Back to some sort of normality...

Well we had one of those elmegamungo-and-chips jet-lag type sleeps last night because boy it was soooo good to be back in our own bed.  Although the weather here is cooler it is considerably warmer than what we left behind in Birmingham but you can tell that Autumn is just around the corner and the evenings seem to be drawing in - having said that it is 9.30pm and John has the fan on and the temperature indoors is 2showing 6 degrees but the weather station is also showing RAIN!!!!!!

When we eventually dragged ourselves out of our pit John shot off down into the village for some supplies and to check the post.  Waiting for us were some brown envelopes from the Inland Revenue - deep joy - letters from the Inland Revenue are never good news - particularly when you struggle, like I do, with an annual tax return.  But HEY!!!!! the taxman loves us this time as we have successfully applied to be taxed in this country and over here we are both exempt - I cant tell you what a difference that will make to our little budget - we might even partake of some €1.70 a litre carton wine tonight!

We had invited Mum and Dad to come up today for lunch so that we could finish off our 'holiday' so before they came John wanted to clean the pool - just as well as we found this fella floating on the top.  Dad says that in 20 years he has never seen one of the island's scorpions.  We feel so blessed - NOT!!  We think it might be the stone that we have around the borders that is providing a home for scorpions and tarantulas.  I guess this is the price that we pay for living in the country!! 

Prospective visitors please dont worry these are very few and far between and if it hadnt been in the pool we would probably have gone 20 years without seeing one either.

We went down to the harbour in Latchi to have lunch in Faros.  We have been there a couple of times and we just love being able to sit out on the water front and look at all the boats.  We had a really really good lunch (despite me knocking over a full pint of Leon!) and we had to question the bill because it was really cheap.  We shall certainly be going there again (NB - good for fish Trev and Mark).

I have spent this afternoon photoshopping the photographs I took at the wedding.  I shall post a series of them over the next few days otherwise you will get bored!!!

Our flight over which seems like a lifetime ago was ok if not a little cramped - Thomas Cook looked like they had unmothballed our plane and it was without any finery - you get what you pay for but give me EasyJet anytime!

First stop was to pick up our hire car where John used his charm to secure for us an upgrade from a saloon car to this rather nice Ford S-Max which was absolutely brilliant and meant that we had loads of room for the four of us and our luggage.  We only insured it for John which did mean that he spent quite a lot of the week driving people around but he was great and didnt mind.

John took the opportunity on Wednesday to go up to Staveley to see his family and to catch up with the long running saga of his step-father's bungled hip operation.  Good news is that a new surgeon in Sheffield thinks that he can rebuild Hadge's leg and if so this will mean that the threat of amputation has been avoided - we are all keeping our fingers crossed and really hope that this will bring a close to the very long running and stressful saga.

I was detailed off to Hull on Thursday with my sister Kaye to check out the accommodation which was being provided by the University and to help with the wedding preparations.  The accommodation was much better than we had anticipated more Travelodge than student doss-house.

Although not a florist I obviously display more artistic talent than anyone else Kaye knows so my main job on Friday was to create fourteen table centres using goldfish bowls, lilies and a bit of bear grass - I must have missed the episode of Blue Peter when they covered this particular subject!!  In addition a 'little something' was required for the top of the wedding cake - bring on the sticky backed plastic and a pair of Val's old knickers and I am well away!  Dont forget that I made all the invitations, orders of service and the seating plan!!  Maybe there is a career in there somewhere for me!

Friday it was all hands on deck...

...The big day was just around the corner and family were arriving from all parts of the globe.  Kaye and Richard had organised for them all to descend on our accommodation for chilli and drinks and a catch up. 

Our two families go back a long way as Kaye and Richard met in Cornwall about whisper...40 years ago and Richard had the slide show to prove it!!

Will fill you in on the wedding day tomorrow but just as a little taster there is a photograph below of the happy couple taken in the garden just before the heavens opened and the thunder and lightening started ...