Happy Birthday Mum ...

Today, May 18th, is my Mum's birthday and this year, God bless her, she reached the grand old age of 77 and she is more than proud to admit it.  At her request she wanted to spend the night at Maria's Tea Rooms, in Souni near Limassol so we packed up early this morning, made sure the cats had everything they needed for a night home alone and went down to Emba to pick up Mum and Dad.  It was probably a good time to get them out of the house as it is in the middle of redecoration outside so there are workmen (and women) and scaffolding all over the place - and the inevitable mess!

You can imagine that John was anxious about leaving Chivers and Minnie Mou for too long but as we were going to be back around lunchtime it really wasn't much longer than when we go down and stay over.  John had suggested bringing Mum and Dad back to Droushia after our visit to Souni and going out together in Latchi on Saturday night and then take them back home on Sunday.

I don't know what John and I expected from 'Tea Rooms' - probably something from Acorn Antiques run by the inimitable Mrs Overall - what we hadn't expected was an almost Swiss Chalet style building with beautiful gazebos and fantastic gardens all the way round.  Mum and Dad had been previously but they had to admit it was much more up together than it had been then and whilst a lot of building is taking place around the Tea Rooms it didn't affect our peace and quiet and unfortunately building sites are a bit of an occupational hazard in Cyprus.

We were greeted by owner Maria and her dog Peggy who is old and frail but so sweet and gentle that you wouldn't have noticed she was around and you know me - I don't really do dogs!  Costas was out feeding his chickens and collecting eggs in readiness for our breakfast!

We opted for coffee and cake out in the garden under one of the gazebos but although it was bright sunshine the wind whipped up and so Maria moved us to a sheltered spot.  A couple of pots of coffee and some home made lemon cake set us up for a shopping trip in Limassol.  We also decided to have our evening meal there as it saved us taking the car out.  We had come prepared with some wine just in case!

Our bedrooms were large, light and airy and clean with en-suite facilities and Mum was excited that they had a bath and one which she could get in and out of with ease - theirs in Emba requires mountaineering equipment and she isn't quite so steady on her pins as she used to be!  John and I were fascinated by the controls on our headboard - we thought we could probably land a plane coming into Akrotiri if the mood took us!!  One word of warning if you are planning to stay at the Tea Rooms the mattresses are firm, very firm, in fact practically unyielding and we never thought to look for the extra pillows!

Anyway unpacked and refreshed we went off to Limassol and the delight that is Jumbo's - we nearly nearly nearly got there in one go but came off the motorway at the correct place then turned off at the lights one set too early!  We had a good old mooch and I managed to get the curtain tie-backs that Laura had asked for.  John suggested we go and find somewhere for lunch otherwise we would be eating too close to dinner and as Dad loves the Chinese at My Mall opted to go there.  Unfortunately being unfamiliar with Limassol John took the wrong exit and we ended up in a scrap yard and industrial estate before we managed to find our way to the Port and then to My Mall.  We could see the Port but couldn't find our way out of the bloody industrial estate!!!  Still the mood remained light hearted and we got to My Mall and Dad and I headed for Chinese and Mum and John for KFC - Mum's one weakness apparently and it was her birthday!!!!

We didn't spend any money but had a wander around and John cast his expert eye over the ice skating kids - he said he would have had a go himself but didn't want to out-shine them when he threw in a couple of triple salcos and a camel spin!!  One day I am going to get him on that ice so that he can see that it is not as easy as it looks!

On our return to Maria's we sat outside for afternoon tea and biscuits.  Costa was around and has become the surrogate carer of a dachshund and its litter of six pups along with a hunting dog and a sort of labrador/retriever cross - all of whom (along with Peggy) sit in the middle of the road and make any traffic drive around them.  We went to see the pups making sure not to stress Mum out too much as she was keeping a watchful eye.

We sat outside as the sun began to set and asked Maria if we could drink the bottle of wine that we had brought for Mum's birthday (in fact we had brought three!!!) she was more than happy even offering us glasses but we had thought of them as well (would you expect anything less from us?).  We played a couple of 'best of five' with Dad and I getting right royally thumped as usual - Costa was intrigued by our game and offered to teach us a Cypriot game Spastra or in Arabic 'Bastra' (rules of which can be found on Wikipedia).  Although we struggled a bit with it we persevered and think we have found a new family game.

Mum got her bath and we had showers and changed for our evening meal and returned downstairs to see that Maria and Costa had trimmed up our dining table with ballons and party poppers, Mum had even been left a card and flowers in her room.

We had a hearty evening meal - far too much for us - of soup, roast beef and pork with roast potatoes, yorkshire puddings and vegetables and home made apple pie and cream all washed down with the remaining wine we had brought.

As the temperatures cooled we retired to the lounge and continued with our education on the game of Spastra - not that either Mum or I had the slightest clue what was going on and we couldn't blame that on the wine entirely!  Poor Costa had his work cut out but he remained patient if not a little bemused by our tactics!

Mum said she had a lovely birthday and the weather was infinitely better than last year!  We decided to fund the trip using the 'savings' that we had put aside for a trip to Apokryfo in Lofou - that will just have to wait for another day.  We plan another trip somewhere in the autumn after all our visitors have been and gone - any ideas??