Saturday 3 September 2011

Our Weekend World...

So yesterday was Friday and as you know we were going out for dinner with our neighbours Gregory and Theodora who were up from Nicosia for the weekend.  We were taken to the Dionysos Taverna in Stroumbi where we all had a meze.  For the uninitiated a Cyprus Meze is...

"a meal consisting of a selection of local dishes, from delicious dips and vegetables to a variety of fish and meats and as a main meal the Meze usually comprises around 20 plates of food"

So not for the faint hearted and, bearing in mind that Cypriot folk generally eat much later than we Brits, can leave you feeling rather full just before bedtime.  The proprietor Yiangos had an unusual remedy for this - many local tavernas will offer a complimentary drink like brandy or ouzo at the end of the meal - but he offered a glass of sprite which he liberally laced with SALT!  This gave the soft drink a very effervescent quality akin to epsom salts!!

We had a great evening but a rather late night for John and I!!

It was an early start for us today as we had to be down in Tala for about 10.00am to pick up Jonathon who is over from Yeovil with fiance Donna and son Jayden and getting married on Tuesday.  Jonathon is the guy whose name was given to us by a shop in Yeovil who knew that he was familiar with gas fires like ours and who John contacted out of the blue to see if he might be able to bring to a close the long running saga of our non-working gas fire. 

During the course of our many conversations we learned that not only was he getting married here in Cyprus but that Donna's Mum and Dad ran a taverna in Tala called Voukani - which just so happens to be where my Dad is having his 80th birthday party and a place that we have been to several times in the past.  Not only that but my Mum and Donna's Gran Shirley have been friends for many years here in Cyprus.  

What a fabulous guy Jonathon is - if I werent married I would marry him myself as he was so very thorough in looking at the fire and trying to sort out the issues.  First off he found that we had the wrong regulator to connect the gas supply to the bottle and then he pointed out that there was a tremendous amount of air in the gas supply which needed to be flushed through if the gas was going to have any chance at all of staying alight.  Finally he identified that there was a faulty part. I can recommend him because it is clear that he really knows his stuff so I am shamelessly putting out a big plug for his own firm in Yeovil - JC Plumbing and Heating - if you want hardworking and honest then he is your man!

Having dropped Jonathon back to Tala and ascertained that his wedding is Tuesday (and not Thursday as he had told us)  John decided to go for a dip in the pool modelling his new swim trunks purchased on our whistlestop trip to the shops in Coventry on Monday!  He looks like he is auditioning for one of those Busby Berkeley films where the swim maidens all dive sideways in time into the pool!!!  I got the usual - its lovely when you get in - and the pool is still 82 degrees but when you are all hot and sweaty even that can seem bracing!

He got me back on the photo stakes when he crept up and snapped me sitting on one of the sunbeds we have put on top of the kitchen flat roof.  This catches the last of the sun and there are stunning views from up there so we are planning to have a proper ladder built to make it easier to get up and down and then possibly some railings to make it safer.  It will all be down to cost at the end of the day but it seems a shame not to make use of this tremendous space.

We are now enjoying a slob-out and trash TV after a lovely meal of baked camembert and salad. 

We cannot believe that a week ago today Ellie and Andy were getting married and we were all up in Hull - dodging torrential rain and thunder and lightening.  Let's hope they have had a wonderful first week as Mr & Mrs.

1 comment:

  1. if our very unreliable plumber doesnt get our boiler sorted soon may be giving your guy a call - just a shame he's over there now - good excuse mind i'm sure the wedding will go well a least theres no worries about the weather luv vix

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