Happy Birthday Les

I woke this morning in my own bed - this is now something of a novelty and I obviously wasn't used to it because I woke at around 4.00am.  No reason save perhaps for a call of nature but having got up I was a bit concerned that I hadn't heard the cats.  Really you would think I should be grateful not to have Charlie or Minnie whinging in my ear but I have missed them so much.  I made the fatal mistake of poking my head into the spare bedroom to see if Minnie was there, which she was and I therefore woke her up and then I poked my head into the conservatory but neither Charlie nor Boris were there which is not unusual.  Minnie decided she wanted early breakfast and Boris, who was sleeping out on the day-bed, must have heard and followed suit but there was no Charlie so I expect the neighbourhood was thrilled when John did his whistling routine to get him in and thankfully Charlie then pitched up and all three of them got early breakfast.  Boris then mooched off and Minnie took up her position wedged between John and I with her head on my pillow and a self satisfied cat grin on her face and then Charlie came too, the lump that he is and fell asleep for a while until he decided it was the right time for breakfast and started scratching at the wardrobe door.  I don't know if he does that to annoy me or whether his brain injury has caused him some confusion when it comes to identifying doors.  Either way I got up and gave him the remainder of his food.

It tickles me that he then takes himself off to bed for a proper nap leaving both John and I somewhat shattered by his shenanigans but heyho we love him and he is our 'difficult' child - every family seems to have one!

I know John doesn't function too well when he is left home alone so he was really happy to have me back even if it was only for part of the day.  It meant we could tackle some of the garden together as he is always worried he is going to cut the wrong things back or cut them back too far.

We nipped down to Polis today to take The Pug down to the local upholsterer chappy - His name is Costas Papaioannou and he and his workshop are a revelation.  The fabric on the inside of the roof of the pug has started to come adrift and he is going to take the lot of it off and replace it for the princely sum of €200 - he has just done the same on a friends car and they were absolutely delighted.  As a result, after all these years, we are going to have the 'birthing' chair properly reupholstered.  Costas confirmed that the chair is old, so old that it had springs and horse hair inside - he confirmed that the springs were good and he did not really want to change them as they are part and parcel of the history of the construction but he would replace the horsehair and we chose a nice old leather fabric and asked that the wood on the legs and arms be oiled so that they are brought back to life as they have dried being in the conservatory.  I cannot wait to see it now.

John had lunch with the Men of Droushia (Mods) and I had tea and cakes with Sonia, Ellen and Nicky.  Big thanks to Nicky for the superb little cupcakes and to Sonia for the freshly baked cheese scones and Ellen for the nibbles which accompanied some leftover pizza from last night!  All hastily put together but enjoyable none the same and nice to catch up with neighbours for a chat.  

John and I went to visit Les before I returned to Mums.  It was his 70th birthday today - it is incredible to think how much has changed for him in the last year.  He was so pleased to see us but exhausted by all the people who had been in to see him.  I must say I did wonder to myself where they had all been previously when he so needed company but maybe it is better late than never.  We had a quick drink with him before he said he wanted to go to bed.  At least with him at home we can visit which we couldn't do when he was in the residential home.

Happy Birthday Les