Friday 8th June 2012

Early morning garden view from the balcony.

Guess what?  Warm and sunny so most of the day spent outside.

Always things to do in the garden and Lillian continues to wander each day with clippers in hand snipping here and there.  Her obsession now is the small white grubs that are appearing on the bougainvillea which she dispenses with soapy water and water spray with leaves being carefully removed and put into plastic bags so in theory they do not return!  I’m only the labourer and my activity is restricted to climbing the ladder and pinning some branches of the climbers to make them grow across the car port.

A good day for swimming and a record breaking one for me in terms of lengths.  A total of 46 today in two sessions which is a good achievement I feel as I am such a poor swimmer.  I take it very slowly but do feel that the aerobic exercise is doing me good as I build up to the big test at Royal Free on 22nd July.  Lillian swam once and completed 30 lengths half on her back.  No effort at all for her and she just glides along agreeing that for her breaststroke is no effort at all.  To complete her exercise routine she went off on a mad half hour bile ride whilst I swam the second time.

A trip to the bank to withdraw deposit for the awning blind.  Whilst there we transferred some money into a saving account. We bank with Laiki Bank and I have to say whenever we go in to any of the branches (we visit three in total at various times) the service is personalised and excellent.  It was just the same when in Dubai. We have never received the same approach in the UK and perhaps is an underlying message as to why the banking industry is a mess there?  Look after the customer.

Late afternoon the husband and wife team from Ikos, the blind people called to check the awning installation, which has been ordered from Germany, collect the deposit and advise on curtaining.  Two hours later we decided to get rid of the vertical hanging blinds which were installed in a rush when we took the house last July.  They have proved impracticable with wind etc as you go in and out of the patio doors and replaces with curtaining, that will not close but will hang just at the sides and roman blinds.  I love roman blinds and Lillian has chosen great fabrics with matching cushions being made also.  You will need to wait for pictures here in a couple of weeks for more details!

With the evening now late, it was food from the freezer and the last and final episode of Prison Break!  Yes that’s it finished!