We had to meet the agent at the church, but as it was so hot just sitting in the car, and we being about twenty minutes early, we decided to drive around a bit. I was beginning to feel a lot better, as most of the houses were quite well looked after, and the beautiful roses in front of some of them just lifted them from being run down and quite sad, to looking quite gay! Our first meeting with the Haarlem traffic befell us shortly after turning from the main road into one of the dirt roads. A huge brown and white bull was reclining in the middle of the road, with a harem of about eight cows lying around him, chewing their cud slowly and looking at us with loathing, not at all feeling like getting up and giving us a little space to pass. Hannes first tried the hooter, but that did not make any impression on the bull, or his many wives, so he inched the little Uno nearer and nearer, still blowing the hooter, and mr Bull got the hell in, scrambled up, not very gracefully, and started pawing the ground with an enormous paw, while his pink lidded eyes rolled menacingly in his head! I was terrified, and I think even Hannes felt a pinch of fear, as the bull was almost as high as the Uno. Then suddenly all the cows got up, and after pawing up a thick cloud of dust, the Don Juan rolled his eyes once more at us, then led his harem across the road and into someone's potato field!
We admired a few houses where the owners must have gotten hold of a tin of wrongly mixed green paint, and then shared it to beautify their homes, and this homes were now sporting the most unlikely bright lime- green coats! The agent was waiting when we got back, and as we stopped next to her car, she invited me to drive with her. She was about my age, and quite comely, but then she smiled, and I almost gasped, as two long yellow front teeth curled out from under her upper lip! Strange that some older people's front teeth do grow so long, as I had seen it before, specially in England. Luckily mine was crowned, and I felt thankful suddenly towards the toffee eclair that broke both my front teeth years ago! The first house we saw was the one I was interested in, as it had both an apple and pear orchard that was still producing good fruit. But the houses, there were three, were dilapadated to the point of almost ruins, and I decided to view the other properties too. The second house was just across the road, but as the stairs to the veranda had collapsed many years ago, we had to manouvre a thinnish plank to get up to the stoep, and I was flapping like a bally hen in distress, swearing and sweating, but my third attempt was successful, and tired but happy, I followed the agent into the house. Irma and Hannes had lost their lethargic disinterest, and were now quite excited. In the kitchen, around a big table, about eight kids were sitting, ready for the warm bread that was steaming in the middle of the table. Smoke was curling in thick black clouds from an ancient black monster stove, and as we tried to see into this room, we started coughing and sneezing, while the kids thought it hillarious, and laughed delightedly! I still wonder how those children could sit so happily while almost being gassed! But this house was also not for me, as most of the floorboards were missing, and we had to jump a kind of hop scotch from one to the other to see the rest of the house. It must have been a lovely place once, but the neglect was just to serious. Irma and Hannes loved it, and thought we could buy it together, but I did not have the money to renovate it, and neither had they, as I could see that there was a lot of work to be done! So onwards we went, my hopes not yet dashed, but my spirit quite low.
We admired a few houses where the owners must have gotten hold of a tin of wrongly mixed green paint, and then shared it to beautify their homes, and this homes were now sporting the most unlikely bright lime- green coats! The agent was waiting when we got back, and as we stopped next to her car, she invited me to drive with her. She was about my age, and quite comely, but then she smiled, and I almost gasped, as two long yellow front teeth curled out from under her upper lip! Strange that some older people's front teeth do grow so long, as I had seen it before, specially in England. Luckily mine was crowned, and I felt thankful suddenly towards the toffee eclair that broke both my front teeth years ago! The first house we saw was the one I was interested in, as it had both an apple and pear orchard that was still producing good fruit. But the houses, there were three, were dilapadated to the point of almost ruins, and I decided to view the other properties too. The second house was just across the road, but as the stairs to the veranda had collapsed many years ago, we had to manouvre a thinnish plank to get up to the stoep, and I was flapping like a bally hen in distress, swearing and sweating, but my third attempt was successful, and tired but happy, I followed the agent into the house. Irma and Hannes had lost their lethargic disinterest, and were now quite excited. In the kitchen, around a big table, about eight kids were sitting, ready for the warm bread that was steaming in the middle of the table. Smoke was curling in thick black clouds from an ancient black monster stove, and as we tried to see into this room, we started coughing and sneezing, while the kids thought it hillarious, and laughed delightedly! I still wonder how those children could sit so happily while almost being gassed! But this house was also not for me, as most of the floorboards were missing, and we had to jump a kind of hop scotch from one to the other to see the rest of the house. It must have been a lovely place once, but the neglect was just to serious. Irma and Hannes loved it, and thought we could buy it together, but I did not have the money to renovate it, and neither had they, as I could see that there was a lot of work to be done! So onwards we went, my hopes not yet dashed, but my spirit quite low.
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