Yesterday's horrors are a dim and distant memory...

It is amazing what a good night's sleep can do in helping to erase the memory of Vicki's fated arrival, and it is even more amazing how some sunshine makes the world seem a better place!  It was such a beautiful morning that we were able to take our breakfast outside - after a bit of to and fro-ing deciding which table offered the warmest venue!  Orange juice, toast and my home-made marmalade was the order of the day and set us up for the day ahead and all that it might bring - it had been on the itinerary to visit the Toodos today but with the reliability of the car in question we decided to shelve it as we didn't fancy having to call the rescue people there if it let us down particularly if it was going to take them several hours.  The decision was made to take the car to Paphos on Monday to try and get it sorted and we were chuffed to bits when Mum and Dad offered to lend us their CRV to help us out.

Vicki had come absolutely laden with goodies bless her - I don't know where she managed to pack her clothes as we all benefited from her visit.  Minnie Mou is checking out one of the various toys that were produced along with some of her favourite Whiskers treats.  John had some thermal t-shirts which he was thrilled with and I got fluffy slippers and some sweatshirts and then there were candles and coffee and CHOCOLATE - OMG it was like Christmas all over again.  It was very kind of her to bring all the things that we had mentioned and yes I know that all of those things are available over here but they are expensive or we cant find them.

Vicki had also brought my birthday present which she had made for me and was a very handsome gecko which I absolutely loved - he is fantastic and I shall have such fun finding him a home and thinking of her whenever I look at him.  I think that if she does come and live over here with Trev then she could make these and make a killing selling them.  I shall take it to craft on Wednesday because I know that Jeanette will just love him to bits.

It was a bit of a shame that we didn't make it to the Troodos as the mountains were looking resplendent in the spring sunshine - as a compromise we decided to do the walk we had pencilled in for Monday and as the weather was so beautiful it was probably the right decision.  We were retracing the route we had found on the  bike at the weekend.

We packed up a picnic with the intention of walking right across the village and out to the forestry lookout from where you can see Lara Bay and Chryochous Bay.

It being Sunday and the weather being so beautiful there was a real buzz about the place with people out working in the vineyards cutting back the old growth and tidying up the fields.  We quite fancied taking a rest in amongst the almond blossom when we found some old tables and chairs which must have been left by a farmer.

As we carried on our journey John made Vicki take photographs of the bay from every possible angle - god he is enough to drive you mad sometimes!  If I heard him say "I dont know if you know but you can see the bay from here" once I must have heard him say it a million times and the more you mentioned it the more he did it - annoying bugger!

It was a stunning walk through beautiful countryside but typically we rounded a corner to find an unauthorised tip - this is the poor face of Cyprus - they are dreadful about their rubbish and it only takes one person to fly tip and then others follow and it always seems to be on a bend in a road where there is a slight ravine.  I can't understand it when we get our rubbish collected twice a week and they seem to take everything.  Perhaps at some point someone will realise how much damage fly tipping does for the image of the island.

Enough on the subject of rubbish and on to the power of the weather.  This is a photograph of the main road from Droushia to Pittokopos after all the rain we have had this winter.  If you are unfortunate enough to live in Pittokopos then you have got a long old diversion to get to your house at the moment and the only notification that the road is impassible is when you get right up to it - there is no advanced warning.  This is actually worse today than it was last weekend when we were at least able to traverse it on the bike - today there was no chance.  Interestingly the taxi driver from last night was telling us that there is a good side to Droushia for building purposes and a bad side.  Fortunately our house falls on the good side - this road is on the bad  side and I can see what he means now about how the rain could undermine the foundations of houses.  

Anyway we made it to our picnic destination and felt like we were sitting on top of the world as we munched our sandwiches, crisps, fruit and cake.  Although it was sunny the wind whipped up and had quite a chill to it so we were happy to make tracks again and wend our way back home. It was a fair old walk - not sure entirely how far but a good couple of miles or so and we all felt fantastic for having the opportunity to get the old cobwebs blown away!  We keep telling Vix that she would never believe how awful the weather had been but she could see from all the water flowing through the fields that it had been very wet.

Back home we collapsed into the lounge and John did his favourite job of getting the fire lit and bouncing.  God forbid that Vix is ever cold this week!!!  Our proposed menu is all up the creek as we completely missed our meal last night due to the car debacle so we are eating it tonight!

Warm, fed and watered we settled down for the evening to watch TV.  Minnie Mou has found a new friend and spent the evening snuggling up to Vix - little turncoat - she never does that for me! Vix is trying out the delights of a bed warmed by an electric blanket tonight.  I am guessing we will all sleep well after our late night last night and our long walk today.