When we were arriving home in the taxi from the airport we were struck with the view of the new apartment block behind our house. The scaffolding has gone and there appears to be vegetation on a couple of balconies. We thought it meant that the building was finished. When we walked out later to buy a takeaway meal we were surprised to see there was still scaffolding on the road side of the building and it was very noisy today with builders at work. So, sadly, it is finished yet. The wall, which looked beige when we left appears to have gone grey, but we hope it’s just an it’s an optical illusion next to the cream of the other fence.

Today we woke at about 4.00 am and had our first cups of tea at 5.00. We’ve done just a little sorting out today, plus some essential food shopping. This includes freshly roasted coffee beans, of course. Although the car is operational we thought it best to walk to the shops and that meant we could take in some work done on our local park. It gets our approval as the new paths, toilets and picnic tables enhance it, without cutting down any of the beautiful old trees.

We couldn’t resist sleeping this afternoon. The weather is sunny and cool today, after a night that was cool and dry, just great for sleeping.