It takes a visit from people who haven't been here before to galvanise me into action - John was out this morning with John Read helping Marky Mark Kirby dismantle a gazebo that was collapsing on a property which he manages down in Coral Bay.  In return John-squared were to take the wood away and have it available to burn once it was dry and ready.

I was getting the house ready for visitors tomorrow - as a thank you for putting us in touch with Kim who manages holiday lets and who sorted the town house for John's Mum we are having Gillian and David around for a meal.  Not that they are strangers in themselves - we know them quite well and have socialised with them on quite a few occasions but they haven't actually been to our house in Droushia.  On the plus side Gillian and David have animals so I don't have to warn them too much about cat fur but Gillian is most definitely one of the smartest ladies I know and so I am expecting her standards are considerably higher than mine!!!

So I was in full-on cleaning mode with every accoutrement I own out and raring to go - I haven't used the floor steamer for a while which is probably why the handle came off in my hand when I started to use it!!!

Regular readers will know that my microwave had an issue where the spindle melted and it in turn shattered the glass turntable - Before using the new one in earnest I pulled it away from the wall and got my new best friend - Astonish Grease and Grime Buster - out to tackle the tiles behind which I thought might have been affected by the melting incident even though at initial glance they only looked slightly grubby once the Buster got to work OMG actually Oh My Good Bloody God I could not believe what it shifted as the grime started to slip down the wall and after a quick wipe left me with lovely clean tiles - I shall be investing in a shed load of this stuff to do my tiled floors when we get rid of the rugs.

So after several hours of cleaning and polishing and grease-busting and just seconds before John returned home I collapsed in a snotty heap but satisfied that I had done a reasonably good job.

No-one is to use the bathrooms until Thursday evening and no cat is to shed a single hair until after our guests have gone.  Some hope I know because one of the cats is bound to let me down.  We are removing the two end chairs at the dining table because otherwise, as sure as eggs is eggs, or in this case curry is curry, Charlie will suddenly appear sat at the table like a third guest.

It was a beautiful day with glorious sunshine so it was lovely to have the windows open and the doors open and sunshine and fresh air streaming in.

John returned from Coral Bay very happy with his mornings work and very grateful to Mark for thinking of us - Nicky said that she and Mark had an ulterior motive as they are due to come and stay with us soon and they didn't want to be cold although to be fair John would never let anyone be cold here in this house - even if it meant burning the furniture!!!

So we had both had a successful morning and after a quick shower we set off down to Polis to try and catch the post office in order to return the faulty microwave because I wanted to ensure we got our money back as soon as possible.

We drove down through the village and John wanted to have a look at the house that is being squeezed in next to Georgia's family home - we went up round the back of Christos's taverna to take a look.  It amazes me that some of the nicest bits of stone walling with mosaic inserts appear on houses which are derelict and off the beaten track where no-one really gets to appreciate them!

Anyway apparently there are big plans for the centre of the village - it is supposed to be being updated with a nice cobbled road and a proper village centre which could make it interesting when we want access to the post office!  John stopped and picked up a load of post for us, Sheila and Susan.  I was very excited because my new pillow protectors and fleecy fitted sheet have arrived and I have a real thing about nice bedding so they will be on the bed soon.  Also in the post were my magnetic usb charging cables for my phone and tablet.  I have had a catalogue of disasters with items where the usb charging port has become knackered so these cables are a god-send - there is a little bit that fits into the phone or tablet which is magnetic and then the USB cable is also magnetic so there is no need for pulling cables in and out.

Beautiful beautiful warm sunshine down in Polis - in fact when I dropped off Susan's post both she and John were lying out on sunbeds catching the rays but then they are both sun worshipers at the best of times.  We stopped off briefly at the bank to fill up the coffers and had a panic attack when we returned home when John couldn't find his wallet but it was only in the footwell of the car and he had done a man-look!

We managed to catch the post office before it shut at 3.00pm and were pleased to be sorted out by Kleopas who works in the Droushia Heights when he is not at the Post Office.  I understand Amazon being careful about not being ripped off but I had sent photographs of the melted items to show that the microwave was unusable but they insisted on it being returned - at a cost of 78 euros which is almost half of the price of the item itself - it seems ludicrous to me but we have done it and now await the reimbursement.

Best not to mention the football tonight - I retired to bed but I could hear John's exasperation - you could probably hear it in Paphos as they conceded a goal in injury time.