April 30th...

When we woke this morning we had very little room on the bed as both cats were away with the fairies.  They had obviously had a heavy old night on the tiles and needed to recharge their batteries.  John and I find ourselves contorted to accommodate the little lovelies - honestly they have no idea how lucky they were when they found us to home them!  They are good enough to make sure they lie on the throw that we have on the bed to try and stop the million cat hairs that they shed overnight but as that is located across the middle of the bed it leaves us with limited space!

We had to be up early and off this morning as we had an appointment in Chloraka to have the MOT done on the CRV.  Over here an MOT lasts for two years and amazingly we have now had our car nearly two years!  We had been recommended to use Simon Emery at Deals on Wheels - we shall see - hopefully he will do the job and John will have confidence in him.

John set off for Chloraka in our car and I followed on in Mum and Dad's CRV.  Why is it that when you are in a hurry everything is against you??  I must have been held up by every old Cypriot man to have ever gone behind a wheel.  Poor John had to keep stopping so that I could catch up with him.

We got to the garage about 10 minutes later than planned but after a cursory look over the car Simon thought it would pass without a problem and I am pleased to report that it did - nothing needed doing and John has now decided to put our car back in after Easter to get a couple of bits and pieces sorted out.

Whilst we were there John asked about the knocking noise that has appeared on Mum and Dad's CRV.  Dad was told that it wasn't anything to worry about but could cost upwards of €1000 to fix.  Deals on Wheels had it up on the ramp and sorted this afternoon - new shock absorbers and new drop links have done the business and at a reasonable cost.  Not only that but Simon was sooooo impressed by Mum and Dad's CRV that he wanted to buy it for himself - he said he had never seen carpets so clean other than on a brand new car.

I have moved my Pickleball day to a Tuesday and swapped with Vicki so she now plays just once a week on a Thursday but Trevor comes with her so that they have six on that day.  This change means that I get to play with Liz again and I haven't seen her since we went to Jeff's birthday party just after Christmas.  Apart from a bit of an issue with her hearing aids Liz is well land still has a demon serve that causes me all sorts of problems.

We had six today so Liz and I sat out together between games.  Midway through the session John came to join us and watch whilst he waited for news on the car.  Our sessions are followed by a class for small children to learn traditional Cypriot dancing under the watchful eye of Marios.  The youngsters that arrive at about 2.50 to watch the last ten minutes of our games are a bit of a handful and greet us with the rather irritating "Hello Baby" but look like butter wouldn't melt in their mouths if you look at their official Easter card!

We couldn't hang around long this afternoon after Pickleball although we had enough time for me to leave my trousers at the court - DUH - and to have a quick shower at Mum and Dad's.  We needed to get back because we had arranged to pickup Trevor and Vicki and go to Yiallos for a Sundowner and Snack evening to celebrate the third anniversary of us arriving in Cyprus.

We had chosen Yiallos for a number of reasons - 1.  It is a stunning location and particularly so on a beautiful evening like this evening, 2. the food is pretty reasonable in both quality and price and 3. we didn't think Trev and Vix had been there before and they would appreciate going somewhere new.

We had a lovely evening - the weather was perfect, the location was perfect, the food was perfect and the company was perfect - I think we none of us can quite believe that we are all here sharing these experiences as residents and not holiday makers!

We made our way back to Arodes as the sun was setting and lighting up the evening sky, painting it the most fantastic colour.  We still can't believe how warm it is for this early in the year but we aren't knocking it.

Our anniversary is actually tomorrow May 1st - where has the time gone?