I'm sorry- whoosh?!

If you've been a loyal reader, you are aware of the troubles we have had hanging things on our walls. We were given permission in writing from the Landlord, but were not told that many of the walls are impenetrable. We've finally given up and it's a damn good thing we did. Here's why...The Landlord has guys that come around and check on work that was meant to be done by the "Decorators." They came by today to check on work that was done a couple of weeks ago. One of the men, Clive, is a regular- he does all of the work in our flat. He has seen me in different stages of getting the flat ready and remarked on the fact that I had managed to put all of our furniture together and he motioned to the bookcase. I explained that since we couldn't drill into that particular wall, I was worried that some day the bookcase may come crashing down on me. Well, the man in charge says, "Oh yeah- don't drill into the walls. You have a system in there that prevents the damp from coming in. If you drill into that, Whoosh!" I'm sorry- whoosh?! Then he says, "Well, it wouldn't be quite that bad." I'm sorry- whoosh?! Thankfully, we had decided to succumb to the impenetrability of the walls (most likely there to protect us from the whoosh,) but what if we had decided to get masonry nails and power through? I really wanted our family pictures over the sofa. What if I had been a bit more stubborn? I can just see John being washed away by the water gushing out of our pipes. And I wonder why on earth the Landlord would give us permission to drill into the walls knowing that there was a possibility of a whoosh! Oh well, no harm done. But I wonder what else he's forgotten to tell us...