What a cruddy day weatherwise - man we have had sun, snow, rain, sleet and more snow - it is still snowing - I got home just in time - YUCK.

Work is as usual - I have finally caught up with the RTS - am working on mail that was boxed on September 14 - so.... a light at the end of the tunnel. Now I just need to be careful not to work myself out of a job - thought I was going to - there was no mail for a couple of days - got me kind of worried - but the last two days have got 3 boxes both days - I can manage to get through 3 boxes (short) and usually one box of 'flats' - magazines, 8 x 11 sized envelopes, 5 x 7 sized envelopes - etc. There are now five boxes waiting to be done - one of them is 1/2 done - got that much of it done before I called it a day. My back is not happy with me today. I left for work at noon - instead of 1:10 - because I needed to get a few groceries - so I have been on my feet a lot longer than usual - and my back is letting me know it is less than thrilled with me. Does not help that I did not sleep very well last night - had trouble getting to sleep - unusual for me - I usually drop off quite quickly and then have trouble staying asleep - but last night was different. I guess the news Ayman gave me unsettled me more than I thought it had. While chatting with him yesterday he informed me that my downstairs neighbour - who is determined that I will get rid of the garden - has contacted a lawyer - and the lawyer contacted Ayman. This started over a year ago now. She has decided that the reason the paint is coming off her ceiling is because of the garden - now I have not seen where the paint is peeling - Ayman has - but typical Ayman he does not 'remember' where it is - last year her husband called Ayman and Ayman contacted a painter and made arrangements with the husband to pay for having the ceiling repainted - even went as far as purchasing the supplies needed. But wifey would have nothing to do with it - so Ayman returned the supplies. Now she has contacted a lawyer. Guess she and her next door neighbour do not get along - gee wonder why - and she has been trying to get the neighbour to complain as well - but there is nothing to complain about - she even went so far as to complain that she was getting dangerous worms in her flat from my garden - hmmm - yet I don't have any in my flat - guess they just slithered out the door, down the stairs and into her place - give me a break. Ayman is sure it is a tempest in a teapot - but man it galls me. I guess the paint in her bedroom - which is right below ours - is also peeling - and she is blaming the garden - DUH????? I have had second hand experience about how slowly the wheels of justice work in Egypt - so doubt that much will ever come of it - especially because the place is in my name - and I am likely going to be out of the country a lot - good luck finding me in the country and then having the time to get me to court before I take off again. It is most unfortunate that she is being so 'silly' - she has given Suzanne, (my sister in law) her husband Sadee and her eldest son Mahmoud grief over the garden on a regular basis - because of course she cannot talk to me about it because her English is likely about as good as my Arabic - so.......feel badly that my family has had to be dragged into this pettiness - but such is life.

Not much else to report - Marian is still on holidays - expect her back on Monday - likely pretty late - she is not very good at getting anywhere at a decent time - oh well - her life not mine.

Last Sunday a friend of Marians - whom I have met - Denise - called me - was surprised to get me at home - guess she had been calling - did not leave a message - and I certainly did not recognize the number so I did not call her back - she had misunderstood what my work hours were - she thought I had been avoiding her - but not true - I was just at work whenever she called. We drove out to Dunvegan gardens - bought a bit of fresh produce - I bought green and wax beans and swiss chard and she stocked up on beets to make pickled beets for her girls. We wandered around the greenhouse for a bit - then headed to her place - where she had laundry to do - so we chatted and then ended up going out for supper - her treat. We had a really good visit - she is a really interesting lady.

Other than that my life consists of work and home or home and work depending on your perspective. It is nice to have the pile of boxes down to a manageable number - wonder how long it will be before the powers that be decide that they are going to make a permanent part time position out of the job I have been doing - scuttle butt has it that I will have first dibs on the job when/if it comes through - hmmmm - decisions, decisions.