Learn balance Jill-san... Wax-on... Wax-off.

Today I am channeling my inner Cypriot as all good Cypriot women are born with an innate desire to mop!!! 

When we first used to come on holiday thirty years ago there was always a distinctive smell which came from the washrooms and I do not mean the suspect plumbing which they had in those days!  It was a sweet almost bubblegum type smell which I thought came from air fresheners but would appear to have come from the cleaning fluid that they use for the floors.

I am a mere novice when it comes to the art of floor mopping although I now discuss the various merits of one cleaning product against another like a seasoned veteran - gone are the days when those conversations would have been about shoes!  I now acknowledge that Rokklin is the best and the one I have chosen has that distinctive bubble-gum aroma!

I am taking lessons from my neighbour Argy who is the grand-master - or should that be mistress - of mopping.  She is a 10th dan red belted doyenne - I am merely at the 'wipe on - wipe off' stage in my apprenticeship (this will mean something to those of you who have watched the film The Karate Kid) - I am the Daniel LaRusso to her Mr Miyagi but soon I too will have graduated and will own both an indoor and an outdoor mop and wield them like a professional!!!

You can probably tell I find doing the conservatory floor a bit of a chore and get irritated by the fact that we leave the door open for air and the wind blows and so two minutes after cleaning a load of shite has made its way back indoors so it is good to romanticise that this job is something more than it actually is!

I was getting ready for Mum's visit and actually ironed the sewing that I had done for her yesterday and had it all hung up in readiness.  Mum has been searching for some simple summer dresses but hasn't been able to find anything so at least by altering these two garments she will have something else to wear.  I am going to look out for an old fashioned paper pattern and have a go at making some myself.  I really fancy the challenge although I might change my mind if the only fabric I can find is slippy like the dark dress I altered for Mum!!!

My next challenge is going to be finding out if there is anywhere locally where I might get a paper pattern and then to find the material.  Gosh that brings me back to my youth when we used to take a trip to Denners and pour over pattern books - in fact Mum will remember that the patterns were in a downstairs room accessed by a spiral staircase upon which she had a bit of an incident many many years ago - but that is a different story - let's just say it was a little 'hair-raising'!  She will know exactly what I mean!!!

Mum arrived at ours safe and sound and we were pleased that she wanted to go into the pool today - John has got it looking sparkling and the temperature of the water is lovely - we both got in and had a cool down before our lunch.

We started out with some of the little cheesy puffs that they sell over here - they are delicious and a great standby in the freezer - bang them in the oven, turn them over halfway through the cooking time and ο Μπομπ είναι ο θείος σου (Bob's your uncle).

The marinated chicken from Jim Peck's was lovely and we had it with Cyprus roast potatoes and spiced white cabbage although I did think we should have had some peas for an injection of colour.  My roasting of potatoes à la manière des chypriotes needs work - somehow I just don't get the right amount of fluid or I cut the wedges too small because they always seem to disintegrate into mush - a tasty mush but mush all the same - I shall have to consult with Mrs Miyagi across the way because her spuds are always perfection.  On that subject we were pleased that her brother's builders had not pitched up today to spoil their day with children and grand-children - after so much upheaval they wanted things to be perfect and they were as perfect as they could be.Although I do feel Argy may have gone overso slightly overboard with the size of the two inflatable flamingos she bought for the two grandchildren which John had been over and inflated earlier.

So at last Lakis fulfilled his dream of being able to entertain his family in his own home in Droushia where everything was looking fresh and clean and lovely.  Four generations of one family all together!  We had heard the children enjoying themselves faintly in the background obviously jumping in and out of the pool and we were invited over so that their son Stefanos and daughter in law Chloe could put faces to the names of the Brit couple who live across the road from them.  We left them to enjoy their evening meal down at Santa Barbara (they had successfully booked this time) sadly our bizarre August weather meant that the clouds prevented them from enjoying a decent sunset but I don't think they minded.