Thursday 31st January...

We said goodbye to Dad this morning - albeit temporarily!!!  He has gone back down to Emba because he is off to see his friend Frank in Tala tomorrow and he is going walking on Saturday and he said that he was going to do some washing having been given his instructions by Mum before she left.  The weather here has not really been settled enough for me to do his washing although sods law today I could have done it!

I was off to pickleball this afternoon so decided I had better get our dinner organised before I left because John (jokingly admittedly) told me not long after we moved here that I should stick to what I was good at and I remind him of this periodically - I know my place is chained to the oven!

Tonight's delight (although I am not sure John would agree) was a vegetable gratin with a crispy breadcrumb topping made mainly with the butternut squash and cauliflower but with a bit of crispy bacon thrown in for good measure - I enjoyed it but I am not sure John will be asking me to make it again!!  Let's just say the recipe wont be featured on my food page if he has anything to do with it - too many vegetables and not enough meat!!

Before going off to pickleball I finished my gecko and moved him onto the conservatory floor next to the original one that I made - I actually think I prefer the little one but if you look at the bigger one close up the stones we have used are fascinating.  I can't decide whether or not to give him eyes - only really because a real skeleton wouldn't have eyes!

I fitted in a bit of essential shopping on my way down to pickleball,- this included a visit to the EuroShop which is one of the few places where I can find old fashioned dishcloths and the liquid oven cleaner that I like for cleaning the hob - they haven't had any in our local GB shop in Prodromi - in fact they have had very little of anything in that shop since before Christmas.  I picked up a few bits in Paps and then called into the Lemba Bazaar to get a rug which I had thought would look nice in the kitchen but turned out to be too big so has become the latest sacrificial rug in front of the wood burner - at €30 it will hardly break the bank.

This is the outside of our pickleball venue which is like a flipping tardis!!!  There are all sorts of rooms there and on a Thursday along with pickleball there are people playing short mat bowls.  As we finish our game the small children come in for their traditional dancing classes - they are kept well under control by their tutor!  Our games have continued even though Mum is away.  This is because Liz has returned from the UK and is making up the numbers on a Tuesday.   We have now adapted quite well to the slightly confined surroundings but I still manage to hit the ball too high and hit the ceiling/fans so we then have to play a let and the posts at the very centre of the baseline can make returning a full length ball impossible.

I drove back Peyia way - in fact I went on the by-pass as the parking and humps in Peyia get on my nerves a bit.  What had started out as an indifferent morning had turned into a beautiful afternoon and I stopped briefly at Banana Bay to take a photograph of the sea.  The beach there is quite messy at the moment which shows what rough weather we have been having.  If the weather is nice enough on Sunday I have persuaded John to go beachcombing with me to see if we can get any driftwood for the fire.

I drove home through the village as I wanted to check the post - it would appear that the Mukhtari have found some money as any wall which has a recess seems to be being fitted with a mosaic.  They look really nice and it would be interesting to know where they get them because Sheila tells me that they come ready done on a sheet.  We are guessing that all this sort of work is part of the effort being made in readiness for Paphos being the European Capital of Culture in 2017.