Green Monday and the Weather has Changed...

I had always intended to keep a diary our our experiences before, during and after the move to Droushia.  As someone used to the keyboard and having worked in IT for years plus, as my ramblings were fit for public consumption, a blog seemed to be an ideal medium as it allows me to share with family, friends and strangers alike all that we were experiencing.  It was also my intention that it would be an honest 'warts and all' recollection and not like some of those round robin Christmas Card newsletters which are written so that the lives of the writers seem so much better than yours because they do so much and their children are brain surgeons and speak five different languages, but there again our cats are going to be brain surgeons and speak at least six different languages!!! 

So does that mean there is trouble in Paradise?  Well not trouble exactly but we do have a problem with the drains or at least I think we do because my delicate little nose can pick up a rather unpleasant odour at times when John's big old conk can't and he tells me I am being paranoid - we have probably fallen foul of the vagaries of Cypriot plumbing and drains and I need John to get to the bottom of it (with apologies for the puns!).  Poor drainage is why many places over here ask that toilet paper etc is put in a bin rather than down the loo which offends our British sensitivity - we cant find anything particular wrong with our drains - which are plastic and we know that the septic tank isn't full but the manhole covers aren't sealed properly so they need sorting.

I had a very crap night's sleep - John did not - what with the thunder, his snoring and the shutter on the bedroom window rattling in the wind I managed to see nearly every hour on the clock. 

Today has been a very different day - cloudy, cold and wet - we have been lulled into such a false sense of security with the lovely sunshine over the last week and with news from friends in the UK that the weather there is unseasonable warm we would probably be better off there today.  The weather dictates what we can and cannot do so today was destined to be a day of indoor jobs and everything looks worse on a grey old day.  John left me to have some peace and quiet and went across to sort out the cats (the cats that can speak six different languages that is!) and came back later with a cup of coffee.  We have had a real problem with drinking water since before Vicki came and stayed so our morning cup of coffee can be a bit of a voyage of discovery - fortunately today the water isn't too bad and is definitely better when it has been filtered.

Starting the day with a good breakfast always makes us feel better and you could do a lot worse over here than to take advantage of the beautiful Lountza which is available - this is smoked pork loin which is so tasty and has very little fat and makes a superb bacon sarnie!  The unsmoked pork loin is also a real winner and very inexpensive and was what I had earmarked for tea tonight - the recipe has already been posted on my food diary and John said if we weren't already married (nearly 21 years) then he would have no hesitation on the strength of my cooking!

Our indoor job of choice (or is that necessity) was to tackle walls where the plaster has blown.  We have been treating this as damp but apparently according to Sheila's husband Klaus the crystals that we see are not so much damp as a fungus which grows and no amount of treating the damp is going to make a difference if you don't kill the fungus.  Klaus kindly gave us some fungicide to tackle the problem.  Today we have gone round the two buildings taking back the paint and plaster to where it seems to be good and treating the problem.  This is going to be a slow time project but we recognise the fact that this is probably going to be an annual job!

The cats have been in all day.  Minnie Mou tends to sleep an awful lot more now that she has been spayed and, as the temperature dropped in the lounge and I wouldn't let John light the fire too early, she and Chivers cuddled up in bed together.  They still get on really well and love one another to bits.  Unfortunately being in all day they get bored, child-like bored, so they start getting up to mischief when our backs are turned.  Chivers had it in for the black pilots bag we use to file all our paperwork and I found a muddy footprint in the middle of one of the table mats which could only belong to him and I am mortified because we forbid them from getting up onto the table.

So the weather has been crap all day today and we were so pleased to hear that Dad had been sitting out in Emba today - bully for him!!!  We did not - in fact I got stranded over in the bedroom making a birthday card and birthday present for Jane (her birthday is Sunday) as the heavens opened and we had a thunder storm.  I can't tell you how much I miss John's temporary pergola because it provided us with so much protection which we took for granted.  I can't wait now for the permanent structure to be erected it is going to make such a huge difference to us.

We had a late breakfast, no lunch so an early tea - John was allowed to light the fire after we had showered and has a fantastic piece of lemon slowly burning away and heating our lounge to perfection.  Trouble in Paradise - NAH - just some niggles now and again but it sure beats working!!