Tuesday 10th March 2026

Those of you with long memories might remember that the day before we left for Cyprus, work began on replacing our bathroom.

When we left on the last day on February, all that was left was the walls, window, floor joists and flat roof.

New flooring was laid, and vinyl on top of that. A new shower, sink and toilet, walls painted and a set of blinds fitted.

Walls treated with mould killer, and a new fan installed to reduce condensation.

When we came back Monday evening all was one except the vinyl.

The flooring guy came in the afternoon and was done in an hour.

Easy peasy, lemon squeasy.

Before then, we had tried to lay in, but were up at quarter to six, so while Jools did more washing, I went to Tesco for supplies, as we were out of beer (!).

Tesco is at least empty at seven in the morning, but it is quite different from Cyprus. But with added Marmite.

Back home to put stuff away, have breakfast, then Jools went to collect the cats, where they had been no trouble. Including Scully.

Once back home, they all claimed they hadn't been fed at all. Not just that day, but since we left. Scully doubly so. So we checked her bloods, and that was OK, so we did feed them some, then tried to ignore them the rest of the day.

Just eight hours until dinner time for them, and how many times can four cats meow in that time?

Lots is the answer.

So many it drives Jools mad, so she retreats upstairs, and I play meow/no with Scully.

She doesn't get bored.

When we give the other three kibbles, we have to close the kitchen door to keep Scully away, as she can't eat those. This triggers fears of being put in a basket again, so we have four spooked cats.

However, once we feed them and test and jab Scully, the cats calm down, and go to sleep and something close to normality returned to Chez Jelltex.

One of the most looked forward to things upon our return is to see what had grown in the garden and would be flowering.

No new flowers in bloom, and the Cowslips hadn't put up spikes.

It was a sunny day, but cool. We should have gone out, but didn't.

Dinner was our old favourite of chorizo hash, eaten at four, when it was still daylight. In fact it was daylight until well after six.

For the evening there was the return of football. Ipswich on the radio whilst listening to the car crash that is Tottenham Hotspur, who were 3-0 down after 16 minutes in Spain.