Friday 14 June 2013

June 4th...

My design for the 70th Birthday Card was approved and as I wanted to give it to Lady Val at Wednesday's Ladies Lunch I was keen to get it assembled and drying whilst we were down in Emba at Mum and Dad's this afternoon.  I hope she likes it and I hope Cataract Val likes it too.  Because the drift wood can 'ping' off if you are not careful I got it glued and weighted down.

Both John and I were going down to Emba today because Mum and Dad were keen for us to see the inside of the bungalow that they are going to be renting from July 1st.  They are taking it then and will move out of the Villa at the end of August giving plenty of time for us to get the new house sorted.  They wanted to use John's 'engineer's eye' to work out where things might fit and to take an unemotional view of what may or may not be needed to be done to make it a comfortable home.


The bungalow is one of a pair of semi detached with the one Mum and Dad want to rent on the right as you look at it and a mirror image one on the left which is occupied by a Cypriot lady called Effi and it is her brother which owns the one Mum and Dad are to rent.  All the surrounding land for about as far as the eye can see seems to be owned by the family as there is another sister who lives next door.


The bungalow is three bedroomed with central heating which is a bonus and is really quite large although the oddly shaped lounge area is causing us a bit of a nightmare as we are trying to work out whether it can accommodate the existing dining room table and sideboard.  We don't want there to be an obstacle course for Mum and Dad to walk through so that they end up with bruises all over the place.


The kitchen and utility area are huge - it could all do with a a bit of a clean - or at least a clean which is up to Mum's standard!  The units are plentiful if not a little dated but once it has all Mum and Dad's own things dotted around will look absolutely fine.  One of the nice things about this bungalow is the fact that all the rooms can be shut off unlike where they live now so they shouldn't lose heat into unused areas.  There is also a spacious garage and ironing room.

We think Mum and Dad have made the right decision to move into somewhere that is on one floor and to give up the swimming pool which has a cost in both time and money attached to it.  Mum can always come and have a swim here if she is feeling brave enough!

They seem to be happy about it and that is all that matters and hopefully they will have a good few years in their new home.  Mum has already started to begin the sorting out process back in Lakoudia Street and we are going to rally the troops so that we can move their things for them - they can just tell us where they want them to go.

Their neighbour Effi seems to be a lovely lady and she invited us to sit under her pergola after we had done what we wanted to do at the house and have a drink with her.  After an accident some time ago she has lost the use of her left arm and she has problems with her knees.  She makes some cracking keftedes because Mum's friend Eileen has let me have some previously!

She must have called her family to come and meet the new neighbours because no sooner had we sat down than two of her sisters pitched up!


They are all lovely people but the two sisters do not speak a huge amount of English and when they realised that I have a smattering of Greek I was engaged in some long and complicated conversations of which I understood about 30% and boy is it tiring trying to listen and understand and respond when they speak at a million miles an hour!

We left Emba and returned to Droushia via Arodes as I had picked up some face cream that Jane wanted.

Jane is currently looking after a number of dogs.  She has got rid of one and has been left with Snoop and Vicki and Trev's two Mads and Murphy.

She says that Murphy is a saint but Mads is, as her name would imply, a mad thing and gives the other two merry hell!  Jane decided to put Mads in the hammock which, once we had managed to get her legs out from the holes, proved to be a great success.  This was just before she decided to make a bid for freedom and managed to push her way through Jane's barricades and set off in search of the chickens with John in hot pursuit.


Not that Mads would take a chicken but with the abysmal egg laying track record the hens have so far we could not take the risk so we managed to get her back in without any loss to the livestock!  Phew!

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