Friday - The Mayans got it wrong...

This was the festive scene that greeted us on our return from the Fly Again last night - a drift of hail/snow at the gate - my festive wreath decimated.

On stepping inside we had a further drift up against the conservatory but fortunately only a small amount of wet inside the door.  We had electricity thank goodness but no internet and worse than that no cats - why oh why they go out in such horrendous weather I will never know and they must have been terrified.  Fluffer was in her shelter although soaked to the skin poor thing but we gave her a bit of love and something to eat and settled down waiting for the other two to come home but there was no sign.  I went out into the estate and called and called and fortunately Minners came in - it was some time later that Chivers turned up - in the interim we watched the end of Prometheus which was a disappointment - all a bit of a Stand Easy Production with weak and confusing story line.  At the end of the day I didn't find the Alien in the least bit frightening but I wont tell you what it was just in case you are going to watch the film for yourselves.

Once the cats were in and dry and fed we retired to bed oblivious to the carnage that the hail had wreaked on our garden - this only became apparent when we woke the next day and took a look.  Where the garden had looked green and lush yesterday morning today it looked like it had been subjected to an onslaught of locusts or a nuclear explosion - hardly a leaf is left on any of the plants, the geraniums are left as interesting sticks, the clementine is shredded, the californian poppies are a sodden mess and the solanums are bald.  It is all so depressing because clearly some plants will not survive from this.  John tried to cheer me up by persuading me to go and make a snowman out in the front garden - I did, he isn't smiling, neither am I.

The internet was still down and we heard from friends who are with a different provider that they were down too - obviously whatever it was, was major and we just had to sit it out.  No internet means no TV for us so we were hoping it would be sorted for later otherwise it was another film for us and it takes as long to decide what to watch as to watch it!!!

We had an interrupted power supply again this morning so John went out to the shed to get our emergency burner and gas bottle.  With this we can at least have a cup of coffee!!  

I hope to God we aren't going to have to rely on this for Christmas Day (which has just reminded me to check with John that we have sufficient charcoal if the worse comes to the worse!!!).

The trouble with this bottle gas is that it can be rather smelly but that is a small price to pay for a cuppa!!!

We busied ourselves to get ready to go to the Badminton Club Christmas Do.  John had been asked to take a plate of food to add to the buffet and he had decided to make some Christmas Cake squares using a recipe for leftover Christmas Pudding.  We had checked and we had three in the cupboard and as he is about the only person that eats it we could spare one.  He had enough mixture to make two cakes but put the mix in different shaped tins and the loaf tin one burned but the tray bake tin was more successful although it needed a lot more cooking than it said on the recipe.  Anyway we packed it up and took it with us down to Prodromi.

It was good to see so many people turn up - there was quite a selection of food and the club was giving a glass of wine or mulled wine before the bar opened.  Bryn has worked really hard to get the club up and running and is a nice guy so we wish him well.  He organises six sessions of Badminton on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and because I only see the people that are there on a Monday afternoon when I pick up John I had no idea so many players came to the other sessions.

We sat with Prodromi Pam and her husband Barry and Curry Rival Chris - it could almost have been a Wednesday Crafty Ladies Christmas get together!!!  Barry, Chris and John were all successful on the raffle although John did not win the racquet he had his eye on so ended up buying one as his Christmas present to himself but he is happy as it means he wont have to borrow Bryn's now.

We left Prodromi to go and do a recce for a bimble on Boxing Day as Wheelie Helen and Crafty Jane both have their Mums staying and they thought it would be good to get out for some fresh air as we have done for many Boxing Days in the past (although we hadn't been too sure that we would do it again this year so this has meant some panic pasty making).

The road down to the Polis campsite was cordoned off with a Police notice that the road was closed but we decided to ignore it as others had done just to see what was what.

The entrance to the campsite carpark is a complete mud bath and impassable which comes as no surprise so that is a non starter.  We decided to drive on towards Latchi and parked up at La Plage just as a little sunshine was breaking through the clouds and it was a respectable 16 degrees on the coast with little wind.

We decided that if the weather is bad we will still get out even if it is just to see the sea!!!  I went in to check with the La Plage bar that it would be open on Boxing Day and it will so we can all go inside and have a coffee - I know it is probably extortionate there but that will give us something to moan about other than the weather!!

If it is nice then we can walk along the footpath towards the campsite for a while and then walk back.  We have a venue in mind for eating our pasties which will hopefully be sheltered.  The weather forecast is surprisingly good for Christmas Day and Boxing Day so we have our fingers crossed.

Internet was not restored on our return so we watched Safe House which was quite a good film although more John's type of thing than mine!  Connection to the world wide web was restored at about 8.00pm - normality has returned.

By the way I have heard from Wheelie Helen that her mum is unable to move today so is off down to Paphos to get an xray - apparently there is a problem with getting it done at Polis - isn't that sod's law???