Droushia/Drouseia Dits: Saturday - Cats Fires and Friends

We had a morning of cat encounters - having just made the bed before going round to our neighbours Pam and George for coffee we turned our backs for one second and then found that Chivers, Charlie and Boris were all snuggled down together - nothing so vulgar for Miss Minnie Mou who prefers to keep her own counsel and mooches off somewhere quiet on her own.

We had a panic phonecall from Janet to tell us that she had unfortunately broken the tea-pot mum had lent her and she was mortified. I knew mum wouldn't have been bothered but we had to find a replacement because my mother in law is the only person I know who drinks loose leaf tea and therefore has to have a pot if she wants a cuppa otherwise it starts to get very messy. There isn't much choice of tea-pot sellers in Polis - in fact tea-pots don't seem to be widely available on the island and when they are they can be expensive so we thought we would do a trawl of the charity establishments which is when this pretty little kitten was spotted in amongst some items for sale - good ploy - you buy a TV stand and get a free moggy! I have to say a big thank-you to Judy at Paphiakos who actually sold me the shop's own tea-pot and more to the point it was a metal one so Janet won't be able to break it.

We were taking a light lunch today as John and I were out in the evening and Janet and Hadge eating in at C&A so we wandered down to Latchi and plumped for a sandwich in Debbies. The resident cat Harvey wanted in on the action - company, not food but it was very hot and he is no light-weight so having him on my lap was a rather warm experience!

Janet had a few little gifts that she wanted to buy to take back to friends and family so we called in to see what Roberts had to offer - it is a right old Aladdin's Cave and you can always guarantee you will find something to buy even if it is not what you originally went in for!

John saw this sign and said we should adopt this as our mantra - maybe that isn't such bad advice after all!

We returned to ours so that Hadge and John could watch Arsenal play - Hadge being a staunch Gunners supporter. Janet preferred the cool of the swimming pool and I endeavoured to make a treacle tart - treacle tart is Hadge's favourite and as we have failed miserably to find an eating establishment with this on offer I thought I would give it a go. It looks like a treacle tart and it smells like a treacle tart but the proof of the pudding will be in the eating and this is earmarked for tomorrow!

Sadly it is the time of year when there are continuous outbreaks of fires on the island. With everything tinder dry that can quickly get out of control. This afternoon there were yet more fires nearby - it looked closer than it was but unlike yesterday the one (or ones) today required the intervention of helicopters bearing huge buckets of water. They went directly over the house. It then became evident that there were other major fires over towards Giolou - the helicopters working through the night to control this one. Facebook has reports of an even larger much more serious looking one that has raged near Peyia. Let's just hope that these were not started on purpose. As I write I can still here the drone of the helicopters in the distance along with the sound of hunters shooting although at this rate they will have even less to shoot at than normal as the countryside is being ravaged by fire.

This evening we had been invited to a Thai meal at Elaine and Paul's with Elena and Bassam - lots of reasons for celebration - Elaine's recent birthday, the surprise visit of her daughter Hadeel from Bahrain and the opportunity to eat in the newly created Moroccan courtyard which is gradually coming together and which is a beautiful addition to what is already a stunning house and garden. We assembled under what looked to be a 'Super' moon which added to the already magical atmosphere. We were treated to a veritable feast - all cooked by Paul - dish upon dish of beautiful food - he really did himself proud. Bassam was keen to learn how to eat with chopsticks and John proceeded to show him. John once spent a lunchtime in a restaurant in Hong Kong with some wizened old lady clamping his hands to his sticks with a vice like grip showing him the correct way - even when cramp had set in she refused to let him go until he had mastered picking up a single grain of rice - he is a fully qualified black belt in chopstickery!