Meeting up with Wendy and Bill...

We were going down to Paphos to meet Wendy and Bill for Lunch at the Vienna Cafe today armed with sterling so that we could take advantage of the €2 to the £1 deal - thanks Laura for taking us there the other week I think you have started a trend!  

We put Panicos off from coming this morning to deal with the problemas with the conservatory as we could see us being delayed so he has agreed to come tomorrow even though it is Good Friday and we thought it would be a holiday - apparently not for Panicos and the aluminium guys.

Irene called in this morning as Mum and Dad are having a clear out and had brought up bags of books and CDs for her to sell to raise funds for the cats.  She stayed for a coffee and biscuit which meant that the cats were nowhere to be seen - the sound of her voice sends them running for the hills!

On the subject of the cats we have been searching for two photographs to go into some nice frames that we have which we are going to hang in the conservatory and we have decided upon shots of them both taken when they have been up in the olive tree in the garden.

John is going to fit them in properly tomorrow and then we need to find eleven different pictures to go into the Ikea multi picture frame that we picked up when we went there with Vix to meet up with Trevor.  We got it for a bargain because one of the pieces of glass was broken but it should be easy and cheap to replace.

Our trip down to Paphos gave us the opportunity for John to treat himself to a new pair of trainers from Sports Direct.  Neither of us like the shop but it is about the only place we have found for him to get a reasonably priced pair of trainers and the pair he had on today are just about to drop off of his feet as he has worn them to death - superglue just cant cope any longer.

On leaving Sports Direct we hit some horrendous traffic and as you all know John just doesn't do being late - five minutes early is late in his book so there was a desperate dash to get me to the Vienna Cafe at dead on 1.00pm - he barely stopped the car to let me out - it was a bit like being on the London Eye!  He shot off to find a parking space and I was relieved that Wendy and Bill weren't sat waiting for us otherwise I would have been in trouble for persuading him to stop and get his trainers but we were driving past the door and it would have meant a special trip otherwise.

Our lunch in the Vienna Cafe did not disappoint - that was when we found time to order as we seemed to have so much to talk about.  It was so lovely to catch up with Wendy and Bill again not least because they were kind enough to bring over with them the new laptop that we had ordered from the Net.  This means we have one dedicated solely to providing our TV and the new one will be for John to do whatever it is he wants to do and for Skype.  This means we will be online more often and apologies to anyone who has tried to Skype us recently and found us offline.

Back to lunch then - we all ordered steak.  Both Wendy and I agreed that ordering steak can be a very hit and miss affair as it may be a poor cut of meat or not cooked to our liking but we should have had no such worry - all steaks were cooked exactly to our requirements and the accompanying chips and salad were great.  Puddings were a triumph and nearly beat us all - anyone opting for the waffle with fresh strawberries and ice-cream as I did should be warned it is the size of a dinner plate.  Four steaks, four huge puddings and four beers plus a coke came to just over £50.  Food good, service good.  Small problem in that if you are visiting the only toilets are upstairs via a very steep very narrow spiral staircase - um how does that comply with disabled access I wonder?

We have arranged to meet up with Wendy and Bill again next week when their son is over with them.  They are going to come up to Latchi and Wendy and I are going to walk the coast path from Polis Campsite to Latchi Marina and meet the boys there.

We left Wendy and Bill to walk back to their car and we had to find our car which John has abandoned somewhere in the Bar Street area.  Walking round brought back some memories - the very first year I came (which was 1989 I think) I came with two friends Marie and Laura and we had several nights out in the Rainbow Disco.  It was opposite there where I came off of the lethal trials bike that I had hired (they had run out of scooters).  It was around here somewhere that Costas had his bar and I met him when I dropped a letter off for a girl I was working with who had had a bit of a fling with his mate Elias.  It has changed a great deal since then and looks a bit tired and tacky in the daylight - it is probably throbbing at night or as throbbing as it can be in the current economic situation.  I have absolutely no desire to try and recreate my youth with a night out there!

We found the car which John had parked at the back of the Aquarium and found our way out of the maze of roads to drive back along the sea front where we saw these two dodgy characters striding out in the sunshine!  They look like they have just been 'papped'!

I just had to include a photograph of the Easter decorations at the harbour and the seasonal Easter Carrot - we now think it is supposed to be an Easter Candle as Easter Candles are big over here - it just seems a very random decoration!

We swung by Mum and Dad's - John had been planning to help Dad clean their swimming pool.  Dad had already started and we were wondering whether it was worth it as there is a coptic storm carrying dust scheduled for the end of the month!  Dad has another visit to the surgeon in Paphos tomorrow - she says his recovery is going to plan.  Dad is hopeful that he will be able to stop some of the gunk he has to have in his eye as this clouds his vision.  Dad and I were right royally thumped by Mum and John at crib this afternoon - I blame the cloudiness!

Good Friday here in Cyprus tomorrow.  Nothing planned as the aluminium men are coming.