Sunday - its bloomin' hot and I am not sleeping terribly well.  Part of the issue is Chivers who likes to come in, lay on the bed, get off lay on the tiles, got on lay on the bed, get off lay on the tiles- you get the picture?  Normally this is not too much of a problem but on very hot nights you get the best air flow from the windows and the fan by sleeping with your head at the foot end of the bed which means that if Chivers does jump on he can end up jumping slap bang on your face!  John slept well though, an England win and a couple of drinkies probably helped!

We were down for lunch with Mum today.  She was doing her lovely lamb tenderloin dish with roast potatoes and veggies.

It is so hot that none of the balls in her Galileo Thermometer are floating.  They drop as the temperature increases - I am not exactly sure how many there are but if it is 11 spheres then with them down the temperature is around 100 degrees F or around 37 degrees C!  This is in the lounge which felt to be the coolest room in the bungalow.

We had got down in time to sort out the sale of the portable air-con unit Mum had for the sun-room - now that she has thermal blinds she has decided it is surplus to requirement.  It is still under warranty but we don't have any room for it as it is a largish unit and it has to be vented outside which is a bit of a nightmare with the cats!  I have visions that if we had a vented article we would come home and find one of the cats with his/her head stuck inside because they are so nosey!  Anyway as I said I managed to sell it using an internet sales site and someone I know wanted it so we organised for it to go today and it went.

Poor Mum had to have a lesson in spreadsheets and economics today - we are just about sorted with her income and expenditure save for the bloody HMRC who have (a) taxed her pension to the hilt and (b) not responded to my application for her to be taxed over here.  This will need a phone call in the week.  Anyway based on the figures we have got we have organised her income and expenditure - this is all a bit new to her as Dad did the bulk of that and Mum took care of housekeeping and general living expenses.  I just want her to realise that providing she keeps a handle on the money she doesn't need to worry unless she has plans to purchase something mega and even then we can probably jiggle to accommodate whatever it is!  It would just be so nice to be able to draw a firm hard line under all this and know we are sorted at least until next year and tax returns are required again.

Now that John has got his head round our house-rules for Rummikub out afternoon game went the way of Noms with the scorer (John) winning.  He is so bloody competitive it isn't true - one can barely begin to imagine what satisfaction he gets from beating two poor defenseless ladies!!! 

We had sat outside to play on what started out to be a covered verandah but as the day progressed the sun started to sneak in and snap around our ankles so we had to keep moving closer and closer to the patio doors so that by the end of the game Mum was pinned to the glass!!!

A lovely afternoon - Mum has a busy week next week including going out for a meal with us on Wednesday when we are meeting up with Nicky, Mark and Nicky's Mum Liz and her partner Bill.  I pointed out the Nicky that Wednesday was the World Cup semi-final game for England so told her that we would need to eat and not engage in any conversation so as to get away on time to watch it (it isn't really a problem as the game doesn't start till 9.00pm and we are going out at 6.00pm)  I jokingly said we should have a signal so that, if necessary, we could chivvy the olds along.  She agreed and I said I would start fainting at around 8.00pm if it looked like they were stringing things along and she thought I said farting!  On reflection that might be a better way to clear them out of the taverna.

Nicky phoned me this evening to say that their little cat Alfie had come in dragging his legs and she was taking him to an emergency vet -  sadly he didn't make it - I didn't like to ask any details but guess it might have been a car accident and ensuing internal injuries - that is so sad he was a lovely cat.