Shitty Saturday - clean up cancelled

The weather during the night was awful and we woke to grey skies full of rain or hail - maybe even a bit of snow as it was forecast - it was miserable.  Still it was early and the weather can change pretty rapidly so I felt optimistic that so long as it wasn't absolutely hoofing it down we would show willing and do our village clean-up particularly as Marianna in the Community Office had kindly donated bin bags for the exercise.

The weather did brighten for a bit and it was warm enough at one point for the impeller pump to shift some water from the solar panels to the tank so we were hopeful but then it deteriorated and then some - we could hardly see out of the conservatory.  We gave people plenty of notice and will rearrange hopefully for next week - just need to check the weather and the diary.

Knowing that we would not now be going out gave us the chance to catch up with a few things which would not otherwise have got done.  I had stupidly put washing on when I saw a glimmer of sunshine so had to turn the conservatory into a makeshift Chinese laundry - I am grateful I have space to do this but hate having washing hanging about indoors.

Nowadays very small things can make me very happy indeed so when John designed some storage for my glory hole cupboard so that the cling-film and tinfoil etc could be tidied away I was delighted and go on with putting it to good use - this area is now, for the timebeing at least, tidy - this will make John a very happy man as he cannot stand mess which begs the question how he has managed to stay married to me for what will shortly be 25 years.  I am more of an out of sight out of mind kind of person so you may not see anything on the work surfaces but god help you if you open a drawer or a cupboard as it will all come out to greet you.

The cats seem to love it when we are at home and stay around much more - not so surprising when it is like Hurricane Alex outside.  They take full advantage of the residual warmth of our bed and make it impossible for me to make it.  I had read somewhere that the key to a happy day is to start by making the bed and bedroom all lovely and neat and tidy so that you go to bed happy and sleep happy.  Well I like the idea but it is impossible to put into practice here.  How could you move a slumbering snoring and contented Charlie Farley?

The heavy rain turned into heavy hail by mid-morning and at times the sound on the conservatory glass roof was deafening - at one point the hail stones appeared to be the size of golfballs and it is this sort of weather that causes the most damage to the plants in the garden.

As it was a day for being indoors I got on with making the soup that we were going to have for lunch tomorrow with Mum and Dad.  They have been invited to a party tomorrow evening by the owners of a restaurant so there will be food for sure so Mum asked if they could just have something light - that suited us as we thought we would probably still be pretty full from the birthday meal we are having later this evening.

I had purchased a monster potato from Paps yesterday - this picture really doesn't show quite how large it was but lets just say it was enough to feed four people with a healthy appetite.  This was to be the base of my soup which included, lemon, ginger, chilli, onion, leek, sweet potato, celery and crispy bacon.  It smelt nice as it was cooking so hopefully Mum and Dad will enjoy it tomorrow.

Although we are without a swimming pool at the moment we are hopeful that work will start soon as the tiles we have chosen are due on the island next week.  It doesn't really matter as it is far too cold until about May to even think of putting a toe in it and it doesn't really matter because the rain accumulating on the temporary cover and getting deeper and deeper so we have a swimming pool anyway.

The only trouble is that the quickest route from the Green Area to the Kitchen for the cats is straight across the temporary cover and so they come wading through and we have to be on cat towel alert to give them a dry off before they make a mess everywhere.

Chivers is a bit of a fan of towelling down and I reckon he runs in and out of the puddles on purpose so that we can snuggle him up in a towel.  Charlie on the other hand is not so keen and Minnie goes off on one if you go anywhere near with what she considers to be a foreign object.  Boris is ambivalent - it depends on his mood.  He is currently in disgrace because yet again he has come home without his collar and I am blowed if I am going to go out in these conditions to try and find it.

My cookathon was followed by an ironathon as I had not one but two laundry baskets full of clean washing waiting to be dealt with plus there was a third load trying to dry on the airer.  My new iron has still to arrive so I am soldiering on with the old one which is worse than useless at times - it is my excuse to John when he peers at my attempts and looks exasperated as it does not come up to RN standards.

Had we been out for the morning we would not have lit the fire so early but it was cold sitting around and two wet to get on with any DIY so the fire got lit pretty early - Chivers and Boris declared a temporary cease-fire (Chivers generally approaches Boris and bats him around the head) and they settled down on the sofa together - in fact very much so together!!!

Charlie on the other hand took up residence in Minnie's spot on the top of the sofa and suddenly decided to wash John's head which he continued to do for about 30 minutes!!  We aren't sure if it was the shampoo or the 'product' or that he was just being loving!

Confined to barracks I took the opportunity to complete the blanket that I have crocheted for Mum as she wanted one to throw over her legs now that Frederico has commandeered the blinkies that Kaye had knitted for Mum and Dad - not sure what it is about the wool that she used because our four love the one she gave me.  On the subject of my sister we are sending her lots of love as she is about to have another operation on her feet.

We were to venture out this evening because we were going for a meal at the Farmyard in Kathikas as a late celebration for Louise's birthday - although personally I cannot believe she preferred to celebrate her actual birthday on holiday in Goa!

We joined Lou and H, Mina and Claire and Daniella sitting right by a huge open log fire which Rachel and Savvas bring into the restaurant for the winter months.

Poor Lou and H's return has been a bit of a baptism of fire and they have been working their socks off all week - they were very quiet compared to their normal selves.