WAABAW (We are all Blades aren't we?)

Today was, for those of you who are Blades Supporters, or dirty dirty Leeds haters, the most important day in the footballing calendar this year.  Today, should the Mighty Blades win their game then their automatic promotion to the Premier League (which looked to have been thrown out of the window only a couple of weeks ago) was more or less secured (although mathematically dirty dirty Leeds still had a minuscule chance at spoiling the party).

So how should we start such an important day???? with the key match being played later this evening we had a leisurely morning reading the papers in bed before starting the day with a good old, heart attack inducing, fry-up to set us up for some jobbies during the day and then THE MATCH at 7.00pm this evening.

We needed space in the freezer so some sausages and black pudding had to make room and in so doing made their way to our breakfast plate along with some bacon and lovely eggs from Savvas the Tyreman.  This would keep us going until supper which was going to be Teriyaki Beef and noodles.

It is Easter Saturday here in Cyprus and although the shops would be more than likely open we had not planned to go anywhere today as we have food in to cover us for today, tomorrow and Monday.  Tomorrow and Monday are bank holidays here as is Wednesday which is May 1st and it has just occurred to us that our neighbours arrive on Monday and plan to shop for some food and we have no idea if anywhere is open - certainly the main supermarkets will not be which is a bit of a bugger.

Kaye had the day with Mum today - they are coming up to us tomorrow and Mum has plann
ed a bit of an itinerary for Kaye whilst she is here so I didn't have to worry about them today.

The recent much improved weather has filled me with renewed energy and I have a million ideas floating around as to things I want to do to the house and garden.  The area outside the spare bedroom we refer to as Wendy and Bill corner because they donated the gazebo to us.  It is a lovely place to sit and take in the early morning sun which is why we give visitors the bedroom adjacent so they can just let themselves out through the side door and enjoy the space.  We did this area some time ago and it is looking tired so I wanted to give it a bit of a facelift.  We didn't do much, a clean and a tidy and we replaced the 'curtains' at the mirrored window.  I am in two minds as to whether to paint the shutters with the duck-egg blue chalk paint - John isn't sure so readers I would value your opinion on this matter before getting stuck in.

The next place to get some attention was the decked area in the front garden.  To be fair this is not an area we actually use.  We never sit here and eat although I did go out there one day when John was back in the UK and did some craft.  We are in two minds or maybe even three or four as to what we want to do with this space.

I gave it a good clean and chucked out some of the plants that seem to have expired over the winter and gave the table and chairs a clean.  We do not intend to keep the table and chairs which was bought for our silver wedding celebrations and cost the princely sum of 20 euros and which owes us nothing (although one chair has gone to meet its maker).  It will look clean and tidy tomorrow when Kaye is here but ultimately we want to make that space work for itself.

We are contemplating moving John's wooden shed there and turning the shed into a crafting area for me but that seems a major exercise which will leave us in a right old mess until it is completed and with a string of visitors on the horizon now is probably not the best time to do it.

Having finished outside I turned my attention indoors.  I spent hours on my hands and knees with a pair of marigolds cleaning the rugs in the conservatory.  It would seem that the only thing that will remove the cat hairs which have adhered themselves to the rugs is a pair of said gloves but it is hard on the hands!  Eventually I declared the rugs to be as clean as they were ever going to be and we wrapped them up and enclosed them in a sheath of plastic and then lugged the roll like a lifeless body and stacked it into my newly tidied shed.  On that subject the island is currently gripped by the news that a serial killer has been uncovered.  This is no joke as a man has admitted to killing quite a number of women and children and dumping their bodies.  Sadly the women appear to have been domestic staff so their disappearances were not fully investigated initially.  So far the tally is 7 dead but the word is that there is likely to be more.

John was beside himself today in anticipation of tonight's game when SUFC take on the newly relegated Ipswich - you would imagine that this would have been a walkover but then you have to think to yourself that maybe Ipswich wanted to go out in a blaze of glory as they had nothing to lose.  We decided we would eat first and then I would probably busy myself getting dinner ready for tomorrow when Mum and Kaye are here and John could then watch the match uninterrupted.  Our cull of the freezer had revealed some sirloin steak.  I never buy it so someone must have donated it when they returned home having holidayed here but I have no idea who that was or the vintage of the meat but it made a pretty good stir fry!!

I didn't watch the match, I just couldn't face it but let's just say SUFC beat Ipswich 2-0 so technically although not mathematically they are automatically promoted to the Premier League.  For a short while (until Norwich played) they were also top of the league and with emotions running high and a beautiful balmy night outside John decided to celebrate the victory with a dip in the pool - silly sod!!!