Saturday...

When I got up this morning there was only one cat in which is strange - Minnie was in but the three boys were conspicuous by their absence.  After the situation with Boris last night I was concerned that something sinister was happening.  Minnie never ventures far and when she does do outside the confines of our garden she skulks around trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.  I tiptoed out in my dressing gown halfway along the path to our gate to call the boys.  Eventually, thankfully they returned, first Charlie heaving his bulk through the catflap, then Chivers and then as if nothing had been wrong with him the night before a very vocal Boris.  Great relief all round and a well deserved call to the vets to say 'thank you' for the calm and clear advice the night before and to confirm that Boris was no longer in need of an appointment - phew!

We needed to do some shopping down in Polis and whilst we were down there we wanted to investigate a dehumidifier for Mum and Dad and something to tackle surface mould which is an occupational hazard in Cypriot homes.

We went into the little family run electric shop in Polis next to George's and met the son who was just the best font of knowledge regarding all things to do with dehumidifiers and mould and came away with the Rolls Royce of all dehumidifiers and some highly caustic spray which he guaranteed would, if all conditions were met, eradicate any and all signs of mould now and in the future and he was so knowledgeable and so enthusiastic that we just had to believe him!  We shall be setting up the beast of a machine for Mum and Dad tomorrow and treating the mould with the Muffa killer and fingers crossed that will be the end of that.  The trouble is that the poor build of Cypriot houses combined with the humid conditions, lack of ventilation etc etc is a recipe for disaster - it is a fight we all engage in, some more successfully than others.

Shopping in a Cypriot Supermarket can be full of surprises - not least with how and where they display goods which don't seem to have any connection or goods which are placed next to one another which really shouldn't be - case in point was the freezer section today when there was a new range of meat free products placed next to a whole load of frozen 'little piglet' products!!!!  They really don't get the concept of vegetarianism at all!!

Once home we had a special treat of brunch which we don't do very often so we had a stack of crumpet, black pudding, crispy bacon, egg and baked beans.  Naughty but nice and it was to be the only thing we had to eat until our Kings of Leon curry in the evening - why Kings of Leon?  Well after sampling the curry we both started singing "woah-oh my mouth is on fire"!!!!

We had called up through the village via the post office and I was very excited to have some correspondence from Mr Amazon.

My very favourite duvet set had gotten so old and thin that I was reluctantly consigning it to the bin and I wanted a replacement - bedding here can be expensive and the choice limited but in the Amazon sale I had picked up a couple of nice sets which were delivered over here in a couple of days for a song - cheaper than it would have cost me to buy them over here.

I opened one set and was delighted with the quality and I hadn't realised that it was reversible so on the one side was flowers and butterflies and on the opposite flowers and birds.  John was well impressed which is good and I have a thing about nice bedding so I cannot wait to get this on our bed.

It was a beautiful day, such a change from a couple of days ago but apparently more bad weather is forecast for the beginning of next week so it was a day to relish.

It must have been sunny because the water feature sprang into life mid afternoon and I think John said that our electricity generation for the day was well into double figures which was brilliant compared to the half kilowatt we managed on Thursday.

There is a little colour in the garden too as some of the osteospurmum have begun flowering - brave things as experience tells me that the worst of our weather may yet be to come as February generally has a sting in its tail.

We are busy trying to decide on the priority of jobs to do around the house and these change depending on the weather!  John has decided that shelving is the order of the day.  Having tidied the wood store we realise that the space inside is to large to stack wood sensibly so some shelves up near the top wouldn't go amiss.  I also want some shelves in the pump house to store things like my veg and John's Leon crates, John also wants to make some pelmets and replace the curtain poles we have with tracking which will make it easier to draw the curtains in the spare bedroom.

We settled down to a nice quiet evening with the curry and some TV and Mr Boo on my lap.  He is better but maybe still not one hundred percent because periodically if you touch him somewhere on his feet he still has a whinge - he is normally a really cheerful little cat so we know that when he is not there is something wrong.

A painful 90-odd minutes this evening listening to John shout at the computer as he watched the Blades manage a 2-1 win over Norwich - there are times when I wish he could have supported a different team!!