Thursday - returning from Pissouri...

After our exciting day yesterday we woke to a fine bright morning in Pissouri and we threw back the shutters Chez Bailey to take in the stunning view.  We were guessing that having only arrived late on Tuesday and then having a full day with us yesterday Wendy and Bill would appreciate a bit of peace and quiet.

We took a leisurely breakfast on the patio taking in the sunshine when we received a text from Mum telling us as that all was well in Droushia, that both cats were accounted for but that the weather was awful.  In fact when they left to go back home via Mum's coffee morning they had to negotiate some pretty foul fog around Kathikas and Mum said we had rain the like of which she had never seen before which could only mean one thing - a wet conservatory.  It didn't seem possible that the weather could be so lovely in Pissouri and so awful in Droushia until we looked over the roof of the house to see big black clouds approaching and heard the distant sound of thunder.  We left whilst it was still dry but we had only got as far as the Rocks of Aphrodite when the rain started to come and come with a vengeance.

We made our way back home where the weather seemed to have improved a bit since Mum's phonecall - I am guessing that the bad weather had started up our way and moved down to Paphos and then East across the island.

I was due to play pickleball and John was going to Mum and Dad's Neighbours Janice and Ray to take down an olive tree - I rang Dad who said that the weather in Paphos had now changed to brilliant sunshine so I got my stuff together but John thought it was too dangerous to try and cut down a wet tree with a chainsaw so contacted Ray to rearrange.

By the time we got to Paphos the brilliant sunshine had disappeared and the weather had turned nasty again - pickleball was cancelled and rightly so.  To begin with it was just grey and dank with light rain so Mum and I decided to go out - Mum wanted to show me the AlphaMega supermarket which she rather likes and we also wanted to see if we could find the new eight floor shop that had been advertised.

As we got into town the weather deteriorated and it started to rain very heavily.  We managed to find the new store which is a left turn off the dual carriageway that leads from Superhome Centre past the Paphos Mall.  It is eight floors of clothes - and for once not all designed for stick insects or millionaires.  In fact there were several things on the ground floor that took my eye including some lovely scarves and some tops that were only €12.99 - on the next floor there were some beautiful shoes and again they ranged in price from about €15 upwards.  It is certainly somewhere I will go and investigate when I next feel the need to buy myself some clothes.  By the time we got to AlphaMega it was raining very heavily so we only had a quick look round.  If Paps is the Tesco's equivalent then AlphaMega is more like Waitrose and we were chuffed to find some Bresse Bleu cheese which we have put away for Christmas.

By the time we got back home the weather was appalling - you have to be very careful on the tiled patio otherwise you can go ass over tip really easily.  The rain was joined by thunder and lightening just to make our lives complete!!!  What a change since Tuesday when we were too hot at the ladies lunch in Polis still this is November and although we would like to we can't have sunshine all the time unfortunately.  We consoled ourselves by having our regular game of cards.  I was doing so well this time - right up to the last hand which was a 'mis' which means you score penalty points - I scored nearly all of them and ended up as arse-end Charlie as usual!!

Once we had got over a powercut which slightly delayed proceedings we had a special tea as Mum had got out her table-top kebab cooker so we were treated to chicken and pork kebabs with potato and salad which were delicious and although Mum didn't like the mango dipping sauce she had purchased both John and I did!!  

We also had pudding this week which we don't usually but Mum had found some sort of pin-wheel puff pastry filled with cranberry and fruit confection which were scrummy with a bit of Lidl vanilla ice-cream.  So scrummy that we are detailing her off to buy up some more so that we can have them for Christmas - sorry if you were going to try and pass them off as your own Mum - I have let the cat out of the bag - still if no-one reads this blog guests will be none the wiser!!

As the weather was horrible we didn't hang around and had a rather nasty trip home through torrents of rain and thunder and lightning.  Fortunately I wasn't driving. 

We got home in once piece but with the waterbutt overflowing and the rain pouring off of the conservatory into the front garden it was quite a mess - one to tackle in the morning.  Chivers was in - flicking his wet paws in disgust - Minnie Mou was out but came in shortly afterwards looking disconsolately at her empty food bowl.  We fed them and made sure they were ok before retiring to bed accompanied by the ever present thunder and lightning.