Sunday

Sunday at home during the day and then down to Mum and Dad's for dinner this evening.  We are enjoying the last of the autumn weather - rain is forecast on the island next week and we desperately need it.  There is still colour in the garden - you could be forgiven for thinking that November would be a little boring but the bougainvillea is blooming, the clockvine continues to flower and some of the gazanias that looked done for in the Summer have come back to life so that there are splashes of vibrant yellow and orange dotted around.  I am loathe to cut things back now and, as we have Nicky and Mark staying next weekend, will leave things until after they have been - weather permitting of course.

The cats still enjoy finding a sunny spot in the garden so that they feel some heat on their bones.  Minnie was enjoying the morning on one of the steamers, so much so that she didn't realise the sun had moved and she would have been better sitting on the other chair.  She, along with the others, had got her winter coat so she looks chunky and from a distance can almost be mistaken for Charlie even Mr Boo looks less Siamese-like and they spend more time indoors now - this is good because today was a hunting day and some numpties were shooting far too close to the house so that the conservatory roof got peppered with shot - we probably should go and shout at them but that may not be the most sensible thing to do when they are waving shotguns around.

My focus for today was to get the ironing basket under control and, hopefully, empty which would please Charlie no end as he likes to sleep in it when it is empty.

There was a mountain of ironing - my fault as I had left it for too long.  Visitors concentrate the mind and the effort.  On sorting through I realised that poor John must be scouring his wardrobe trying to find something clean to wear - the basket was full of his shirts!!

I stuck with it and worked my way through and got it empty - I did it all even the horrid bits that I tend to return to the basket because I cannot face tackling them.  For a day at least, and longer if it does rain, there will be no more laundry in that there basket!!

It is now most definitely warmer to sit in the conservatory during the day - this is not the case at night as the temperature drops outside the glass structure gets exceptionally cold and we only have a kerosene heater in there which is good but a bit smelly.

We want to use the conservatory to entertain more and so we have doubled the voiles that cover the windows on the pool side - the double layer does help but it is still a bit cool that side.

I want to get John to sit out there more and so I wanted to get our old android box to work on the TV which is there - it hasn't been on for months and so needed something of a rebuild to get the apps working again.

At one point I thought I had blown away the whole box but slowly managed to piece it together so we have live TV, some sport and some box sets which is all we will need.  That is a good TV - even though it is a bit old now - we brought it with us from the UK but it does the job.

Whilst we were out in the conservatory John decided we should have a sort through the Christmas decorations as we want to trim up the house shortly and we have such an eclectic mix of things.  No themes for Christmas in this house it's just bring out all the old stuff and pick up a couple of bits of new stuff and then hope for the best!!!  Some of the ornaments go back years and have memories, not all good ones as we sadly lost my brother-in-law at Christmas two years ago.

This year we will have Jane and John with us this Christmas along with Mum and Dad which will be nice and Christmas Eve we will be joined by Sheila and Klaus for a meal and a get together.   Penciled in over the festive season are a number of other lunches or dinners so we have a few things to look forward to which is good.

We set off down to Mum and Dad's aiming to arrive around 5.00pm - we were a little later than planned as we went via Peyia and for some reason it just took a bit longer.  We are mindful that the police are out doing spot checks and speeding fines at the moment so even though it was Sunday we didn't want to take any risks as my two current speeding offences were collected in consecutive Novembers - although I do think they could now be removed from my record - bearing in mind one of them was John's in the first place I shall be glad to see it go.

Mum and Dad were snuggly warm in the sun room which has been a great addition for them - it means they can sit in there and heat it easily rather than be in the cavernous lounge.  I tested out my latest new best friend of a panoramic shot on them - Dad looks confused.com!

It got cold on the way home - as we approached Stroumbi the temperature on the car showed 5 degrees! that's bloody cold in any language - it was about double that in Droushia but that is still chilly - 9.5 tog duvet required.