Terracotta Paint and "New Magnolia" ...

The repair and repainting of the outside of our house continues apace. The hoped-for deadline at the end of the week is apparently still on track as Becky S. and Jason arrive for a holiday on Saturday. Sunday sees the fourth anniversary of our arrival in Cyprus and, my goodness, doesn't time fly? It seems only yesterday that we moved into his house, whereas it is over three years ago.

We are all geared up for the arrival of Becky S. and Jason on Saturday and I think my previous posts on this blog will have alerted local followers that Argaka and Polis will definitely be the place to be for the next week.

The pound continues to fall and it is just about at the level that it was when we arrived in Cyprus. Everyone is feeling the pinch and thinking back to the halcyon days when the exchange rate reached the hallowed level of £1.00 >€1.42 a few months ago. As this is all outside of our control there is little point in worrying about it, although we do have a moan about it from time to time. The UK's decision to leave the EU reminds me of a scene in a comedy western years and years ago when the gunfighter drew both of his pistols and managed to shoot himself in both feet at the same time.

We have not seen many expats recently to hear what they have to say about this parlous state of affairs but it is something that people hoping to follow in our footsteps should bear in mind. Forget about the exchange rate as it was, is, or might be, and just work out your cost of living as if the pound was the same as the euro. If the exchange rate is better than that, you can celebrate with the rest of us. If it ever falls below parity, then we are all doomed.

The chasm that the UK is looking into is ghastly in the extreme, and if the economy does indeed crash ... well we all know who to blame. What is galling is the fact that it is self-inflicted. My own forecast about the whole mess is that the government will end up having to call a General Election in the next twelve months and the battleground will be whether to finally leave the EU or not. Of course if Article 50 is invoked, then the EU will have us by the gonads and negotiation will be more like a surrender. You read it here first.

Someone we were discussing life in Cyprus with did point that out that it is better to be poor in Cyprus than poor, wet and cold in the the UK. But our glass is always half-full and Monty Python's "Always look on the bright side of life" springs to mind, although we should remember that the people singing that were in the middle of being crucified ...