Mousegate is over

For now mousegate is over - it had started to become personal...

Tom Cruise (as we had named the rodent) was clearly reenacting scenes from his latest movie 'Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation' and running roughshod under the lower kitchen units.  Each morning fresh evidence by way of a small pile of rubble would appear on the kitchen floor by the kickboard where there was the tiniest tiniest gap.  We have no idea what he was doing with the rubble (left over from when the units were put in and the workmen never cleaned up after themselves) but it convinced John that we still had the unwelcome visitor.  The cats stoically ignored any encouragement to 'flush him out' even when we removed the kickboards and shoved Mr Boo underneath - maybe that is why Charlie temporarily left home?

Tom Cruise had to go and if he wouldn't go of his own accord then sadly we were going to have to despatch him - Cypriot DIY shops don't seem to have heard of humane traps - their idea of a mouse trap is a huge sticky pad which traps anything that stands on it and once caught cannot get away thus their demise is long and painful - this was not going to happen in our house.  After some discussion with Maria at Glykis she decided that SuperCat was the way ahead - once enticed by the preloaded bait the end would be quick and as painless as it could be under the circumstances...
... well it worked one poor little mouse met its maker - hard to tell if it was as painless as promised but it the deed is done.

With the return of Charles Farles safe and sound and the end of the mousegate saga I could go off to Diana's for coffee without a care.  Diana had kindly invited Sheila and I round this morning and we sat on their back terrace accompanied by the gentle tinkle of their water feature which we all agreed could be a bit of a disaster for women of a certain age!!  Diana has thrown down the gauntlet for future coffee mornings - setting the bar high with her marble cake which was delicious - in fact when John came to pick me up he was eyeing up the spare slice but on studying his waistline thought that Rob's need was probably greater than his own!

It was Visitor Arrivals Day today - John's mum and stepdad and our friends Barry, Lynne and son Joseph all coming into Paphos this evening.  We were stocking up the fridge at C&A apartments for Janet and Hadge this morning and dropping of a few other essentials.  We were just waiting to get into No5 when there was a sudden single gust of wind which picked up one of the huge umbrellas on the terrace and sent it flying - smashing the umbrella and one of Eva's beloved plant pots into the bargain.  John and I managed to get the other three brollies down and secure before any further damage took place!  That is far too much excitement on a very hot and very sticky day!

We decided to eat down at Mum and Dad's before the airport run - top tip is to go to Sayyas takeaway in Chloraka on the evening before it is closed for his short Summer break as he was clearly keen not to be left with anything uneaten! For our €28 euros we had a plate of lemons and onions, a plate of tomato and cucumber, a plate of olives, potato salad and coleslaw, a plate of pickled beetroot with all the normal Cypriot dips, a plate of roast potatoes, a plate of chips, a whole roast chicken, a beer, a large bottle of water and two Fanta - RESULT!!!

All visitors now safely arrived and installed in their holiday establishments - it's going to be fun - although I am rather concerned that my mother-in-law is knickerless at the moment - she brought me a lovely lamp for the garden and stuffed it full of pants to make sure it didn't break - the pants were still in it!