About two weeks before I had to leave for my job in Scotland, the sale went through, and after a few whoops of delight, one huge doubt set in, as only now did I realise the enormous step I had taken. Haarlem is an an old German Mission station, and most of its inhabitants were working on the apple farms, so I would be the only white person living there! Luckily Manda loved the place also, and they had decided to buy the house next doors from me, and their sale also went through at the same time, but as they were still working, they would only be in Haarlem over week-ends.
I decided to tackle the wood-knawing beesties first, so armed with a huge tin of creosote, a remedy my good friend Jaco, an ardent diy man, recommended strongly, I set off for Haarlem. I borrowed Hannes's brandnew and shiny alluminium ladder, and set to with enthusiasm and vigour, wondering about using the vile smelling stuff my friend recommended, as it smelled potent and dangerous! Half a raft later I had to run out for air, as the  fumes from the creosote was so strong that I could not pull any air into my lungs! I tried again, and again, but my knees were becoming quite warm and swollen from going up and down the ladder, and I was sitting in a miserable heap, coughing and sneezing, when I heard a faint 'Hello-o-o' from the gate, and there stood Christalina, a woman living just down the road, looking for work. I could kiss her! After explaining to her to be very careful, and to take only small amounts of the creosote on the brush, and stressed that she was to NOT mess on Hannes's new ladder, and had to take frequent breathes outside, I left her to it, and went on to put putty in the windows that were on the point of falling out!
When my tummy started complaining about being so empty, I went to Irma's kitchen, the only place where one could keep a kettle and food, and made us some sandwiches and a pot of strong tea. I suddenly realised that Christalina never came out for drawing a breathe, so I got a bitty worried, and rushed over with our refreshments, expecting a comatose girl! The scene that met my eyes was so gruesome that I almost chucked the food away an ran! Christalina was alive and very happy, and she looked like something from a horror show, as she was NOT careful with the creosote, and her whole body was covered in a shiny black coat of the stuff. When she smiled happily at me, and the white of her teeth and eyes stood out garishly from her black creosote coating, I thought a demon had gotten up from the dead, and gave a full bodied scream, but when my eyes fell on Hannes's brandnew ladder that was now also as black and shiny as the woman standing smiling on top of it, and the walls and floor that also got a good layer, my cup was full, and I cried! But as it couldn't get any worse, we had our elevenses, and I told Christalina to finish. I was slogging away with the putty when my phone rang, and it was Jaco to enquire how I was getting on, and to warn me that the creosote had arsenic in, and to be very careful not to let it come onto my body! Oh my Lord! I screamed at Christalina to come out and gave her the bottle with turps, instructing her to clean herself immediately, and then have a long shower! She on her turn was flabbergasted, told me in no uncertain terms that she was having no cold shower, and that she would take the turps with and clean herself at home! I tried to clean Hannes's ladder, but all the alluminium came off, and I realised that it was an old ladder with a new dress! Then I packed up and went home, but was on tenterhooks all the time, expecting to get a message that Christalina had passed on from the creosote! And to make me feel even worse, I knew she had a small baby!