Saturday 26th January...

My Mum is off to the UK today to visit friends and family and to take in a bit of retail therapy - Dad isn't going with her.  Crafty Jane is also going back to the UK today for a short visit and is on the same flight!  Let's hope that the weather is kind to them.

We were having a bits and pieces day today and although the weather was bright it was considerably cooler than of late with a real bite to the wind so although I had planned to do gardening I didn't really get much done except that I got John to put up the wrought iron planter that I had spotted in Oniros and I am proud to say I managed to knock down the price by a few euros - enough to buy the plants to go inside.  John gave it a spray of black enamel all over to weather-proof it a bit more and sprayed a tray I had in the shed to go inside - we just placed the plants on top of the tray as I need to get a little trough and some compost to finish the job off properly.  Whilst we were there we cut back the vine that is growing over the pergola and the vines we have on the fence as we have seen the locals doing theirs over the past few days so it must be the right time.  The new blade thing for John's chainsaw didn't fit so we didn't get the wood cut - that will have to be next week's job now providing Maria from Glykkis can get the right bit.

Last night when Wheelie Helen and Al came to pick us up to go to Crafty's for dinner Helen finally remembered the calendar which she was going to give us and which contains some lovely pictures of her animals - in fact I recognised one or two as they were ones which I had taken!  Chivers felt the need to give it a good once over and his seal of approval before I put it up!

The six of us who ate together last night along with Elaine (Nessa) and Paul (Dave Coaches) are going to a charity race night in March which is being organised by Bryn from the badminton club.  It is a dressing up evening and those of you who know John will know just how much attention to detail he puts into anything that requires fancy dress so today we were making whips for the jockeys!!!  Six of the team have to be jockeys, one has to be the owner (John has Arab outfit in readiness for that!!) and the final one has to be the trainer.  We have to provide a stable name, horse names and jockey names and the best dressed stable wins a prize - this is like red rag to a bull for John - he has to win and is on it already - he tells me I am not showing enough interest but to be honest I have struggled to find appropriate names and of course we never agree on anything anyway so I am on a hiding to nothing!  Laura - I could really do with some of your jodhpurs - that reminds me that one of the first times John saw Laura he thought all his birthdays and Christmases had come together because we were living opposite a nurse who wore jodhpurs - either that or she had quite a range of fancy dress outfits (now that is making me think of Paula from the Ruth Jones Stella series!!!)

We needed to go out this afternoon and drop off some DVDs to Nessa in Akourdalia so took the opportunity to call in on Vix and Trev and their hundreds of boxes and deliver the Kolios wine we had got for them when we were last down in Paphos. They were doing really well with getting the house straight and already had the lounge 99.9% done.  I have to say that Budgie Smuggler Mark has done a fantastic job getting the house up together before they arrived and it is going to be a really lovely home.  I do envy them all the space they have and the proper bathrooms but then as John points out - more space = more cleaning and more space = more heating!!

There is quite a lot of garden to the front of the property and I am sure that Trev will have a million and one ideas at to what he is going to do with it.  He was always keen on his garden back in Odcombe and of course he had that fantastic field and grew all those wonderful vegetables.  I think he is planning to give it a try over here and at least they will have enough outside space for their dog Murphy to run around and for Trev to do his planting.  They have been so lucky with their move as everything has slotted neatly into place so far and even the January weather has been kind to them.

We left Trev and Vix to go down to see Nessa but we didn't think she was in and just left the DVDs on the doorstep - apparently she was there but there was no car and no sign of her indoors - she said she must have been hoovering and not heard us.  

I dropped John off home and then went round to have a coffee with my friend Orexi Elena who I have not seen since before Christmas but Wheelie Helen has organised it so that we are going to eat at Orexi with Dad whilst he is here staying with us.  Elena is having a special Spanish Tapas night so that will be something new for us to try and if it is like her other food then jolly nice it will be too.

We sat in the downstairs kitchen and were kept company and amused by Elena's youngest Lola who was busy making 'marmalade' with bits and pieces she could find and then she was going to be Mum and take her two daughters (Elena and I) shopping!!!

Elena says she likes it when I go round because I can fill her in on all the local news even though she is a local herself!!!  She also reprimanded me for not posting my previous blog until late - she likes to read it first thing in the morning and as we had been so late home from the Springates I hadn't done it!

This evening we were out - AGAIN!!!  For a number of reasons we had failed to catch up with Melanie, Simon and Jasmine over Christmas and the New Year so tonight we were going round to their house in Droushia for lamb shanks and a banana caramel pudding.  I love their house it is so cosy and warm and beautifully furnished - in fact I noticed that both Mel and Nessa have the same Indian display coffee table - shame it was just too big to tuck under my arm and take home with me because it would look cracking in our lounge!

We had a lovely supper - the pudding was absolutely sublime and apart from Hector (the dog) farting quite a bit everything was perfect including Jasmine who woke to be fed but then was entertained by John for a good 15-20 minutes before hunger got the better of her and at that point John and I made our way back to our house on foot wrapped up warmly as the wind was keen!