Month: April 2012

A really lovely day and Mal made the most of it by scrubbing a lot of the paths outside. I gave the kitchen a blitz. One lazy day and then masses to do the next day.

Rosie has been good and actually resting her leg and it looks as though there is some improvement and she is starting to put the leg down so we will leave it a couple  more days before taking her back to the vets. She isn’t back to normal as she isn’t eating very much at all. A rustle of Easter egg wrappings would have had her running indoors, not that we give her chocolate, she has dog choc drops. She’s just not interested.

Oh dear, Spurs lost against Norwich!

Do you need a new roof box for the car? This one is at an introductory price.

 

 

Thought for the Day – “You can’t have everything… where would you put it?” ~ Steven Wright

Another North Cyprus Holiday Bargain

Easter Sunday so we had a lazy day. We were going to go out for lunch but then decided we would rather stay at home. We had out first jug of Pimms of the year! We add frozen raspberries to it instead of strawberries and ice cubes, so much tastier.  Mal cooked so a very good day.

I am pleased to say the Easter Bunny is alive and well in Cardiff! When Torin and Rhys were small I always followed the German tradition of hiding eggs around the house and garden and they have continued it with their kids.

During the day we had all the grandchildren on Skype thanking us for their eggs so that was really nice.

 

 

Thought for the Day – “ Nobody can do for little children what grandparents do.  Grandparents sort of sprinkle stardust over the lives of little children.”  ~ Alex Haley

 

Happy Birthday to our son Rhys. I won’t say how old he is ‘cos that makes me feel very old! He had already run to the gym when we rang, time in the gym and then working. The problem when you run your own business! He did say he would finish lunchtime.

Then we had Tris and grand daughter Violet on the web cam. I don’t know what we would do without the web cam! Of course Grandad was as silly as ever. I think he will permanently have the name “Silly Grandad” as opposed to other Grandads!

Mal and I went to the Easter fete at Lambousa but I forgot to take my camera. I hope that they made a lot of money for charity. On the way back we bought Cyprus Today. I did notice that for the first time in a long, long while there was an Estate Agents advert in there. Mmmm, wonder why that is. There is a lot of speculation at the moment about the housing market.

A good bargain for today with Monarch airlines.

Well, the weather was very odd, hot but a couple of miniature showers and even a rumble of thunder.

A rather disappointing Spurs result in the afternoon.

In the evening we watched Casualty, I hasten to add not one of our favourite programmes but Tariq was supposed to be in it. Having watched the entire programme, he was given the wrong date and it is next Saturday!

 

 

Thought for the Day – “A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.” ~ Roald Dahl

In the morning we had a visit from our very own “hag” bearing Easter eggs! How can we call Margaretha a “hag”?!  Thank you Margaretha.

What a beautiful day and temperatures went up to 30 degrees. I went to Carpenters Easter Market. Sadly it was not as good as usual with very few stalls and NO hot cross buns! The line dancers were there and I met up with Sue and we went off to lunch at Kervan Terrace. It was lovely sitting down there with the views over the Med. In fact the photo at the top of my diary was taken from Kervan Terrace.

We had a really nice lunch, they have reasonable prices and the staff are very good. So many places now I ask for a Turkish coffee after my meal and they won’t make it. I asked here and was brought one, no problem.  We missed you Joan and both thinking of you in this difficult time. Suer and I only meet up once a month and so we always have a lot to talk about. Thanks Sue, really enjoyable as always.

Rosie is now behaving and resting most of the day but hopping on three legs when she has to move. It must be quite boring for her compared to her usual activity. I am hoping the leg will heal and she won’t have to have it strapped up on Tuesday.

Scarlet and Jack came on the web cam just before their bed time. Not a good idea as Grandad is so silly with them and gets them too excited! Good luck to Torin trying to get them to bed.

 

 

 

Thought for the Day – “How glorious a greeting the sun gives the mountains!” ~ John Muir

Well, I cracked it this morning, drive Rosie down our drive in the car! I did this and she had a sniff around and performed again, doggie bag and back up the drive in the car! I guess neighbours will think I have lost the plot but far better than me doing my back in carrying her!

Then we went to take the car into Ziggys.We thought that we would leave the car there but he started on it straight away. He banged the dent out and fitted the new light cover, then one side the lights wouldn’t work! To cut a long story short, he worked on it for about an hour. I also had no light on my dash board so he dismantled that, there was a wiring problem but then he asked me if I ever touched a wheel on the steering column. I said yes I could have done when cleaning the car. Yes, you guessed it, it controlled the lights on the dash and had been turned off. How long have I had the car and never knew that?! Doh! For any other Renault 9 drivers who didn’t know, now you do!

As Mal said with the new light covers it has possibly doubled the value of our car…..Ha ha!

I love that garage, as we were there it sort of turned into a coffee shop as more locals arrived just to have a coffee and a chat and take a look at the car!

Total cost of all the work? 150tl (about £53). Bargain!

A bit of shopping on the way back, not much shopping but a lot of chat to people we bumped into!  Driving along the main road in Alsancak we noticed a new shop. Well, that will save a trip into Girne and we looked at the stock…impressive!

Now I am able to tell you the office we went to yesterday. I am sure many ex pats will find this extremely helpful. See the picture! Pauline and Pembe have worked very hard to get this up and running. Why not pop in and have a chat?

More information about Citizens Advice Cyprus

 

 

Thought for the Day – “ The true secret of giving advice is, after you have honestly given it, to be perfectly indifferent whether it is taken or not, and never persist in trying to set people right.”  ~Hannah Whitall Smith

Another bargain holiday to North Cyprus, the Malpas Hotel this time!

Rosie is now on three legs! Her foot is sprained, there was something lost in translation at the vets. To be honest Mal was listening and I wasn’t as I was holding Rosie down. That is why we have to go back and have her front leg strapped if it doesn’t improve in a week.

We were going out so I tried to get Rosie to ‘do her business’ in the garden. She is so used to going for a walk first thing she just hopped round the garden behind me and did nothing! Nothing else for it, we managed down the drive, a sniff or two and she performed, doggie bag with me, so we attempted to go back up the drive. I eneded up carrying her back up as she couldn’t make it. I’ll have to think of a better idea in the future!

Mal and I left and took the car to Ziggy’s garage so he could fix it after my “crash”. When I told him what had happened and how the Police were he was really cross and said I should have phoned him. I wish I had! Anyway, he ordered the parts and said the bodywork would have to be bashed out before the light covers would fit. He said he would ring when the parts arrived which he did and we agreed to take the car in tomorrow.

We then drove on towards Bellapais and visited some friends in their new office and Mal did a bit of ‘computer tweeking’ and then off to Multimax to pay the bill.

We didn’t really mind how long we were out as Rosie is supposed to ‘rest’ for a week and we know she just sleeps when we are out. When the doors are open she tries to dash around the terrace seeing who is going by. In the evening we closed the doors to make sure she stayed still. She is not a good patient because she is so used to being active. She still isn’t eating much in spite of doubling her dose of Rymadil.

In the evening we watched another episode of “One Night”.

Our jasmine by the pool room door has the most gorgeous perfume. It always reminds me of Rhys because when I grew a lot on the UK, I loved the perfume and he said it smelt like ‘Cat’s pee’!!

 

 

Thought for The Day – “Plants that wake when others sleep. Timid jasmine buds that keep their fragrance to themselves all day, but when the sunlight dies away let the delicious secret out to every breeze that roams about.” ~ Thomas Moore

Anyone thinking of sprucing up the house over the forthcoming Easter holiday cheap DIY.

Rosie has not been well for the past few days. The first clue was her not eating as she usually does. Normally we put her food down and it is gone. Then she wasn’t so keen on going for her walks, these are the highlight of her day. Yesterday she started limping with her front paw, not the problem one at the back. When we went to bed she just sat my side of the bed with her paw held up and just looking at me.

When we woke this morning she was just huddled in a ball shaking. We called the vet as she just wasn’t interested in her walk, food, anything. She (Prof Dr Huriye Horoz Kaya) said to take her straight down. She told us her front paw was very hot and also there was a problem with the tendon which was very stiff, some sort of infection. I have to say Rosie was very good, she has been known not to be as well behaved with other vets!

The Prof told us the shaking and not eating was down to the pain. She gave Rosie an injection which I have to say Rosie didn’t even feel. We now have to up the dose of her Rymadil for a week. If it is no better we have to take her back in a week. She also told us that we can’t take her for walks during this time and she must rest. That’s fine for now but I can’t imagine she will be resting if she starts feeling better as in spite of her age (nearly eight), she is a very active dog. We have now limited her access to the gardens/terrace. The vet was excellent and gave her a thorough examination and then the injection…total cost….20tl!  Her clinic (Kibris Veteriner Klinigi) is on the main road, Yeşiltepe. Her phone numbers 0392 821 1143 and 0533 839 9777.

It seems the injection worked very quickly as not long after we arrived home, Rosie was looking in her food bowl!

 

 

 

Thought for the Day – “I think dogs are the most amazing creatures; they give unconditional love. For me they are the role model for being alive.” ~ Gilda Radner