Two weeks ago today I was sitting in the living room having my first cuppa of the day when an object caught my attention flashing past the french window. A few seconds later a beautiful looking pointer (Hunting dog) sat there gawping at me through the window. As I got up it shot off and by the time I wandered outside it was nowhere to be seen. I went back inside and carried on with my usual routine. I then heard voices in the next doors garden and decided to investigate. It was the maintenance man and I asked him if his dog was with him. He told me no and when I described the dog he informed me it had been hanging around the area for a couple of days and had obviously been abandoned. Sadly it is a daily occurrence over here and the streets are littered with stray cats and dogs. A little while later in the afternoon, there it was again, prancing around in my garden. As it was quite a warm day I decided to put out some water out for it on the veranda. I retreated to the living room and soon heard the slurping of water so headed off to see the same dog getting it's fill. As soon as it caught sight of me it disappeared into the undergrowth and I didn't see it again that day.
The following morning it was a repeat performance of the previous day but this time it kept appearing every few minutes outside my window. I again put some water out for it and it stayed in my garden for the rest of the day. It was obvious that he was too frightened to approach me in case it got a kick in the nuts (Oh yes I fotgot to ad it was a dog, not a bitch) I had to go out that evening and when I got back he was nowhere to be seen. Earlier on in the day I phoned 118 Vicki 118 to seek her advice (Who else should one call when needing information or to seek advice?) 'Do you want the dog.' She asked. I had promised myself to refrain from getting pets and just enjoy other peoples, so as not to tie me down, as I see time and again ex-pats posting on a local forum that they are having to leave and would someone take on their pets. I'm afraid there was something about this animal that was hard to resist! Yeah, I know, we've heard it all before but 'let me tell you a story,' as a famous entertainer used many years ago as his catch-phrase. ( Max Bygraves, if my long term memory serves me right?)
Last year, my friends who live on the Greek side of Cyprus inherited a stray Pointer, that like mine, turned up at their door step. When I first set eyes on it, I immeadiately said, 'I want one; can I take it home with me?' To which I recieved a resounding 'NO YOU BLOODY CAN'T.' Well, a few months later their beautiful hunting dog was stolen! And no, It wasn't me!
Well here he is, my new partner in crime who I've named Boysie. The other dog you see in some of the pictures belongs to a couple who have become dear friends since I moved to Cyprus and her name is Bookie, who I'm looking after for a while while they back in the UK. The arrangement we have is I look after their dog and they mine while we are away. A perfect setup, well almost unless of course we are both away at the same time but with a bit of planning it should work out fine.
Boysie and Bookie enjoying the winter sunshine, in between the rain, hailstones, thunder, lightening, high winds and stormy conditions we've been having for the last six weeks or so! (One so easily looses track of time over here) That description perfectly describes the weather back in the UK. Oh, but that would be the summer in the UK of course!
Now, is that one handsome fella or what?
Bookie getting a rest while the boystrous boysie is up to no good, like dragging my waistcoat off into the bushes with my van keys, wallet and mobile phone! Or hiding my trainers in the garden! God bless his little cotton socks. I can't help but forgive him as he is the sweetest, gentlest and most highly intelligent dog I've had the pleasure to come across in a very long time. In the two weeks he's been with me he already answers to his name and understands nearly every English word I utter.
Bookie and Boysie playing in the builders cement sand used as underlay for my new block paved parking area.
This is Lui. He is ugly as sin but a fabulous playful dog. He belongs to 118 Vicki 118 of the Black Olive fame
The block paving in all it's 'glory. Room enough for my transit, two cars and my bike as well. The stoney bit on the bottom right will be paved by me matching the yellow. Where the dogs are will be tidied up and will have white gravel over it. The bit to the top and right, although it's covered in rough grass at present, believe it or not is a rookery
Front entrance view
That is the last major outlay for the time being as I'm now scraping the barrel. The next stage is to stain all the outside of the doors and windows before it gets too hot to work outside. Then starting with the living room, dinnning area and the kitchen will be painted white. The kitchen cabinets that are looking very tired in an off white colour will be painted (By me of course) a matching brown to go with the rest of the features.
That's all for now folks.
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