A steep old walk!

It was a lovely day today and we had the food in hand for tomorrow so it was to be a day in and around the house.   John wanted to sit down for what was to be a crunch football match.  SUFC had to win to ensure a play-off place rather than sit and hope that results would go in their favour - the only trouble was they were playing top of the table and championship champions Fulham and they had beaten Luton 7-0 on their last outing.  On the subject of 7-0 my cousin's team Bristol Rovers needed to win by that amount partway through their game in order to secure automatic promotion from league 1.  Bristol Rovers did it - my cousin Frank and his son Robbie were there to witness the Gas Boys triumph!!!!  I am happy to say that the Mighty Blades cuffed Fulham 4-0 so will go on to play Notts Forrest in the play-offs.  This did all pass me by somewhat as I was busy fiddling about in the garden - cutting back and rescuing some of the local inhabitants!

My lavender bushes needed attention.  They are old and quite woody at the bottom and grow far too tall before flowering so that the flowers all want to flop over.  It is my own fault as I never but them back hard enough when they were smaller.  

I didn't want to lose the flowers - at least not all of them so I decided to give them a Jason Lee haircut (aka a pineapple head) where the sides are cut tight and the top is allowed to flourish - that way I can manouevre around the plants and still get some flowers which look lovely and attract the bees.  Once they have finished flowering I can cut them back into a nice ball shape and try and keep them under control.  I did five of them before I decided I had been out in the sunshine long enough for one day!

I like to do a little gardening every day if I can so that it doesn't become a chore and I do want it to look nice for when my sister comes at the end of the week.  She text today to see if there was anything I wanted bringing over and I couldn't think of anything.  I never can when I am put on the spot so I guess I cannot be desperate for something specific.  I would like to find some Anemone de Caen corms - I used to have several which flowered in the garden in the spring and I am down to one.  I think I used to pick them up from the old Euro Shop when it was on the Mesoghi Avenue.  Anyway it is a bit late to plant them now so will keep my eye out - bulbs usually do quite well here although I think it was too wet this winter as my anemone have disappeared and my tulips and daffodils been pretty pathetic and I can't see any evidence of the gladioli. 

My friend Isabel has been very poorly - it all started with a filling and went badly downhill from there.  I wont go into all the gory details but she ended up with infections and labyrinthitis and lost a lot of weight and became very weak.  John and I did her shopping for her last week as a result.  Anyway she is beginning to feel a little better so I decided to walk down and see her this afternoon to make sure.  She lives down quite a long steep hill at what we call 'The Gated Community' and she is the only person living there full time - it is not somewhere you drive past so she spends a lot of time on her own except for the company of her dog Andro - when her lovely neighbours Iris and Andros are staying from Nicosia I know they involve her and keep an eye on her but other than that there is no-one else.  Her plan is to return to Scotland permanently once her son, partner and grandson have visited - at least there she will have a much better support network than here.  Today was the second anniversary of her husband David's untimely and unexpected passing.  She has spent almost all her time in that house in lockdown conditions in one form or another and on her own which was not the future she envisaged for herself when she married David at the end of 2019.  We sat and had a drink together and had a chat.  She is looking better but terribly thin - I have suggested she goes and treats herself to a big old tub of icecream which should be easy to eat and full of calories! 

The walk back up the hill was strenuous to say the least - I don't know how Isabel manages with her limited lung capacity.  I tried to do it without stopping but had to stop at the big house to catch my breath before continuing on up to the main road.  Here I had a choice of three routes back home - each with a hill, past the Val's which is short and sharp, past Similides which is meandering and longer and joins the Val's route or up opposite Kelly's which is probably the most scenic so I chose that one.  The fields along the side of the main road above where Di and Rob live are full of late flowering orchids.  I thought I would call in to see Di and Rob as I was passing - having negotiated the Gated Community Hill I thought that their Cardiac Hill would be a breeze but I could see that their car was missing so assumed they would be shopping and gave it a miss.  I don't mind doing that hill if I know they are going to be in and I can get my breath back but not if I do it and no-one is there!!!

The route up from Kelly's is challenging but the views are amazing so I use them as an excuse to take my time and stop.  I had got to the top at Andreas's house when I could hear a car behind me.  As it got level it stopped and the driver wound the window down.  I hoped it wasn't someone wanting directions because I was well out of puff by that point but in fact it was Jimmy and Fiona stopping to say Hi on their way to Nicky and Mark's.  They asked if I would like a lift - I couldn't believe my ears when I said that I was happy to finish my walk!!!!  To be fair I was on level ground at that point and only had to walk back up into the estate!