Friday

My lovely friend Elena has been allowed to escape hospital in Nicosia again this weekend and will be at home with all the family for Easter which is good news.  Having managed to keep the chickens, rabbits and mangoes alive and fed for the week I was happy to hand back responsibility and go and visit and catch up on the news.

Elena was her usual cheerful self and sporting plaited pig-tails courtesy of her youngest child Lola, and Lola if you want to know what you will look like in about 30 years' time take a look at your mama and think that if you manage to achieve anything like her beautiful self then you wont have done too badly!!

John will love Elena for ever (not that he does not already do so) because she gave me a selection of dark chocolate Toblerone to take home for him to consume and he will be ecstatic because he knows that I don't really like dark chocolate so they will be pretty safe in the fridge unless I get an absolute chocolate fix craving and then anything will do!

We had to forego our normal gym session this morning as we were due down to Paphos early as we had spotted some wooden steamer chairs being sold and although they were in need of some TLC they were exactly what we had been looking for to go on the decking outside the guest bedroom. 

This involved a trip to deepest darkest Armou - somewhere I do not think I have visited previously or at least not to my knowledge.  We had to find the square and then telephone the women who came and found us and took us up and around a whole load of windy narrow roads until we got to her home.  The chairs do need some TLC but nothing major - they have just been left outside untreated for too long but will be ideal for the decking area once tarted up so we did a deal on them and got them in the car.  If we cannot find anything else for my Mum and Dad or John's Mum and Stepdad to give us for our anniversary then they can give us these.

John went off to Badminton - we are hopeful that pickleball will resume next week providing that the new floor has been laid in the room that we use and they are happy for us to play on it.

I took Mum over to the Blue Olive so that I could drop off the plaques that Rebecca had asked me to make for one of their customers and we sat outside and had a drink on the terrace whilst we decided where to go for a little walk.  I am not overly familiar with that stretch of the coastline and wanted somewhere reasonably flat for Mum so we decided to go back along the coast and investigate an area opposite the mini golf where there is a massive carpark and we weren't sure why.

We parked up and walked down towards the sea - there is a pathway leading either to the left or the right.  The right takes you along the beach front of the Azia and to the left along the beach front of the Laura Beach.

Going slightly off piste we found a really beautiful area looking out to sea which was absolutely lovely.  We walked for a little way in both directions just to see what was there.  A nice flat and pretty walk which will be improved when the new cafe they are building is completed so people can get a drink.  We plan a walk before we have lunch on Sunday so may well go that way again.

We were out this evening at the Farmyard meeting up with Lou and H and H's children Paul and Catherine.  It was a Thai Buffet night with music provided by Dominic Holmes who just doesn't have the same appeal for Louise and I as Raphael did!

The food was great though - particularly the beef curry dish which was stunning.  We had a good time but didn't get to dance as often as we might otherwise have done if the music had had less of a country and western flavour!!!