Happy Birthday Mr Page...

 

Minnie the Moozer is giving the diggers a stiff ignoring even though it means that her daytime sorties have been curtailed - we have noticed that as it cools down the two cats spend longer and longer indoors.  It is almost exactly a year since we first saw Chivers as a pathetic poorly kitten staring into middle distance in the garden next door and we are eternally grateful to Sharon for capturing him with some tuna.  And, on the subject of cooling down, I think we will have to wait a little longer for that to happen because this week is considerably hotter and more settled than last week when the Hazzells were with us - TYPICAL!

 

Last night Mum and Dad's friends from Keinton Mandeville, Jane and John Page arrived for a month long holiday, the first two weeks are being spent with Mum and Dad with the middle weekend up with us in Droushia and then the last two weeks down in the apartment in Emba where they have stayed before.

 

Today was John Page's birthday and we had been invited to join them at the Al Fresco Kleftiko place where we had been with Trevor and Vicki last week.  As we were going down to Paphos we took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping.  John is keen to find some sort of cooler/fridge which is bigger than the one we have and more manly because I keep complaining that there is no room in my food fridge for food - it is so full of water and coke/lemonade/cider etc.  I had also seen a neat little storage box which would go into the conservatory and house all my cushions that I have to rescue from the condensation.  We called into the Outlet Store and they had just the sort of fridge we were looking for but for once we didn't make a spontaneous decision and took the measurements and details so we could be absolutely sure it would look right where we want to put it.  There was only one storage box when we got to Winters - it was the display one which looked a little knocked about but then it is going to get knocked about anyway so we were quite pleased when they said we could take it with a 10% discount - it will save us having to go back down to Paphos and John wont have to build it which is a bonus.

 

Dad had a little IT problem he needed sorting so as we arrived with sufficient time I managed to get it sorted before we had to leave for the Kleftiko.  My payment was a couple of bottles of Gin - sounds fair to me!!!!  Glen's we have heard of but Castelgy and Castelgy with a skew-wiff label???  Still I am sure that given the right amount of ice, lemon and tonic it will slip down a treat!  And, as it was John's turn to drive tonight, I got stuck into the Gin before supper - and that, combined with the wine during the meal, worked better than a couple of Mogadon when we got back to Droushia!!  I am rubbish company when I am tired and have had a couple of drinkies but then John should be used to that - when he took me away for a romantic weekend for my 30th birthday he spent the night watching Match of the Day in bed drinking Champagne alone whilst I snored for England having had one two many glasses of wine!!!

We had an excellent meal at the Al Fresco - we call it that because we don't think it has an official name it being no more than a house serving food in the garden!!!  Dad, Jane and Birthday John had the kleftiko whilst John (my John) had pork souvlaki and Mum and I had chicken souvlaki.

Maria, the proprietress, is charming although she said to me that she prefers to be in the kitchen rather than out with the customers.  I think this is because her English is limited but this is perfect for me because it gives me the opportunity to try out the bit of Greek that I know and she is certainly very appreciative that I try.

I am not sure if the little tacker was her son - we think it was and that Maria has two others which are grown up either way he was a cheery little chappy whose name is Andreas.  A successful night all round I think and a great way to celebrate Birthday John's birthday!