June 22nd...

There was a bit of confusion between Wheelie Helen and me today as we had arranged that I would follow her down to find Kate Fensom's house to go and view Kate's art at her open day.  http://www.katefensom.com/katefensom/ 

I had a text from Helen this morning which I thought meant she was going to pick me up so I walked down the road to wait for her to save her coming all the way into the estate and she was waiting for me at her house so I had got it all wrong.  I could hear John bellowing across the field for me so I ran back to see what he wanted and he had just spoken to Helen on the phone.  

I was just getting myself sorted to go in the car when we realised that Charlie was having trouble on the litter box again.  He was obviously in distress,looking very sorry for hiself and trying to pee every minute or so and crying when nothing happened.  We thought that the injections we had been administering would have helped but clearly not.  We managed to get hold of Irene who managed to get him an emergency appointment and we took him off down to the vets.

Poor little mite, he clearly hates being in a car and suffers from car sickness - we had to stop on the way down to clear up poo and wee and then by the time we arrived at the vets it had happened again with some sick for good measure.  He looked and smelt awful.  

The vet gave him an anti-inflammatory to help with the pain of passing urine and to help with a swollen back leg and gave us some rather frighteningly pink liquid antibiotic to administer. 

We had to wash him when we got home - a full body soak as he had stepped and rolled in everything and we towelled him down and wrapped him in a shocking pink towel so that it would match if we failed to get the antibiotics down him.  

Poor, poor little thing didn't seem to know what had hit him and we decided to try and settle him on the sofa because he has become increasingly distressed being shut in the cage - we think this might have been how he came to injure his leg as he keeps hurling himself at the roof and bouncing off.

John keeps reminding me that Charlie is, at this stage, just being fostered by us as his long term future depends on how our other two cats react.  So far Minnie is conspicuous by her absence.  In fact we didn't see her all day which was worrying but she did eventually pitch up for some food when it was dark but she is not comfortable by his presence and beats a hasty retreat - she does tend to stay out more this weather so maybe we shouldn't read too much into it.

Chivers' first reaction was to run a mile - now he has decided to adopt the position of Top Cat and so he does a bit of hissing and a bit of growling and a bit of batting on the head but then keeps a safe distance and keeps a wary eye on the interloper.

John is busy making sure that their respective scents are being transferred over and uses lots of encouragement to both - John the Cat Whisperer!!  Chivers will take so much and then he wanders off for some peace and quiet with Charlie in hot pursuit.  All Charlie wants to do is play but Chivers isn't having any of it.

We have decided not to confine Charlie to the cage any more for fear he will hurt himself further and have cleared the spare bedroom and moved in his bed, litter and toys so that when we have to shut him in he has more space to play.

We had to shut him in for a little while this afternoon because we had been invited to the opening of Droushia's latest holiday accommodation.  We have watched the progress of the Agrotourism development called 1937 Ktimi Kannides with great interest and were delighted to go and meet Spiros and his wife Olivera and have a tour of the facilities.  Agrotourism venues are like 'listed' venues where the traditional look and feel of the buildings is retained but they have a modern twist.  There are just five self-catering units here and they have been finished to a really high specification whilst still retaining a traditional charm.

The photographs really don't do the rooms justice.  They are decorated in a lovely neutral style with furnishings which manage to be modern but feel traditional.

There are wood burners installed so they are clearly hoping to attract visitors all year round.

A lot of the artwork reflects members of Spiros's family but with a modern twist.  

I was impressed with what I saw - the rooms are small but don't feel small and I could imagine that in the winter with the wood burner blazing away they would feel warm and cosy.

We were invited to join them for a drink around the pool - Olivera said that she had discovered my blog when she was looking for information to put on their website http://www.kannides.com/ and she was interested to learn about other Agrotourism places like Ambelikos where Mum and Dad had been recently and also interested in their offers on the Daily Deals website.  We have been invited to go round any time for a coffee and we certainly will.  We also met Xaroula who will be managing the development.  She is a neighbour of Orexi Elena, she has also invited us for coffee - at this rate we will be permanently 'wired'!!

We had shopping to do in Polis and so went down to the coast and decided to have a wander around the Marina at Latchi first as it was such a beautiful afternoon.  We should we meet at the slipway getting their boat into the water but our lovely neighbours Galatia, Charalambous and their son George.  They were desperately trying to get us to go with them but we had things to do so we had to decline and promise that we would go the next time.

We watched them manouevre the boat and get themselves in and sail off into the sunset!  It is good to see them enjoying themselves as they always seem to be so busy. They are up here for a long weekend as it is a bank holiday on Monday.  The Cypriots will be celebrating Kataklysmos which is a celebration of the great flood.

Not familiar with this?

"The celebration of  Kataklysmos is a Greek Orthodox festival with strong pagan roots relating back to the Greek myth of Deukalion and the ark he built to survive the floods, and ancient ceremonies between Aphrodite and Adonis. The festival also relates to the Old Testament tale of Noah’s ark. Kataklysmos is still celebrated with great passion every year all over Cyprus. The festivities take place 50 days after Easter therefore the date changes yearly in accordance with the date of Easter. In English Kataklysmos is known as Pentecost or Whitsun - the day the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples of Jesus.  

Seafront promenades are full of stalls selling traditional food and toys. Competitions are held in rhyming songs in the Cypriot dialect. Swimming, boat and canoe races are held and dance troupes perform the traditional dances of the island. Before any of this begins however, the first official event of the day must take place - a priest throws a crucifix into the sea and there is usually fierce competition between divers (generally young men) to retrieve it. The winner receives a blessing from the priest.  

Now the fun begins. Water fights with water pistols (symbolic of purifying the soul), music and dancing in the streets and on stage, and vast amounts of delicious food.

On this day, even in the towns, the main accessory for children is a water gun, filled to capacity and ready to use!!"