Referendum Day and Whip snakes

It is EU in or out Referendum Day in the UK - it has been a bitterly fought and dirty contest and I guess voters will never really know the true cost of either decision.  We have voted and whichever way things turn out I hope that we will be able to continue to live here in this little corner of the island as we had planned and saved for.

It is exceptionally hot so early in the Summer and we are all wilting.  Charlie is clearly feeling the heat as he moves from spot to spot airing his bits or at least where his bits used to be.  I have tried damping the cats down but they are not impressed.  I have wet mats for them to lie on but they give them a stiff ignoring.  We find them in the most unexpected places flopped out panting - I don't like it and I am guessing nor do they.

We had a trip down to Polis to stock up on some food - we try hard to buy only what we need and when we need it so that we are not throwing things away.  En route we stopped off at the bakery where they have a Chino machine and treated ourselves to one each to cool down.  I was too enthusiastic with mine and ended up with severe brain freeze for about 5 minutes.  I never learn!!  John sensibly wears a hat to cover his head - the sun is so strong at the moment.  I had to collect the dress I am having altered.  Anastasie said it was too hot to try it on in the shop but said she was sure it would be OK even though she had to restructure the top of it and only stuck a pin in each shoulder when I went to drop it off.  She was spot on though when I got it back and tried it on at home it fitted perfectly - I shall definitely use her again if I need anything altering as she only charged me €15 for the work she did.

We also called in on C&A Apartments to pay the balance of John's Mum and Stepdad's holiday which will be on us before we know it. Eva was looking well having joined Weight Watchers and lost a little weight.  We didn't hang about down in Polis it was far too hot and humid but on our return to Droushia our temperature gauge was showing nearly 40% but with low humidity thank goodness.  John had a number of jobs he wanted to get done today but all of them had to wait until it was just that little bit cooler.  In the interim there was nothing left for us to do but cool down and take advantage of the pool which we moan about but on days like today is an absolute godsend.

So this is me taking full advantage of the Roman Steps which were a really good addition and below is John doing the same thing and using his I-Pad!!! 

We stayed in the pool for quite a while but when you have jobs niggling at the back of your mind you don't really settle so we waited until after later in the afternoon before starting the various tasks we had in mind.

You can see that by 5.30pm the temperature had only dropped to 31 degrees outside but remained exactly the same indoors.

We are walking around the garden at various times of the day to see what the shade situation is like with a view to what we think we may need to do for our party.  The gazebo area at the front of the garden is the worst affected in the late afternoon so I decided it would be better to have the curtains put back on just in case we need them.

Things are coming together but the exceptionally hot weather has taken its toll on the garden and lots of things have given up even though I have been watering them.  The lemon tree looks like something from Chernobyl and my beautiful geraniums look like they have been poisoned.  It is all a bit disappointing as there isn't enough time for things to come back before our do.

It was a beautiful evening to be sat outside having tea. Mercifully it was relatively fly free which makes a change.  Nothing too exotic just a good old halloumi salad accompanied by a little glass of vino and once that had been digested we took a dip in the pool by night - bliss!!!

We had been out earlier in the day looking at a house that Sonia was interested in but found that it had been sold.

We got chatting to the people who were in the middle of moving in next door to the house that was for sale.  They have been in the village for only three weeks so finding their feet - they had been regular visitors to the island previously.

So welcome to Angela and Ian - we hope you really enjoy living in Drouseia as we do and there is always space on the village clean if you fancy ensuring that your surroundings are in top top condition!!!

We called back via Elena just to see how she was doing and then as we drove home Linda from down the road was walking her dog and frantically pointing at something - we thought it was one of our cats until we realised it was two black whip snakes 'dancing' - have seen it on video before but never expected to witness it myself and bargain - I had the camera with me!