Friday 19th April...

Our cats love each other but when they are play fighting it is like something from the World Wrestling Federation.  Chivers (in the blue collar) is older and actually bigger then Minnie Mou (in the black and white collar).  Minnie Mou is a whinger and can sound like Chivers is killing her but if you watch her she is quite often the one on top.  She stalks him in a circular motion and then jumps on him - we find it amusing to watch and are comforted by the fact that it is only playing and five minutes later they might be off exploring the field together or cuddled up on the sofa.

Today, having spent quite some time battering the hell out of one another they were exhausted and were both flaked out in the conservatory enjoying the magnified rays of the sun coming through the windows - good job they made the most of it because the weather at the moment is very unsettled so on minute the sun can be shining and the next we are experiencing near monsoon-like conditions like we had yesterday!

Today started out reasonably with some sun.  John was playing badders and I had a load of stuff to get sorted down in Polis including the weekly shop so we didn't do a huge amount in the morning.

When I parked up in Polis to go to the Electricity board the carpark bore the evidence of the horrendous weather yesterday and the carpark at Paps was even worse!  The trouble here is that there is nowhere for rainwater to go - no drainage and no soakaways.  I had to pick my way carefully round the puddles.

Having paid our neighbour's electricity bill (nice person that I am) I noticed that there was a new shop opposite the florists.  It transpires that it is not a new shop but one which has moved.  It is called Anastazia and Anastazia is a seamstress and a bit of an artist so upstairs in the shop are some of her paintings which chart her journey from growing up in London to moving to Argaka, having her family and coming to terms with the change in life and change in culture.  She says she would like to right a book about her experiences.   My quick nip inside the door to see what the shop was all about ended up being about a twenty minute stay!

I had some time to kill and I was after some pebbles for a craft project that I have in mind so I nipped down to Limni Pier to have a quick look at the beach there.  Lots of work is going on in preparation for the golf courses that are scheduled to be built there.  It is getting more difficult to get down to the beach and further along in the Argaka direction I could see and hear diggers moving earth or more likely sand.  I think, if I remember what I saw on the plans, there is supposed to be a beach walk in that direction so I guess that is what they are preparing.  I know that I have said it before but the sea here is always the most fantastic colour and today was no exception.  There was no-one on the end of the pier fishing today - normally there are three or four trying their luck.  I had a little look on the beach but was really wearing the wrong shoes to wander too far so didn't really find what I was looking for.  If we go near a beach at the weekend I will have to take a look then.  Not sure that the weather forecast is but Mum and Dad will be up on Sunday so I can drag Mum down to Latchi and she can help me look.  Actually we may well go down to Latchi as there is a spring fayre at the Akimanthea resort so that will be somewhere to take her - I don't expect Dad will be overly bothered about going.

I got the shopping done and picked John up from badminton.  The weather had remained dry but not overly warm so we took the opportunity to get a bit more work done on T&V corner.  The shutters are stained and in place.  Either side will be a piece of trellis to hold the Morning Glory.  This will mean that the toilet will have to shift over a bit so that the trellis can look symmetrical.

We had decided not to go Ten Pin Bowling this week - I think I probably peaked last week before being pipped by Vix!  We didn't really have any plans until Wheelie Helen suggested trying the quiz at the Akamas Spa with Running Susan and John.  This would normally have taken place last night but for some reason had been timetabled in for this evening so that was where we were going.   John and I were walking down the hill and the temperature had dropped dramatically so I was dressed like it was Winter!

How different the resort looks in the dark and the cold certainly nothing like as inviting as the time we spent the day their with the Hazzells when it was newly opened.  The quiz was held in the restaurant and we bumped into quite a few ladies that we know through the ladies lunch.  It turned out to be quite a marathon evening as we started with a meal of Moussaka and boiled cabbage which was ok but a bit of an eclectic mix in my opinion!  Then there was a picture round and two quiz rounds, bingo, two more quiz rounds and finally Play Your Cards Right by which time it was way past our bedtimes.  Furthermore, and rightly, with six in our team we were penalised each round as the teams are supposed to be made up of four members.  To cut a long story short - a very long story short - we were putting on our coats ready to make a run for it when we found out that we had come second and for second we got some vouchers with money off of a spa treatment.  It is one voucher per treatment and they have to be used within a week!