Spring Cleaning...

It was with deep joy this morning that we embarked upon an annual job which I really hate - taking the triplex down from the conservatory roof and cleaning it, removing any trapped insets inside the triplex and on top of the triplex, cleaning the underside of the original glass and then putting it all back again.  I am too short to partner John on these tasks but there is only me so I do my best but my best sometimes falls short of John's expectations.  In the future I shall put a divorce lawyer on stand-by!!!!

If that job isn't bad enough there is the cleaning up afterwards which is my job even though I have been involved from the get go.  Today I had a stiff shoulder and a pinched nerve in my bum cheek so I was less than useless.  The triplex sheets are massive - they cover a third of the sloping roof and have to be carefully pulled out and then cleaned in the garden and left to dry on the outside dining table then carefully slid back in a job for which I simply am not tall enough.

We eventually managed to get it done - possibly not as well as John would have liked but it is better.  Somehow we have a cracked pane of glass behind the TV and on the inside so it cannot have been hit by anything like stray shot during the hunting season.  We wonder if it might have been as a result of the various earthquakes that have been happening over the last couple of days or whether there was a fault which over the past 10 years has worsened due to the extreme heat and then the extreme cold.  We don't know but we need to get it replaced along with the two units where there is condensation between the double glazing.  We really could do without this but have contacted Costas to come and have a look and give us a quote when he next comes up to have a swim at Latchi.  He was very reasonable when he replaced the door and window at Mum's - in fact the reflective film was more expensive.

A couple of days ago I put up a picture of Elizabeth Nicolaou who is the daughter of Louise Rance.  Louise Rance catered for our Silver Wedding afternoon tea and Elizabeth came and helped serve - she was a young teenager then and now she is in her final year at the Royal Academy of Dance.  Earlier in the week she featured in the Daily Telegraph and today she is in the Times - how elegant is she? and what a credit she is to her lovely Mum Louise.

This afternoon we had arranged to go out with Nicky and Mark.  We were saying that we actually see less of them now that they are our neighbours than we did when they used to come up from Emba for the weekend!!!  Nicky had suggested going down to Latchi and having a late lunch at Yiallos which was a good call and we had a lovely afternoon but prices have really increased when eating out - portion sizes smaller and prices bigger.  We reckon most places have added a few euros on each meal and on drinks so what used to be a reasonably priced and affordable venue becomes somewhere that we just cannot call into on a whim - we will have to factor it in.  That is what happens when you are on a fixed budget!!!  When we moved out here we knew that we would have to live on the same money for eleven and a half years until John's pension became indexed linked.  Tomorrow we will have completed eleven years so not long to go but any increase we get will be eroded by increased costs of living and the fact that John will no longer be able to chose to be taxed over here which is more favourable than in the UK - that is just our luck!!!

We have been forecast to have more dust in the atmosphere, according to my Coptic Chart the last one of the season is due this weekend and is a sand laden storm.  It looked as though it had arrived this afternoon because it was very hazy with a strange light by the time we came to leave Latchi.  We finished off our afternoon out with an icecream from Porto Latchi and then made our way back home.  John was going to be having a late night because the Mighty Blades have yet another late night game and this one is crucial that they win.  It is their penultimate game of the season and if they win John will be watching Soccer Saturday with a great deal of interest tomorrow to see if other results go in their favour in terms of securing a play off place.

I wont be staying up with him - I have been feeling tired all day.