One Step Forward and Two Steps Back Day...

It was one of those days today when we took one step forwards and two steps back.  We were going to Paphos to get some chores sorted, we had to pick up the replacement kitchen doors for the ones which had warped, we had to take the car in to try and get the brake problem fixed and I had to pick up the new lenses for my glasses.  My eyesight has changed dramatically since I stopped staring at a computer screen day in and day out and the near sight prescription was too strong and I was having all sorts of problems focusing.  I knew something was wrong when it was better watching the TV without glasses!

So we started off by me borrowing Mum and Dad's CRV so we had a vehicle and John dropped off the car at the garage.  The opticians is just round the corner so I called in and within a few minutes I had the new lenses fitted in my old frames.  New prescriptions always take a little time to get used to particularly when they are varifocals!!! We went off in search of a mirror for the guest bedroom.  Now that we have moved bedrooms any poor visitor had to dry their hair or put on their makeup by feel only!!  Paphos is such a sprawling place we could have spent all day looking for what we wanted but we started off by going down to Sun Tower which is a right old Aladdin's Cave of furniture and household items but couldn't see any dressing table mirrors so were just about to leave when John spotted this mirror - at the most incredible price of €20 - we thought there must be some mistake but no mistake so we decided we could probably find room for it and decided to have it.  Visitors will now be able to see themselves in all their full-length glory and incredibly for a flat packed item it had all the bits and went together and remains standing upright!!!  At least that was something that went right for us yesterday!

We called the kitchen guy to see when we could pick up the new doors having agreed today and were told that they were ready but had not been oiled.  I asked how long it would take for them to be oiled and they asked if we could pick them up tomorrow - great - so we tactfully explained that we had come down specially from Droushia and eventually they agreed that we could pick them up at 12.00 which meant we had quite some time to kill.  It was a hot and sticky day to be killing time but like I said to John they were making us brand new doors so we couldn't really complain.  We did get the doors and they had had their first oiling but are still quite a bit lighter than the original ones so I will have to keep oiling and keep waiting for them to naturally mellow and match the rest. Still they fit and look so much better so that is all that matters and after more than a year we should be grateful that they were prepared to make new ones for us.

Whilst we were out and about we had a phone call from the garage to say that the spare part that had arrived wasn't the right one for the car - brilliant - after a great deal of discussion they said they could get another part but it was going to be more expensive and so if we were going to go ahead it wouldn't be ready until 2.00pm - so more time to kill and more expenditure - deep joy!!

John was beginning to have a bit of a sense of humour failure as the heat was getting to him - killing time can be expensive as we called into shops to while away the time - it wasn't worth going back to Mum and Dad's as we would have had to set off back no sooner than we had got there so eventually we ended up in Carrefour's where there was the tail end of the sale going on - I found a really nice polo shirt for John for €5!!  It makes a change to find something that he likes and that is actually the right size for for him.  In return he found me a pair of leather shoes that are really comfortable and on occasions I really ought to wear something other than flip flops!

We pitched up at Mum and Dads for lunch and a catch up and a watch of the Olympics which over the last few days has been really exciting and it is great to see team GB doing so well particularly in all those less televised sports - who would have thought that clay pigeon shooting or sailing could be so exciting.

At 2.30 John phoned the garage to be told that the second spare part wasn't right either - deep deep joy - now we are back to square one and John is going to have to find a second hand one from somewhere - at least the garage didn't charge us for their two abortive attempts this morning.

We gathered up all our stuff and made our way back home - the cats would be thinking their throats had been cut!  We arrived home and fed the cats and found water water everywhere and not a drop to drink - well not that much really but a wet kitchen floor around the cat bowls.  Bugger it would appear that the freezer was defrosting itself.  My freezer is fit to burst so this was a big big problem.  We dragged the freezer out to find it was on and working so fortunately my food was safe.  We then dragged out the fridge which was also on and working but there was definitely water under that.  We eventually found that there was a blocked drain and the overflow dish in the back of the fridge was doing exactly that - overflowing and there was a massive ice build up on the back.  So my fridge got an impromptu clean (Mum will be proud of me) and after a quick blast of my hair dryer the back got defrosted - nothing spoiled fortunately!