Poogate...

There was a glorious sunrise this morning and I wondered what it would herald - I did not for one minute think it would herald and overly wet wetroom and John with his hand up a blocked drain!!!!  Our track record with people doing work in our house is not good and numpty brain that did the bathroom failed to cover over the toilet waste pipe when he was smashing the room to bits even though John kept mentioning it and as a result bits of tile had fallen down and were blocking up the flow.  We realised when I was mid-shower and paddling around ankle deep in water and there was a bubbling noise emanating from the toilet and when flushed nothing happened. Poor John tracked down the issue and took up the manhole cover swallowed hard, held his breath, began to gag and then shoved his hand in the murk and pulled out shitty broken tiles amongst other things.   Problem partially solved because until he can investigate further we don't know if there is any more down there - a job for another day.

After that lovely start to the morning John decided to crack on with scrutinising the pool tiling and filling any little air bubbles in the grout and replacing the wrong grout with the right grout.  We know that once the pool is filled with water we will never see any of this again but whilst we have the opportunity we might as well take it to make sure it is as good as it is ever going to be.  This of course plays havoc with John's fingers as the grout is causing the skin to split and havoc with his bones as lying or kneeling on the tiles isn't good even with a kneeling mat.

We travelled down to Paphos separately today as John was dropping the Peugeot off to have the dints ironed out.  They were there when we purchased it and we just haven't got round to taking it in to be done but the last time we had it washed we noticed a repair place at the garage and they took a look and gave us a very good price for the work so we decided to get it done.

I had to call in to the St Michael's charity shop in Peyia because I have been chosen to trial some Aloe Vera skin products - I have never had nice skin, having acne from an early age so I never really valued it and now I am regretting that a little - still apparently it is never too late to start and with the opportunity to try something for a couple of weeks I should be able to tell whether (a) I like it and it doesn't make me itch and (b) it is actually doing  some good.  There is certainly a comprehensive range for me to try and the prices haven't given me too much of a heart attack so tonight I will start my new regime and see what happens.

I also remembered to stop at the Peyia Laundry and pick up the tablecloths and napkins which Elena leant us for Jane's birthday and which took a bit of a hammering as we were eating in the dark!!!  I cannot believe that they washed them paying special attention to the stains and ironed them and charged me €5!!!  At that price there was little point in me trying to wash them and I certainly would never have been able to press them so they looked anything like as good as this and I couldn't expect Elena's mum to do them even though she is here at the moment!

Chores done, my car washed and John's dropped off for its little facelift we set off for Mum and Dads and Mum and I went on to play pickleball.  No Liz this week so there were only five of us which means that we have less time to sit out and now it is getting warmer the ball seems to fly quicker so we get more of a work-out although I have to say not as much of a work-out as we get when we play on a Friday which leaves me exhausted!!!

 Mum wanted to go down to Swanky Wags afterwards because apparently she and Dad will have a powercut most of the day on Thursday and she wants Dad to go and try the new Restaurant which is attached to the gift shop.   This is a new Gluten Free venture and has quite a comprehensive lunch time menu so she and Dad should be able to find something they like the look of.

Mum and I just had a cup of tea and a piece of the gluten-free carrot cake which was quite nice although I think I prefer the cake at Tala Monastery because I find the consistency of gluten free cakes a bit on the wet side - still I am lucky I don't have to worry about gluten because I know from my lovely friend Joani how awful it is if you are a coeliac - which is a disease and not some sort of dietary fad.

They have got seating indoors and out - it was nice enough this afternoon to sit outside but the decor inside is very  nice - a blue beach theme - it all looks nice and clean and inviting and we wish them luck with this new venture.  I shall wait to hear Mum and Dad's opinion until after they have sampled a spot of lunch on Thursday.

Mum and I had a little mooch around Swanky Wags which sells all sorts of gifts and crafts and second hand clothing.  It is a nicely laid out shop and now I do think it is better than the original one which was in Chloraka - the only trouble is that now it is located beyond Philippos's supermarket at Coral Bay it is not somewhere I pass and it has to be a special trip still if you are out that way it is worth a visit.

The woman who has all the paintings displayed at the back of the shop was busy working outside tarting up the windows painting flowers on the outside.  She has already done one set of windows and it looks fantastic and although you can't really see from the photograph the blue flowers set off the blue cushions for the seating area outside.

So a lovely day was followed by a really lovely evening.  We joined Rob and Diana for dinner at the Droushia Heights Hotel because they were staying there courtesy of their Alpha Mega discount voucher.  All the standard rooms were fully booked so they had been allocated (for a little extra money) a Junior Suite which was delightful and had views over the pool and across to the bay and the mountains.

We opted to eat from the a la carte menu and I have to say I was really quite impressed bearing in mind that the hotel was full and they were also running their buffet service.  A couple of carafe's of Kolios Red and we were well away.  Big big big big thank-you to the Veasey's for our dinner which was unexpected but very welcome.