Wednesday February 27th...

All the improvements to my throat that I get during the day go out of the window at night - probably because I am lying down so I feel a million times worse at night and then because of a poor night's sleep feel dreadful in the morning.  This bug doesn't look like it is going to clear anytime soon.

Still as the weather today was glorious and as I generally improve during the day we had left our plans in place.  John and Trevor were going to the football with Running John and Vicki and I were going to go out with our cameras to take some pictures.

I was very excited this morning to find that my fairly newly planted daffodil bulbs which the lovely Mark Pamment had given me for Christmas are almost in flower.  What better sign of arrival of Spring do you need than a cheerful yellow daffodil?  and, I am so pleased that bulbs here seem to thrive.  I have quite a number in the garden including some narcissi that were transported up from Emba and which are very close to flowering too.  This is a really lovely time of the year and we all keep remarking on how much warmer it is than at the same time last year.  We have escaped lightly I think!

Another sign that winter is really on its way out is the fact that we now have a daily visit by the goats and their kids.  With Minnie Mou and Chivers fairly ambivalent about their presence this is no longer a worry except for the fact that they bring with them the dreaded ticks and so we now have to be vigilant that the cats aren't carrying something extra in their fur.

After lunch we picked up Trevor and Vicki and Running John and dropped the boys off at footie.  Vicki and I decided that we would take a ride out to Limni Pier and take some photographs, then go along the coast as far as the picnic ground and take some more from there then along to Ayia Marina and the nursery so that I could buy some compost and a couple of plants then maybe stop somewhere for a cuppa before collecting the boys.

The sea is always a fantastic colour at Limni Pier - it is probably something to do with when they used to have the copper mines there.  There were no fishermen there today so we had the place to ourselves.

As we drove up the hill to the nursery we could see the clouds sitting on top of the mountains even though we were bathed in glorious sunshine.  That is a fantastic nursery with really healthy looking plants and a knowledgeable owner.  We had taken a cutting of a plant at John and Susan's house and he recognised it immediately and showed us what he had at the princely sum of €3.00!!  I managed to pick up a bag of compost whilst I was there - well I didn't the man from the nursery picked it up and put it in the boot for me.

We stopped for a cuppa at the Halfway House.  The poor woman there served Vicki a cup of coffee rather than a cup of tea and was mortified but it was soon rectified and, when we came to leave, she gave us a bag of oranges to take home with us.

Whilst we were having our cuppa we had a text message to say that the football match had been stopped for a while because the ref had been injured and to keep the crowd from getting restless they had handed out free beer!!  When we arrived at the ground there was still about twenty minutes left to play.  You will never see so many cars in Polis as you will when there is a football match on and the parking is chaotic.  I had arranged to meet the boys in the old Orphanides car park but struggled to get in it because of cars blocking the entrance!

Trevor and Vicki stayed for tea - we were mindful of Murphy being left too long on his own so it was an early tea so that they could get back to him.  All was going smoothly until I found that the pork loin John thought he had bought turned out to be a pork roasting joint - NIGHTMARE - I was just about to flash fry the loin!  I managed to find a piece in the freezer but had to get it defrosted and cooked without spoiling the vegetables and jacket potatoes.  I think I managed to pull it off but it was touch and go!  Not how I would have wanted Trevor and Vicki's first meal with us (as neighbours rather than visitors) to have been.