Wednesday

We were being kind people today and taking some friends to Paphos airport this afternoon so I had persuaded John to spend a bit of quality time down in Paphos whilst we were there - I really wanted to go and see the lights in the Old Town and he agreed - little did he know it was going to rain though!

But to begin with we needed to do a bit of shopping down in Polis and with John and Susan returning from the UK and there having been a bit of a storm last night, we called in to their house to check that the electric was all ok.  The view from their house shows how green and lush the landscape has become after the winter rains.  Happy that all was indeed ok we carried on down to Polis.  Today was one of those days that just makes you smile about the country we have adopted as our own.  In the Citizens Advice shop where we called in to see if we could exchange our paper driving licences for the ID Card sized ones we were wished a very Happy New Year but were unable to complete the job because we hadn't taken our passports.  At the bank we were greeted warmly with kisses on both cheeks and asked if we had had a good Christmas.  In Paps we bumped into all sorts of people and exchanged pleasantries - poor Valentin on the meat counter was suffering from a hangover but still ensured we had fresh liver for the cats - I spoke to Andreas from C&A, Jutta who I had only seen yesterday and Tina from pickleball who is recovering from a cold.  It was a very pleasant trip and we returned with food to stock the shelves.

We had a quiet couple of hours before picking up John and Liselotte and dropping them off at the airport and then we headed for the Mall completely miscalculating just how busy the carpark was going to be and even after investigating all levels we chose to exit and park near Sun Tower and walk over.

I had a few things I needed to get from Jumbos whilst we were down that way and we decided to have a mooch around and then use up one of the 2-for-1 food vouchers we had been given from the Esso garage before they run out.  John and I rarely do this sort of thing together without being in a rush to go to pickleball or Mum and Dad's so it was rather nice to be together just enjoying our surroundings - although the queues at Jumbos tills were not so enjoyable - still the Cypriots are gearing up for Epiphany on 6th January so still need things for that celebration.

On leaving the Mall we realised it had been raining and the skies looked full of it but John was still happy to go to the Old Town via Lidl so that he could pick up a couple of pain au raisin to have later with a cup of coffee at home.

We managed to find a great parking space just up from the Old Marks and Spencer and walked up to Makarios Avenue (which is now pedestrianised) and walked up through towards the large Christmas Tree.  By this time it had started to rain and was quite cold and miserable.



We walked up to the new fountain and took some photographs before slowly making our way back
to the car - the rain didn't bother us too much as we had gone prepared with hats and scarves to keep dry and warm.

Now that most of the work has been completed hopefully the Old Town will begin to see the shops fill once again.

There are some interesting arts and crafts shops open and some nice cafes and thankfully there is still some of the old character left - the fabulous Kiniros Hotel is still there and next door George the Barber was still open for customers even though no-one was in on a cold wet January evening.

We had a lovely couple of hours and were back home in time to feed the cats who were all sat waiting wondering where the hell we had been on a Wednesday night in January.  We didn't bother with the fire tonight even though it was wet and miserable the house didn't feel that cold and so we made do with the gas fire.  I am glad we made the effort because I guess the lights will have gone by next week but then again we are in Cyprus so they may well leave them in situ until Easter!!