the beginning of 2018...

Two years ago today was probably the last time I remember Elena being well.

Although there was still snow on the ground we went en masse for a walk to the Bandstand at Pittokopos and then made it back before the heavens opened and we all decamped chez nous with Melanie, Simon and their kids for something hot and warming from my slow cookers.

Elena was wearing her favourite old fake fur coat and looked like an amazonian Womble on the move!  The kids found some massive pipes to play in and we all tried to walk off the excesses of the festive period and keep out the cold - it was freezing!

The weather today was much nicer than it had been two years ago.  As I drove down to play pickleball I thought that if I were a tourist and could find a sheltered spot in the sun and out of the wind I would be inclined to sunbathe.  Although there was a fair amount of cloud when in between it was really very pleasant.

John was staying at home today so my plan was to find somewhere to get a birthday card and present for Lola who had phoned me yesterday to invite us to her unbirthday birthday party this afternoon, her actual birthday is Thursday and Amoura's next week!  My plan was scuppered as everywhere was shut!  and I mean EVERYWHERE - not even Paps!!!!  Apparently staff in retail had been given an extra day today from Easter (if that makes any sense at all!!).

With a little time on my hands I decided to take some photographs at the currently closed SeaYou bar.

As I was wandering round I encountered two of the sweetest kittens - one grey (seen poking its head around the palm tree in the picture on the right) and its sibling which was more skittish and black and white.

I was pleased to see a food bowl and water bowl was out for them so someone is feeding them thank goodness and they did look in great condition.

I did not hang around long as I wanted to get to Mum and Dads and spend some time with them before pickleball as I had to get back as quickly as possible to go and see Lola and I still had the conundrum of what to take her, this was solved by going to the Paps bakery at the top of the Mesoghi Avenue and buying a cake to satisfy even Lola's sweet teeth!

I couldn't get Lola to stay still long enough to take a decent photograph but she seemed happy enough with her confection and put it somewhere safe to demolish later with Amoura.

There was a little scene during the afternoon - someone in their infinite wisdom had thought it a marvelous idea to give Lola a puppy and Bassam and everyone else had a different opinion.  Phillipa kindly  decided the best thing to do was to take it away when Lola was occupied elsewhere and find it a home where it could be looked after and trained.  Bassam and the children have too much else on their plates to deal with a puppy.  Lola was upset for a short while but soon shrugged that off and that reinforced all our opinions that come tomorrow if the puppy had stayed it would have been forgotten about.

We stayed a while chatting with Bassam and Elena's mum (who had been to Waitrose and brought me some of my favourite lime and chili chocolate - bless her), we enjoyed some of Bassam's succulent chicken skewers which we have not eaten in a long time for obvious reasons.  They are doing ok - Bassam is finding three strong willed children a challenge but they remain a close knit and loving family unit - to all their credit.

John and I returned home to tackle taking down the Christmas decorations - this year in an orderly fashion so that I did any repairs that needed doing and marked up which bits went on which tree.  We did not clingfilm the lounge one completely decorated as I wanted to get the lights off and check which ones were and which ones weren't working!

It took us quite a while to get it all completed and now the house looks quite bare in places.  We temporarily stowed our second TV in George's but it was cold and wet by the time we had finished so we left it there and will collect it another day.

We did not light the fire this evening - it wasn't cold enough to warrant it and it was quite late by the time we sat down anyway.  We had planned a casserole but Bassam's kebabs had filled us up so we will leave that for another day.