Making the most of our time...

So on Sunday maybe because of the fact we had no power or in spite of the fact that we had no power we were galvanized into action - although it was a nice day outside, inside it was quite chilly and we needed to keep doing something rather than light the fire and vegetate.  Our proposed lunch went out of the window as we had no cooking facilities although bless Sonia she suggested using one of our requests to go out and visit a vulnerable person to go use her hob which was gas.  Our little gas burner gave us enough to make a coffee to keep us and our hands warm so we were ok.  Originally the power was due back on at 1.00pm which was fine but then we were informed it would be more like 4.00pm which was not so fine.  So in the morning this was the view of the lounge area of our house.

Partway through the day this was the view of the back wall of the lounge!!!!  John has long looked at that wall and said he thought it would look good in the same grey as the opposite wall where the wood-burner is situated.  So we thought, WHAT THE HELL, and got the brushed out.  We moved everything out of the way but try as he might John could not find a way of removing the window blind so we had to find a way of protecting it and came up with the plastic which was around our grey rug and we covered it with that.  Initially we didn't think the paint was covering too well but actually as it began to dry it didn't look too bad at all.

So we powered on and we got it finished and we love it.  The side walls will be decorated in a paler colour as soon as we finish using the wood-burner this year.  We could see when we removed the big old clock that there was a ring on the wall where it had been and that is caused by the smut which comes from the fire - we reckoned it doesn't matter so much where the wall is already grey!!!  We are so glad that we made the effort to get it done and it has spurred us into action to do more.  We finished the day tired but happy and the power outage was forgotten come 4pm when normality was restored.

Because what we had planned for Sunday went out the window we were hoping to have a nice quiet Monday but were surprised to hear a lot of noise coming from the empty house next door.  It transpired that the girl who had been to look at if for the Bank's Estate Agent was true to her word and had sent someone round to (a) empty and clear the pool and (b) empty and clear the front garden.  The pool was full to overflowing with stinking water which housed mosquito fish and a blanket of disgusting leeches on the top.  John went out to the green bin with some rubbish and came back somewhat aghast because he said that one of the workers was stood in the courtyard of next door in his underpants.  It transpired that this poor man (who looked to be in his 60s) had fallen in and had taken off his wet clothes to try and stave of pneumonia and dysentery I would have thought.  It was a bright day but freezing and the wind had a real nip - not a day to be impromptu swimming in sludge.  John found an old t-shirt and some tracky bottoms and some socks and we made him and his oppo a hot cup of coffee and found some biscuits and I think the outcome was that we have been adopted into his family and if we are ever near Aleppo then there will always be a bed for us there!  Poor poor man - we were so glad to have been able to help him even with the language barrier.

Now if all that excitement weren't enough for one day we had our Sunday lunch today on a Monday and went all chefy and included roasted garlic with our roasted veggies!!!  John has now got crackling off to a fine art and I would have been happy to have eaten just a plate of that!!!!

An early night for us as we are walking tomorrow - John off piste with Liselotte no doubt and Nicky and I doing the walk we did last week in reverse with a couple of little extra loops put in as we had time left over from our 3 hours last time and we want to make the most of it.