So our corner of the island was without the internet for over a day - a major issue caused by a 'Third Party' chopping through a fibre optic cable according to CYTA. This is disastrous darling because we depend on the internet for communications, television and radio. It meant that John and I actually had to speak to one another last night and dust off the Ipod for some background noise. It is like your right arm has been cut off and worse still I couldn't create any blog posts or publish anything. We are back on-line and as a result I shall lump together a couple of days' ramblings.
As you may have read we are changing how we use the bit of garden outside the kitchen door. We cannot decide whether to deck this as we have done elsewhere or to put down a concrete base and tile it. In the meantime we have put the old chairs and sofa out there while we await delivery of the new set we ordered from Paphos HomeMarket. Today was bright enough to take our breakfast outside which proved to be far too interesting for Chivers!! He wants to try whatever it is that John has!!
We are working our way through our 'To-Do' list and several days of dry weather has enabled us to tackle some of the maintenance rather than wish-list jobs. There was always been a dodgy wall in our bedroom caused by a hairline crack when the windows went in - either the original ones or the double glazed ones we had fitted. This wasn't evident until we had heavy rains and then you could see damage caused by the ingress of water. We left if do its worst last year and then Bassam kindly gave us some special stuff to paint on the outside wall which he said would stop the water and then we needed to leave it some considerable time before tackling the inside - this we have done and I got the job of sanding down the lumpy bits in readiness for filling and painting.
Out in the garden I was amazed to see that, after all the terrible weather we have had, there were two Peacock Orchids flowering. I am not entirely sure where the bulbs came from but I am thinking I might have brought them back from the UK with me when I went back for my school reunion.
Peacock Orchids are not orchids at all they are from the iris family and related to gladiolus and the proper name is Acidanthera Bicolor or Dladiolus Callianthus.
The flowers have a lovely fragrance and the white and maroon bloom is very attractive but perched on the top of a very long stem the two in the garden currently are in danger of being blown down to the ground - had I known they were there I might have picked them - they are now passing their best and I don't think they bloom for long in any case. Still it was lovely to see something new, bright and cheerful gracing the borders.
We were mad enough to get our shorts out today - the weather was muggy thanks to the fact that we have dust in the atmosphere again and a warm wind to go with it. February has started pretty well compared with January and today our piping hot showers were courtesy of the sunshine and not the immersion heater which is a bonus.
Everthing looks and feels better when the sun is shining and we are much more inclined to get things done. We have been warned by one of the locals not to count our chickens or whatever the Droushian equivalent is...
... «Ο Φερβάρης φερβαρίζει τζιαι καλοτζιαιρκιές μυρίζει» μα «τον Μάρτην ξύλα φύλαε μεν κάψεις τα παλλούτζια». «Απου Άουστον σιειμώναν τζι΄απού Φερβάρην καλοτζιαίριν».
This apparently loosely translates to the following ...
... "February's weather changes to warm and cold and back but you can smell the summer coming``, however, `` save sufficient firewood for March otherwise you will have to burn the wooden pegs (which were usefull items and were used to restrain the farm animals from walking away) as firewood to heat the house'` and `` the winter commences from August and the summer commences from February".
Later in the afternoon we did some more homework regarding the area at the back of the kitchen. It had suited us well as an area to have a casual breakfast - we have a table and chairs for more formal dining so this afternoon it was to check how it worked for a well earned glass of cider after working blooming hard during the day. I can confirm that it was pretty comfortable and Chivers can confirm that he would have liked it better if John had allowed him to have a sniff of the cider !!!
The fine weather was not to last as we had a terrific storm in the night and gales which blew all sorts of things around the garden - I didn't sleep too well as I could hear all sorts going on outside but wasn't prepared to get up and investigate - that is a blue job.
We got up yesterday to investigate the damage but things had moved not broken which was a blessing. The winds had done nothing to shift the dust - if anything it looked to be worse - there was no view to be had in any direction.
We were having our first Ladies Lunch of 2019 which was being held in the Droushia Heights Hotel and we had around 20 ladies attending today. The hotel has been refurbished ad as a result the price has gone up for lunch so I know Sheila is keen to maybe dine a little farther afield where we may get a keener price. The surroundings at the Hotel are lovely and the fire was lit today so it looked cosy and it was cosy and the puddings were a triumph - apparently a new lady from Polemi is doing those! It was while we were here that whatever happened to cause the internet outage happened and we were to be without internet then for over 24 hours.
I had to nip out briefly from the lunch to show Paphos HomeMarket deliveries where we live as they were bringing the new garden furniture so we will now have to make our decision about the outside space where it is going to reside eventually.
As I said without the internet we were at sixes and sevens and having had a terrible night's sleep last night we decided to cut out losses and go to bed early. What a mistake - at some point either Charlie or Boris brought in a rat and had it running around the conservatory - they were making a noise, it was making a noise and the PIR solar lights were off and on like a bad 70s disco. John got up and managed to corner the unwelcome visitor wanting to evict it unharmed. I got up and locked the cats away before opening the conservatory door in the hopes the rat would just run out which it did but headed straight for the swimming pool. John then got the net out not wanting it to perish in the pool only for the bloody thing to give John the bird whilst shouting Dive! Dive! Dive! John eventually got it out and slung it unceremoniously over the wall where we hoped Minnie was not waiting for its arrival.
Trying to sleep thereafter those bloody PIR lights kept going on and off so I was convinced there was a second visitor or the original one had returned (with the help of a feline friend). At one point I did get up to investigate and as I stuck my head out of the bedroom window came face to face with...
...Bloody Charlie coming in the other direction - he scared the living daylights out of me.
Needless to say our early night was a complete waste of time! Not helped by the blinking red light of the security camera reminding us that there was still not internet.
As you may have read we are changing how we use the bit of garden outside the kitchen door. We cannot decide whether to deck this as we have done elsewhere or to put down a concrete base and tile it. In the meantime we have put the old chairs and sofa out there while we await delivery of the new set we ordered from Paphos HomeMarket. Today was bright enough to take our breakfast outside which proved to be far too interesting for Chivers!! He wants to try whatever it is that John has!!
We are working our way through our 'To-Do' list and several days of dry weather has enabled us to tackle some of the maintenance rather than wish-list jobs. There was always been a dodgy wall in our bedroom caused by a hairline crack when the windows went in - either the original ones or the double glazed ones we had fitted. This wasn't evident until we had heavy rains and then you could see damage caused by the ingress of water. We left if do its worst last year and then Bassam kindly gave us some special stuff to paint on the outside wall which he said would stop the water and then we needed to leave it some considerable time before tackling the inside - this we have done and I got the job of sanding down the lumpy bits in readiness for filling and painting.
Out in the garden I was amazed to see that, after all the terrible weather we have had, there were two Peacock Orchids flowering. I am not entirely sure where the bulbs came from but I am thinking I might have brought them back from the UK with me when I went back for my school reunion.Peacock Orchids are not orchids at all they are from the iris family and related to gladiolus and the proper name is Acidanthera Bicolor or Dladiolus Callianthus.
The flowers have a lovely fragrance and the white and maroon bloom is very attractive but perched on the top of a very long stem the two in the garden currently are in danger of being blown down to the ground - had I known they were there I might have picked them - they are now passing their best and I don't think they bloom for long in any case. Still it was lovely to see something new, bright and cheerful gracing the borders.
We were mad enough to get our shorts out today - the weather was muggy thanks to the fact that we have dust in the atmosphere again and a warm wind to go with it. February has started pretty well compared with January and today our piping hot showers were courtesy of the sunshine and not the immersion heater which is a bonus.Everthing looks and feels better when the sun is shining and we are much more inclined to get things done. We have been warned by one of the locals not to count our chickens or whatever the Droushian equivalent is...
... «Ο Φερβάρης φερβαρίζει τζιαι καλοτζιαιρκιές μυρίζει» μα «τον Μάρτην ξύλα φύλαε μεν κάψεις τα παλλούτζια». «Απου Άουστον σιειμώναν τζι΄απού Φερβάρην καλοτζιαίριν».
This apparently loosely translates to the following ...
... "February's weather changes to warm and cold and back but you can smell the summer coming``, however, `` save sufficient firewood for March otherwise you will have to burn the wooden pegs (which were usefull items and were used to restrain the farm animals from walking away) as firewood to heat the house'` and `` the winter commences from August and the summer commences from February".
Later in the afternoon we did some more homework regarding the area at the back of the kitchen. It had suited us well as an area to have a casual breakfast - we have a table and chairs for more formal dining so this afternoon it was to check how it worked for a well earned glass of cider after working blooming hard during the day. I can confirm that it was pretty comfortable and Chivers can confirm that he would have liked it better if John had allowed him to have a sniff of the cider !!!The fine weather was not to last as we had a terrific storm in the night and gales which blew all sorts of things around the garden - I didn't sleep too well as I could hear all sorts going on outside but wasn't prepared to get up and investigate - that is a blue job.
We got up yesterday to investigate the damage but things had moved not broken which was a blessing. The winds had done nothing to shift the dust - if anything it looked to be worse - there was no view to be had in any direction.
We were having our first Ladies Lunch of 2019 which was being held in the Droushia Heights Hotel and we had around 20 ladies attending today. The hotel has been refurbished ad as a result the price has gone up for lunch so I know Sheila is keen to maybe dine a little farther afield where we may get a keener price. The surroundings at the Hotel are lovely and the fire was lit today so it looked cosy and it was cosy and the puddings were a triumph - apparently a new lady from Polemi is doing those! It was while we were here that whatever happened to cause the internet outage happened and we were to be without internet then for over 24 hours.I had to nip out briefly from the lunch to show Paphos HomeMarket deliveries where we live as they were bringing the new garden furniture so we will now have to make our decision about the outside space where it is going to reside eventually.
As I said without the internet we were at sixes and sevens and having had a terrible night's sleep last night we decided to cut out losses and go to bed early. What a mistake - at some point either Charlie or Boris brought in a rat and had it running around the conservatory - they were making a noise, it was making a noise and the PIR solar lights were off and on like a bad 70s disco. John got up and managed to corner the unwelcome visitor wanting to evict it unharmed. I got up and locked the cats away before opening the conservatory door in the hopes the rat would just run out which it did but headed straight for the swimming pool. John then got the net out not wanting it to perish in the pool only for the bloody thing to give John the bird whilst shouting Dive! Dive! Dive! John eventually got it out and slung it unceremoniously over the wall where we hoped Minnie was not waiting for its arrival.
Trying to sleep thereafter those bloody PIR lights kept going on and off so I was convinced there was a second visitor or the original one had returned (with the help of a feline friend). At one point I did get up to investigate and as I stuck my head out of the bedroom window came face to face with...
...Bloody Charlie coming in the other direction - he scared the living daylights out of me.
Needless to say our early night was a complete waste of time! Not helped by the blinking red light of the security camera reminding us that there was still not internet.
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