New neighbours.

When David and I got married we lived in what had been his house. It was in a wonderful position and was in easy walking distance of the church. After a year we realised we would have to move. The lovely house with the spectacular views of two castles  had 53 steps up to its front door which was fine most days but not if you'd done a big shop or come back from holiday. We looked around and found an old farmhouse out of the village and moved in fairly quickly. No steps, a flat area to park in and room for visitors cars as well. Perfect. Our neighbours were also friends so we were all very happy until last year when the man next door died.
His widow moved out and a  young couple  we already knew moved in. We started off badly because during their first week they dug up every living thing in their very large garden and had a bonfire which took over a week to die down.
Since then things have been fine and this has been helped by the boy's opinion that I am some sort of a genius!  This unlikely view came about when he took us round the boat he works on as chief engineer. It is a very big boat indeed and was moored in Palma where we were on holiday so we spent a pleasant day admiring how the other half lives.
As we were walking around this boat I kept seeing pictures hanging , some behind glass, all firmly anchored.
"If those were real" I said, "They would be worth a fortune."
 He coughed..."Jean they are real"
I looked at them all again. Klimsk was heavily represented by a series of 5 pictures no less! There was a Cezanne, a Gaugain, and several other lesser Impressionists.   It was amazing to realise the sort of wealth needed to furnish the boat with the silk rugs, the sculpture, the opulent furniture and fixtures.
I was not showing off at the time, simply amazed that these things should be on a boat, even one as big as this one.  So my next door neighbour now truly believes that I am an expert in fine arts!
 We are all getting on very well and I am due to marry them in 2013.
They have a delightful pair of cats and we are dreading the day our big bruiser meets theirs head on. They gave him a clue this morning though. The young man was out painting things white. It looked very smart and I applauded it and  then we saw the trail. Their very white cat had trodden in the very white paint, an incriminating trail leads right round our house!  It's actually very pretty.  But very easy to follow.