Rising Damp (for the Brits of a certain age!)

They didn't last so long this year, but I still loved them.

A day spent getting ready for our paying house guest who arrives tomorrow for two months. The spare room's all spruced up; the patio garden was given TLC this afternoon, new plants bought earlier than usual for the front balcony, space cleared in the fridge, food cupboard and wardrobe. In fact, the place is looking so good we might just stay ourselves, instead of heading off next week! Just to be clear, she's a trusted friend of our best Spanish friend, otherwise we wouldn't be leaving her alone in our home. And Bb will be popping back and forward from Cairo as usual so can make sure everything's ok. He's already practisng his Leonard Rossiter impersonations and wanders around declaiming, 'Oh, Miss Jones!’. We weren't looking for a lodger, but she needed a place for two months to fit in with her work in the National Theatre here and it fitted in with our plans. Fingers crossed! We have a week together when we can show her how everything works and help her settle in.