Sunday 11 September 2011

Discussing Old Times over a Barbeque...

The first of the guests pitching up for Dad's 80th birthday celebrations are my god-mother Janet and her partner Alan (who also happens to be the cousin of the groom's father from the wedding on Tuesday!!!!! - small old-small old world - spooky).

They arrived on Wednesday and are staying at the Crown Resort in Coral Bay.  John and I went down to Paphos early so that we could go shopping with Mum to look for food for Dad's open house next Saturday and then went across to Coral Bay to pick up Janet and Alan so that they could come back to Emba to enjoy a barbeque with Mum and Dad.  They were absolutely gobsmacked to learn that John and I had been involved with the wedding of one of their relatives!

Both Janet and Alan are looking well and even though some time has passed since Mum and Dad saw them last this just seems to melt away in seconds.  Mum and Janet have been friends forever and dont they both look glam for ladies in their 70's?

We were able to show them the photographs from the wedding on Tuesday and also the photographs that I had taken of Ellie and Andy's wedding so that they were fully up to speed with all our news!


John and Dad did what they do best and manned the barbeque.  Good food, good drink and good company.

We sat down with diaries to plan when we would be seing them and Alan was insistent that he took us all for a meal before things got too hectic.  It transpired that the only suitable time would be the following day!

I dropped Janet and Alan back at their hotel and then loaded up the car to come back to Droushia - we were fully laden as we had picked up the replacement toilet, the bathroom door which has now been glazed and the kitchen cupboard door that had had its warp corrected - along with food etc etc.  I  had to drive all the way home with the tailgate of the car open as the bathroom door had to hang out slightly!

Yesterday was a DIY day as we are trying to finish a few jobs before our visitors arrive next Sunday.   Unfortunately it was one of those one step forward and two steps back kind of day as John wanted to swap the basin in the bathroom but found that the original one is well and truly cemented to the wall and might make a mess getting it off.  We decided to leave that and swap out the toilet for the new sleeker model that we have purchased (now we have the correct one).  Well that turned out to be a bit of a nightmare as nothing seemed to fit properly and poor John spent the best part of the day in close proximity to the hole where all the crap goes (literally).  Job still not finished as we need a longer pipe for the water supply so thank god we have two loos although it did mean me having to traipse across the courtyard in the dark last night!

On the plus side our new outside furniture arrived as promised delivered to the door - once they had found it!!

We saw this advertised in Paps and thought it was a bargain at €299 and will give us somewhere comfortable to relax - the outside dining chairs are fine but not to sit in for any real length of time.

John and I are in debate over the configuration - this is my choice so that you can sit looking at the swimming pool but it does block the door a bit so we will probably turn it round.  We sat there last night when we got back from Paphos and it was lovely with all the candles lit.

Anyway back to yesterday - we wrapped up the DIY at about 4.00pm as we had been invited to have coffee with George and Pam.  Pam had been to the cake shop and got some lovely stickies in.  We couldnt stay with them for too long as we were heading back down to Paphos to have dinner at the Crown Resort with Janet and Alan and we wanted to get down early enough to have a game of cards with Mum and Dad.  We had a lovely meal (buffet style) at the hotel and spent another lovely evening with Janet and Alan.  I made a big mistake of asking for a coffee and a brandy (I wasnt driving!!) and when the brandy came it was a tumbler full - I dont know how I managed to drink it all (neat) and it has been laying heavy on my stomach all night!


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