July 4th

We had organised with Mum and Dad to go down to Emba early so that we could do a few hours 'moving' and then get back home to Droushia to spend the afternoon with Charlie-boy trying to socialise him and get Chivers and MM to accept him a little better.  

What started out as a good morning soon deteriorated when I had gone with Mum to Superhome Centre to get some bits and pieces for the house and then drove across town to Kolios Butchery and then to Carrefour where I wanted to get some bits and pieces for lunch tomorrow.  Whilst in Carrefour Mum received a phonecall to say that I had committed a traffic violation and needed to go to the Police Station in Paphos.

BUGGER BUGGER BUGGER BUGGER (sorry Mum) - at a road junction where I was going straight across there was a right-hand lane and a left-hand lane and no road markings to say where the lanes were directing you.  Mum said to go in the right lane, which I did.  I had a police car directly behind me and two cars in front both indicating to turn right - it briefly crossed my mind that maybe this lane was a right turn only but there was nothing I could do about it so I went straight across and was a little surprised to see the van on my left also going straight over.

I didn't have any of my documents on me to take to the Police Station which is a real no-no over here so we had to race back to Emba where a 'small' family disagreement broke out because we couldn't find any of the necessary paperwork.  Eventually we found enough and Mum and I set off for the Police Station.  It wasn't the fine I was bothered about it was more points on my licence as I already have five, three of which actually belong to John.

We were a sombre pair as we made our way to the police station.  I was feeling very aggrieved because you see no end of people driving whilst using their mobile phones, parking all over the shop and judging by some of the cars we see weaving their way home from the tavernas a fair amount of drink driving.  The Police were waiting for me when I arrived.  Typical good cop, bad cop - bad cop looking mean and moody with shaved head and mirrored Rayban's - good cop looking about 15 and as though he had made considerable effort spiking up his hair earlier that morning.  Thank goodness I got good cop who took one look at Mum (who was about to burst into tears) and gave me a caution as I immediately owned up to being the driver and recognising my misdemeanour.  Bad cop snarled that there were road markings - I was going to argue but didn't bother once I realised I wasn't going to be done.  However, I drove back the same way just to take a look and there is nothing on the road so, if like me you rarely drive around Paphos I would argue it was a simple mistake to make - that's my story and I am sticking to it!!  

We had to get back to Droushia because Nikos (the man dealing with the pool next door) had said he was going to be at ours at 1.30pm - we needn't have panicked because he didn't turn up which is typical.  Whilst we were waiting Charlie had his first encounter with the Goats - under the careful supervision of John, for once the normally fearless Charlie was uncertain about the big smelly noisy creatures the other side of the fence.

Before the Police 'incident' I had managed to do a bit of shopping in Superhome Centre.  They have a lot of their outdoor furniture on offer at the moment and we decided to replace our grotty old Carlsberg brolly with a nice new beige one which has a handle for opening it up - which makes life a lot easier!  I can remember when these were mega expensive and now they are as cheap as chips.  Not sure it will last as long as the cream one we bought years ago and which cost us an arm and a leg and which has moved house with us on several occasions but it does look nice.

We seem to get the sun most of the day outside the kitchen so we really need some good shade there.  We have a little issue at the moment because for some reason Charlie chooses to wee under one of the chairs in amongst the shingle - strangely it is only one of the chairs so we are going to have to get him out of that habit.  I shall be putting some orange peel down - that seems to put the cats off - the only trouble is it seems to take kittens a while to differentiate between shingle and cat litter!  Charlie also struggles to differentiate between compost in which my garden plants are planted and soil - I have had to admit defeat in the great Loofah challenge as I found him digging up a cactus so I reprimanded him and then he mooched off and dug up my loofah which, to be fair, was struggling and was nowhere near as good as Jane's.  I have declared Jane the champion even before a bath scrub has emerged!!

We had decided on feeesh for tea as there was a huge Sea Bream in the freezer which needed eating up.  John was in two minds as to how to cook it and, as we had friends coming for lunch tomorrow, I didn't really want the house to smell of our meal.

My own little Masterchef decided to marinade in herbs, lemon and olive oil, double wrap, firstly in baking parchment and secondly in tin foil and then steam cook in the small teppanyaki pan.  It was absolutely beautiful - we just had a simple salad with it and my fillet was so big I couldn't manage it all.  If he carries on like this then my role in the kitchen will become redundant!

I will finish this post with a couple of cat pictures. Above is my niece Elena's new kitten Maggie. Sadly just before Christmas Ellie and Andy's beautiful silver tabby Wilma disappeared.  Good on them for trying again and hopefully little Maggie will have a long and lazy life with them.

My second picture is of a silver tabby kitten (spooky that) which has appeared in Orexi Elena's garden.  Unfortunately this Elena is allergic to cats so the kitten cannot stay.

Lola has christened her Miss Rosey Petal - MISTAKE ELENA - once you give them a name they tend to move in with you on a permanent basis!!!

Anyway Elena has asked me to see if I can find her a home.  I shall try everyone that I know but I am betting with all Elena's contacts that the minute her photo is posted on the web someone will take her on because apparently she is a real sweetie and very loving - mind you if you were trying to home her you are hardly likely to say she is a little shit!!!