Waiting around this morning for the dishwasher repair man to come – we have a leaking hose. “We will be with you in one hour! MAXIMUM! MAXIMUM!” they said. An hour and a quarter later I rang back “20 minutes…..” … sigh…. In the meantime, Bob went down the hill to Ay Pen, the window and door people and came back with one of their architects who measured up the frame and we will call in later to get their quote

• 

• 

• 

• 

The two repair guys finally rocked up at 1130, looked at the split dishwasher hose and announced they would have to take it back to the workshop…. sigh……. as soon as they went, we got in the car and set off on our errands.

First stop was Ay Pen again for us to choose the door style for them to quote. We did that. Then down to the Notary Public at the bottom of the hill to get our Co_Habitation form filled in and notarised. That took a little while because he couldn’t understand why we needed it. However , it was done and we came away with notarised copies. That’s the last bit of difficult paperwork for the temporary residence visa.

Stopped at Mr Pound next. It’s a massive 3 storey department store of a shop, only one floor of which is actually “a pound”, the rest is just cheap stuff. I wanted to see if they had any pool loungers in there (they didnt) and we are looking for a replacement for our Bamix hand mixer which has become unusable due to the loss of the mixer ends – it’s very old anyway. Managed to get a nice new one for about £25. Will have to go back there another day and have a good mooch around.

We then drove to Catalkoy which is on the other side of Kyrenia to Mermaid Fabrics and dropped one of the roman blinds off there. Repairing it has defeated us and we know they will do it quickly. In fact by tomorrow for a fiver. Money well spent and more stress avoided.

Then to Tesco Mar , a family firm who make doors and windows. We were really impressed with them and their quote seemed reasonable so we will almost certainly go with them. It will take about 10 days once they have measured up. We have chosen almost the same patternedsolid panelled doors as we have now except they will be made of aluminium and some composite coating, and coloured white.

Next stop was to cruise along the main road on that side of town looking for pool lounger shops. Found a couple and they had some loungers we really liked but they were ridiculously expensive at like £140 each. Just too much when you can’t be sure people won’t jump on them or something. Coming back we went into the Mobilya furnishing store and they had the same ones for about half that price. I mean exactly the same ones. They are not cheap but they are very very stylish and sturdy, a sort of white raffia (not raffia though). They will deliver them in the next few days – very pleased with that result.

Finally on the way home we called into China Bazaar, another discount emporium. Looking for a smaller pyrex dish than we have and Bob wanted new digital kitchen scales. A failure on the pyrex dish but success on the kitchen scales. What a productive time we’d had. We congratulated ourselves!!!!

Got home about 3:30 and opened the back door to find……. a flood……. water coming out from under the sink, through the kitchen, through the dining room and almost across the lounge. Luckly not quite reaching my laptop which was on the floor. The rugs were and are still absolutely sodden and pools across the floor. The dimwit repair men had left the cold water feed on and we’d left in a hurry so hadnt noticed the water. Bob set about trying to switch it off, but sod’s law, the stopcock wouldnt entirely shut and i called Marion to get the men back, and then set about it with a bucket and mop. Several buckets later…… the floor began to dry out – thank heavens it was marble, not carpet or wood. Bob clamped the pipe and stopped the flow as a temporary measure. The carpets will take a couple of days to dry I should think. Marion came up with an end cap for the pipe but it wouldnt work and we have a plumber booked for the morning to replace the stopcock.

Marion stayed for a while and we had a catchup. The men came back at 515 with the dishwasher all mended. Very apologetic and shamedfaced. They connected up the dishwasher again – it was just a split hose after all. We won’t be paying for the repair. What a mess.

We have hung the carpets over the terrace balcony to drip dry. Hopefully that will help them dry quicker.

Ate dinner by the pool. So warm tonight…… big moon on the way….. if I wasn’t so tired, I’d have gone in for a swim. Deborah and David arrived from Heathrow this morning. Very smooth flight with no problems and they were out of the airport here in 35 mins. Now in 10 days home quarantine. Looking forward to seeing them when they are “out”.