Thursday - nearly time to say goodbye to Pam and George

John made me take a photograph of the hoover today and wrote down very detailed instructions as to where it gets stored so that I would be able to find it and recognise it the next time it was taken out for an outing!

I am not one of life's great cleaners unfortunately - I certainly never inherited that skill from my Mum and so when I do get round to it it is a much bigger job than it needed to have been.

In fact today, sadly, I managed to blow up the steam mop that Mum had given me - in fairness it just stopped mid mop and when John took it apart he found that there was a little hose that had been split for some time and water had been spraying onto a printed circuit board and it obviously got too much for it yesterday.  I had to resort to the non mechanical option of a mop and bucket but at least with that method there is nothing technical that can go wrong.

I do hope my Aunt and Uncle appreciate the effort that is going into their stay!  Everything will look sparkly and clean providing we can keep the cats from investigating the bedroom and the freshly made bed!

We took a trip down the hill to see John and Susan.  John had been to the hospital yet again with his hand and this time they have said that they are going to have to operate and it will be quite invasive.

This started out as the removal of a ganglion but the wound has refused to heal and his hand and lower arm swell dramatically and then all this liquid comes out which is pretty disgusting and fairly incapacitating for John.

Let's hope that they can get to the bottom of it and soon because little Zak is looking pretty cheesed off with the whole episode!!!

Joking aside John had been planning to ride a charity bike ride to the Troodos with Susan and a group of friends in a couple of weeks time and it looks like he will be unable to join them which is a shame although he says he will do it on his own later if that is the case.

This evening we were going out for a farewell meal with George and Pam as they return to the UK on Saturday and I will be out at the theatre in Emba on Friday night.  They came round for a drink with us beforehand.  George and his great mate Charlie - I don't know who is going to miss the other more as George says he really loves Charlie and I am pretty sure Charlie feels the same way.  If we have been out for the night Charlie mooches round to see George but on hearing our car will always run to the door to come home so we often swing into the estate to see George saying good-night to Charlie who will have been spoiled rotten by Pam.

We had decided that it would be nice if no-one had to drive and so we decided to go for a meze at Finikas in the village.  We had a pleasant walk down through the village - in fact it was warmer than it had looked (it had been quite overcast for most of the day).  We had thought we would need to eat indoors but in the courtyard it was very pleasant and so that is where we ate.

 It is so very typically Cypriot in this taverna and we love it.  We know that there will be no major surprises to the meal and that there will be plenty of Agios Onoufrios at a reasonable price.  This evening we had an additional course of local Anari cheese drizzled with a grape syrup which was delicious but by the time it came we were just too full from everything else.

We are going to miss Pam and George but know that all things being equal they will be back again next year - we keep saying Easter but as they came this Easter and nearly froze to death I think the jury is out!