the storm

The weather last night was absolutely appalling - it was a storm and a half with cyclonic winds, rain, hail, thunder and lightning.  We were up at various times of the night checking that everything was intact.  I could hear the panels moving up on the roof, I could hear garden furniture moving, I could hear things breaking.  Charlie came in absolutely soaking and Chivers was nowhere to be seen.

We reckon that we finally got some decent sleep at around 4.00am and then we were back up awake again at about 6.30am when we went to feed the cats and were pleased to find that they were all in.

Outside was carnage.  Although fortunately it was calm and the skies were blue.  The gazebo at the front of the house was in shreds - we hadn't taken it down because we had decided to leave it up for Sally and Tommy's visit.  This always happens to us - we leave them up and then all of a sudden an unforecast storm comes and does the damage.  The fabric becomes frail from the sunshine and it rips easily.

On closer inspection it would appear that the strength of the wind had actually bent one of the gazebo struts around 45 degrees from where it should have been and in so doing released the fabric canopy leaving it to flap in the wind rather than shred it completely.

There were areas of damage but it was repairable and the canopy could live to fight another day until we can buy a replacement.

John got the sewing machine out and I started on the repairs but Boris clearly had a different idea and settled down to have some of the sleep he had missed during the night.

It looked like someone had tipped the contents of a composting bin into the pool - actually it was mostly clock-vine which had taken a right old hammering during the night.

Poor John had spent ages cleaning the pool over the weekend and now had to do it all over again and then some!

On close inspection we seem to have got off lighter than we might have done.  This storm tested whether or not we still get water coming in under the front door and it would appear that we do not which is fabulous.  It also tested John's new flood defence system and overflow solution from the water butt which seemed to have worked fine.  Flapping gazebo fabric had knocked over a couple of pots which had got broken but nothing serious.  The furniture up on the roof terrace had been blown across the roof but John had been up earlier in the evening to take down the brolly and anything that might have got broken.  Most of the plants had come off unscathed even though they were now at a jaunty angle - most of the debris had come from flowers doing their autumnal shed so there wasn't much we could have done about that anyway.

The biggest casualty was my phone which obviously got affected at some point by a blip in the internet during an update and so now wouldn't work properly - I couldn't believe it - it had taken me so long to get round to getting a phone from the 21st century and now the bloody thing was knackered and would involve a trip to Public which is akin to having to take a trip to Comet or Curry's in my book - staff happy to sell you things but not so happy to sort them out when they don't work.  I had extra insurance with the phone happily but I just knew it wasn't going to be a straightforward fix and as it happens I was right.  I have to back it up (which is going to be interesting) and then let them have it for a few hours to rebuild.  I can't tell you how much this sort of thing irritates me so I was less than a happy bunny during our regular gym session this morning.

John and I went off to Paphos and called in to the exhaust place on the Mesoghi Avenue to get them to look at Kenny and 15 minutes and 90 euros later Kenny had a brand spanking new exhaust which should help with the fuel economy.  John seemed to think this was very reasonable although we have lost touch with how much this might have cost in the UK.

So this evening we were trying out the taverna we had come across in Kritou Terra - a state of the art kitchen in the middle of nowhere.  We asked Diana and Rob to come with us as we know they like to try new places.  We had phoned to make sure that there was somewhere to sit inside because it was really quite chilly up in the hills last night.  Glavcos told us that the outside space is going to be enclosed shortly which will be good because when we arrived inside only has space for one table!!! Still we were the only ones there so that wasn't a problem and we were grateful for the warmth from the grill which was next to us.

This is a traditional little grill house with limited menu so we just asked for meze all round.  It was all very fresh and all very nicely cooked and not too over-facing.  We had eggs and courgette, a couple of dips, bread and salad, halloumi, lounza and loukanika, chips and a massive plate of souvla and sheftalia (and mushrooms!!!) followed by fresh fruit and coffee for 10 euros a head!

Diana found herself a little friend who I think she could have taken home with her if she had wanted!!!  One of the taverna cats came and made himself at home at our table.  He was pretty and gentle and just purred his head off all the time.  He kept trying to sit in Diana's handbag so I reckon that he was asking her to take him home!!!

We had a lovely evening - the food and company was great and it was nice to go somewhere completely different for a change.  If the taverna is to survive over the winter it will need to get the outside space enclosed and maybe have some heaters and I am not sure if there were more than half a dozen people there how well they would cope but we enjoyed it and would go back again - in fact John plans to take Dad there tomorrow for lunch whilst we ladies are at the hotel.

We decided to round off our evening in the warmth of the Hotel with a carafe of wine.  There are still a number of visitors at the hotel which is good.  Tomorrow we will be having our ladies lunch there and will remain at that venue until next year and the warmer weather - now we know that winter is here when that happens.

A nice evening to cap off a testing day!!