Christmas Shopping Day...

Every year John and I set aside one day to do some Christmas Shopping - well that is what we say we are doing but normally we have nothing much to shop for as we don't go overboard at Christmas - if we need something we tend to buy it when we need it!  Anyway today was that day and we woke to storms - unforecast storms at that - our flood defences have been well and truly tested and held firm which is good news and so now when it rains at night I don't have to leap out of bed to shove towels against the front door - it means I will sleep easier and as someone who seems to be taking after her mother in the sleep stakes that won't be a bad thing - just recently for one reason or another I haven't been sleeping overly well.

Today Rob and Diana were  driving and we had arranged to leave around 9.30 and we were heading down to the Mall and meeting up with Wendy and Bill for lunch.   The wet start meant a cool start and even down in Paphos the temperature was only 11 degrees - apparently the day improved considerably but being indoors for the day meant we had no idea what was going on outside!

We started with coffee - coffee which we drank outside as it wasn't too bad outside - not shorts weather that was for sure but we none of us had a coat on.  This was to set us up for the remainder of the morning - we decided we would have a good old mooch first and 'do' the top floor before stopping for lunch and catching up with Wendy and Bill.  John and Rob wanted to make sure they got to the Beer Seller in Geroskipou this afternoon and so we decided they should shoot off after lunch and get sorted as the Beer Seller would close and the Mall would still be open until around 8.00pm.

Even though we are a week into December and therefore Christmas day is only just over a fortnight away the Mall was by no means packed which meant that having a good look round was a joy.  Normally I have a quick visit in there with Mum after pickleball so having several hours to spend was a real treat.

Mum and Dad have given us some money for Christmas in advance so that we could find something to spend it on today.  John was looking for a new outfit for Christmas and found exactly what he was looking for but couldn't find it in his size!!!  Joking of course he had found himself some new shoes and as he has real trouble with this feet this is good news.

I was looking for something nice to wear - not that I really needed it but it is nice to have something new and I had decided to spend anything left over on some bits for the house - we had seen some cushions for the chairs in the dining room to replace the ones we currently have which have seen better days.

We hadn't really 'done' the top floor by the time we caught up with Wendy and Bill but at least Rob had got a chance to have a look in his favourite shop La Maison - I like that shop too and could always find something to buy in there.  I used to have to wait until we went to Limassol to go to La Maison in My Mall so it is lovely that there is a branch here in Paphos

We had a lovely hour or so with Wendy and Bill at the food hall and hope that we might get together with them again when their sons are over for Christmas.  Sadly they had to shoot back to Pissouri as they were meeting someone who hopefully will get to the bottom of the water leak they have on their communal pool.

When Wendy and Bill left John and Rob went to their Mecca in Geroskipou and to have some man time together - when they returned it was apparent that they had had a ball together with Athos at the Beer Sellar who remembered my Dad from his fishing days.  We girlies, on the other hand, worked methodically around the shops - Zara Home looked and smelt fabulous - it is such a lovely shop - out of my price range generally so I stick to Jumbo!!!

Having completed our shopping we decided to round off our day out with a little trip to the Brewery.  This is definitely a better venue when it is warm and you can sit outside as it was rather chilly in the Outside Inn so we only had a couple of drinks and shared a pizza before we went home.  It had been a lovely day.