May 29th...

We were having a day at home tidying up before Hilary and Keith (and my very important chocolate bars) were coming to stay and John wanted to try and get some DIY done before it really is too hot to do very much at all.  Whilst sweeping up I came across this very bright pink and white spider - say hello to Thomisus Onustus - a spider crab which apparently will hide itself adapting the colour of its body to the colour of the flowers on which it is waiting for prey, a behaviour that will conceal it from predators.  These spiders do not spin a web but hunt their prey and this one had been hiding amongst the flowers of the lavender/rose geranium and was consuming a cabbage white butterfly which was about two or three times its size!

As I was busying myself around the house John was doing the tricky task of staining the eaves.  This has been made very difficult by the addition of the conservatory as several places remain practically unreachable from the roof.  

I am concerned about John (or anyone else for that matter) standing on the glass to paint.  John says he is going to make some sort of floating pontoon to straddle the strong points and I am sure the glass will be fine but these are huge pains of glass (approximately 1m x 5m) and we wouldn't want to have to replace one - but knowing our luck...

... So John managed what he could by leaning over as far as possible - his progress was hampered by one ginger cat who always wants to be up on the roof with John if he sees him up there and was crying to join him.  A quick whistle and Chivers scampers up the metal ladder and along the tiles for a cuddle and then will wait patiently at the top of the ladder to jump onto John's shoulders for a lift down!

I don't know why we are so surprised with the cats come in from the field next door covered in burrs and seeds.  John jumped over for two minutes to have a look at the progress of the bramble and whether he needed to deal with it and his socks now resemble two porcupines.  The long seed heads are absolute buggers to try and remove because they go in and are barbed so you cannot pull them out.  These socks may never be worn again and if they are they could be bloody uncomfortable!

After doing our shopping this afternoon (pre-guest stock up!) John made the radical suggestion of going to the beach for a swim!!! What on earth was he thinking of - just because we live near the sea!

It was my first dip in the Med but not John's as he had been swimming off of the boat when he was on Paul's stag do.  We parked up by the campsite and took a dip and it was lovely - a bit fresh getting up but 'lovely when you were used to it!!!'  

To dry off we took a walk around the campsite - we had heard lots of reports of it being spoiled by the removal of lots of trees.  We actually thought that the campsite was now opened up by their removal and having looked at the facilities didn't think it was too bad a place for people to camp out of the height of the summer when it would be filled like sardines with the Cypriots taking their annual holidays and communing with nature.

On the way home we called into pick up some veggies from Susan and John's.  They have a glut of green peppers at the moment and an even bigger kohlrabi than the last one that John made friends with.  Lovely fresh organic veg - who can beat it!  We are lucky to be able to enjoy the food without the pain of having to grow it!

We were going out this evening to meet up with Elaine and Paul at Fitos's for a nice quiet meal after all the stress of the wedding(s).  We were due to meet up with them at 7.00pm but were badly delayed when we drove past the 'Egyptian's' house to see a tiny black and white kitten running around.  

We believe that this might have been part of the litter of the cat with the broken leg that Sean and Sharon had rescued.  That cat had recently had kittens but we dont know where.  Irene had sadly found one which was more white and black than black and white squished on the road right next to the Egyptians so this little thing was part of the same litter.  It was tiny, terrified and covered in burrs, fleas and ticks.  John and I managed to catch it and put it in our coolbag (the only thing to hand) whilst waiting for Irene to arrive to take it somewhere safe.

Its capture was not without incident as it took a swipe at both John and I.  I received quite a gash in my finger and proceeded to bleed like a stuck pig.  You would have thought I had actually lost my finger the amount of blood which gushed out.  It was all in the coolbag, down my clean clothes, on the road, dripping down the side of the car - you name it and it suddenly occurred to me that my tetanus might be out of date!  John thought it might need stitches but he used some suture strips and told me to man up and stop whinging!

Irene pitched up and we handed over the kitten.  We rang Elaine and Paul to say we were running late and would explain.  Kitten safe and sound we set off down the road again to see another black and white kitten in the same spot - bugger!!!  John refused to leave it and so we called Irene and the three of us set off in a pincer movement to catch the kitten.  Shouts of 'its breaking cover from the fig tree' could be heard across Droushia!!  After about half and hour of getting hot and bothered we had failed and Irene decided she would go back the next day to try again.  We set off for Fitos looking infinitely more dishevelled than we had started out.

Elaine and Paul were very understanding and had whiled away our delay with a rather nice bottle of Vasilikon Rose and, as it was John's turn to drive, I helped them finish it off!  Food up to its usual standard - we all chose different and then shared - company up to its usual standard - a good laugh had by all and price up to its usual standard - a good night was, eventually, had by all and we went home safe in the knowledge that one little kitten was probably going to have a better chance of survival than it would have done yesterday.

On our return Chivers was home and in bed - in both of them!