In the meantime, I had aquired new neigbours, Peter and Sheila Earl. They were an unlikely pair in looks, but as a couple they were delightful.Sheila was a real Hillbilly, walking around in blue workers overalls, and working like some or other propellor was driving her on, while Peter was always dressed like a country gentleman, and had a kind of languished dignity to him. They both loved their beer, and I was amazed when we first met at the amount they could down!
I was so disgusted with my main house that I went back to my flat without having done anything, and after three days of lamenting and being furious at myself for not waiting to see the inside before buying, I perked up again, bought cement, and paint and brushes, and a lot of other stuff to try and get the bottom room liveable! I first tried to get the creosote off the walls, that were were partly painted in white, then it seemed that the industrious painter had either run out of paint, or all pay day arrived before he could finnish! After almost eight months the smell was still strong enough to make me run out every few minutes, so I stuck two rolled-up pieces of toiletpaper in my nostrils, and put a safety mask, the kind that woodworkers use, over that, and that helped a little bit, but I still had to run out a lot, as that made it difficult to breathe. It was an impossible task, and after struggling the whole day, I gave up and decided to paint over the creosote. Trying to paint the top of the wall on the five metre side was hazardous, as he ladder was too short, so I took the mattress off the bed that had a hardboard base, and put the ladder on top of the bed. It was still not quite right as I had to get onto the top sport, and that few seconds between standing and grabbing the rafter to hang on to, was terrifying. What was even more upsetting was that as soon as the paint started drying, out peeped the creosote. Must say, I think Jaco's ears must have been sore with all the oaths I was wishing down on him, as now I not only had the creosote fumes to deal with, but the turps itself was giving off some quite toxic fumes!
I decided to try and plant some of the trees I also bought. I had four Olives, Two tangerines, and two Almonds, Plus a pommegranate that was quite strong., as I wanted to see which would do the  best.  The soil on the left of my house looked very good, and I set out with much enthusiasm and a lot of cheer, but my cheer waned quite fast, and the enthusiasm died one sudden death, as I was not able to make a hole deeper than about ten cm. The topsoil was about five centimetres, and after that came first a lot of rocks, and then a barrier of clay that I just could not work through. It was rock hard, so I was running up and down from the house with water, poured it in the hole, the clay then softened a bit allowing me to deepen the hole about one cm, then up to the house for more water,and on and on, untill I just chucked everything on a heap, gave a scream of frustration, and painted the putty that I fixed on the windows that had now hardened enough to be done. I had to get the bottom room ready to sleep in, as I mostly came alone, and Irma's house had no backdoor, only a piece of plate that had to be propped up with two iron poles,and above that I would never sleep alone with the goggas that scuttles around under the wooden floor, this floor having just too many holes for them to escape. So after a cuppa with Sheila, I gave up and went back to my flat! I had decided to come back the weekend when the other would be there, and try again cleaning the creosote!