lovely day...

We had a lovely day today - the weather is good again - beautiful bright warm days which are followed by cool clear nights - it is November and we hope this weather will last well into December unlike last year when it was oh so wet and miserable.

I wont say very much about the start to the day because regular readers will know that we go into the pool albeit briefly but we are still going in.  It doesn't seem half as bad when you come out and the sun is shining!  More than anything I want a record of this so I can look back on it next year and marvel at our madness.

John dropped me down to Di's this morning as Di and I were going to Aunty Friday aka Aunty Paraskevi aka Aunty Vawy (?) to see her display of autumn Chrysanthemum's.  Aunty Friday is Elena's aunt who lives in the Big House which sits in splendid isolation in Droushia and which commands fabulous 360 degree views which may have been somewhat compromised by the construction of the Spa some years ago.

Di did not need to be asked to come twice.  As Stavraki and Paraskevi's house is a mystery set in massive grounds behind electric gates it is not somewhere you can just stroll past for a nose!  It is by invitation only and I have an open invitation now which is rather nice.  Di and I left the boys deep in football conversation and discussing beer and comparing their nuts!!

Our trip to the Big House was no disappointment - the Chrysanthemums were outstanding and although not a favourite flower of mine you could not but marvel at their display.  At various times of the year Aunty Friday has vast swathes of flowers rambling around the grounds.  Last time I went it was the wild delphiniums which danced in the wind in colours of white, pale pink, lilac, deep mauve and blue and shortly there will be hundreds of narcissi adding welcome colour in the winter.

I suggested that maybe I should go along once a month and take a photograph and turn it into a calendar for her - she liked that idea so maybe I will start next month and then I can finish next November and have it ready for her for the following year.

She had, as anticipated, made one of her famous chiffon cakes and we sat down to join her two Vietnamese girls at breakfast on a table which had one of the largest lazy Susan's I have seen.  We were offered cake and/or cheese and preserves - we sat chatting for quite a while finding out about Aunty Friday's fascinating background - she came from Brunei via the UK to end up in Droushia.   At one point Stavraki was a doctor at Musgrove Park in the maxillofacial department where I was operated upon in 1988 when I had my jaw reconstructed.  She could tell me who the surgeons would have been even though Stavraki had left by then.  She even told us the story of how she came to have the name Vawy because when she met Stavraki it was by accident - she had been given tickets to go to a disco in London by a friend and had inadvertently gone to the wrong place and met Stavraki there - he was a student at Manchester University but was portering at a hospital in London during his holidays.  Not thinking she would see him again when asked her name she said Vanwy as she had been reading a book by a Welsh author whose name was Myvanwy - this was shortened over time to Vawy.  Great story but even though I asked what her real name is I still have no idea!!

Prior to doing our shopping in Paps in Polis for our curry night we are having on Thursday John was treated to a spot of lunch out at the Turtle Tavern - not a favourite venue as it is a bit of an ex-pat hangout but it does a good pint of Old Speckled Hen at a good price - John was ecstatic to find that today they had on top what used to be a local brew for us when we were in the UK.  Wadworth's 6X wooo hoooo and according to John it was a damn fine pint too - so damn fine he had to have a second!

We both had ham egg and chips before tackling Paps which is really no hardship as it is rarely busy.

We returned to start the prep for the food - I was going to tackle making naan breads this time - you can't find them here often and when you do they are expensive so I had found an 'easy' recipe and will report back.  I am doing starters and mains, Di is doing the pud and Claire and Mina are eating it all!  We haven't seen them since John's birthday nearly two months ago so it will be good to catch up.