May 24th...

Today we were calling into Akourdaleia to drop off the photograph album we had got printed for Elaine and Paul - these were pictures of their civil ceremony in Peyia back in April and we had chosen about 30 of our favourites from the hundreds we had taken as a permanent reminder of that day.  We had hoped it might have arrived in time to be available for people to look at on Saturday but in the end it was nice to go down when things were more quiet and let them have it.

We sat down under the shade of their arbor in the garden so that they could have a look and to talk about the events of the past couple of weeks. 

They are planning to get away for some quiet time once they have got the house sorted from visitors and a well deserved rest it will be too after all the planning, work and careful attention to detail that went into their two ceremonies. 

What now to fill their time I wonder????  Well Paul has a serious amount of building work to complete on the house and I am guessing that Elaine has a list as long as your arm for plans she has for the garden so at least now they will be able to concentrate on these things without the wedding getting in the way!

Whilst we were sitting having about our third cup of coffee I got the distinct impression that we were being watched and not just by the clown that sits in the corner - we were being watched - we were being watched by a big old gecko that was getting some shade in amongst the flowering vine and taking advantage of the insects that the flowers were attracting.  Everytime we go to Elaine and Paul's I pass comment on this beautiful climber - it is Thunbergia Grandiflora - more commonly known as the Bengal Clock Vine - I would soooo like to think that one of these might survive up in Drouseia but I fear that the extremes of temperature and particularly the frost and hail storms would see it off.

We returned home later than anticipated - our quick visit had turned into a two or three hour stay!  I wanted to get a bit of my blog done before we set off down to Paphos and, as my replacement lens had pitched up in the post John took the opportunity of capturing me in front of the lens rather than me always being behind it.  Looking at the shot I wish the cats were calm enough so that we could dispense with the throws but just when we think they have turned a corner they start their madcap up and over the settee chasing malarkey all over again.

This evening we were travelling down to Emba to catch up with Mum and Dad and Jane and John and then going across to Gerouskipou so that we could have pre-meal drinkies with Trish and Alan.  Trish and Alan became friends with Mum and Dad years ago.  To cut a long story short Alan (who is from the North East) was on a walk with Dad one day when he asked where in Cornwall Dad had come from as he detected a slight accent.  Dad said that Alan wouldn't know even if he told him because Dad came from a tiny hamlet on the coast.  Alan said to try him as he had spent many holidays in Cornwall so Dad said Portholland and Alan said East or West and Dad said East which was amazing because it is a really small place.  Even more amazing was that Trish and Alan used to stay in a holiday cottage just down from my Gran and my Gran used to check the cottages before and after someone had stayed to make sure everything was ok and nothing left behing and she kept a diary each year so she could actually remember exactly the dates when Trish and Alan had stayed.

For the second time today as I sat outside having a drink I felt like I was being watched and again we were - next door to Alan and Trish there are six tiny little kittens who periodically venture into their garden but with the eight of us in there making a noise had decided to keep a safe distance and were viewing us from the vantage point of a nearby tree!  They were beautiful.

Tonight we were eating in a local Meze House which we used to frequent regularly when it was called Mrs Nicky's and Mrs Nicky was a legend in her own kitchen!  It changed hands several times but the people there have been there three or four years now and we have been a couple of times and had a good meal.

We were going early and had just settled down with a drink waiting for our food to arrive when a couple of cars pulled up outside and out spilled quite a number of the members of the Barrie Rowe Big Band including our good friends Hilary and Keith - who would have believed it - with all the eating places in Paphos there are to chose from they came to the same one as us!  It was great to see them and great that Hilary could confirm that she and Keith will be up to stay with us later in the week when they are between band jobs.

We left them to it - we have memories of how riotous the band members can be when they are unwinding - 25 G&T's in Christos's Taverna the other year is testament to this!