Calm before the storm

We woke this morning to a thunderstorm and the first real rain for quite some time.  My ear still had the cobblers inside hammering away but it didn't feel too bad - this was clearly the calm before the storm in more ways than one.

The Akamas Spa is currently running an offer of a full body scrub for €20 and as Diana hadn't been there before I had booked for us both to go.  The offer is only on until the end of October and I had changed the appointment once already so I was determined to go.  I thought that a bit of pampering might make me feel a bit better anyway.

The drive down to Diana's was a damp one.  Everything was looking a bit messy because when it rains there are no drains so there is nowhere for the water or the rubbish to go so it gets washed all across the roads.  Everything will now begin to green up and it will wake all those dormant weed seeds that are nestling in the gardens.

On arriving at Diana's the skip man was there taking away yet another full skip. Diana and Rob have been remodeling their lovely bungalow since they arrived last November.  They seem to be getting to the end of the major works but as with any house there is always something to be done!

Beyond the skip lorry at the end of the road there is a row of massively high fir trees.  As I went to turn the car round to keep out of the way of the skip I noticed that in front of them there appears to have been a fire break or something cleared.  Diana seems to think that, at long last, the trees are going to be shortened as they are a danger - if they were to fall not only would they crash over a number of houses they would take down the village electricity with them.  With heavy storms forecast those living nearby will hope the work is done sooner rather than later.

It was a shame it was a grey day when we arrived at the Spa because when the sun is shining the view is spectacular.  Nowhere ever looks quite to sad as a holiday resort when it is raining!

Our body scrub was well worth the €20.  My Greek was challenged because the lovely therapist came from Pomos and spoke very little English but we managed to understand one another.  My skin was sloughed within an inch of its life before I showered off in what was a rather cool shower (no sun for the solar panels apparently) and then smoothed and nourished by a lovely moisturising lotion - I then retired to the rest room to await Diana's return.

There was more rain whilst we were being pampered but when we went for a coffee the sun was beginning to break through.  It is unbelievable that such a little village can have both a modern spa and the boutique Droushia Heights Hotel.  The Spa never seems to be very busy and sadly they haven't done anything special to encourage the locals to use it throughout the whole of the year unlike the Hotel which offers residents a discount card.  I only go when there is an offer on and enjoy it but it is a luxury for me.

The weather deteriorated so we battened down the hatches because we are now used to Cypriot Thunderstorms!  We still get an issue with the garden sloping down to the front door so some rain managed to make its way under the front door.  It is nothing like as bad as it was in year 1 but we always have flood defense towels to hand and use the back door (which is actually our front door!!).

There was nothing for it but to sit out the storm and as it was warm and cosy in the conservatory we decided to sit in there and catch up on some rubbish TV.

The latest series of the Apprentice has started and we hadn't seen any of the episodes so far so we decided to watch that as it wouldn't need any brain cells to do so and it was good to have all the cats snuggled in with us as we could see the weather was going from bad to worse!

It was as black as your hat outside with little puffy white clouds whipping across the sky - clearly two weather systems were about to do battle but we never imagined quite what a battle it was going to be.

It was shame because this afternoon we were supposed to have met up with Lou and H for a swim in the sea before the clocks change on Sunday morning and the days become considerably shorter followed by a late lunch/early dinner at Fry-Days.  With my manky ear I thought it unwise to swim so had called that off for me but John had still wanted to go and I could have wrapped my head up like Nanook of the North and watched them having fun but the weather didn't look at all promising so we had postponed the whole afternoon opting instead to meet this evening at Fitos instead.

Quite a bit of work has been carried out here over the last week or so with an extension on the extension!  What was a paved area outside now has a lovely wooden roof to it and I guess it will only be a matter of time before that gets glassed in as well.

It is really lovely to see Johanna and Fitos doing well - just hope it doesn't get too big and lose some of its charm.

Lou and H had not eaten here before - we were amazed because there aren't many establishments on their grooming routes that they haven't tried at least once!  We were pleased that they enjoyed their meal which was accompanied by the most unbelievable lightning show.  It seems to be coming from every direction.

As we left the taverna it started to rain very heavily and as we drove home we could seem storms over the sea, storms over Lyssos and storms coming from Lara.

This weather is always a bit of a trial for us as the rain always manages to find its way under the front door - John as done so much work to rectify this but unfortunately last night something was blocking the water butt and it was overflowing right outside - the front garden was awash and even the door mat was beginning to float away.

We had three sensible cats in on our return but Chivers was missing - we were sure he would be holed up somewhere waiting for the storm to abate and sure enough he was.  With everyone in and the flood defences in place, electricity going on and off and my earache back with a vengeance we retired to bed wondering what we were going to find the next morning.  I have to thank my good friend Nicky Kirby from Emba forthe photographs she took of the lightning - I am guessing she was set up on the balcony of her house in readiness to take these shots - stunning!