being nice...

We were being nice neighbours today and had put aside the morning to start clearing George and Pam's back garden.  We had done some of the front garden previously - it doesn't look too bad - a bit messy but it won't take too long to sort and is probably best done one evening.

Sadly George and Pam wont be out this year which is a shame and Charlie in particular is absolutely gutted because he just LOVES George so he is weedling his way in with Persephone - Charlie that is, not George.  Although George and Pam wont be here their daughter Louise and her husband Malcolm are popping over for a short visit and we don't want them spending the whole time fighting off the Japanese snipers who are living in the wilderness that is the garden and don't know that the war has been over for 70-odd years!!!

John was on drastic pruning and I was on weeding and clearing along with Gluteus Maximum who just refuses to go away completely!  We had our supervisors Charlie and Chivers by our sides the whole time we were working and we were glad that we had got up early because it was turning into a super hot day.

There are only a few established shrubs and trees in the garden but they get little to no attention and grow like mad.  The Bay tree in the corner is particularly messy and John found, to his cost, that the lemon tree was housing a wasps nest.  Both got a bit of a tidy-up and the shingle got a good old rake so it began to look much better by the time we had done that area.

We worked our way round from the back.

George would be disappointed with his vine this year but that is because there has been a problem in the area - some sort of 'sickness' which has affected them probably because we had such a warm and wet winter.  Commercial growers are being compensated for their loss and so in a couple of year's time we can anticipate a shortage in wine and and increase in prices.

Half-way through the morning it just got too hot to continue but we had broken the back of it and the place looked all the better for our hard work.  A bit nearer the time we will go in and just tidy the inside and make it look more like a home.

We packed up, brushed up the paths and made sure we hadn't shut any of the cats in the house and then returned home for a swim followed by a late brunch.  John's family were going for a bit of culture today and investigating the mosaics down by the harbour in Paphos and sorting themselves out this evening so we didn't have to go down to Latchi today.  We will be seeing them again tomorrow.

Conscious that we are embarking on an extended period of eating and drinking we are trying to eat more sensibly when we are at home so now that I know John likes noodle salad we are having that as often as we can as it is filling and feels like it is healthy.

We had a text this evening to say that our immediate neighbours are here for the weekend and would arrive later on so it will be a full house again this weekend as Charalambous and Galatia and Savvas and Persephone are here and tomorrow will see the return of the builders and their cement mixer - I wont miss that when they have finished!

After a hot day it was really very cool this evening - so much so that had we been sitting out in our garden we might have been tempted to put on a jumper but at least that means it is pleasant for sleeping.