Today is Friday and, although we no longer work, it heralds the arrival of the weekend and Friday night is John's most favourite night of the week.  I had got myself organised yesterday and so had a chili in the slow cooker and the slow cooker on the timer and the timer set and the power on (unlike the other week) so we would have a nice meal waiting for us when we got home from playing pickleball.

We were up quite early and had a phonecall from Steptoes to say that our new TV cabinet was ready for collection plus we wanted to go in to Euroblinds next door because we had changed our minds about having pelmets on the new roller blinds.  I am unsure whether I will feel cold with just roller blinds and the lounge will lose its cosy feel without some curtains.  I will never ever manage to be minimalist - this I recognise so see little point in having a halfway house attitude to our home furnishings!!

We called in to see Nicky today.  I had ordered a Vax vacuum for Dip before Christmas and the bloody thing never arrived so got my money back and ordered a second and picked it up from the Post Office today.  This was his Christmas gift to Nicky who, apparently, doesn't like lugging a hoover up two flights of stairs and who can blame her.

Nicky and Mark bought Mum and Dad's house that they had built in Emba.  It was a house that we loved to have owned ourselves having seen it built brick by brick.  It had been Dad's dream and we spent some very happy times there.  When Mum and Dad sensibly decided to move and rent, freeing up some capital and freeing them from the responsibility of home ownership, John and I were sad to see "Mandeville" go up for sale and whilst we would have loved to bought it and lived there it was more than we could afford.  We had thought that once sold we would never go there again.  We were so pleased when Nicky and Mark bought it - although we didn't know them ourselves we knew Nicky's Mum Liz and thereafter Nicky and Mark became friends.   They have firmly stamped their own personality onto the house and I particularly like the calm and neutral colours in the sunroom - it has clean lines and is uncluttered but I just know that if it were mine I just wouldn't be able to resist filling it with stuff or as I like to call it - Memories!!

Some months ago Nicky and Mark were adopted by a small black kitten which has been named Cefor ("C" for Cat) and he has grown into a beauty with an amazing lion's mane ruff  around his neck which is a completely different colour to the rest of him.

He has a very surprised expression in this photograph but actually he was desperate to get out of Nicky's arms as he is a bit timid and wanted to escape from the two strangers who had invaded his territory.

He is such a handsome boy and very lucky to have wheedled his way into Nicky's affection as Mark was adamant that they were not having another pet after their previous cat died not so long back after being involved in an accident - he was a beaut too and they were gutted when he passed away so unexpectedly.

We are due to see Nicky and Mark again shortly - they come up to the village for some peace and quiet and are easy company to have apart from the fact the Mark eats nothing which has had cinnamon near it and I use it quite often!

We did see some nice sunshine at Mum's (sorry the picture was taken through the window but I didn't want to give Fred an exit route).  We installed her new DVD player but we still have to get her ethernet socket finished and John is beginning to lose his rag with the electrician who did most of the job and has yet to finish it - he has a million excuses and we are now beginning to think he didn't really know what he was doing as his temporary fix was to offer two adapters which we told him wouldn't work and we were right.  I don't think said electrician will like John very much if John loses his temper with him so we are hoping he pulls his finger out and gets it sorted soon.

There were only four of us at pickleball this afternoon as Liselotte and John are away and Mum had someone coming to look at where the water had been coming in through her computer room ceiling so we were back at her bungalow by 3.00pm and then left for Droushia shortly after with the remains of the sunshine following us.



Before relaxing for the evening we wanted to put the new TV cabinet in place and move the old one out into the conservatory as it will house my craft stuff.  The new one is on the left and matches the rest of the furniture an is a much neater solution as it is actually designed to fit in a corner to gives us more room.  The old one on the right matches the Mexican furniture in the conservatory and will make it easier for me to see what craft items I have because I can just open the doors and look in.  It will mean the old brown box can go out in the garden to keep wood dry.  It is a win win situation all round and we are really pleased with the new cabinet so thanks Janet xxxx

Even if I do say so myself our supper was superb - we both really enjoyed it and there is enough to have it again tomorrow so I don't have to worry about cooking as what I plan for Sunday can be done on Sunday morning.

We had a lovely snuggly evening in with all four cats - just the way we like it.