Landlords Don't Always Get to Raise the Rent

            On Monday morning I tried to write a tweetstorm again but it failed at the same point as the day before. There must be an unspecified word limit for extended tweets. I’ll have to post it in segments then.

I packed up the various little gifts that I’d gotten for my daughter and found that they fit the smaller mailing box perfectly. At around midday I took it over to the post office and mailed it by express. Astrid is in South Carolina right now but should be back by Christmas. It probably would have gotten there by Christmas if I’d used regular mail but there’s less of a guarantee and the difference is only $2 anyway.

I made guacamole for lunch out of the avocado that I got from the food bank and had it with potato chips.

            After lunch I went down to Parkdale Community Legal Services with my notice of rent increase that I’d received on October 29. It’s says that my rent is increasing from $608.75 to $619.70 and I just wanted, as I do every year, to check if the increase is legal. I had to wait half an hour and it was getting past my siesta time. I read a bit more of the introduction to Frankenstein. A Feminist writer argued that Mary Shelley’s monster is a failed female. I got kind of dozy so I shut my eyes. Finally a young law student called my name and we went into a room. She looked at my rent increase notice and almost immediately told me that it was void. The landlord is supposed to give 90 days notice but he only gave me 64 days. She advised that I don’t have to say anything to him about it since the document is meaningless. If he asks in the future why I haven’t paid the increase I can just tell him that I’ll be glad to when he gives me a proper notice. I don’t even have to tell him what is wrong with the notice, since it’s his responsibility. If he issues me a new notice with a date on it 90 days from the day of delivery then I can pay the increase, unless of course he screws up again. He’s going to blow a gasket but I don’t see why. He uses the law to get more money out of me and I use the law so I don’t have to pay as much. What’s the difference? I don’t blow my top when he increases my rent. I just calmly find out if it’s legal. 

I asked the young woman how Parkdale Legal’s eviction dispute is going. She said they have an extension and so they don’t have to move out on January 1^st. They’re still negotiating.

            After I left the legal clinic I went down to Freshco. I bought some blue grapes, some raspberries, three bags of milk and some yogourt but while I was at the checkout I realized that I’d forgotten to buy vinegar. My amethyst is poking up through the vinegar it’s soaking in because when the heat is on the vinegar evaporates a lot quicker. I paid for my items and went back in the store to get a couple of jugs of ascetic acid.

            I tried to take a siesta when I got home but I was a bit restless and only stayed in bed for half an hour. I think that finding out that I didn’t have to pay the rent increase put me in such a good mood that it made me too upbeat to sleep.

             I started a Yahoo group but every time I tried to upload a cover photo it failed. It’s not a very user-friendly set-up.

            I grilled the big pack of hot Italian sausages that I’d had in the freezer for a couple of weeks.

            I watched a very busy episode of Peter Gunn directed by Blake Edwards.

            On a train, a man enters a sleeper cabin, knifes the occupant and takes from his wallet a baggage check ticket. Next an attractive woman named Lavinia is waiting for Gunn at Mother's. She hires him to follow her husband George who she says is dangerous and unpredictable. She gives Gunn George’s picture and address and leaves. When Gunn begins to follow George we can see that he is the killer with the knife. George knows that he is being followed and after a while ducks down an alley. George tries to shoot Gunn but Gunn kills him first. Gunn goes to Lavinia's hotel but finds that she's checked out. Gunn goes home but before he can turn the lights on someone throw s a bottle at him that smashes on the door beside his head. Instead of turning on the light switch, which is next to him he pursues his attacker in the dark. A blonde woman tackles him and he is forced to punch her in the face. She flies backwards and he jumps on top of her to discover it’s Lavinia. He asks why she started a fight and she says because he scared her. The doorbell rings and it's Edie. He tries to get Lavinia to hide in his bedroom and she kicks him in the shin. Edie walks in, sees Lavinia wearing Gunn’s pyjamas, kicks Gunn in the shin and leaves. Gunn goes through Lavinia’s purse and finds the baggage check ticket we saw earlier. There’s a knock on the door and a man with a Hispanic accent calls out, “Western Junion!" Gunn opens the door and a short, pudgy man with a moustache is pointing a gun at him. He says, “Sorry, it is late but I must search your apartment”. Lavinia recognizes him and says, “Blanco!” Blanco is distracted long enough for Gunn to punch him hard in the stomach and take his gun. Blanco says, “I will give you $5000 for the briefcase”. Lavinia says, “It’s not here and he doesn’t know anything!” Blanco begins to either whimper or chuckle and Lavinia hits him. Blanco says that Lavinia was the secretary of the man who was killed on the train. Lavinia says he's lying. Blanco repeats his offer. Lavinia says not to trust him because he's a cheap crook. She tells Blanco that Sam would sink him in cement. Blanco says Sam would do the same to her and she hits him again. Gunn wants to know who Sam is but neither one answers. Gunn takes the bullets from Blanco’s gun, gives it back to him, kicks him out, then he locks Lavinia in his bedroom. Gunn opens his apartment door to leave but a shifty little man named Helmer is standing there pointing a gun at him and saying, “Sam would like to see you”. Gunn is taken to an upscale rooming house where Sam turns out to be the tax commissioner, Honest Sam Granger. Sam tells Gunn he is very proud of his reputation as “honest Sam’ but the suitcase that everyone is looking for contains "lies" that could ruin that reputation. Sam offers Gunn $10,000 for the briefcase. Gunn goes to the train station with the ticket but the suitcase has not yet arrived. When Gunn gets home Lavinia has gotten free from his bedroom and left. Blanco is in bed when there is a knock. He asks who it is and gun says, “Western Junion!” Gunn wants to know where Blanco fits into this circus. Blanco works the tables in Vegas and has been the middleman passing bribes across the table to Sam. The man that was killed on the train was supposed to pay Blanco $50,000 to testify but Lavinia had him killed and then tricked Gunn into killing the killer. Gunn leaves but afterwards we see that Blanco has picked his pocket of the baggage ticket. Gunn gets a call at Mother’s that his man already picked up the briefcase. Shortly after that Blanco staggers into Mother's with the briefcase and collapses dead on the floor.  Gunn tosses the briefcase to the piano player and tells him to stash it. He puts it in the piano. Just then Lavinia, Sam and an armed Helmer walk in. Sam says he has $10,000 for Gunn but only if he gives him the suitcase in one minute. Gunn wants to know who shot Blanco. Lavinia says it was Helmer and says she can prove it. She bends down over Blanco’s body but she pulls a gun from under his coat, spins in one direction to shoot Helmer and then another to shoot Sam. At that point Edie hits Lavinia over the head with a bottle and knocks her out. Then Edie kicks Gunn in the shin for having had Lavinia locked in his bedroom.

            The real name of the man who played Helmer was Tony Mafia. I wonder what that did to his career.

            Lavinia was played by Barbara Stuart, who played a lot of mostly comedic parts on television.