Summer is over

 I wrote this well before Charlie's accident. 
He is home but very poorly having been in a car accident and sustained a brain injury

just now I would have him bouncing around at 5.30am in an instant

It is official at 2.00am this morning Summer ended and Autumn began but no-one bothered to tell Charlie who came as he always does to let us know that he was hungry - generally this is at 6.30am and today was no exception but with the clock change that meant it was 5.30am!!!  The routine is always the same - I hear him squeeze his bulk through the open window and onto my dressing table and then he jumps down with all the grace of Nellie the Elephant and then he stops hoping he has evaded detection - he waits a while and then continues on to jump up onto John's bedside table where he stops once again, not moving, satisfied that his entrance has truly been undetected and then he wacks the hell out of the backscratcher hanging from my wardrobe door, at which point I get up, close the window and chuck him out of the bedroom main door so he cannot get back in.  In the meantime Minnie Mou,  who has been sleeping on the towel which I have put out for her on the dressing table, gets up stretches and leaps onto the bed so that she can pad the hell out of my head until I tickle her tummy and then she settles for a while.  Peace reigns for a second or two and then Charlie uses his super long, super sharp claws to 'ping' the underside of the bedroom main door which, being aluminium, pings with a sound like a tubular bell which is quite nice to begin with and then increasingly irritating.  I relent and get up and feed him and any others who are around which, at this time of the year as it is cooler, is generally all of them.  I am exhausted and Charlie fills his fat little belly and then waits for our bed to be made before getting super comfy and then sleeps for the majority of the day.

Actually John was up really early - the thought of that third bag of drugs still being at large bothered him and so he kitted himself up to go and retrieve it.  This bag was actually the worst with so many untouched drugs and a completely new blood test monitor like Mum uses and some breathing masks.  The post I had put up on social media had caused quite a stir amongst the locals so we wanted to make sure we had everything safe and sound in case the police were to investigate - John retrieved the bags we had put in the green bin by Kelly along with this third bag and made a note of the drugs.

Normally the clock change at the end of October heralds a change in the weather - for the worse but today it was clear, dry, bright and warm and so I decided I would brave the pool.  Not having the cover on overnight has meant a drop of 2 degrees but actually it was really rather pleasant and once I had got over the initial shock I quite enjoyed my morning watery wake-up.  It prompted me to try and see what happened with the water temperature last year and it would seem that we continued to swim until towards the end of November.  Being able to look back on the blog to check these things is invaluable.  I smiled when I read about our first winter here in 2011 which turned out to be the wettest and coldest in 40 years.  In those days the buildings weren't connected so we had to run across the courtyard to our beds.  We had a gas fire in the living room and a portable SuperSer which caused all sorts of issues with condensation and nothing in the bedrooms but apparently we had a princess and the pea bed with a thick down topper and the electric blanket and mega-tog duvet!!!  How times have changed - we have all sorts of heating now, wood, electric, gas and internal combustion thanks to being a woman of a certain age!

I was being given a day off from Sunday Lunch cooking today and Mum was coming up with Mick, Anne and Gordon and we had decided as an homage to Dad to go to his favourite restaurant for Sunday Lunch which is The Farmyard in Kathikas.  We had been given the lovely round table in the corner which made conversation so much easier.  As we went for our starters I was helping myself to soup and talking to the woman in front of me when the woman behind me said "that sounds like Jill Wiseman" and I looked round to see someone I had worked with at Porter Dodson.  Helen Cabell and her husband Ray had bought an apartment in Polis before I left work and I had left Helen my contact details when I left and then I had forgotten all about her until today.  She has now finished work and it sounds like she and Ray will be spending more time over here if not all their time and so I may see more of her in the future.  I will admit that I had to hastily text my lovely friend and ex-workmate Gemma to confirm Helen's surname as it had escaped me!  And then when I was going to get my main course I started chatting to the lady behind me and it transpires that she lives in Droushia having moved here in February!

Lunch seemed to go down really well - I have to say that the beef was exceptional this week and I was careful not to over fill my plate - there is always a danger of doing that when it is a carvery.  The Farmyard was absolutely packed  - good to see them doing well.  Our guests seemed to really enjoy their meal - there is so much to chose from that it would be a very fussy person who could not get value for money particularly as there are no holds barred when it comes to the puddings - the two young girls in front of me must have gone for four each!!!

We had a quiet evening - we didn't need anything to eat obviously and we managed to stay awake long enough to watch a couple of episodes of Making a Murderer Series 2.  I know that this is probably being portrayed in favour of the man convicted, Steven Avery, but it is a compelling watch.

I have given Charlie a stern talking to about his sleeping habits but as he had made himself well comfy for most of the day I am not holding my breath.  I could shut him out but that would mean shutting out Miss Minnie too and she is at her most loving last thing at night and first thing in the morning - other than that she doesn't want to know.

I have a funeral to attend tomorrow morning with Mum.  Sadly Donald Barton has passed away although he has been in a coma for quite some time so it will be a happy release.  He and Maureen were long time friends of Mum and Dad's and I guess they are all of an age now where funerals are going to be more commonplace.