Meeting up after 38 years...

Today I was going to meet up with a school friend who I haven't seen for 38 years.  The last time we were together would have been at the end of Upper Sixth after sitting our 'A' Levels at Sunny Hill School aka Bruton School for Girls and recently I have learned that she is living near Paralimni - the other side of the island and we had arranged to meet up in Pissouri.

It was the most beautiful day today and I had decided that I would take the old coast road down towards Pissouri which meant that I would pass the Rocks of Aphrodite (Petrou tou Romiou) which is just such a stunning piece of coastline which I never tire of photographing.

Apart from one man standing on the beach near the biggest rock it was empty and it would have been such a wonderful day to go and explore if you were a tourist although I am not sure that the sea temperature is sufficient to entice people to swim three times round the big rock and find eternal youth - more likely catch a cold or suffer a heart attack!!

The colours of the sea and sky are so much more vivid in the Spring when there is no heat haze around and today there didn't seem to be any evidence of the sand in the atmosphere either.

My journey to Pissouri took less time than it would take for Sheri to get across from Paralimni so I arrived and parked up and went for a little walk around the village.  It is somewhere I am quite familiar as we like to get across and visit Bill and Wendy when they are there but it is nice to try and get some photographs of less obvious things!!

It had been bright when I left Droushia but I had no idea how warm it was going to be in Pissouri but generally it is warmer so I had sensibly opted for layers!!!  I had a nice wander around - the bicycle was located around the corner from the Bunch of Grapes.

These lovely stones were on a patio at the back of a restaurant which I saw up a side street - I have made a couple of pictures using pebbles which have been grouted into a frame and they always look attractive - the stones come in such beautiful soft colours.

I had arranged that Sheri and I would eat at the new fish and ship place in Pissouri - is it called The Plaice and we have eaten there before.

Sheri was bringing a couple of friends along for the ride and they were going to have a wander around Pissouri whilst we chatted and would be wanting some lunch so with only one other taverna open the chances were that they would be eating there are well.

I finished walking round and took a seat in the square with a coffee waiting for Sheri to arrive.  It wasn't long before she test to say they had arrived and actually she had parked by the Two Friends as I had so she and her friends had a little walk to get to the square.

I had to smile because there was a blackboard advertising bingo that evening - clearly the new laws about gambling in Cyprus have not reached Pissouri yet!

As I waited for Sheri and her friends to arrive I was kept company by one of the Square cats - I recognised this as one of the cats that Wendy and Bill had helped to trap and neuter and apparently he is known as Jaws!!!  He is a lovely cat and I was glad of his company!

I would have recognised Sheri immediately even if I had not seen her photograph recently - she looks exactly as I remembered her when she and I were both 18!!!  It was so easy to sit down and catch up on the intervening years and learn how she had come to live on the island, what she was doing and what her plans were. 

We sat and talked for a while in the square before moving on to the Fish and Chip shop where her friends were, as expected, having lunch.  It was a good choice as the chippie in Paralimni has recently shut!

We managed to get a photograph taken here - I had to smile because at school we were forced to wear green and there we both were wearing green voluntarily!!!

We eventually moved back to the square and chatted some more and the time really flew by.

Before long it was time to say our goodbyes but we have promised each other that once the tourist season is over (Sheri has a job in a hotel) we will do it again - maybe somewhere in Limassol as that would be more like halfway - I reckon we should both be able to find the marina if nothing else!!!

It is amazing how the shared experiences of school made it so easy to meet back up again.  No agenda save to catch up and renew friendships - it was lovely and I am so glad we did it.