The Landlord Part 2

The Landlord Part 2

By the end of June Manuel had settled down in his new apartment and he spent most of his time looking for work in the town of Tralee.  He had a few interviews for work as a waiter but was unsuccessful and he became a bit edgy trying to fill in his time.  I gave him some small jobs around the house and garden.  He mowed the lawn and cut the hedges for me and I was happy to pay him cash for the odd jobs that he did.  I was pleased with his work and I invited him to become my part time maintenance manager.  He would spend 10 hours a week doing various jobs like collecting my groceries and cleaning the apartment windows etc.  He had an international driving licence and I allowed him use my van on occasions. Manuel liked his apartment room and paid his rent on time. He was a good tenant and he cooked himself some Spanish meals most of the time.  He invited me into his self contained apartment one Friday evening for a small Spanish meal and it was very tasty.  We ate small montaditos (mounted sandwiches) with toppings of pork pâté, prawns and honey and creamy goat’s cheese. He had bought a nice Spanish wine in Tralee a few days earlier and it tasted lovely. It was a Spanish Rioja Reserva dated 2005. (Vinos de los Herederos del Marques de Riscal.)

I decided to look for another tenant now that I and Manuel had settled into a happy routine. I put an advt. into the Kerry evening Echo and let it run for three day days. The response was positive and I ended up acquiring two new tenants as a result of my endeavours. The two people were females and both were working in Tralee town.  Maureen was 23 years old and Irish and she came from Cork city.  Maureen worked in the town library and was very enthusiastic about novels and poetry. The second woman came from Poland and she was tall and pretty. Her English was not very good but she was highly intelligent and worked in the nearby Spar supermarket. Magdalena was her name and she was aged 33 and came from Warsaw and loved taking digital photographs and painting landscapes with oils.  The two women moved into their separate apartments and both were pleased with the quality of their new accommodation. I noticed that Magdalena tended to be a little bit argumentive and I secretly hoped that she would not cause any trouble in the house.