Monday February 18th...

It was stormy last night - the rain kept me awake for some of the time but when we woke this morning it was fine bright and warm so I flung the windows open and put stuff out on the line.  I was just hopping into the shower when John told me not to go wandering about in the buff because our 'neighbour' was in the field.  This was the man who owns it and as promised he was bringing John some beers as a thank-you for the time when John saw a digger removing soil and undermining the new road and rang Stelios to let him know.  We don't know why Cypriots drink Carlsberg - John would prefer Leon or at a push Keo but slap a bit of lemonade in a Carlsberg and I can drink it as a shandy!  Still it was nice that Andreas was true to his word and came back before he and his wife return to Australia.  In the nicest possible way we hope that nothing more now happens in the field but we know that we are not that lucky.

I had my normal Monday morning with Sheila and Klaus.  I was slightly delayed as the beautiful bright weather had disappeared and it started to rain quite hard!  Klaus, the old romantic that he is, had given Sheila an orchid for Valentine's Day.  It was absolutely beautiful with small vibrant blooms.  I am hoping that my lovely friend Joani will put us in the picture as to what sort of orchid this is so that Sheila can look after it properly.  Both Sheila and I have been nursing a Phalaenopsis - mine looks sick - leggy and yellow but has bloomed for months and months and months, Sheila's looks healthy with deep green leaves and new growth but as yet no repeat flowers!

I am continuing with my Poinsettia picture which is a lot harder than I anticipated and so much blending!!  We were a bit concerned as the morning wore on that there was no singing coming from Klaus in the kitchen as this might not auger well for the lunch he was preparing - we need not have worried because as always we were presented with a right old spread!!!  Good news that Sheila's daughter has received the picture which Sheila did of her late dog Darwin and absolutely loved it.

John was off to Badminton this afternoon and I was going to do some shopping whilst he was there.  I wanted to see if I could get any starfish from one of the gift shops in Latchi but it was like a ghost-town.  I am not sure if the shops are just shut because of the time of year or whether they have shut full stop.  Roberts Supermarket looks like it was recovering from a flood - it would be a shame if that was closed because it had all sorts of interesting bits and pieces in it.

I did my shopping and made my way back to the bowling alley where John and Crafty Jane were playing Alice and Bryn and from this photograph it looks like John has just been a duffer!  He will be playing again on Friday and if the bike is fixed and the weather is nice can go on the bike.

We called into the trading estate to find Marinos Tsaggaras to arrange to take the bike back because the automatic start isn't working again.  Marinos was very apologetic and the bike has to go in on Wednesday - he says it wont take long to sort out so John will be able to take it down and get it sorted before he goes off to football to watch the mighty ENAD in a cup match.

Have spoken to Hils and Keith tonight via Skype.  They are going to be over here playing with the band again so we are really looking forward to seeing them and having them to stay if they get some time spare.