Day 71 with catchup for Days 70 and 69!!!

On my day 69 blog I had said that Sunday started uneventfully but I forgot to relate the story of the wildlife in the bedroom...

...I awoke in the early hours of Sunday morning because I could hear what I thought was a Cicada in very close proximity and I mean CLOSE - there was a chirruping that sounded like it was right by my ear.  Now I dont have anything against the wildlife I just dont want it hopping on me in the night so I tried waking John which is like waking the dead and asked him if he thought the noise was coming from inside or outside and he confirmed inside so it was a question of finding the bloody thing.  Anyway to cut a long story short we managed to find the culprit (a medium sized grasshopper) sitting on the window frame.  John was fine trying to capture it until the grasshopper decided to do what it does best and started hopping around the bedroom!!!  In the end John decided that the only thing to do was to smother it and did so with the nearest thing to hand - a pair of his trusty pants!!!  The poor grasshopper must have wondered what hit him!!!

Anyway back to the rest of Sunday.  We were going down to Mum and Dads so that we could all go to the Amphitheatre in Tala for an Elvis and Michael Buble tribute concert.  There was all sorts of activity going on in the Paphos area with all the fire helicopters rushing around - little did they know how much they might be needed the following day - but that is a different story.

Anyway back to the concert and you will be pleased to learn that it was considerably warmer than the last time we went in May.  In fact if anything it was a little too warm!!!

Anyway just to put you in the picture this concert cost us €5.00 each and started at 8.00pm and finished just short of 11.30pm!!!  'Elvis' and 'Buble' took it in turns doing half hour sets and then a set at the end together.

I am guessing that 'Elvis' was quite a veteran performer as he was hugely entertaining - he had quite a line in banter and even kept alluding to the fact that he looked more like the Fonz than Elvis!  We have seen several different tribute acts before and we agreed that he was the one that sounded the most like the original.

Boy it must have been hot in the different outfits and the wig - this picture is early on and you can see how much he is sweating although not half as much as I expect he was in the black leather outfit he was wearing later!! 

He went through three costume changes and never lost enthusiasm or energy!!  'Buble' on the other hand was a real newcomer - an eighteen year old lad with a very good voice although Buble isnt anything like so iconic to try and recreate.  Even so he did a good job and having the screen behind them showing footage of Elvis or Buble made you realise how faithful to the originals they tried to be with their mannerisms.

You will see from the photographs what a very peculiar sky there was that night.  A strange bank of cloud came in off the sea briefly bringing a kind of eerie sea mist that swept across the stage.  Someone said it was like the end of the world was approaching - maybe it was a portent for what was to happen in the early hours of the next morning when there was an explosion at a munition dump on the Island at Zygi between Larnaca and Limassol in which over 15 people died. 

We weren't too badly affected at Mum and Dad's - the power went off for about an hour and a half just after the incident happened and came back for a short while before going off again at about 9.00am for the rest of the morning.  Pockets were affected all over the island but in downtown Paphos most businesses seemed to be functioning.   John and I managed to get all our chores and shopping done before meeting Mum and Dad at Granny's Kitchen for lunch as they had been unaffected by the power outage.  Speculation at that point was rife as to what had occurred as most people had missed the news and so the jungle telegraph was working overtime.  We were told that the marina in Limassol had exploded and that it was not an accident!!!  We are still not entirely sure what the truth of it all is and as we are currently in the middle of a power cut in Droushia (Tuesday afternoon at 5.00pm) I cant get onto the internet to check out the news - even though I have very stupidly just tried to switch on the TV!!!).  We can do nothing without power - cant cook and cant use the water as we have a pumped water system!  Dont know how long this is going to last so have to power down the laptop as it is running on fairly low batteries!

Power reinstated I can continue...

Last night we all went to Mandria to celebrate Eric's 65th birthday which was a really good 'do'.  They have obviously read the same 'Throwing a Good Party' book as the Weismullers use as there was nothing left to chance with little gifts for all the guests, excellent food and good music - it must have been as Mum even managed to get Dad up to dance!!!  Sadly though Eric's brother-in-law had passed away earlier that morning so Eric and his wife Mary will be flying back to England on Wednesday having only just recently returned from there.

God knows what happened in the night as I was up and down like a fiddler's elbow - firstly to switch off John's razor which was charging and gently flashing in the corner and driving me nuts, secondly to shove a cushion behind the blackout blind which was banging against the wall because we had the fan on, thirdly because I had a nightmare in the night and was screaming in my sleep so John had to wake me and then finally John semi-woke in the night and made for the loo, caught his foot in the bedding which we had kicked off, started to lose his balance so clutched at the top of the dressing table for balance - this is a five foot by five foot structure which a very large mirror in the middle and cupboards on either side.  This structure isnt secured to the wall so it started to topple onto him pinning him to the bed and shedding all its contents and photographs and ornaments.  Mum and Dad thought there had been an earthquake!!!  Unbelievably nothing broke and John wasnt hurt - there was just a slight scratch on the paintwork of one of the cupboard doors.

We did our shopping in Paphos before heading home via Polis so that John could pick up the bike.  Bike all sorted so that is good!!!  Very very hot at Droushia today so we did one little job and that was to sort out the pool cover and put it onto the roller.  This should really help to keep the water temperature up on the pool.  Having been in Mum's pool at just under 90 degrees I know that ours would be so much more pleasant if it was a few degrees warmer!

We decided to go down into Polis this evening on the bike because they were holding a street fair.  One of the main roads is closed and it is being held for the next couple of days.  There was quite a lot of tat on offer but it had the look and feel of some of the street markets in the Far East and as several of the stall holders were oriental girls for a few minutes you could think you were somewhere quite different!!  We had been looking for some earthenware jugs for serving wine and managed to find some on one of the stalls so we decided to get a large one and a small one and they threw in some wine cups to go with them.  Not that easy to carry back on the bike but we managed it and gave the bike a good old test going up the steep hill into Droushia.

You will be pleased to learn that the Mantle Clock key arrived in the post today - thanks Vix and Trev - John's world is complete and we have the Pompey Chimes on the hour - every hour!!