Sad times at the pound ...

As regular readers of my blog will know, we have been helping feed and look after the abandoned dogs at the Polis pound. Sadly there was an outbreak of the nasty "parvovirus " which killed a number of the puppies. When I went up there yesterday there was only one adult dog left, and it was on with boots and disposable gloves to feed him and give him what comfort I could. It was heartbreaking to leave him there, and he is obviously lonely and confused. Ruby and the other helpers  must be as distraught as we are, and there is almost nothing one can do. But I trust all dog owners in this area have made sure that their dog are vaccinated against this virulent virus.

August wends its way towards the end of the month, and my goodness this has been a hot summer. July and August can be really difficult to endure comfortably and we see an increasing number of our wealthier friends heading back to the UK to escape the worst of the heat. But September is just around the corner when the humidity drops, the temperature is just gorgeous and one can switch off the air conditioning and sleep,with the windows open. Bliss.

Daisy continues to flourish and is slowly - very slowly - being accepted or tolerated by our two cats. They are keen to establish that they are the senior residents here and that Daisy must accept that. Seeing the way she is with cats suggests that she may not have had much experience of them. She trots around, wagging her tail and can't quite understand why they spit at her. She just wants to be friends with everyone and everything. It can be a dog's life sometimes. But what a narrow escape from the parvovirus. If we had not volunteered and brought her home with us ...

It is sad to see the increasing number of stray dogs and cats on the island. A mass neutering programme, and probably (and sadly) a selective cull would be needed to restore the balance - and an intense educational programme so that animals were considered and treated as pets and not pests. I can't see this happening anytime soon, and so we will just continue to help where we can. When you talk about this, you can just hear the quiet voices questioning "But what about the people who are starving now?" and there isn't really an answer to that either.

Pensions ... what a farce ...

We are sorting out my financial affairs at the moment, with Ann's expertise. I can "claim" my state retirement pension early next year and we wanted to make sure that (along with my teacher's pension) I minimise the tax I pay in Cyprus, and to make doubly sure that I don't pay any tax in the UK.  All is fairly straightforward until you try to access the new Teachers' Pension website ... what a pile of  sh**e it is. I designed databases for a long time and I have never seen anything as cumbersome and useless as this website.

They (and my pension contributions pay their wages) will no longer respond to direct emails and - when you can actually access the bloody website - claim to respond within ten working days. Well that's a couple of weeks in anybody's money BUT they state you can actually ring us ... great.

And then, when we actually managed to log on, I wanted them to pay my teacher's pension direct to our bank in Cyprus. Here's an online form but it insists in telling me that my bank account number (confirmed with my bank here) is too long. Email ... we'll respond within ten days.

Now I want my state pension to be paid directly into our bank here (as Ann organised for her pension) next year and I cannot wait for that farce to begin. It's my money for heaven's sake.

Apart from all that rubbish, our new family member - Daisy the dog - has proved to be a gentle and charismatic addition to our household, and our cats are slowly coming to terms with the new arrival. Jaz sniffs her at the gate when we return from our morning and evening walks, but Honey just stares at her inside the house. But she is now prepared to snooze a few feet away. Quo vadis?