Incidents and Accidents

This is Harry's House in situ in John and Liselotte's garden in their woodland area just waiting for a new arrival.  We had dropped it off yesterday and unbelievably whilst Liselotte was on a walk she had rescued a poorly hedgehog which she had hoped would be the first of many residents.  Sadly that was not to be as, when she took the hedgehog to Dr Inna, it was too badly injured to survive - it was a suspected dog bite.  Still, as I said to her, it did not die in agony.  There will be others, of that I am sure and when they do come they will have a very des-res to live in.

Today I was off down to Mum's relatively early so I could accompany her to pay her tax bill just in case there was a problem with the automated system.  I thought I had set her card up but as it was this time last year couldn't be absolutely sure it would be ok.

Just because I wanted a shower good and early we had a very indifferent start to the day with rolling mists sweeping across and the feeling that there was some rain in the air.  We didn't get rain and fortunately now that John has sorted the hot water system we had plenty enough hot water for me to have a shower.

Yesterday I had been to ACS to collect two jigsaws which I had ordered for her which is good because she has done all the others she has more than once and in the post was a book that John had spotted which was all about the village where my mum had grown up as a child - Charlton Mackrell.  What is more the lady we contacted to get it had gone and searched some of the local records and found entries for Mum's Mum and Dad and one of her brothers and sisters.

Mum has on a number of occasions recounted the story of a nearby house being hit by a bomb during the second world war and sure enough there was a section which covered that actual event.  Even more amazing is the fact that Celia who sent the book appears to live in the same house that Mum was brought up in or the one next door - what a small world.  Anyway John thought she would find this interesting and jog some memories so I was glad it had come so I could take it down with me today.

Not only was I going to help Mum but I was, at long last, going to get rid of my Lockdown Locks and not before time.  John had cut the back for me weeks ago and I have been chopping at the fringe.  Some days it dries in a half decent style and others the result (as in the picture) is not so good.  I am in two minds though what to do with it next as there is a part of me that would like to return to a bob and to be honest I cannot envisage another time when I would grow my hair for a good four months without giving in and getting it cut.  I shall see - I think maybe I will have an interim cut and then probably go back to having it very short - at least for the summer when it will be cooler.

I arrived down at Mum's and we had time for a catch-up, post opening, book reading, tea and cake before heading off to Kissonerga and Carol the tax-lady.

Although Carol works from home the regulations for going in and paying Mum's bill were probably stricter here than I have seen them anywhere.  Mum and I both had to wear masks and get gloved up and I was only allowed in because there might have been an issue with the card payment.  Carol was wearing not one, but two, masks and was gloved up and kept the two meters distance.  It was all quick and painless and Mum's card was set up correctly so she paid her tax and we were in and out in about five minutes.

I had stopped in Kissonerga on my way down at Kissos nursery to see if they had a climber that I could grow up the new trellis as the Clematis will stop flowering pretty soon.

I didn't want the standard jasmine, passion flower or bougainvillea (they can all be quite messy) so was quite pleased when the lad working in there suggested a Mandevilla (rather apt really as I was born and brought up in Keinton Mandeville) and Elena confirmed that it should survive up in Droushia.

It got planted as soon as I got home because the poor thing had been in a hot car all day - the weather down in Paphos was extremely hot and muggy today so I reckoned if I was wilting then this little plant would be too.

I also managed to get a small pot for the miniature water lily that has now decided to put on some growth.  We wont turn this into a pond but will just have it as a water feature with just the water lily growing in it.

Poor John had had a miserable time of it whilst I was away.  He had planned to replace the plastic strips in the conservatory that had got all warped by the sun.  He had bought wood to replace it which was going to look much better.

For reasons best known to himself he decided to use my fold-up kitchen stool rather than his step ladder and ended up breaking the stool, falling onto one of the sofas in the lounge and destroying the sofa's arm.  This is what I think he would normally call a "preventable incident".  I don't think he hurt much else other than his pride but it was blooming annoying all the same.

I reminded him that if that had been me I would never had heard the last of it.  He was not impressed even though wood that he has put up looks so much better than the plastic that was there before.

This is, apparently, little consolation!!!  And now I am without either of my fold-up steps as John has broken both of them so he will have to be around to do the reaching of things!