Moyra - There is nothing like starting a Sunday with a full English breakfast. I hope you enjoyed it and can keep cool in the shade.

Lore - Isn't it strange we are such a small island in the grand scheme of things yet the weather can be so local. Really hot down here and the dogs are just flopped in the shade ..... lovely peaceful. Glad the headache has gone!

Taffsmum - Turf him off his chair and maybe you'll get some movement out of him. My OH is out for the day so I'm having a lovely quiet time with nobody to annoy me

Malka - How ridiculous you having to have such a huge bin Our bins are pretty big and we have two - recycling and one for household rubbish which are collected alternate weeks. I assume 'cos of the heat out with you anything left in plastic bags would get ripped open by wildlife?

EmmiS- best of luck with the training for your new job and I hope you enjoy it and meet some nice people.

Rosebud - Sorry you're still suffering with that kidney infection. Drink plenty of water to keep them well flushed through and with any luck it may speed up your recovery. Your view sounds lovely - who needs a TV when you have an every changing view from your window.

Pat - Those photos are lovely of your little princess ambling along ion the shade. She is so cute and it was only today that I realised that she has a docked tail - I trust this wasn't a result of you being accident prone

A beautiful day here and I'm sitting in the shade on the balcony watching boats go by ... the only thing that can get a bit tiring is more often than not boaters will wave. That is fine but if its a long boat I'll wave back to the person on the front and then someone else further along the boat thinks I'm waving at them and so on and so on I'm trying to get my **** in gear and go and plant a few plants that have been sitting around for weeks now and also those 'other' hatches under our house still need to be painted ..... I may go and do that or I may not

Any luck Lynn looking on the internet for houses you like the look of. Are you still keen on that gorgeous grey stone cottage you like a few months back?

Ooooooooh our brains hurt so far we have 7 we like the look of. Flint cottage being one of them.

Phew, although it keeps raining it is still warm here. I've cleaned my bathroom, done the dishes, got my suitcase down from the loft. It's one I got from Dad so unfortunately it stinks of smoke and staleness. I've steam cleaned it and I've left it outside to dry out. I'm hoping that will get rid of the stink.

Any other suggestions are welcome.

That should work; I would have wiped it out with neat bleach as I do everything

I'm wary of bleach cause my clothes still have to go in it. I have chucked some bicarbonate soda in there too. Wondering about scrubbing it with washing powder too.

It is pretty darned drastic, but the smell is awful.

Sunshine so been out back with the dogs, throwing a ball around and soaking in the sun and the view. I keep thinking it is Monday with work going on. Quiet now and he has done a grand job. One part was still too wet to take the tractor but the rest is good.

So lovely out there and my cutting garden is starting to show colour and a few pea pods forming. Gives hope.

Afternoon all - my transmogrification into a Hellenic Helena is almost complete - I've been for a 2hr granny nap! My brain tends to shut down when I've too many unfinished jobs. And I've too many of 'em right now. Made a pathetic start on putting the boxes away. But got sidetracked coz my mobile has locked down due to battery running out completely (a really irritating feature) and I can't find the scrap of paper that I wrote the long number on. Due to me wrecking the whole bluddy flat looking for my lease the other day. Duh! So no phone until I go into a Cyta shop unless I find it.

Bella joined me for my nap. She is outside now chomping on her chicken wing. First thing she's eaten today. That'll help with her diet. I'm eating a bag of choklit peanuts - that won't help with mine but I give up anyway - the WILL to lose weight and the DESIRE to look thinner is absent.

Jenny.g
My kids used to love waving to people from our boats! Here we wave to planes flying in low over Makenzy beach!

Britain being such a small island is one of the reasons for the huge variation in your weather.
Malka My bin's bigger than your bin so there lol! Wheelie bins here! And always emptied around 2 to 3am with the most tremendous crashing and hollering by the binmen who ride the back of the truck like they do in the old US movies! Frit the life out of me when I moved here - don't even hear them now. Bella's got used to them too as did my last dog.

Lynn
Need a bit more info about this flint cottage m'dear!
Are you going to become crofters?

Lore
Fresh air and sunshine are great natural deodorisers. I wouldn't be spraying it with anything that pongs - unless it's the non perfumed stuff like Neutrodol. They say cat litter absorbs smells you could fill it with that for a while lol!

Bella's Tail (or the lack thereof)
I'd never chop any bits off any breed of dog! Breeder (I use the term loosely) did that before I bought her. Just glad they didn't chop her ears off too. I don't think I could look at mutilated ears every day. She still makes a good job of what we call 'wagging her stump'. It's like a little comma above her bum.

Right I will have a little catch up on what's occurring here and then do battle with the JCC Smart Gateway for online bill paying - it's never bleedin' straightforward here.

Free holiday for anyone who can shift my derriere into gear and make me get on with these outstandings. Two free holidays for anyone who will come and bring my online work up to date.

Pat - goodness - does each apartment have their own bin? They must take up an awful lot of space outside!

When I had my apartment in town there were huge container bins in the slip roads, one between every two blocks of 20 apartments, so large enough for 40 apartments with four large lift-up lids [two each side of the ^ shaped top]. Clang clang when the truck would come along and hoik it up, and crash crash crash when it dumped down a clean, empty one. As my apartment was at the back [sea view and not road view as those in the front had] I did not hear them.

Mind you I left home in time to catch the first local bus at 5am Sunday to Friday, and frequently did not get home until gone 9pm [3pm on Fridays] so was usually dead to the world if they turned up at night!

As for offering free holidays, who in their right minds would want a holiday in this heat!

You are persistent (I'd have bought a new cheapie by now!)

I definitely wouldn't use bleach as you haven't said what it is made of but I am guessing not polycarbonate or other rigid material? And the smell of bleach can linger on - there's plenty of advice out there on how to get rid of that too!

Here's some Wiki advice on cleaning a musty case (they mention the cat litter here)

http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-Musty-S...rom-a-Suitcase

Malka - no not a wheelie bin each duh!
2 between ALL the apartments. Works a treat and no arguments here (like in the UK) involving people putting stuff in other people's bins when their own are full up!

The difference between a holiday here and a holiday there (yours) is I have a POOL on my doorstep! And an ocean just metres away!

I still don't understand why high summer is the most popular choice but as it is still mostly Brits who visit (with the Russians close behind them) school holidays play a big part. Not generally allowed these days to take your kids out of school in term time for holidays.

Of course all Cypriots take their holidays in August. That's when half the garages, pharmacies and a lot of Tavernas close down - and all construction work stops etc. Garages and pharmacies take it in turns - alternate ones closing for the first two weeks and then the second two weeks. There are so many of both you don't miss the half that close down! We are awash with garages and pharmacies.

Bit like it used to be in France (dunno if it still is) where the whole country takes holiday in the same month.

Not something that happens in the UK. But I think it is a lot to do with giving workers time off during the hottest weather.