Day 32...

We woke today at Mum and Dad's.  It was a cloudy start but you could see that the sun was going to burn it off and it was looking like being a hot day.

I had agreed to go down to the computer shop with Mum's neighbour Dave to look at the computer system he was contemplating buying along with an I-Pod and docking station.  I have probably made a rod for my own back but I have offered to give him some lessons so that he can learn how to send emails, surf the net, skype and get to grips with I-Tunes.  That in itself isnt too bad the only trouble is that Dave knows nothing at all about computers and he is quite hard of hearing!  I will probably try and incorporate his lessons on the days when I go down to Mum's to play pickle-ball.

I had arranged to meet up with some friends from the UK (Barry, Lynne and their son Joe) who were staying at the Imperal Beach Hotel which just so happens to be where we play pickle-ball.   John and I drove off down through Paphos.  This garage always makes me smile because of the huge Tiger that sits on top of the forecourt!

At the end of the road is the Amathus Hotel - very luxurious and out of our league!!  I have been there once when it was Mum's 75th Birthday.  We all went there for Happy Hour in the Cocktail Bar - that was the closest we will get to staying there unless we win the lottery and then I would probably chose the Elyseum instead!

This is the Louis Imperial Beach Hotel where we play pickle-ball and where we were meeting up with Barry and his family.  I know Barry because for many years he has been head of support for the solicitor's software that Porter Dodson used.  I met his wife Lynne when I was Chair of the Axxia User Group and she attended the user group meetings.  It was really great to see them and their smashing son Joe.  They arrived on Sunday and are only here for a week but plan to return in August.  If they do, we have offered to pick them up and take them on a bit of a tour of the island and up to our house so that they can see where we live.  John hadn't met either of them before but they were such easy company we didnt have any problem filling in the hour and a half before Mum pitched up for our game.  Bless Joe - he pitched up outside the court to cheer me on!!!

Here are a couple of action shots of pickle-ball in progress.  We play for an hour and a half from 2.30pm until 4.00pm.  Fortunately today there were five of us so one person got an opportunity to sit out periodically which when it is hot is very welcome.  We pay four euros to play.  When it gets too hot they are sensible enough not to play and bearing in mind that most of them must be in their seventies that is extremely wise!  Even though I am by far the youngest god they make me run round and I certainly know I have had a work out.

The Imperial Beach is a very nice hotel with lovely grounds and spectacular gardens.  This afternoon they were getting ready for a wedding which they hold in an arbour looking out to sea.  It all looks very nicely done.

As soon as I got back to Mum's we loaded up the car with some of our stuff that has been there for years and came back home to do some more sorting out.  At this point I think we are both sick and fed up of sorting and I know that John is suffering with some sort of tennis elbow RSI type thing and could really do with a rest but we still had the guest bedroom ceiling to insulate and until we did we couldnt get round the room to put stuff away.

We both had a bit of a sense of humour failure this evening but John managed to bring me round with a glass of Rose Wine which he had found on offer in Carrefour today - one litre for the equivalent of a pound!!!  We liked it so much we rang Mum and Dad to go and buy some more and bless them they shot off this evening to snap up the last six cartons.  If you come and visit us dont expect expensive wine - we get our red in a ten litre box from the butcher for twenty-five euros, our rose by the carton for a quid and white wine doesnt figure on our radar at all!!!

We can see light at the end of the tunnel - at last!!