29th May 2020

Here are a few photos of the bungalow we moved in to. Ended up being my favourite place I’ve lived in my life!

These are the photos I took when we first went to look round.

I’ve got more photos so I will post more in my next blog.

Rob

27th May 2020

The first villa in Protaras was definitely not the nicest we lived in in Cyprus but it had everything we needed and we were happy to finally be living in Protaras. The beach was closer and one of our favourite restaurants, Mojito was 5 minutes walk away. We were closer to Paralimni so the supermarkets were closer too.

It was in more of a tourist area so in the tourist season it was a lot busier and noisier than we were used to but not really bad. That did mean there was a lot more shops and restaurants open which as a plus point.

The money I had from selling the business ran out so we had to budget a bit more as we only had Hales wages coming in but we still had enough to manage ok. We had paid of all of debts we had taken over with us from the UK so luckily we didn’t need to send any more back to the UK which was nice. We were totally debt free for the first time in a lot of years which definitely lifted a lot of weight off our shoulders!

I was starting to get a bit bored so decided to look for a part time job, a bit difficult in a tourist area! I was told by somebody I knew that his girlfriend was setting up a shop doing car rentals, bus trips and boat trips and was looking for a part time helper. It was based in the shop not far from where we were living and even though I had no experience at all she agreed to give me a trial.

I took to the job quite quickly. I think with having had a business where I had to meet customers and tourists gave me a good friendly approachable manner. Wages were rubbish and I was only working a couple of nights each week, but at least I was doing something and I actually enjoyed the job.

During 2012 the guy who bought my pool cleaning business off me told me he was starting up a shop selling pool chemicals and accessories and offered me a part time job. I think it was because of the experience I had with pools so I would be able to help any customers who came in with problems.

Towards the end of 2012 we found out that the villa owner was not extending our rental period, so once again we had to look for a new place to rent! At first we found a not too bad villa back in Ayia Thekla where we had lived till we moved to Protaras, I wasn’t very keen as I had enjoyed living in Protaras and didn’t want to go back to Thekla. I kept scouring rental websites and eventually found a really nice 2 bed bungalow on the outskirts of Protaras, so me and Hales went to look round it and straight away agreed to rent it.

I think that will do for today, I will post photos etc of the bungalow in the next blog.

Rob

26th May 2020

Thought I would just post a few more photos of the latest villa and the local area as we were fairly close to the walkway and the beach.

A few photos of Charlie before he actually came to live with us and adopted us as his family!

24th May 2020

That was a dream home to live in, we stayed there for 2 years. My business was still going well but my MS was deteriorating and I was starting to struggle more, I know now it was changing to secondary progressive MS.

I decidecided to take on a friend to train up to help me, I managed to train her quite quickly and fairly well. By the time I had trained her up I decided to take a step back as I was struggling more and let her do the pools on her own! That was very hard for me to do as I really enjoyed doing the pools and meeting my customers, but I knew I was no longer happy with the level of my work and to keep the business going I needed to realise I could no longer do the job to the high level I expected.

At first all was good but I soon realised that the business did not earn enough to pay me, a member of staff and all the running expenses! If I had been able to carry on myself I would have picked up more work quite easily to cover the extra expenses but I was deteriorating too much!

I had a friend who was also a pool cleaner and I knew he was hoping to expand his business, so I had a good chat with him and agreed to sell my business to him! He didn’t have the money to pay me outright for the business so we came to an arrangement for him to pay me monthly.

That was quite a hard time for me as I had to admit to myself that my MS had significantly worsened and my life had to change dramatically! We realised we could no longer afford to rent that fantastic villa so in 2011 we started looking for a cheaper place to rent. We managed to find a cheaper place and even better it was in Protaras which was an area that we really liked and had fancied living in since we moved to Cyprus.

So at the end of 2011 we once again upped sticks and movèd houses. I was still getting paid monthly for the business, so to start with things did not seem too bad money wise.

That will do for now I will try to get back to the story soon.

Rob

21st May 2020

2009 was a really difficult year, losing Jasper and then Garfield. They were our kids, my boys. We had had them since they were a couple of months old, from a rescue centre. There had been a mother cat and 6 kittens, they were the only 2 who survived. We had already chosen a cat (Felix) from the centre and I had seen the 2 brothers when I went to pick him up. They were so cute and had had such a sad start to life I just couldn’t resist them! So Hales and me discussed it and even though we hadn’t wanted or planned on more cats we took them!

Back to Cyprus 2009. I think the only way i got through losing the boys was that I was still working hard, Hales support and having Cookie as well. I knew Hales was not happy where we were so I had started cautiously looking around to see what other rental properties were about. I was out working one day doing my pools and I was at a pool and the customer was there on holiday. We obviously got talking and he asked me if I knew any good property management companies as he was thinking of renting his villa out for a few years as he knew he wouldn’t be able to visit it much with having other commitments.

I had obviously been cleaning his pool for a couple of years as it was one of the pools I had bought with the business, so I was quite friendly with him and his family. It was one of my favourite pools and his villa was one that I classed as a dream villa. Basically something I would have only dreamed about having to live in and very likely way way out of my price range to rent!

We got talking and I mentioned to him that we were looking for a new place to rent, and that I was pretty confident that Hales would love the place. So he asked me how much I was hoping to pay monthly to rent his place, and to my absolute surprise he said he would be happy with the amount I had said! So we both agreed to discuss it with our wives. I’m fairly sure that when Hales saw the place, even before she had lookedvround it due had said yes straight away! It was the sort of place I would have never dreamed of living in my life! So we sat down with the owners, agreed on the rental arrangements and on a date for us to move in!

Just a few photos so you can see why I fell in love with the place! That will do for today I think!

Rob

19th May 2020

I thought I might write a little bit about where I am with my MS at the moment in today’s blog.

November this year will be 25 years since my first symptom (Optical Neuritus) which started this long bumpy ride I am on! It is quite hard to remember how long it has been, definitely with lots of ups and downs! But I’m still here and still fighting as hard as I can every single day!

Obviously I have good days and bad days, but I work very hard to keep a smile on my face every day. I don’t think it works on Hales though, after all these years together I’m fairly sure she knows exactly how I am really feeling despite the smile!

My main symptoms at the moment. Achy weak legs, balance problems, bladder problems, loss of feeling and strength in my arms, double vision with some trouble focussing. My MS moved to secondary progressive about 8 or 9 years ago which basically means my symptoms are just gradually worsening over time. It is what it is though and I don’t really think about it much.

With this lockdown I am waiting for things to calm down as I am waiting for a couple of appointments to try to improve a couple of my symptoms. Firstly with the eye department to try to improve the problems with my double vision. Also with the urology department for BOTOX injections into my bladder.

The BOTOX injections should help with the problems I have. Urgency, Frequency and Hesitancy. It will mean I have to self catheterise when I need to go but I have started doing þhat already and it has had a big change already. I catheter just before I go to bed and I can now sleep right through without needing to go to the loo! This is something I have not been able to do for a lot of years, having to go at least once or twice during the night!

So already a massive improvement and hopefully the BOTOX will improve things even more!

Well I think that will do for today, I could easily write more but will safe it for another day!

Rob

18th May 2020

I have quite often sat and had a read through my old blogs and said to myself that I really should get back to doing a regular blog again! For some reason I struggle to get started again, even though I do enjoy reading the old blogs and remembering how much I enjoyed doing them.

So I’ve decided to try and start again and see how it goes. I’m not going to say I will get back to doing this regular or if it’s going to be now and again when my brain kicks into gear!

I think it would be a good idea if I open up the content I write about to people who read this. So basically if there is anytime in my life you want me to talk about, or anything in particular you want to ask me about I am totally open to that. I am not shy and I am willing to talk about absolutely anything to do with me. Just leave me a comment and I will try to answer any questions.

We are still in lockdown and I am particularly trying hard to stay home and safe as much as possible, popping to the local shop for stuff like fresh bread and milk only. We have managed to get home deliveries when we have needed a good amount of shopping and just topping up with a few small bits as needed. We have found a good place that delivers fresh fruit and veg so that helps.

Anyway I’ll leave this for now and post this for people to read. Don’t forget to leave me a comment if there is something you want me to talk about, or whether you like me to just waffle on and possibly get back to chronicling my life so far.

Rob