A quiet day

It was to be a quiet day today save for a bit of food shopping in Paps to fill my empty cupboards.  Isabel had text me to ask if I could do some for her as well as she has been very poorly and not feeling up to driving.  It wasn't a problem but did take me back to when we initially started shopping for her and David (her late husband) when lockdown first started.  We did our shopping - everything, and I mean everything, has increased in price and not by a couple of cents either and I don't think we have reached the worst of it yet.  

We stopped in the village on the way back to check the post, as is the norm nobody loves us.  I am awaiting a parcel which is my replacement hoover head but fear it is lost in the bowels of customs and excise because it does not appear on the new computerised Cyprus post system anywhere even though I can use international tracking and find that it is in the country.  It will probably go the way of the Christmas Present I bought for John which was released from Customs in February and for which I have paid the 'handling fee' and VAT and which is still to put in an appearance.

I didn't do much in the afternoon save for a bit of gardening.  I have a mystery plant that has germinated from some seeds which I had loafing around and for which I have lost the names.  It will be some sort of climber for sure because if I look back on the tintyweb I have only bought seeds for climbers but currently it little baby is too small for any of the apps to recognise.

The garden is really springing into life - the weather has been cooler and damper at night so plants like my hosta are doing really well.  The one above is an original one - I think this one came from London Road and is large leafed with yellow edges but we actually think there are two in the pot because a bit later in the season the leaves which appear have a white edge.

George and Pam's five week holiday is fast coming to an end.  They leave on Thursday morning so we asked them to come in for a drink with us this evening so they could have their last night to themselves.  George looks so well - he is complaining that he has put on too much weight whilst here but we think he looks the better for it.  Pam is still struggling with her hearing which does lead to some interesting conversations at times.  We knew they would not want to stay too late but it was lovely to have them here even if only for a short while.

It was a cool evening but John and I had found it rather warm sitting in the conservatory so we decided to have a nightcap outside before going to bed.  This is the area that we are thinking of ungrading but it will all be down to the cost so we are waiting to hear from Bassam on that score.