Tuesday December 29th

We are now in that funny time between Christmas and New Year when part of me is fed up with the Christmas Decorations and the other part of me will think it is tooooooo bare when they have gone.  We still have people to catch up with as part of the festive season so the decorations will remain in situ for the time being.

One of my Christmas gifts was a pad of Daily Teachings based on The Secret - a book which the lovely Kate Fessas gave me to read this year.  I am looking forward to January 1st when I can take a leaf out every day and learn from what it says.  This and our memory jar will be important to us over the next 12 months.

If you are a regular reader you will know that we have recently decorated out bedroom and I have finally got round to putting up one of the decals that I bought just in case.  They are probably a bit old hat now if you are an interior designer but I like them and it nicely fills a gap.

So back to today and it is the morning after the night before and there is nothing that quite hits the mark like a bacon buttie although I read today that if you are nursing a hangover then you should eat eggs in the morning because of the amino acids or something similar.  I could have done eggs but John wasn't bothered as he would be running around playing badminton later.

The weather so far this December has been fantastic and I was happily in shorts today - even here in Droushia it has been considerably milder than in previous years.  This is apparently the calm before the storm as bad weather is forecast with severely reduced temperatures and the threat of snow.  I don't know why we are surprised by that as it is almost the end of December.

We shot off this morning to feed Millie.  John and Susan return on Friday and it is the longest they have been away and we feel for poor Millie as she is missing regular company.  We do our best but she is a car drive away and so we go every day, sometimes twice but we are not just on tap. Today we were very concerned because not only did we not see her but today for the first time no food had been eaten which is very unusual.  We had taken down the remainder of our Christmas Turkey as a treat and intended to spend some extra time with her but she was not there.  Worryingly we past several hunters, we think that over Christmas there are more days when they are allowed to hunt and we know that she hides away when they are around.  We asked Wheelie Helen if she was passing today to go and see if Millie was around and decided we would call back again when we returned from Paphos.

We took the opportunity to take a second look at tiles for the swimming pool and now think we have decided upon the ones that we like.  We just need to confirm quantities and then we can order them nest week.  We also nipped into Paps in Chloraka to get some cat treats.  I couldn't resist taking this photograph - outside the main doors are two designated disabled parking spaces.  A big fat man rolled up in his Merc and parked squarely across both spaces before getting out to do his shopping.  It is appalling that people can so brazenly flout this restriction.  We know from personal experience just how difficult it can be to get around with someone who has restricted mobility.  John wanted to park across the back of him and then leave the car parked there so he couldn't get out.

Mum and I went out whilst John was playing badminton.  One of the gifts I had given Dad was some playing cards with large numbers which are easier to use if you eyesight is failing.

We couldn't find any when we got into Tiger so asked one of the assistants for the large playing cards and the assistant came back with the mega ones like they used to use in Play Your Cards Right.  We might have been able to see them easier but my god our hands would have ached trying to hold them!!!

Anyway we got what we wanted and then decided to go down to the Harbour for a cuppa.  This is most easier said than done as the road system is completely screwed whilst they complete the dual carriageway and the roundabout by The Mall - anyway but a rather more circuitous route than I had anticipated I made it to the harbour and Mum spotted a parking space and we were in!!!

It was beautiful down there - anyone who has visited the island over the last three weeks will have had probably the best winter sunshine the island has recorded in quite a long while.

There were loads of fishermen at the harbour and I was particularly taken by this antique motor vehicle which had been modified to accommodate his fishing gear!!!  Not sure what they catch if anything but there are worse ways of spending an afternoon.

We are amazed by the way in which establishments now trim up for Christmas when not so long ago it was not really a celebration that they recognised.  In one of the tavernas on the harbour-side there was a complete wall of poinsettias and baubles which looked absolutely stunning.

There were lots of lovely boats around and now that the go-ahead has been given to a marina in Paphos this is only set to increase.  We have read that the economy here has just about recovered from the crisis of four years ago - let's hope so and let's hope that lessons have been learned and the island reverts to the things that it was good at and which made people flock here previously.



Mum and I settled ourselves in the sunshine for an afternoon cup of tea at Hobo's cafe where one of the beautiful resident cats was keeping a watchful eye on proceedings.

I had received a text message from Helen earlier to say that they had been to see if Millie had returned but there was no sign and the food was still untouched.  We are now very worried.

On John's return from Badminton we set off and called into John and Susan's - still no sign of Millie and still all the food in the bowl - this is most unusual.

We will go down first thing in the morning and we hope and pray that there will be some evidence that she has been around.  There are only three days left till John and Susan return and we want to be able to let them know that everything is ok.