Tuesday 15th January...

This morning before I set off for lunch with Mum and pickleball (yes I know it is Tuesday but Tom had asked me to change my day this week) John was being artistic!!!  Maybe he would like to come with me tomorrow and be an honorary crafty lady at Jeannettes!!!

We have an outdoor clock which sits above the spare bedroom window and which has needed its battery changing but as it is directly above the swimming pool John had to make sure he could reach it safely otherwise it was going to be an icy dip for him!

He had decided that it would benefit from having the tips of the hands painted and something to make the minutes stand out and had bought some very garish yellow nail varnish from the Euro Shop!  This is the second coat - the first coat dried to a pale green rather than the vibrant yellow.  This second coat looks to have been more successful - it's not quite glow in the dark although with enough it looks like it could be!  Not sure exactly how good it is going to be in very bright sunlight though.

I had to set off with plenty of time to call into the Outlet Store to take back my new fridge.  We never got as far as switching it on because it arrived with the adjusting foot very badly bent so we could not stop it from wobbling.  This is not good but the Outlet Store have been very good and wanted us to return it so that they could see what the problem was and then organise to get it sorted.

Thank goodness we still have the fridge/freezer that Budgie Smuggler Mark has been kind enough to lend us so we have been able to do without for the last few days.  Up until this week we could probably have left food outside and it would have been cool enough but this week the weather has been much much warmer during the day - not only that I think the various cats in the area might have started to take an unhealthy interest in food that is outside.

It was glorious when I arrived at Mum and Dad's - really warm bright sunshine and so we were able to take our lunch sitting outside.  I started to regret the various layers that I had on but as Mum said we couldn't be sure exactly how warm it was going to be on the pickleball court.

Mum had given me a challenge - she had a crocheted baby shawl which her friend Susie (aged 93) had made and which Mum wanted to give to her Cypriot neighbour who has a new grand-daughter.  I drafted something which I passed by Sam yesterday and which she said was correct.  Mum's neighbour speaks very little English and Mum very little Greek so they have a difficult time making themselves understood.  Mum wanted to tell her that the shawl was new and hand-made.

Mum has subsequently phoned to say that her neighbour understood my note and was very impressed by it.  She was also absolutely delighted with the shawl - Cypriots do like hand made items.  Apparently I am to go over and see her when I am next available so that we can speak Greek together!

It was such a lovely day that Mum and I walked down to the Karate Centre in Emba for our game of pickleball - it was going to be a strenuous hour and a half as there was only going to be four of us there today.  We have moved into the room next door which is a much better venue.  The roof is still a bit low but we have managed to adapt our game to take this into account and if we do hit a high ball then we play a let.  There are less restrictions with the end boundaries although sometimes you can clip your bat but again we are getting better at dealing with that.  Those of us that now play are satisfied that this is probably the best we can get as an indoor venue and the chances of getting an outdoor venue are less than slim.  The one problem we have is that we now only have 5 regular players so we are desperate for more people to come and join us.  When Mum goes away for three weeks I can only play one session a week and we are booked for two.  If anyone reading this might be interested in coming and having a go then please get in touch.  We have spare equipment and it is suitable for a wide age range - look at Mum who is well into her 70s and can still beat me hands-down.

We have had a bit of a change around at home.  Slightly inspired by having been to Elaine's (Nessa) and seen her lovely dining room.  We have changed the curtains at the dining room end for the cream ones which were in the bedroom which has made that area lighter and slightly differentiated it from the lounge end.  We have also moved the furniture round so that the dining table is sideways on.  I also persuaded Mum to let me have the chargers she has sitting in her cupboard - we have introduced a bit of colour with the red serviettes (also courtesy of Mum).  We probably have too much furniture in this building but we are loathe to get rid of any!