And 1 more makes 8

I’ve always preferred even numbers to odd ones although not where biscuits are concerned for some strange reason. It always has to be 3 biscuits, 2 aren’t enough and 4 marks me out as a greedy pig, but I digress. The title refers to the latest addition to the cat clan, yes another one! You know I can’t ignore an animal in need of a home but Sean has to take some responsibility for this latest one. After picking junior up from school last week we made a trip to the Alkistis Hotel because Sean had an appointment there and only having the one car, junior and I couldn’t get home. Whilst playing with lego we saw a little tabby cat running around who, we were informed, was looking for a home. Well, I was only saying to Sean the other day that I’ve had a tabby cat even since I was a child and it seemed strange having lots of other cats and no tabby. So we brought little Al home and he really is very sweet, in fact he’s asleep on my knee at the moment. He’s very well behaved unlike the whirling dervish that is the fluffy Kitkat. So here’s a picture of the newbie.

One thing I didn’t mention to Sean is that I’ve always had a female tabby, so if one should happen to cross my path……………..
Sean is in England at the moment primarily to do some work but also to do some shopping! He’s just phoned me and told me about his trip to Tesco and what he’s bringing back and also how cheap it all was. He now has a trip to Asda, Toys R Us and On the Eighth Day healthfood shop in Manchester. Food shopping and shopping in general is expensive on Skopelos and obviously the choice is not as wide as the choice we had available to us whilst living in England. I have to say I do miss that – if only Tesco would deliver to Skopelos!
Junior is now coming to the end of her second week at school and there are quite a few differences between being schooled here and in the UK. Primarily the length of time she is there during the day. School starts at 8.15am and finishes at 12.25pm. Not what you’d call a particularly long and taxing day although she does have homework every day – much to her disgust. Also there is no uniform, (much to my disgust) as I think children look so much better dressed in the same things and of course it saves me having a long conversation with junior in the early morning to try and agree what she is going to wear for the day. Her chief criteria is that it must be ‘pretty’, my main criteria is that it must be clean! Another difference is the long list of things to buy you are presented with the minute school starts, including exercise books, paper, marker pens, play dough etc etc. The most startling difference between here and an English school is that here the teachers are not averse to giving the children a quick smack if they’re misbehaving. Can you imagine that in the UK? When I was at primary school it was the norm for naughty children to get a smack on the back of the legs or on the hand and it seems it is still the case on Skopelos. I can’t say I really have a problem with it but maybe that’s because junior is never at the receiving end.
It’s junior’s birthday next Thursday, my little girl will be 6 – quite the grown up, and she’ll be having her party on the Saturday so I’ve got lots of baking to do next week Before that, tomorrow in fact, it’s my wedding anniversary, but as Sean will be travelling back from the UK, it looks like I’ll be celebrating it with junior – if ‘celebrate’ is the right word