Today is April 15th and it is Easter Sunday here in Cyprus. For me it is a real milestone because it has been exactly a year since I finished work. Friday April 15th 2011 was my final day at Porter Dodson Solicitors, a place where I had worked for just short of 20 years. In those years I had seen so many changes - some good, some bad! I joined just after John and I got married and in those days there were five offices and no IT department. By the time I left there were five offices although in different locations than originally and an IT department of three permanent members of staff. Just after I left there was a big change for the IT department as Horatiu returned to Romania with his girlfriend Raluca (good luck H wherever and whatever you are doing) and Gemma took maternity leave to have Archie and will be returning shortly. I do hope I left some sort of positive legacy behind to go with the blood, sweat and tears that were shed!
Anyway enough of that and back to today - We woke to a grey and cloudy day with showers and high winds. I was in the shi*t because I couldn't remember what I had done with our tax forms so John stomped off to go and locate them. This is an age-old man/woman conflict throughout the world as women 'tidy things away' and then can't find them - men leave them loafing, often in inappropriate places, but know where to find them. I had inevitably moved them from the kitchen work surface when I was cleaning but they were safe.
The weather slowly improved here in Droushia - unlike down in Pissouri where our friends Bill and Wendy were endeavouring to hold a family barbeque which, in good old stiff upper lip fashion, they did under the safety of an umbrella. We have all been there but usually on a Bank Holiday weekend in good old Blighty and not in the Med! I have checked the forecast and it looks like we will have more rain later in the week here - Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are looking dodgy - fingers crossed that Saturday will be fine as we are meeting them and their son in Latchi for lunch and Wendy and I are planning to walk from Polis campsite along the coast path.
Mum and Dad arrived safe and sound around midday and after a coffee and a catch up we slowly meandered down to Christos's taverna for lunch. En route we passed a bizarre piece of farming equipment which has been sat on the side of the road for a while. We have absolutely no idea what it is for and it looks very space age and high tech! If anyone can enlighten me I would be very grateful - it will put us out of our misery. It was lovely to walk with the smell of souvla permeating the air and to see all the families outside celebrating Pascha.
We opted to sit inside because we know from past experience that food in Cyprus is generally served on cold plates and so if you are outside your food can get cold very quickly. It was great to see so many people in the taverna most of which were probably relatives of Alkisti's from Limassol. We were kept well amused by the antics of two small children whose father was desperately trying to keep them under control - they were clearly bored! It was good to see the Dad administering the discipline as all too often they seem completely oblivious of their children and their behaviour!
Our traditional lunch comprised salad and dips with olives and bread, home made pastichio and meatballs, chicken and lamb souvla, bourgouri and slow roasted potatoes. This was followed by homemade loukoumades (small honey dipped doughnuts) served with fresh bananas and apples.
We retired outside to sit at 'our' table and enjoy the afternoon sunshine. Four of the ladies wot lunch, Mrs B, Denise, Val 1 and Val 2 were there with their husbands and had entered into the spirit of things and were sporting Easter bonnets. It took John and I back to the time when the Glenthorne Avenue/Mudford Road Six had our inaugural camping weekend in Weymouth and wore Easter bonnets. As a respectable member of the community and a Soroptimist to boot I could be seen wandering the streets of Weymouth on Good Friday in full Rastafarian rig - this was just before we gate-crashed the Haven Holiday Park entertainment and Mrs Allan decided to take centre stage declaring the compere was the spit of H from steps!
Just time for our regular 'best of five' before Mum and Dad returned home. I blame the fact that we were playing in sub-tropical conditions and Dad had gunk in his eye on our defeat.
Late afternoon we had a visit from Melanie and Simon who are up in Droushia for the weekend. I was showing Simon some of the old Portholland photographs I had got out for Dad yesterday as Simon is originally from Gorran Haven and is very familiar with Caerhayes. Coming here allows Melanie to have a cuddle with the cats and progress was made in that Minnie Mou presented her tummy for a cursory rub but Chivers actually sat on her lap and settled down. Unfortunately she and Simon will return home covered in cats' hairs but that is an occupational hazard in this house!
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