Pimp my fire...

So, as they say, every day is a school day and yesterday we were watching a programme on the good old BBC and a guy was making pimps and the string tied bundle of sticks in front of the fire is exactly that - a pimp!  It is a by product of coppicing and when made correctly are apparently the very best fire lighter you can use.

John is now perfecting his pimping skills!!!  This was his first attempt and he will be rating its efficiency later when we light the fire.  It is a good way of gathering up all the small offcuts and kindling and packaging it up into something useful.

We had been blessed with a glorious start to the day for which we were very grateful.  We had some bits and pieces we wanted to get sorted before we went off down to Emba for pickleball and when it is dry and bright and sunny you feel more inclined to get up and get on with tasks particularly outside.

The garden survived relatively unscathed after the high winds and heavy rain on Tuesday - there are quite a few leaves needing clearing but I reckon that it is probably the time when those plants shed anyway - the wind just helped them along.  Apparently there is more bad weather forecast for next week.

Charlie Farley was sunbathing out on the bench so I took the opportunity to give him a grooming.  Fortunately he likes to be brushed for as long as he likes it and then he tries to bite the hand that grooms him.  He particularly likes the spot at the base of his tail where he cannot reach and I came away with a handful of fur in fact several hands full.

We received a belated Christmas card today from our lovely friends Sally and Tommy and their children Freddy and Molly and not forgetting dog Buddy.  I recognised one or two of the dressing up hats - I think the Tricorn that Tommy is sporting was worn by me to an 80s party held at their house when I went as Adam Ant and the Rasta hat with dreadlocks I wore as a responsible member of the community when we went camping in Weymouth with the Allans and the Stapletons and we had an Easter Bonnet competition.  There are so many stories from that weekend, the connect 4 championships, the extreme cross country boules, the girl from the tent next door who tucked into our biscuits and then her mum told us she was not to have sugar and Mrs Allan getting a tad squiffy watching H from Steps providing the family entertainment!!

As we drove down to the main road from Droushia you could see how windy it was down on the coast by all the white horses that were clearly visible.  It was relatively calm for us - it makes a change for the weather in Droushia to be better than down by the sea.  We had a quiet drive down until we got to the stretch along Banana Bay where they seem to be doing some resurfacing and we got a bit caught up in a bit of a queue but fortunately we were on the side that was moving.

The sea along that stretch was rough.  There was a lovely old wedding bus stopped on the side of the road and the sun was in the wrong position and John's windscreen was too covered in salt for me to get a good shot.  We are betting that the bride was very very glad that she hadn't tied the knot earlier in the week when she would have got soaked and frozen - she was wearing a dress with no sleeves and no shoulders.

We like to try and do our bit for the environment although Cyprus's record in that department is poor.  We take our bottles and cans to the bins in Peyia if we are passing that way and I collect plastics, cardboard etc which I bag up and put with Mum's recycling in Emba - she likes to do it but she and Dad probably don't generate too much so they have ours as well.  I would like to say that the fly-tipping and littering is improving but sadly not - the island seems to have a massive clean up once a year and then it just mounts up again until the next time.  We have our own village clean next week - weather permitting and looking at the road it is sorely in need of it.

We had some good games today - there were only four of us (Di and Kyle came) and we managed to avoid setting off the alarm so Marios was happy.  We followed our games with a nice chat and cuppa with Mum and Dad and will be seeing them on Sunday when it is Mum's turn to cook.  We drove home accompanied by a magnificent sunset (hastily taken out of the passenger's windows as John drove home) feeling happy with the chicken and roast potatoes and makings of coleslaw we had picked up en route.  It was the beginning of the weekend and Friday Night is John's favourite night of the week.  Our mode was dampened somewhat on our return when we found Boris on our bed unable or unwilling to move and crying and growling at us when we tried to see what was wrong.  He clearly had some sort of problem with his front left leg and when we tried to get him to stand he screamed with pain.  It was getting too late for us to get him to the vets but we were very concerned.  We rang Dr Inna's to see if there was anyone at the vet's in Polis which we might have reached by 6.00pm which is generally when they close but there is no vet there on a Friday.  We spoke to a Dr Victoria who was fabulous - she talked us through a few checks we could make and as it was clearly an injury rather than poison or a bite she said we should keep him quiet and make sure he ate and drank.  We did this and he gradually improved as the evening went on.  Dr Victoria left us her private mobile number in case we were worried or his condition deteriorated and said she would see us tomorrow morning if we still felt a visit to the vets was necessary.