Autumn is lovely...

It was my wish to go swimming in the sea today before the weather changes and winter really sets in and John was happy if we incorporated our trip out with a 'light' lunch at the Souli.  It was glorious in Droushia this morning - bright and warm as witnessed by the weather station which was showing a very respectable 28 degrees even with the doors wide open.

We got ourselves ready and I made a shopping list for our trips to Paps afterwards and then promptly lost it between our house and the Souli!  It's not really a problem - as long as I had enough for lunch with Mum tomorrow I can always go back down to Paps on Monday afternoon for the remainder of the week.  Mum had donated some beef and John suggested we cooked it in beer rather than do a stifado and then put some mash on top as there is some mash in the freezer.  I decided I would get some additional meat and then cook extra so that both we and Mum have a meal ready for another evening.  I took the mash out and thought it looked a bit odd - not sure why and it bothered me for the remainder of the day - so much so that I decided to ditch it and make some fresh which was probably the best decision - who wants to be freaked out by mashed potato on a Sunday???  I remembered afterwards that we had mash the other week and John started mashing it in the pressure cooker without taking the trivet out and draining the starchy fluid underneath - I think that is why the mash was odd.  I shall blame John!

I was really looking forward to my swim in the sea as it was going to be so much warmer than our regular dips in the pool.  However, we had not bargained on a stiff off-shore breeze whch had whipped the sea up to a frenzy!!!  We decided to take a drive out to Tsakkas just for a drive if nothing else and arrived hoping it might be a little more sheltered there but it wasn't.  Tsakkas was empty as the taverna is now closed but there seemed to be one guy sort of keeping an eye on the place and the sunbeds.

We decided "what the hell" - the wind was strong but it was warm and we had made the effort so John went in first to make sure that if I went in I would be safe because the waves were lashing down and it is the back swell that is the issue if it takes your feet from under you.  He said it was lovely but that it was quite hard work to keep your feet!

Here is a picture of me when the back swell did actually take my feet away from me and I went under - John says that one minute I was in view and then next minute not - I was ok because I was well within my depth but I wouldn't have wanted to go out too far for fear that I wouldn't be able to make my way back in.

It wasn't cold at all and my skin felt absolutely fabulous when I got out as I guess that is the effect of having been sand blasted for about 10 minutes!!!

There is a little changing room at the beach which was great and thankfully I had taken a brush although I hadn't planned getting my hair wet but the sea had other ideas!!  Happy that I had got my wish to go for a swim in the sea I was ready for my lunch!!  Tsakkas looked beautiful - it is probably one of my favourite beaches.

So we went to the Souli for our 'light' lunch - this clearly got lost in translation!!!  We ordered a starter portion of calamari and a starter portion of grilled halloumi with one village salad and one portion of chips with some olives and then Frixos offered us some village bread with olive oil and oregano.  It was absolutely delicious.  We managed to find a table with some sun for me and sufficient shade for John and slightly sheltered from the wind.  We were absolutely stuffed!!!!

We got home where the temperature indoors was a very respectable 32 degrees!  I shoved some washing on which I managed to get washed and dried and brought back in which was a bonus but the current weather conditions have meant we have had warm evenings with very little condensation.

Apparently there is a sand storm over the island which would account for the strange skies as we drove down to the beach today and for the elevated temperatures and possibly the wind.  We are not due another coptic until 26th November and that one is down as a gale.

John settled himself down to put himself through the Mighty Blades versus Nottingham Forest (although it was the other way round as the Blades were playing away) - apparently they were absolutely useless as they lost so have now slipped down to second in the table.  I got food ready for tomorrow and then applied myself to sorting out Christmas Cards as I am hoping that Karen will take back John's family cards to save us a bit on postage.  I had started to make some in January planning to make five a month which would have left me with around 50 to chose from but I only managed to make some in January!!

I wrote up the cards I had and then set about making some more.  I really don't send many - only really to special people here and a few family and friends in the UK.  We prefer to make a donation to charity.