Day 88...

OMG as they say - did we have the best meal last night or what??? We went to our neighbours and they had invited the lady next door and the two grandchildren and we had Kleftiko and roast potatoes and pastichio and salad and pickled cardomom leaves... It was all beautiful and we had to say goodnight at 12pm because we were afraid that we might outstay our welcome. They are a really lovely family and sadly they are going back to Nicosia on Sunday so we may not see them much - maybe odd weekends.

Unfortunately the cake I baked was a complete disaster because I decided to cook it in the microwave which I never do and forgot to put it on a rack so its bum got burned well and truely.  We managed to salvage the top part so John will have this for pudding but it wasnt good enough to give to someone.  We ended up buying sweets from Morello's instead. 

I did make Galadia a necklace as she told me she liked to make Jewelry - she might think is was hideous but it is the thought that counts.  She tells me she has captured two tree frogs and wants to take them back to Nicosia as pets - they will die for certain!

Today didnt quite pan out as expected as first of all the new teasmade went off at the right time but didnt produce any hot water it was a case of RTFM - read the f*****g manual which of course we didnt!!  Anyway we managed to override the alarm and savoured the luxury of a hot cuppa in bed without having to treck across the patio!!!

No sign of Savvas today - we have a sneaky feeling we wont actually see him and that he will have telephoned into the electricity inspector that all is ok.  We will give it a week or two before we start putting things back the way we want them.

The mystery of the Berlin Wall has been solved - the weird looking garage is not a garage at all but a refridgerated unit as the guy is a butcher - albeit from Larnaca.  Ollie across the way has been to the community office to tell them about it - it is wrong for all sorts of reasons but apparently as it does not directly affect him or us we cannot complain - well we will if it houses meat that smells!!!

We decided to go into Polis this morning - I needed to collect my eternity ring that I had broken and which the lady could not fix and I also wanted to do a bit of shopping in Orphanides and check out the villa where our friends Simon, Lou and the kids will be staying in a couple of weeks.  It was a really good excuse for John and I to take some time out as we went in search of the Villa (which we didnt find) and then in search of the beach which Galadia told us about which we did find and which was beautiful.  We stopped off in Latchi to have a beer in the Elia Sports Tavern which John thinks he will use to watch the footie in the winter.

We swang round to Polis to collect my ring - I had gone last week and the lady didnt have it in the shop so I was a little worried.  I was driving so John jumped out to pick it up and came back to the car with a huge smile on his face.  Although last time I saw her she said the ring could not be fixed she had managed to make it good and for the princely sum of €5!!!  Now I can see where it has been repaired but a blind man would be glad to see it and she may have had all the diamonds removed and replaced with cubic zirconia but I really dont care it is lovely to have my ring back - although I nearly lost it when I was about to put it on outside Orphanides and it fell out of the bag!!  Still I have it and it feels good and that is all that matters.

John and I have had a completely chilled afternoon - no DIY, no Wii, no nothing and it has been fab.  I have been fiddling about with the invitation for Dad's 80th Birthday Open House (cant show you yet as it hasnt had the ok from Dad).

This evening we took a walk down the village to see Alkisti to wish her well before her daughter's wedding tomorrow (to which we have been invited).  We have also been invited to the house beforehand to see the traditional preparations - the man gets shaved and the fiddler walks them through the streets - we want to go because it will be an experience for us and hopefully provide some piccies for the blog!!! 

We have walked home and are sitting in the garden - it is half past ten and it is quiet (apart from the tree frogs) and warm.  My regular tree frog has been joined by a much much smaller one which you can see sitting on the gardenia plant.  He/she then decided to go for a swim in the pool.  We had to hook her/him out as the chemicals would have been bad for it and anyway I like having them in the garden because they eat all the bugs.

We have lit the garden with candles and solar lights and put on the pool light.  We have eaten Mum's curry that we should have had for lunch yesterday and which was really yummy and we are going to have a late night swim so that we cool down before we go to bed.  It is times like this that I realise how lucky we are.

One last thing - we have been in touch with our god-daughters mum Gemma - haven't heard from her for a while but it was so good that Facebook has enabled us to get back in touch again.  The wonders of modern technology heh???

So just before I skinny dip in the pool - goodnight to all our friends, family and god children xxx