Monday, 3rd July and the start of another hot week. Our Builder's foreman arrived first thing with a couple of his men to attack an unsatisfactory patch of plastering on the wall of the bungalow. Boy did they attack it! Plaster was being ripped off with great force, particularly after Jeff offered one of the guys the use of his bolster chisel and hammer! Remember I said I had completed cleaning the patio last week - ah well, it is all for the good of the house in the long run.

Tuesday the guys returned to re-plaster the wall and we hope that the painting will be done before not too long as it is not a pretty sight at the moment.

We are making good progress in getting the place ship-shape. Not only has the wall been started, but gates were fitted last week, the pool filled, some electrical work done and the weeds disappeared. Jeff and I have been hanging pictures and doing more unpacking on a daily basis and No 7 Bozkurt Sokak is looking more and more like home.




Tuesday night we met our friends at The Cabin again. This was to provide some support for Roger, who makes a few extra pennies by singing and playing his electric keyboard at one or two venues. He is jolly good too, playing nice easy to listen to music and a lot of old standards.

We had been aware of some interesting cloud formations that had been collecting on top of the mountains each afternoon over the last couple of days. It looked as though it might rain, but as we spent most of our time watching the clouds from the comfort of our pool (28º!) we thought it highly unlikely.


On Wednesday afternoon, things became a little more dramatic. It seriously did look as though it might rain, and we could hear thunder rumbling up in the mountains. So fascinating did it become that we were taking pictures of the storm clouds (do you think we have been away from UK too long already?).

Then, despite the sun still shining on us, huge drops of rain began to fall. Daffy duck didn't know what to do! It was a most dramatic storm, one lightening strike knocking out our electricity! There were torrents of water crashing down on us but it didn't last too long. Apparently this is only the 13th time in 25 years that it has rained in July in this part of Cyprus. It was particularly severe in Nicosia, with trees being brought down and other calamities.