painting stones...

Preparations for the state visit continue and we tackle a second wall in the lounge with some enthusiasm even though it is hot and sticky.  The paint dries so much better than it looks like it is going to, so the walls which had already been magnolia previously need only a single coat, the brown wall is going to need several and we have yet to decide on the raspberry pink one although we are kicking ideas around including wall paper but John is worried that it might scorch where it would run behind the stack pipe.

Everything is getting a clean - the curtains have been washed and John has kindly ironed them.  We have not as yet got onto painting the stones white nor have we installed a virginal toilet as they used to have to do if Her Madge came to visit RNAS Yeovilton or some other similar establishment.  We do not decorate to the Bobster's standard - he has ensured that the blank canvas that he starts with is silky smooth and imperfection free - the sort of peachy skin of a young teenager unaffected by the ravages of time, sun and alcohol, ours on the other hand is more like that of an acne'd lager swilling youth (if you get my drift) anyway in the winter when the nights are long and we have ambient lighting who is to know - the only trouble is our state visitors will be coming in August!!!

We are happy to break up our day with a trip to Fitos's for lunch.  There is no pickleball in August and John is still nursing his knee injury so we are not going down to Emba for sport on Tuesdays and Fridays.  So that we continue to see Mum and Dad (other than our not-to-be-rearranged Sundays) we try and organise other things on those days and will continue to try and do so during the state visits.  Today we had organised lunch at Fitos and this was also an opportunity for us to catch up with Angela and Richard who are the reason why Mum and Dad and John and I now live here - I have told this story so many times before but briefly we all used to live in Keinton Mandeville and about 30 years ago Richard and Angela had an apartment near the Land of the Kings which Mum and Dad used - bearing in mind what a different Island it was at that time they fell in love with the place, bought their maisonette in Mediterranean Valley and the rest is history.

We all go back a long way and so it is a real joy to get together and reminisce and I am so glad that Angela and Richard forgave me for my senior moment the last time they were here when I forgot that we had made a lunch arrangement.  Apparently the blog post I had put up the other night regarding my previous career as an ironing expert for Mr Heaver was an episode in my life that Mum and Dad had completely forgotten.

This jogged my memory about other jobs I had had in the village like looking after the children of a woman who had to go for dialysis twice a week and who lived at the top of Barton Road whose name I could not remember, or the fact that I was working in the village store when the invasion took place in the North of the island and as it was such a strategic  island in the Med there were concerns that the whole  situation might escalate into something much bigger.  I was 14 years old at the time and would never ever have believed that I would end up living on this island which remains divided even to this day.

About the best job I had was on a Sunday serving in the restaurant of the now defunct Lydford Hotel with my great friend Sally Tait.  There are a million stories I could tell you about that place but I shall have to reserve them for what they term a 'slow news day'.  Who knew that saving money for my big adventure to Canada when I was 16 could have been such fun!!

We have so many friends and relatives arriving in August we will barely have time to breathe but it is lovely seeing them all and once they have gone we will feel a little flat for a while until we get back in the swing.  Winter no longer fills me with dread - in fact I look forward to dark days with the woodburner lit, the slow cooker on and John, me and the cats snuggled up on the sofa.

Life is good and for that I am very grateful.