Let’s kick off the last week of February with a photo of the harbour Neil took on Friday, which, apart from the lack of boats and people, could have been a summer view.
Right, that’s done, now back to work. The house has been a hive of industry since we last spoke. I have finally finished the draft of my next book, ‘Follow the Van,’ and now have two weeks in which to perfect it before it goes to be proofread. While I’ve been doing that, Neil and Sam have been painting the courtyard. This enterprise started when we had the outer walls of the bathroom redone because the paint was falling off everywhere. That being pristine white then showed up the rest of the walls as being gone-off white interspersed with aged woodwork, so we began repainting the shutters and windows. Now, the boys are finishing off the walls, and before long, we will have a newly painted and restored courtyard.
That’s quite an enterprise considering we don’t know if we will be living here in two months or two years. The owner of the house passed away, and we have to wait and see to whom the property belongs, or will belong when the will is dealt with, if there is a will. Then, we will have to wait and see if the new owners want to rent it or want it back, and if they want to rent it, if it will be at the same price, because we certainly can’t afford to pay any more. They may decide to turn it into a holiday rental, in which case they will have to fork out a lot of money to bring it up to scratch, or they may want it for themselves. Obviously, we’re more than happy here and would like to stay, but that decision isn’t up to us, and we won’t know any more until… Well, who can say? We have a lovely man in Rhodes who has been our liaison, and he will keep us informed as and when there is news.
Meanwhile, other activities around the house… Harry finished another model and we’ve ordered a third, a motorbike this time, while I am still putting the rigging on the effing Cutty Sark. We visited a model shop in Athens when we were there, and the two guys who run it were funny, charming and very knowledgeable. So, it made sense to order our new models from them via their website. Also, something went wrong with the windscreen of the last one, so I sent them an email asking where I might find a replacement. They rang me the next day to get the serial number from the box, and told me they would order one. Then, when I ordered the motorbike and popped in some new paints, they rang again to say they didn’t have the make of ‘rubber black’ we needed, but had the same colour, same price (€2.50), but different make, and was that okay? Talk about excellent service. Last time we ordered a kit it arrived in five days, so hopefully, H can start his new kit on Thursday.
That’s enough of a ramble for a Monday morning. I’m off to give my draft novel its final check before proofing.
