We had a week of beautiful and sunny days, but the morning of my moving broke gray and wet, and as I had booked an open truck thinking that the weather should last, and my available funds running low, I was one worried woman. By eleven the rain abated, and a few very shy sunrays peeped from behind the clouds that had now broken up. When I moved from the Strand to the flat in George I had to get rid of a lot of furniture, as the house had three bedrooms compared to one in the flat, so it would not be too bad!
Half past eleven the truck arrived, driven by a youngster of very small built, and this youngster was accompanied by another one, I reckoned him to be about sixteen years of age, and even of slighter build than the other one. I stated flatly that the person I spoke to had misunderstood me, as it was a furniture move, and I did not believe that they would get the heavy fridge , stove and washing machine down the stairs! The older one laughed heartily, and told me to try them. I now noticed that the younger of the two wore a face of grieve and sorrow, and thought that he at least realised that they were not up to the task, but I soon heard the reason for his sorrow, as he started telling me that his girlfriend had dropped him for the school Jock, and he would never ever forgive her, or trust another woman again!
I tried to give them a hand with the heavy fridge that went down first, but the older one told me gently to sit down on my coach until such time as they had to take that down, and all that in a voice people used when talking to toddlers and very old people! After my hand, that wanted to slap this arrogant lad had steadied, I sat down, but had little peace, as every time the two came up for another piece, the young one embroidered further on his hatred of all women, and even sat down beside me once when his grieve overcame him, and cried lustily on my shoulder, me patting his head and doing a lot of consoling. But he was unconsolable, his face quite red from the exertion of carrying the heavy furniture, and also the grieve!
The weather still looked okay, but we had a slight problem with my huge white coach. When I first moved into the flat, Jaco, my diy friend who recommended the creosote, had to take off the one door, and actually made a new door opening for this coach to get in, as it got stuck and wouldn't move forward or backwards. He then closed up the old door opening, and now there was no way to get the bally coach out, the corridor just to narrow to sway it enough, as before we pushed it through the original door into the kitchen, then, using the new opening, pushed it straight through the lounge door that was opposite the new opening.
In the end I had to leave my beautiful and comfy coach for my tennants to enjoy, and they were ecstatic!
The furniture were piled high, and the lads now used a huge oily sail to try and cover it, but it proved a difficult task, as some or other piece kept on peeping out from under it, with them pulling it around to find just the right way. In the end I told them that I had two blue striped shading nets they could perhaps use, so the nets were fastened to the back, the truck now resembling a circus lorry come to town!
It was quite late when we started out, me driving at the back to warn them if something didn't look right!
We were scarcely over the Outeniqua pass when the blue shading nets came loose, so after a lot of flashing  of my lights, they came to a stop and fastened the nets again. It lasted only for about twenty kilometres, when the bally thing came loose again, flapping wildly in the wind, like a mad conductor directing a huge orchestra! It took ages to reach Knoll's Halt, where they had a good look at their fastening ways, and after some deliberation, they announced that they now had the hang of it! A few kilometres on, the nets were again merrily flapping and we decided that as it was not far now, we would leave it to flap all they want!
The villagers that were outside and saw this spectacle go down the dusty roads were much entertained, and I think a lot of them must have been happy that a circus had at last decided to come to Haarlem! Luckily we had only a few drops of rain along the way, so no harm was done!
I was amazed by the roses that kept on making new buds!