Meeting up with Trev at last...

The view down to the bay today shows that the wind was whipping up the waves and we were treated to a hailstorm this morning so it was a good day to be going elsewhere particularly when the elsewhere was Nicosia and IKEA.  We had arranged to meet Trev after he finished work today so we were taking in the delights of IKEA and the Mall first so even if the weather was bad we were going to be indoors.

We haven't driven to Nicosia before - I had been on a coach trip with Mum just before Christmas and then prior to that it would have been years ago when Dad would have driven so we weren't exactly sure how long it was going to take so we set off around 11.30am after a healthy breakfast (well you never know when you might eat again!) and tootled on down the motorway - of course now we know exactly where to find Jumbo's in Limassol - easy when you know how!

We did not find IKEA straight away - we could see it but the first couple of exits we tried took us away from the business park but we got there in the end.  It wouldn't be a Wiseman day out without an unscheduled detour!  We parked up and put our paper bags on our heads as our friend and neighbour Galadia will kill us if she knows we have been to Nicosia again without contacting her - we promise we will when we haven't got other people to meet.

I did not take my camera with me today so I have to thank Vix for taking hers.  This one was taken in Ikea before an assistant politely pointed out that photographs were not allowed so we feel very naughty.  I have to say I love the purple/green combination!!!  I do feel rather bumkiney in my boots, leggings and sweatshirt but it was cold when we left the mountains!!

John got rather stressed out in Ikea on the coffee run as he couldn't work out the queueing system (or lack of it) but perked up when he realised that there were unlimited top-ups and then wasn't so perky when I told him that on Tuesdays the drinks were free!  We also eyed up the hot food they were serving but decided to wait for Trev so that we could eat together.

Having 'done' Ikea we moved on to the Mall thinking that we had an hour or so to mooch around before Trev would turn up.  We had only just got into Debenhams when we had a text message to say that he was outside Ikea - he had timed it just right to ensure Vicki didn't spend any money - he must have some sort of internal warning system!!  Still by arriving earlier than we had expected it meant that we would have longer with him before we had to drive back to Droushia.

A (slimmer than the last time we saw him) Trev looks really pleased to be reunited with his mate John!!!  It was good to catch up over some Swedish meatballs in Ikea (although according to John not as good as the meatballs I had cooked last night).  Vicki plumped for Pastichio and was given a portion enough to feed ten men!  She had not tried it before and thought it was lovely.

Trev was very keen for us to go and see his hotel room as he had been upgraded due to the fact that a whole wing of the hotel had been commandeered to accommodate the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.  As you can imagine there were police and cameramen everywhere but apart from not being able to park directly in front of the hotel we entered unchallenged - we obviously didn't look like we posed a threat to national security - more like the Clampetts on a day out!

It certainly is a lovely hotel - very swish and stylish and it was really nice to catch up with Trev.  We decided to time our departure just before that of Mr Netanyahu as we thought it might be chaotic and it was rush hour and we needed to make sure we were on the right road!  In fact finding our way out of Nicosia from the hotel was a piece of cake and our trip back to Droushia was uneventful apart from some very heavy rain in and around the Limassol area.

Bloody Chivers has lost yet another collar tonight - the duffer.  We are going to have to go on a cat collar-finding mission tomorrow - I am not hopeful.