog about what is happening around us. An easy read. A few minutes in another world. A little about what it going on in Portugal. If you plan your holiday to Portugal, it might be a nice preparation.
In the weekend we publish it on Bluesky, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.