I decided I would walk to Art this morning - the day had started out dry and bright but was to deteriorate around lunchtime and then we had rain and rumbles of thunder.
Just down the road from us is a house which is up for sale. No-one has lived in it for at least 5 years and apart from seeing Mr Scrimshanker back about two years ago doing some cursory outside painting it is, for all intents and purposes, abandoned complete with an HRV which is slowly rotting away on its wheel rims.
When we first moved over permanently Mr & Mrs Scrimshanker were living in said house and it transpired that Mrs S had, in a previous existence, worked for someone that I knew - a Mr Alistair Brown and Mr S had, in his previous existence, worked for Clarks in Street and was known to our friend John Page. We made their acquaintances as you do when you are living nearby and when they were going back to their other property in France for a 'short visit' complete with their cats which they used to take as hand luggage I said that I would keep a neighbourly eye on the property so that if I saw anything untoward when passing I would let them know. This clearly got translated into "John and I are more than happy to provide a full key holding service free of charge for as long as you want" John was fuming with me when we were presented with a full to-to list (including keeping the large garden tidy) over a cup of coffee. What was to be a trip of a couple of weeks turned into several months at which point John sent an email saying if they didn't find a more permanent solution to their key holding requirements he would simply post the keys back through the door. Something was done and we were relinquished of responsibility thankfully but they never returned and subsequently the house has gone up for sale. This picture doesn't make it look too bad but in reality it is a crumbling wreck. Currently it commands a great position but this is Cyprus so you can never be sure that empty fields in front of you and to the side of you will remain empty.
I walked by and bid the family staying in the portacabin holiday home "Kali Mera!" and got a cheery wave and an "Hello" back. We can't quite work out this strange arrangement. The land has been fenced off and a permanent wall built at the front along with a paved driveway. The portacabin has water, electricity, solar panels and shutters but is not a permanent structure. We wonder if this is Turkish land being rented by Greek Cypriot refugees - not that it makes any difference to us.
On rounding the corner past Lush's I could see that John's lemon tree was going to provide a bumper crop for our gins this winter. Too early to pick at the moment they will be plentiful in due course - this is in sharp contrast to our own lemon tree that looks like it suffered in the Chernobyl disaster and which is threatened with removal and then valiantly produced half a dozen leaves to secure a stay of execution.
We obviously don't treat it correctly - the tree with fruit is in a garden where nobody lives but periodically someone comes and gives it a complete scalping and then it grows back twice as big. We fanny and fart around with ours and it does NOTHING!! but it is allowed to stay one more year as so many of the trees in the area have been affected by an 'illness'.
We cannot be sure that it did not hit our lemon and lime at the beginning of the season when they struggled to produce good leaves and looked very sickly but then bucked up their ideas a couple of weeks ago and put on some fresh and pretty good looking growth. I never like to dig something up if it still shows signs of being alive - it seems criminal to me to do that.
A little further along from the lemon tree I was greeted by three tiny super cute puppies in the house where Bella used to live. I do hope they will be more car-savvy and have more road sense than Bella who used to chase cars and get run over. We were never completely sure what happened to her save that the last time we saw her she was apparently pregnant - that was some time ago - too long ago for these to have been her litter. We learned that she had died - not sure if it was the pregnancy or another encounter with a car - she had been dragging a badly broken back leg for months but it never seemed to stop her.
Some months after her disappearance a very similar dog was at the house. This had to have been a relative but we only saw this one a couple of times and then it too was gone. Now there are three new puppies of similar size and shape and colouring to the two previous dogs running around in the yard. They look ok at the moment - let's hope they will have a longer and happier life than Bella or the other dog. Staying away from cars would be a step in the right direction.
I walked through the cemetery en route to Dad's so as not to set Sheila and Klaus's dogs barking and had a quiet few minutes with Dad who has had a fair few visitors over the last couple of weeks. It was good to get back to art after having had a break for a few weeks. My picture is very nearly completed. I have only the last beach hut on the left to finish and then the foreground which is sort of sand - well that is what it looks like in the photograph. Sheila has all but completed her picture of the unicorns. It was good to catch up with them - they had a viewing on their house yesterday which seemed positive although the viewers have yet to sell their house in the UK - it sounds like they have been over here on the Island renting for quite a while and are now ready to buy. Fingers crossed that they might be 'the ones' although we will be very sad to see Sheila and Klaus move.
We were out this evening - it is Aunty Joyce and Uncle David's last full day and Mum had arranged to go to Thanasi in Emba and meet up with Gordon (who used to be my Gran's postman - my Gran being Joyce's mum!) and his friends Mick and Anne (not sure if she has an 'e') who have been coming out to Cyprus for about the last 30 years and who made contact with Mum and Dad some years ago. We joined them and we will be seeing Gordon, Mick and Anne up in Droushia - they are here for three and a half weeks! The restaurant was super busy - unsurprising I guess as it is one of the few which is open on a Monday and the island seems to get a steady flow of tourists well beyond the end of the school holidays. John and I opted for 'light' - we are getting a little fooded-out!
Just down the road from us is a house which is up for sale. No-one has lived in it for at least 5 years and apart from seeing Mr Scrimshanker back about two years ago doing some cursory outside painting it is, for all intents and purposes, abandoned complete with an HRV which is slowly rotting away on its wheel rims.
When we first moved over permanently Mr & Mrs Scrimshanker were living in said house and it transpired that Mrs S had, in a previous existence, worked for someone that I knew - a Mr Alistair Brown and Mr S had, in his previous existence, worked for Clarks in Street and was known to our friend John Page. We made their acquaintances as you do when you are living nearby and when they were going back to their other property in France for a 'short visit' complete with their cats which they used to take as hand luggage I said that I would keep a neighbourly eye on the property so that if I saw anything untoward when passing I would let them know. This clearly got translated into "John and I are more than happy to provide a full key holding service free of charge for as long as you want" John was fuming with me when we were presented with a full to-to list (including keeping the large garden tidy) over a cup of coffee. What was to be a trip of a couple of weeks turned into several months at which point John sent an email saying if they didn't find a more permanent solution to their key holding requirements he would simply post the keys back through the door. Something was done and we were relinquished of responsibility thankfully but they never returned and subsequently the house has gone up for sale. This picture doesn't make it look too bad but in reality it is a crumbling wreck. Currently it commands a great position but this is Cyprus so you can never be sure that empty fields in front of you and to the side of you will remain empty.
I walked by and bid the family staying in the portacabin holiday home "Kali Mera!" and got a cheery wave and an "Hello" back. We can't quite work out this strange arrangement. The land has been fenced off and a permanent wall built at the front along with a paved driveway. The portacabin has water, electricity, solar panels and shutters but is not a permanent structure. We wonder if this is Turkish land being rented by Greek Cypriot refugees - not that it makes any difference to us.
On rounding the corner past Lush's I could see that John's lemon tree was going to provide a bumper crop for our gins this winter. Too early to pick at the moment they will be plentiful in due course - this is in sharp contrast to our own lemon tree that looks like it suffered in the Chernobyl disaster and which is threatened with removal and then valiantly produced half a dozen leaves to secure a stay of execution.We obviously don't treat it correctly - the tree with fruit is in a garden where nobody lives but periodically someone comes and gives it a complete scalping and then it grows back twice as big. We fanny and fart around with ours and it does NOTHING!! but it is allowed to stay one more year as so many of the trees in the area have been affected by an 'illness'.
We cannot be sure that it did not hit our lemon and lime at the beginning of the season when they struggled to produce good leaves and looked very sickly but then bucked up their ideas a couple of weeks ago and put on some fresh and pretty good looking growth. I never like to dig something up if it still shows signs of being alive - it seems criminal to me to do that.
A little further along from the lemon tree I was greeted by three tiny super cute puppies in the house where Bella used to live. I do hope they will be more car-savvy and have more road sense than Bella who used to chase cars and get run over. We were never completely sure what happened to her save that the last time we saw her she was apparently pregnant - that was some time ago - too long ago for these to have been her litter. We learned that she had died - not sure if it was the pregnancy or another encounter with a car - she had been dragging a badly broken back leg for months but it never seemed to stop her.Some months after her disappearance a very similar dog was at the house. This had to have been a relative but we only saw this one a couple of times and then it too was gone. Now there are three new puppies of similar size and shape and colouring to the two previous dogs running around in the yard. They look ok at the moment - let's hope they will have a longer and happier life than Bella or the other dog. Staying away from cars would be a step in the right direction.
I walked through the cemetery en route to Dad's so as not to set Sheila and Klaus's dogs barking and had a quiet few minutes with Dad who has had a fair few visitors over the last couple of weeks. It was good to get back to art after having had a break for a few weeks. My picture is very nearly completed. I have only the last beach hut on the left to finish and then the foreground which is sort of sand - well that is what it looks like in the photograph. Sheila has all but completed her picture of the unicorns. It was good to catch up with them - they had a viewing on their house yesterday which seemed positive although the viewers have yet to sell their house in the UK - it sounds like they have been over here on the Island renting for quite a while and are now ready to buy. Fingers crossed that they might be 'the ones' although we will be very sad to see Sheila and Klaus move.
We were out this evening - it is Aunty Joyce and Uncle David's last full day and Mum had arranged to go to Thanasi in Emba and meet up with Gordon (who used to be my Gran's postman - my Gran being Joyce's mum!) and his friends Mick and Anne (not sure if she has an 'e') who have been coming out to Cyprus for about the last 30 years and who made contact with Mum and Dad some years ago. We joined them and we will be seeing Gordon, Mick and Anne up in Droushia - they are here for three and a half weeks! The restaurant was super busy - unsurprising I guess as it is one of the few which is open on a Monday and the island seems to get a steady flow of tourists well beyond the end of the school holidays. John and I opted for 'light' - we are getting a little fooded-out!
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