Ikea

I recently ordered a cheap and cheerful shoe cupboard from Ikea which arrived so poorly packaged that it looked like it had been kicked around the carpark several times.  I emailed to complain and they said they would dispatch a replacement and take back the old one.  The replacement was to have been packed in bubble wrap but instead came in a couple of sheets of brown paper with some visible damage.  Even more irritating was that it was supposed to have been delivered to our home but the delivery driver refused to venture from the centre of the village and John had to go down instead which pee'd him off.  I didn't open this package but took photographs and immediately emailed customer services.  They explained that at the time they didn't have any bubble wrap - REALLY?????? so sent it in brown paper but if it was damaged again they would swap it out and promised to send the replacement, replacement properly packaged.  How on earth this is cost effective for an item which cost under €25 is beyond me but hey ho.

I am pleased to report that my little pond shows signs of at least three little fish that survived the wet and wild and ultimately icy winter.  I hope they are not all male and that they produce a few more in due course.  The miniature water lily survived too and has produced its first flower of the season.  Hopefully as the leaves multiply it will help to keep the water clearer.  I am happy - I thought my little water ecosystem had been ruined.

On the subject of this year's exceptionally cold winter I am thrilled to report that for once the little man (or in my case woman) managed to triumph over the government.  Last year we were barred from applying for the winter fuel allowance which is awarded to permanent residents who live in mountainous areas.  We had qualified prior to Brexit and should have continued to qualify as a result of this benefit being protected by the Withdrawal Agreement but the Cyprus Government said a firm "OXI".  It is not an insignificant amount and to add insult to injury the winter was so bad they made a second smaller interim payment.  We were rather disappointed that as permanent residents and tax payers and supporters of our adopted country no-one cared.  Local Cypriot friends assumed we got the money as they did and couldn't understand why we did not.  So we teamed up with Jeff from Arodes who is a dab hand at getting things done and we followed protocol in making our disappointment at being discriminated against known and pointing out various paragraphs and undertakings in the Withdrawal Agreement which demonstrated that this was actually not legal and sat back and waited.  Periodically we would have a meeting with Jeff and Marianne over dinner in Fitos's to discuss our progress or rather lack of it until last week both they and we, received confirmation from the European Commission that we were right and the Cypriot Government had agreed to rectify the error and pay the allowance in the future and the back payments which we had missed.  Chuffed doesn't even come close - it was worth doing the research and pinging off the complaints and many emails.  We know what we will be doing tomorrow - going to the Community Office and grabbing the forms.

We had invited some of the Lordos 1 newbies to come round for a drink this evening and meet one another.  For us it almost served as a celebration of our discrimination success combined with an early celebration of the Queen's Platinum Jubilee.  Sadly Nicky and Mark have both been poorly so they couldn't make it but there were about a dozen of us Lordos 1 dwellers assembled in our garden getting to know one another.   After years of living practically alone it is nice to have a sense of community here.  We are tucked away so don't really see or hear much so it was good to actually sit down and chat.  Thank you to everyone who came armed with a bottle and some nibbles.  God Save The Queen!!!