Sorting out Mum

We have been inundated with Cicadas (τζιτζίκια) this year.   They are extremely noisy but the sound is so evocative of life in the Med that we actually quite like it and miss it when it stops except for today when one flew into Kenny whilst I was driving - it made its way into the boot void and then the noise just echoed around and got louder and louder.  I didn't want it to fly around me so I had to stop, pull off the road and open every door until it made its escape.  I was not impressed and I am not sure it was either!

We were down in Emba today because Mum was having her new mattress delivered.  Her bed is an odd size - apparently Spanish so John was going to have to make some alterations to extend the end of it so that it could accommodate a standard UK king-size.  We had been to Steptoes last week and chosen the one she liked and it was being delivered today at 10.00am.

We had arrived just before the delivery men and John was busy dismantling the bed when the nice young guy came down the drive to see where it needed to go and took the old one away with him.  It never occurred to me that the new one would come vacu-packed and rolled and the lad had it hoiked up on his shoulder and wandered down with it like it was a feather pillow!!!  The mattress had to be unwrapped and then left for 4 hours to expand to its full size!  

The alterations to the bed weren't as straightforward as anticipated (when is anything?) so John was absolutely leaking in the humid heat and getting a bit frustrated but eventually he managed to get the extension completed and the mattress onboard.  We explained to Mum that she would probably find it a bit hard and uncomfortable on the first few sleeps after having been sleeping on an ultra-thin wafer for years.

John has always been concerned about the cabinet which Mum's sun lounge TV sits on because to be honest it really isn't wide enough but there is limited space where she and Dad wanted to put it.  The sun lounge used to be an outside verandah which they decided to glass in (with the landlord's permission) but with that came limitations like no electric supply!

We had seen something which we thought might be suitable in one of the second hand shops on the road from Paphos to Chlorakas but when we popped out and measured it, it wouldn't have fitted and looked a bit shabby.

We took ourselves off to Furniture-R-Us where I got my desk.  It is a real Aladdin's Cave of second hand goods and after a good old poke around we found a cabinet which had a swivel top specifically for a TV.  It was just the right size to fit the space, the only trouble was it was quite a bit higher than the one she currently uses but she has to look down to that one and that cannot be good for her neck.

Anyway we didn't make a decision straight away - I took a photograph and we went back to Mum to chow her what we had found and to demonstrate where the TV would sit.  She seemed to think that it would be better so we went and got it and swapped everything over.  This cabinet looks neater and gives her more storage for her DVD's, books, controls etc.

All in all a successful morning but both John and I were struggling with the humidity - we wonder how we used to manage when we came on holiday and now know we wouldn't cope living anywhere else but up above the humidity line.

We had some shopping we needed to do and dived into the Mall where we decided to take advantage of the air-con and grab some late lunch.  We don't think we have ever seen the food hall so busy as nearly every table was taken.  Sadly most of the things I wanted in Jumbos don't seem to be currently available so it was a bit of a wasted journey and we couldn't wait to get back home and dive into the pool.

We settled down to watch the tennis and the last three episodes of The Baby which was seriously one of the most freaky things we have seen in a very long time - the jury is still out on that one!  We weren't hungry enough for a meal but fancied something nibbly so this was our latest concoction - a sour cream and chive Pringle with a sliver of extra mature cheese, some lemon pickle and a chargrilled olive!  it was a taste sensation as the advertisers would say!