OMO

Autumn brings with it some spectacular skies - sunrise is coming much later until next weekend when the clocks change and with that clock change the weather seems to worsen although someone hasn't told the weather gods as the forecast for next week is pants - thunder, lightning and hail apparently.  Let's hope they have got it wrong as, although we need rain, we do not need it all at once and certainly not before the clock change.  John is so glad he managed to get our newly stone clad walls treated earlier this week and will be rushing on Monday to get the plinths treated as belt and braces.

A couple of times this week we have had a phone call from Marilena who owns 1a to say that her alarm has been going off.  She lives in Nicosia and this is a holiday home for her.  John has dutifully gone over to check for burglars but his investigations have been hampered by the fact that it is all locked up and we have no keys - he has scaled the wall and jumped into the courtyard but has been able to see absolutely zilch.  We agreed that she would send some keys over with Galatia which she did and I picked them up yesterday.  We had planned to go inside and investigate yesterday when we returned home from pickleball but we were a bit later getting home than planned.  You know when you said you were going to do something, then didn't and then wished you had?????? Well bugger me if the bloody alarm didn't go off at around midnight last night and Marilena text me to tell me and I always panic when I get a message late at night because I have all sorts of visions of something having happened to Mum.  So this morning before we did anything we took the keys and went in to investigate.  I have been in this house once although only just inside the front door and we know that the alarm has been going off in the main bedroom.  I know Marilena is keen to sell the property because she just doesn't get the opportunity to come and stay and recently she had the inside and the outside painted and the 'join' between the buildings sorted and some dreadful nets erected to stop the birds (which it doesn't).  Anyway to cut a long story short we think a badly secured window in the main bedroom was moving when it was windy (which it was last night) and this was causing the alarm to activate.  John secured it and checked everywhere else and it was good.  I have to say that I really liked the feel of Marilena's house.  The covered area between the buildings would get a fabulous view of the setting sun.  The two bedrooms are laid out differently to ours and have better storage and the shower room is much bigger.  In fact it could make someone a really nice holiday home or even permanent home - it has much more outside space than we thought and has a lot of the essentials already in place including a very keen alarm system it would seem!!!  

We were having a quiet lazy Saturday which started with Brunch and then a trip to Paps for our shopping and as it was pretty warm today a pit stop at the Gelataria in Prodromi for a cooling ice cream cone.  There are just too many flavours to chose from and a cone with two scoops is just too big even for John so limiting it to one scoop can be a challenge.  Today John opted for the new Banana flavour which he said was like having banoffee in a cone as it had crumb and toffee along with the banana and has become a new favourite - I stuck with cinnamon orange but having been allowed a quick lick of the banana (ooooooo Matron) I have probably been converted.

You have got to love Paps - today they had Whitley Neill gin on offer and it was the blood orange one and it was just too good to pass it up so we have added this to our drinks cabinet.

The second picture is of OMO washing powder and this one is for all those Navy wives that might read my ramblings.  I don't know whether you can still buy OMO in the UK but it used to have great significance - it stood for Old Man's Out and any lonely Navy wife wanting some company could put a packet in the window so that a passing suitor would know whether or not it was safe to call and do the do!!!  It doesn't seem to work so well over here as it only seems to have caught the attention of the one eyed goatherd and only then because I think he wasn't sure what he was looking at!!

John's beloved team do not play until Monday Night so we weren't bound to the sofa experiencing the agony and ecstasy that comes with being a Blades supporter - this left me free to bimble around the garden which I am slowly preparing for the Winter months.  It seems criminal sometimes to cut back plants which have put on such luscious growth but I have to remind myself it is for their own good because too many in the garden have become woody as a result.  We have Nicky and Mark coming to stay next weekend which is always fun and last time she was here (they called in with Jimmy and Fiona) she asked for some cuttings of the variegated Wandering Jew (Tradescantia) which I have in the garden - I picked several bits there and then and put them in water and they have rooted so they will be ready for her when she and Mark come on Friday.

We had one of my favourite meals for tea this evening - brie and bacon salad with some fresh corn bread on the side.  This is my idea of heaven and both John and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal - sometimes it is the most simple things that bring the most pleasure!!

We settled down to watch some TV - we have started to watch World on Fire - we like a good series and this looks like it will fit the bill.

Must just tell you that this morning when we were sorting out Marilena's alarm we were speaking to Persephone who has a house next door and who loves Charlie.  Charlie had followed us down the road and Persephone asked if he was ok because when she had arrived yesterday he had called on her as he does and she didn't have anything to give him to eat so she had taken some cod from the freezer and run it under the hot tap to defrost it before giving it to him to eat - I wanted to tell her that he wouldn't care but she was worried - Charlie just loves food and he loves company and we never worry when Aunty P is here because we know he is in safe hands.