Friday

It is official our house has been visited by the man-flu monster and John is feeling worse again today - he probably shouldn't have gone out last night but he so wanted to meet Di and Rob's friends and we always like to go to Finikas for something to eat.

In the absence of any SNIPS he had resorted to Cold Relief Capsules which I am not sure are very effective so despite having developed a very sore throat myself I went down to Polis and the Chemists to stock up on some supplies.

John wanted Olbas Oil and do you know apparently it is out of stock across the whole of the island - our Karvol capsules have been hanging about in the cabinet since we moved here and no longer pack a nasal punch like they used to.  There must be an epidemic of snotty noses in Cyprus for there to be no Olbas Oil.  I thought I might have been being fobbed off but I went to four of the chemists in Polis (not sure if there are any more) and not one of them could help - they had mega expensive natural Eucalyptus Oil and I know there is no price on John's health but four people could have had a good meal out on the price they were asking!!! (I jest of course)

Whilst waiting for one of the chemists to open I got the opportunity to nose around the lovely old colonial building that is falling into ruin next door.  It must have been magnificent in its day but now is sadly neglected.  It would be a shame if all of these beautiful buildings wee allowed to disappear - they are the history and character of the island and if they go we will only be left with a sanitised version of the island.

All to often houses like these have been handed down through generations and are now owned in part shares by many people located all over the place so the chances of getting them to sit down and agree on its future is slim.  I wonder how many people say that they own a family house in Cyprus but have never seen it and do not realise it is nothing more than a crumbling pile of bricks?

John was confined to barracks for the day - we have a lot of things planned for tomorrow and want to be able to do them so rest was the order of the day.  This gave me a chance to get on with some things...
... do you know that there is a company called the Cambridge Distillery that tailors gin for clients?  Well we are tailoring our own!!!  Jackie and Stan brought us a bottle of gin and some dried lemon - Jackie says that you infuse the gin with the lemon and it makes for a wonderful drink with or without a mixer!  We have added some of the dried lemon, some of our limes and some juniper berries.  This will be agitated over the next few weeks so that the gin gets fully infused by the flavours and then we will have our own mix - I know exactly how much of the flavourings I have used so if it is good I will be able to recreate it.

John began to feel a little better and so got up for the afternoon and we took the opportunity to catch up on all the TV programmes that we have missed recently.  We watched the final part of National Treasure which was a very thought provoking programme and probably to near the mark for comfort.  We watched The Apprentice and then the most recent episode of the Great British Bake Off which saw the demise of Benjamina.  This year there is no outstanding knock-out baker so it is interesting as they all seem to make mistakes.

Midway through our lazy afternoon I decided to get out my 'showstopper' (as Paul Hollywood would call it) and produced a piece of Paps finest carrot cake - we never got round to eating it when Jackie and Stan visited and it seemed just right for a poorly boy with a poorly throat.

Seems like the various bits of medication, tablets and lozenges are beginning to do their trick - John declared that he was feeling better - well enough to try a Leon whilst we watched some England v Scotland Ladies Bowls match on the TV - boy we know how to live!!!  Early start tomorrow because all things being equal we are on our village clean.