Day 22...

I am almost too exhausted to do today's blog but I know that my faithful followers will be so disappointed if I don't give a daily update!

Today it has been all hands on deck or, as we were dealing with wood, all hands on decking!! Not really as the wood is going up onto the ceiling in each of the buildings.

Mum and Dad have been absolutely brilliant and came up to give us a hand - boy was it hot today and we were outside staining the wood planks.  Dad did a sterling job with the bigger planks and I cracked on with the smaller ones.  We had 28 big (5 metre) planks to stain and 60 small (3 metre) planks to stain!

We took notice of what Nursie Vicki said and made sure that we weren't overly exposed so hats and suntan lotion were the order of the day.

Mum helped out by putting a coat of paint on the 'downstairs toilet' and clearing up some of the garden waste that has been hanging around.  We have real trouble trying to stop them doing too much so we were really glad when they decided to down tools at about 2.30pm. 

We want to make sure they live long enough to enjoy some weekends up with us chilling out or just being chilly - who knows!!! 

Anyway Mum needed to get back in time to make sure that our tea was on the table tonight - shepherds pie made with faggots and hash browns (a recipe for which I have to thank Gibbo from the Royal Standard) and I cannot wait!!

After Mum and Dad left we cracked on and managed to get all of the longer planks stained so Tim and his little helper can crack on tomorrow when they arrive with the scaffolding and get the lounge sorted.  Thanks today to Mum and Dad's neighbour Ray who is Mister Any Tool You Want I Have It and who kindly lent John his circular saw.  All planks have been cut to size and we are feeling we are ahead of the game. 

Relief all round as the ship carrying our container apparently arrives today so we have a couple of day's grace before our furniture is due to arrive with us in Droushia.  As we are still without our own electric supply this is not the end of the world. 

Lordos 1 was positively buzzing today as we saw Ollie who lives in the diagonally opposite villa, out and about, painting George's villa (next door but one to us) he and his wife Pam come out in August - George is a refugee Cypriot who lives in London and is a tailor 'to the stars'.  We also saw Sean and Sharon who live at the end of our road and who are out for two weeks' holiday. 

 Once back home we were absolutely blown away by our 'welcome to your new home' present left by Hils and Keith.  It is a Stephanotis which is about to burst into flower and smells incredible.  In fact since I took this photograph one of the flowers has actually opened.  We will have to think very carefully about where to position this so that it flourishes.  The smell will always remind us of two very very good friends with whom we have shared some very special experiences and painful band rehearsals! 

Our holidays in Hong Kong/Bangkok and Kenya were fantastic - special memories to be sure particularly as we went to Hong Kong and Bangkok with Mum and Dad too - we just need to remember that Hils needs to be fed regularly and have a room key that actually works the lift!!

If there are angels in the human world then Mum must be one - she bought us a bottle of Cornetto Rose on the way up to Droushia today and it was waiting for us suitably chilled tonight when we got home.  That, together with a really really scrummy tea ,(not everyone's choice granted but I know Trev would have appreciated it!!) means that she has secured her place in Heaven, Dad will be there too as a result of all the sterling work he has done for us up at the house - although we hope they wont be going there for some time - they have a stay in Laura Beach to cope with first!!

Had a phone call from Jackie P tonight (married to Costas from Tea for Two) inviting us to her painting exhibition at the Elia on Friday.  We shall endeavour to go - furniture permitting.  She is the friend who made us a beautiful mosaic mirror as a 'welcome to your new home' present.  We have been so lucky and we are so blessed to have such good friends both here and back in England - in fact all over the world as we have received emails from France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand this week.

Early start again tomorrow - who said that retirement was easy???????