We’ve been busy around the house the last couple of days, particularly Bob, who is engrossed deploying the new lighting along the dining terrace. The wall lights are now all in place and working and he has begun to put the wiring in for hanging the gourd lights. They have to be hung to be “quick removal” so that we can take them down in the winter when the rain would be too much for them. Anyway, all is looking good. Once the gourd lights are wired in, we will paint the junction boxes so they disappear into the wall.

We went to the paint shop on Monday morning and bought all the paint we needed for the lounge, dining room and the pergola. It came to a little over £100. Messaged Jami and his guy came up on Monday night and Sadolined the pergola ready for the new cloth covering.

Today Bob cracked on and finished the wall lights. I painted the old Turkish lamp over the pool dining table with brass metal paint – it came up as good as new.

And a sad day….. our poor old dishwasher which has slaved away for 19 years has finally given up the ghost. Its brave heart is still pumping, the arms are still spinning water around but…. it has developed a leaky botty. It’s probably over 100 in human terms so… anyway, we ran down the hill in the afternoon and visited the electrical goods shops. Have bought a new Bosch dishwasher and it is being delivered and fitted tomorrow. Best of all, they are taking the old one away….. maybe it can be repaired and re-used?

Even more pleasing, Rick, our pool guy, wanted the carpet that used to be under our lounge rugs. So, we have managed to re-cycle both the rugs and the carpets. That pleases me very much.

Weather remains lovely. A bit breezy the last couple of days, but the sun is bright and warm and the sky is cloudless.