A Milestone for the Wiseman Clan...

We have reached a milestone today because today was the day that we decided Chivers and Minnie Mou were sensible enough to be left home alone overnight for the whole night because we had decided we would stay at Mum and Dad's after the quiz and because we had so much to do down in Paphos which had to be fitted around the idiosyncratic opening times we were leaving in the morning so the little darlings were going to be alone for a very long time.  For John and I this ranks up there with your child's first day at school - sad I know!  Having made sure a hundred times that the cats were ok and that we had left sufficient food and water and that the litter trays were clean we left - looking over our shoulders until we could no longer see the house.

On the way down to Paphos we called in to check the post - Christmas Cards are still filtering through and we had received a card and newsletter from the Allans, Sally, Tommy, Freddy, Molly and Buddy.  It must have caught me on an off moment because reading all their news brought a tear to my eye.  

We had some classic times with the Allans pre and post children, well the Allans and their friends and neighbours the Stapletons.  Any excuse for a fancy dress night with karaoke, booze and food, Tommy and I taking ourselves off to bed at a reasonable hour (not together obviously) and John keeping the Duracell Bunny that is Sally company - fond memories.   We always had to have a planning meeting before doing anything and this meant assembling at the pub on the pretext of organising the next party/camping trip/whatever!

The Allans are custodians of Dom and Dill - two goldfish that were born in our pond in Fennel Way.  They live in the loo (not literally) Sally has put them in a proper tank and they serve as a constant reminder of our times together.

On our way down into town we had decided to check out two other suppliers for wood burning stoves just to see what else was available and what price they were.  First stop Thermodynamics were shut for some reason, but pressing our noses to the window we could see that their prices appeared to be well outside our budget so we went to AA Homeflame who are well established in the area.  John and I had thought that AA Homeflame would probably be too pricey as well but we were pleasantly surprised when we got inside and looked at the range they had available.

We had more or less decided upon a traditional looking stove but I was rather taken by the modern ones which they had on offer - I just thought it would fit the gap between the windows so much better - John didn't seem quite so keen but that was because he had decided to adopt a non-committal attitude to see what kind of deal he might be able to get.  I have to say that the guys really seemed to know what they were talking about and they were offering better quality pipework.  Eventually we made up our minds and agreed an all-in price for it to be fitted on Monday afternoon complete with a load of logs to get us going. I can't wait and was delighted that John admitted that he was really taken by the modern design too.

We are hoping that we can go and get a load of cheap wood from Argaka like Charalambous did so we contacted him and he gave us all the details - we will go and check it out next week - in the meantime we are collecting all the scrap wood we can find for kindling, perhaps I have inherited some sort of Cornish wreckers blood as I rather like scavenging for freebies!!

Next stop was to get the spare key organised for the CRV as Mr Stavros had finally arranged for someone to do it for us. We had a bit of a drive round before we located the workshop but once we were there it was only a brief 15 minute job to get it done and we now know that we don't need a 'master' key as our car is too new and if we ever need a second 'blip' he is the man!

Our afternoon at pickle-ball was interesting as it was exceptionally windy.  There were six of us today which meant that we had a chance to sit out between games.  We change partners for each game so we get to play with everyone.  We all agreed that we had become acclimatised to the Cyprus weather as we were all dressed in layers - in fact I had on a sports top, long sleeved fleece and sleeveless fleece, shorts and trackie bottoms and whilst I dispensed with my trackie bottoms I played with a variety of combinations of my tops.  We were all left shuddering at the sight of the holidaymakers sunbathing in trunks and swimming costumes - they must be MAD.  Sadly next week we will be saying goodbye to Eric who, for a number of reasons, is returning to England with his wife. 

We had tea and a game at Mum and Dad's before going to the quiz.  Missie (Mum and Dad's cat) seems to have improved over the last week or so bless her.  She was never the most attractive of cats - hence I called her Ugly Betty - but her odd coloured eyes, ragged ears, peculiar body shape and lack of fur make her no less endearing to my parents - she is the apple of my Dad's eye!

Last night the mighty Spyro's neighbours were joined by Janice and Ray's friends, Liz and Pete. We were a team of eight as Mum and Dad came along too.  Suffice to say that we continued in the same vein as last time we went to the quiz by winning it - last night by the penultimate round we had an unassailable lead!  Now that we have the quiz cracked we must just hope for a crack at the jackpot but as that is down to the draw of a raffle ticket that is out of our hands!