After visits to a few places that didn't suit us, we went to see a flat on Yehuda Hamaccabi, in the old north of Tel Aviv, just south of the Yarkon River. We were met by a nice dati couple who took us up to see the flat. It was spacious, with a lovely big living room and dining room and a fantastic balcony overlooking the square (Kikar Milano - Milano Square). We took one look and said we were interested. They arranged a meeting with a lawyer for the following Monday and we had until then to organise our guarantor (!!!!!). We only panicked on the inside.
So off we went back to Pardes Hana and before we knew it, it was Monday and we were at the meeting, armed with cash and a bank guarantee. Miracles can happen. What an experience that meeting was. The flat was owned by an old chap who was popularly known as the Hassidic Painter. He passed away early this year (apparently not in the flat) and his three daughters - Bella, Esther and Tova - inherited the flat and were renting it out for a year before they were to sell it. We found ourselves at the meeting with Tova and her husband Moshe (who had shown us the flat in the first place), Bella, the lawyer, our friend Rahel who had come with us for the ride and later Esther and her husband came along. After some time there were so many of us that we had to move into the board room. The meeting was chaotic and disordered, but eventually we signed, paid and took the key.
Unfortunately, the three daughters had not yet removed all their father's belongings and we agreed that they would come on the following evening and remove everything that we didn't want (it was, however, fortunate that they were leaving all the furniture, which made our lives so much easier). They appeared at 5 in the evening and were still there at 8 - with the place looking more of a shambles. By now we also had Reuben, Sharron and Judy in the flat and we were starting to get very annoyed that the three sisters were still there and there was no sign of them finishing. They were also being a bit rubbish by expecting us to tolerate some bizarre conditions and mess that they had created. Furthermore, the removal of all their father's paintings revealed so many holes in the walls, that they almost appeared to have a series of bullet wounds.
David (with a little urging from Judy and some encourgement from me) eventually gave them an ultimatum: we would leave for 48 hours and when we returned they will have removed everything we don't want, cleaned up the mess and they would also leave us some filler and paint to fix the walls. They grumbled and pulled faces, but they had no real grounds for complaint as we were already paying for a flat that we could not live in.
So we returned to Pardes Hana for another 2 days - Adon Shatil was very patient and understanding - and came back on Thursday evening to a cleared and cleaned (if not totally clean) flat. At last, we could take possession of our first home in Israel.
Relief.
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