Lunching with Mum...

Just had a Skype call from Darren - a friend from way, way back and who splits his time between Trinidad and Spain.  Tonight he was in Spain.  His wife Marie used to lodge with me before I was married to John - she met Darren and I met John at the same time - I caught up with her the year before last in Glasgow - neither of them change just get a little older but then don't we all!  We are very hopeful that they might come and visit us although Darren refuses to stay with us if we dont have air conditioning!!!

Today I was joining Mum's Harmony group as they lunched at the 5th Floor restaurant in Paphos. John was going to come down to Paphos with me and do some chores like paying the insurance on the bike and getting some more brackets made for the carport - then take Dad out to lunch.  We had toyed with the idea of getting the toilet put back in place but thought that another day to allow the silicon to dry properly wouldn't be a bad idea.  John thinks if all else fails then I could plant this one up like I did the one we removed!

It was another thundery day today which was even more overcast when we got down to Paphos where there is always more humidity hanging over the city.  It's hard to know what to wear on day's like today - it is nice to have an occasion to dress up but not if it leaves you feeling all hot and bothered.

Mum and I were going to lunch with Janice - Mum's neighbour and fellow team member of Spyros (Ex) Neighbours and Angela.  Angela is the reason that Mum and Dad and now John and I are living in Cyprus.  Angela and her husband Richard lived in Keinton Mandeville as did we and many years ago they offered for Mum and Dad to go and stay in their holiday home along the Tomb of the Kings Road when Cyprus was quite a different place.  Mum and Dad fell in love with it, bought a maisonette off plan and the rest is history.  Angela and Richard split their time between Cyprus where they have a house in Tala and Somerset where two of their daughters live with their children.

The 5th Floor is, as the name would suggest, situated on the fifth floor of a business centre in the middle of Paphos and on a clear day offers stunning views over the city.  It is quite a stunning location with an atrium in the middle which is where we assembled waiting to be called to our table and the buffet.

For €13 you could have the cold starters, hot mains and selection of sweets - this sounded reasonable enough to me so Mum, Angela, Janice and I all plumped for the whole 'ish' - I know that you cannot please all of the people all of the time (I have learned this from trying to organise something for the Droushia Ladies) but there was certainly enough to chose from to get your monies worth.  I certainly enjoyed the selection of salads to start and was particularly impressed by the raw cauliflower in a curried mayonnaise and the roasted red peppers which are one of my favourites.  Of the main courses there was a selection of 'chinese' style dished and the one with squid was lovely.  As a pudding I had some sort of pistachio cream desert which seemed middle eastern and was lovely.

We returned to Emba to meet up with Dad and John who had lunched at John's favourite ethnic restaurant Andreas's (John calls it the farmer's union) which is handily placed round the corner from Sofoklis which enabled John to get his additional brackets made for the car port.

We played nomination whist before returning home.  This has become a bit of a favourite for which we must thank Kaye and Co who reminded us of its existence - apparently it is known as "shit on your oppo" in the Navy! because with some intelligent play you can make sure that others do not achieve the number of tricks they have called.

We returned home late afternoon to find two little faces pressed up against the conservatory door looking like they were about to pass out from hunger- AS IF - but they had missed out on their mid-day wet food which is their favourite.

It was cooler this evening - the weather still unsettled - having eaten for lunch we didnt want much tonight and settled down to watch some TV - John wasn't too bothered about the Euro 2012 game and had his hands full keeping Chivers entertained - he is such a magpie (Chivers not John) and loves anything sparkly.  He has turned into a lean, mean fighting machine (Chivers not John!!).