July 2nd...

No pickleball today so we had arranged to go down to Emba and spend the day helping Mum and Dad get the bungalow ready for their move.

It will be quite a short post today because I am absolutely knackered having spent the day cleaning!  Yes me cleaning!!!

The bungalow has not been lived in for about two years and is located in the middle of farming land which is still being farmed today so as a result when the fields are being ploughed or tended to there will inevitably be dust created.

Mum and Dad have spent a lot of time down there already and have had carpet (large rug) made and delivered already.  They have decided that the lounge area will be just lounge and, as the kitchen is so big (it has a separate utility), they will have their dining room furniture in there.  They have three bedrooms (one en-suite and one which they will use as a study/den), a room which Mum says she may use for ironing, a family bathroom and a separate toilet.  There is also a large garage with loads of shelving.

All the bedrooms have floor to ceiling cupboards.  Looking at the higher ones I would guess they have never been used because no-one can reach them.  Mum and I cleaned what we could and what we thought would be needed and left the top ones untouched.

Most of the bungalow is in good order - just a bit tired but the bathrooms had someone grout them (or rather silicon them) who must have been blind as it was a right old mess so this is an area we have been concentrating on because their existing house does have very nice bathrooms.

This is just part of the kitchen, to the right you can just about see the utility room and in front of the utility room is another area where there is the sink, cooker etc.  More cupboards than you can shake a big stick at (as John would say).  As we begin to move things in we can see better how the space can work.  We have persuaded Dad that a small fridge freezer would fit in the kitchen and their existing large fridge freezer can be accommodated somewhere else.

To the right hand side of the property there is a patio area which is open and a patio area which is covered and then there are fields and poly tunnels for as far as you can see.  John was tasked with changing the washing line which is connected onto some tubular poles.

We heard quite a bit of commotion as both John and Dad discovered that there were wasp nests in the inside of the poles and they were not happy at being ousted.

Both John and Dad got stung - fortunately they don't react badly!  Paps is in walking distance but John chose to dash down in the Car to get some badly needed wasp killer before completing the job!

Most of the cupboards were cleaned before we decided we should stop for some lunch - Mum had brought pittas with lounza and halloumi to keep us going and by the time we had them they were very welcome indeed.

Mum and I shot out in the afternoon to try and find some floor covering for the bathrooms - we didn't do too well and to be honest I am surprised I wasn't asked to wait outside because I was absolutely stinking!  We did venture into the newly relocated UK Direct in Chloraka (I think) and I was very impressed by the home goods they had it there.

Our reward for all the hard work was to try the new Thai/Chinese takeaway which has opened opposite Paps in Chloraka.  Mum had heard mixed reports about it but we always like to try things for ourselves and then make our minds up.

We had phoned through the order an hour before we wanted to eat and asked that they be ready but unfortunately they weren't so that wasn't a good start.  

John had Thai fish cakes to start which were good and Dad's Thai chicken satay looked good and my Thom Kha soup was lovely but full of mushrooms so Mum couldn't share it.

The main courses were indifferent.  The sauces with the main meals were thin - very thin and not brilliant.  Mum's lemon chicken looked like it came with a finger bowl but that was in fact her sauce.  

I think we decided that we would prefer to go to City Wok instead next time having tried this place.  Don't take our word for it though.