I asked M how to take a pic on this machine - now I know! Today we took advantage of the sun and headed off to the woods - Clutton woods where we used to live. Well not IN the woods but just up the road. In fact they were the best part of living round there and hopefully no one from the village will be reading this! So just in case - I love you all..mwah!!
How about that! I "borrowed" this from a news site as an example of perseverance paying off.....New York photographer Jay Fine had spent the night in Manhattan hoping to get the perfect picture. He spent nearly two hours in the storm poised with his camera and took more than 80 shots. He said he'd been waiting 40 years to get the picture.
Found out that the house up the road which is smaller than ours from the outside but stretched and extended every which way from the back, is worth £100,000 more than ours!! Let's sell up said M hopefully! Only if we can go and live on a Greek island I replied. Subject closed. Meanwhile we are planning to go to Symi twice next year - two weeks in April and four weeks (well I'll be there but M can only do two) in June. Have found an apartment to rent with views, aircon and heating (for April as it can get nippy in the evenings). Now just have to work out how to get there. There's bound to be a flight from Gatwick to Rhodes but will there be a ferry? Greek ferry companies are a law unto themselves so timetables can't be relied on but have found out that the mayor of Symi is on the board of ANES (a Greek ferry company operating the Aegean) so hopefully he'll be using his influence to keep the island's economy going!
It's 07.05 and still dark. But I've been up since 6! I woke rather dramatically to sound of dog noises - loud whimpering and scratching to get out of the catflap (she knows this will get our attention). It was already too late. Her latest obsession with eating conkers had worked its way through. I tiptoed through the contents of her nether region to get to backdoor, let her out, grab bucket and mop, find bleach, newspapers and kitchen roll, fall to my knees and start clearing the whole lot up. Did I mention that I had failed to find any clothing before starting this exercise? 10 minutes later, sorted and I'm frozen. 
Here are just two reasons why I want to go back to Symi and stay as long as possible. Architecturally it's the most beautiful Greek island I've seen so it's a joy just to look at. I must confess that I've not got further than the beaches via taxi-boats so not familiar with the interior but I believe keen walkers plod round the hills in the cooler months to take in the flora and views. If you want to see more pics go to Symidream.com (link on this page). So the latest plan is to stay for a few weeks next summer instead of travelling round Europe in the heat. Thought M would object but reckon all the talk about trains, boats etc. etc. has exhausted him so lying on a beach for a month sounds about right! Symi also happens to be the most expensive island to stay on so watch this space for what happens next!
