Our first Chrimbo celebration...

An early start today but at the moment went don't we get up early?  Charlie is proving to be a right pain in the arse as his in-built tapeworm wakes about 5.30 and he wants FEEDING which means he scratches at the bedroom door continuously and it does my head in.  Still not a problem today as we had Bassam coming to do the tiling job on the kitchen roof.  He was due to come yesterday but the weather was bad but today it was wall to wall winter sunshine - bright but bloody cold if you weren't in the sun.

We have asked him to tile the sloping bit of the roof upon which the railings of the roof terrace stand because when it rains heavily, and believe me it rains very heavily here the rain washes away any paint on that part of the wall and in running down brings with it all sorts of shit and silt and so the top of the wall looks very dirty.  The tiles will make it look better and help to keep rainwater from running down the kitchen walls - well that is the theory.  It wasn't as straightforward a job as we had anticipated but then when is it ever where we are concerned?  The first problem was that Julia didn't have the tiles we were hoping to buy so we had to get Italian ones which were a bit more expensive and every one of them had to be cut shorter so poor John managed to get through Bassam's cutter and our neighbour Mohammed's cutter in the process and ended up looking like a badly spray tanned body builder as he was covered in terracotta dust, two thirds of the job got completed and Bassam will return on Saturday to complete it.

Whilst Bassam and John were hard at it I went down to Polis to get some shopping in readiness for the weekend when Nicky and Mark are coming to stay and to see if I could find any little presents for Mum, Dad and John for Christmas.  I have to say that the drive down was stunning - the island looks beautiful at the moment - green and lush and the sky is a deep blue and so is the sea - today we were able to clearly see the mountains of Turkey in the distance.

One of the shops which I ventured into today I haven't been into before - shamefully.  It is the small florists opposite the carpark next to Prime Insurance.  This is a real treasure trove if  you like old fashioned crockery (amongst other things) it was not what I expected to find inside.  I could have bought the lot - I am a sucker for a nice china mug or cup and saucer.  I shall definitely pop in there more regularly.  The woman who owns it was lovely and we had quite a chat about all sorts of things including art!

I never used to think we had an autumn here but we do, as I drove up the hill from Polis to Akourdaleia (to pick up a plant I had bought from a Swedish lady who is relocating) you could see the changing colours of the landscape - you could have been anywhere in the UK as I came up through the wooded area before the village.

On my way home I took the opportunity to call in on Elaine who has been having a bit of a time of it of late.  She was ok, more stirred than shaken and I was pleased to see that she had trimmed up her house in her own inimitable style.

The first year I met her we were invited to the house for Carols.  I remember we had never seen rain like it and we only called in on our way down to Paphos.  On stepping out of the car the water was knee height and we arrived like drowned rats but her house look a-maz-ing!

Apparently on leaving college as a newly qualified teacher in Thatcher's Britain she was unable to secure a job in teaching so got a job as a window dresser for the newly opening Arndale Centres and at Christmas went on a course to learn how to dress trees properly.

That year it had taken her 4 days to decorate her beautiful house, this year she admitted that it was done somewhat half-heartedly but the result is fabulous and much more structured than my scatter gun approach, clearly the biggest balls (pardon my french) need to be at the bottom and then they reduce in size as you work your way up the tree.

This evening we had been invited along with Di and Rob to Claire and Mina's for an early Christmas celebration.  Good on Claire who rustled up a fabulous meal on nothing more than a glorified primus!

As always we had a brilliant evening although I was driver and a little under par as I felt really tired and like I was going to develop a lovely Christmas cold.

We danced - we always do but then why wouldn't you when one of your hosts was a latter day Ministry of Sound DJ - who else could get you singing your heart out to Dolly and Kenny and Island in the Stream?  Sadly there was an incident with a glass of red wine and a new Ikea rug which required some white wine, a slice of bread and some bicarb of soda - we wait to hear whether it was rescued.

Thanks peeps for a lovely, lovely evening - it reminded me of last Christmas when we got together in the village (with some of our other friends) and Claire, Mina and I went to see Elena as we were out and about.  On that night she was laughing and joking although she was so very poorly - it is hard to believe that only a week later she passed away.  Where has that year gone?