Thursday March 14th...

We had a full day organised for today which meant an early start.  Lending a helping hand at Akourdalia, deciphering the map from Savvas (he could learn a thing or two from Keith Watkins I can tell you) so we could get the tracking done, DIY shopping at SuperHome Centre then pickleball for me and John helping Mum and Dad to clear Frank's loft.

It was a truly beautiful morning - the rolling mists last night were not heralding anything untoward thank goodness so we were up and at 'em the Mighty Chatham before the crack of sparrows and on the road in good time to fit everything in - map reading permitting!

The sunshine was showing off Elaine's garden to its best and she has a wonderful display of freesias just at the front door - I am reminded that these are John's mum's favourites and their smell a favourite of mine too.  

I think that Elaine's garden is more sheltered than ours in Droushia and she has some stunning plants that I would love to grow but would probably be wasting my money but it did make me want to fit in a quick visit to the London Supermarket as we were on our way down the Mesoghi Avenue.

Elaine is very excited that her goldfish have risen from their winter slumbers.  She said that they are named after friends of hers which made me wonder about the one called Tom Jones it also made me wonder how Dill and Dom are getting on in their new Dorset home with the Allans.

The Lodge (the name of Elaine and Paul's house) has a magnificent setting with views to die for.  Straight out the back beyond the swimming pool are mountains and in the far distance today you could see the snow settled on the mountains that are in Turkey.  The Lodge and its gardens are filled with all sorts of interesting bits and pieces from Elaine and Paul's travels and I just love the Buddha overseeing the swimming pool.

You will never believe it but we managed to find the garage from that scrappy old map - more by luck than judgment I would say although John would argue he had it covered all the time!  I have never ever been to a garage that was so clean and tidy and organised or met a mechanic that was so clean and tidy and organised as he worked quietly and methodically to realign our grossly out of line wheels - John  reckons they had probably been like that for months and it was no wonder the last lot of tyres didn't last long.

We managed to get away and get to SuperHome Centre and exchange the shower hose that I had bought last week and got the wrong one, we also managed to get some paint so we can freshen up the kitchen and then begin the lounge.  We also managed a quick look round the London Supermarket and found some handsome plants that fired our imagination so John and I are going to do some planning in the garden!

We swung by Emba to have lunch with Mum and Dad.  Mum has had the heavy strapping removed from her hand which has relieved the swelling and made things much easier for her.  She is hopeful that the stitches will go soon and then before we know it she will be back thrashing all and sundry on the pickleball court.

On that subject we had a good old workout today.  Tom has returned after cracking his ribs - he is still a bit careful but glad to be back.  Trevor came with Vicki to make the number up and we had some hard, fast and competitive games.  We are making good inroads into paying Tom back for the equipment that we had to purchase when we moved from the Imperial Beach hotel.  Tom is pleased that at last we seem to have a steady group of six for each of the weekly sessions.  Time will tell whether or not we can play right through the summer as we have no idea how hot it will get in the room or whether the ceiling fans will make the ball deviate too much but we will give it a go!

On my way back home I realised that, as I was borrowing Mum and Dad's CRV, I had no house keys so until John returned I was going to have to twiddle my thumbs.  As I got to Kathikas Mum text to say that John was on his way home so I knew I wouldn't have too long to wait.

There is a new kid on the block and he is a handsome fella.  Welcome Buster, a neutered Tom who had befriended Irene.  Unable to house any more cats at hers she has looked after him and then asked if he could be brought up round here so that he might be fed along with the other ferals that are around.  Having met him we think he must have belonged to someone at some point as he is quite friendly and I have been able to sit and give him a stroke.

Buster has already encountered Minnie Mou and Chivers.  Minnie Mou did her normal 'stiff ignoring' but Chivers was unconcerned even when Buster tried to get into the garden.  In fact at one point it sounded like Chivers was trying to call Buster to play.

Buster found his way to our front door and sat on the door mat calling us.  He did not seem desperate to come indoors but wanted to be close.  I noticed that he had dirt around his eyes so was just sitting down to clean them when our friends and neighbours Sharon and Sean arrived with their tale of woe about getting over here.

Apparently Sean had everything straight in his mind and they set off in good time only for him to realise he was heading for Luton and they were flying from Stanstead.  The head gasket went on his car and they had to pay through the nose for a taxi to get them to the airport where they arrived as the gate was shutting, had to pay another £100 for their already paid for and checked in cases from which the airport removed all sorts of stuff, but thankfully not my essence of cinnamon!  

It could only happen to them!