listening to the little voice

No, this is nothing about saving France.

You know how sometimes you have an instinct about something, but you've already made a commitment to a course of action, so you go against your gut feeling?

I just woke up to the phone. The woman who is supposed to be subletting my place can't leave Milan because her father may be about to die. She's not coming, and could I send her back half of the money she sent for the rent?

I feel for her, I totally do. But I'm in a frustrating spot now. This is not the first time this woman has hit me with a curveball, and after that first time I felt really troubled about having her in. But it felt like I didn't have time to find someone else, so I worked a deal with her to cut the rent by half, and stifled the voice that was telling me something else would go awry. And the whole discussion of getting her from the airport to my place helped nothing; she kept going around about when she was coming in, and I was afraid I wasn't going to be able to find someone to let her into the apartment, and finally the ever-patient and loving Snufkina (who is about to travel herself and doesn't have the time for this) not only agreed to let her in, but volunteered to go to the airport to meet this woman and cab back into the city with her.

So.

I now have less than 24 hours to find someone willing to come in and water the plants, and I am paying 3/4 of the rent for a month I'd planned to pay no rent. I have a dozen plants I'd like to come home to alive. Thank god there's no cat involved.

BUT, I just learned that you can request a mail hold from the post office online, which is very convenient. I suppose I can put my lights on a timer, so the place doesn't look completely deserted. I've left a message for Thread asking if she'd like a home away from home for the month. I'll sort this out. And the level of clean I needed to get to, I don't think I do now; I'd been trying to figure out where to hide some, ah, "marital aids" (what an absurd term) and that's no longer an issue.

Today's lesson, kids: when your gut tells you something, listen.