John goes on his travels...

Today we had an at home day getting John ready for his trip to the UK - his flight was this evening and he is only going for a week but it has been 5 years since he last needed to pack a suitcase, negotiate an airport, pick up an unfamiliar car (with a £2K excess!!!) and drive motorways - real ones with roadworks, contraflows and new junctions.  Charlie was bored with the whole procedure and just chilled in the conservatory.

John's case was packed and re-packed - scaled down, capsulised the lot!!!  Eventually he declared he could do no more and they were zipped and locked - he plans to go on a bit of a shopping spree and needed to make sure he had plenty of weight allowance!!!  Charlie was still bored by it all but had managed to roll over in the sunshine!!!

It was a glorious day - weather reports for the UK are foul so it is difficult to envisage just what clothes you are going to need - hopefully for John they will be the ones he has in his suitcase!!

We had been invited to David and Edda's golden wedding anniversary party at Fitos today but John didn't fancy eating full meze pre-flight and we knew that once we sat down and started eating and listening to the music of David's newly formed Dixie Seven Band we would want a little drinkie but as both of us would be driving we thought best to decline.  Instead we enjoyed a koupi in the comfort of our own home with a nice cup of tea and just called into see David and Edda with a card and a bottle of fizz to congratulate them.  Everyone there looked to be having a fabulous time.  They were still eating when we arrived so it was clearly going to be some time before they started playing again and we needed to get to the airport.  We thought if we were there early we could just grab a drink at Bona Mare before I dropped John off at check-in.

Best laid plans and all that - Bona Mare which quotes that it is Open All Year on its sign was not open - it looked like it was in the midst of a massive spring clean so we didnt stop obviously - we drove down a bit further and parked up for a while watching the sea.

Some nutter was in swimming!!!

In fact there were several people on the beach looking like they were having a picnic.  It was a lovely afternoon admittedly but I am not convinced it was lovely enough to want to go in for a swim!  Anyway we rang the information line and everything seemed to be on time so John decided to go on in and get a coffee and a comfy seat so I dropped him off at the quick drop-off point and he went in and got them to open up the check-in desk.  Within a few minutes he was through to departures.

I had to be in Geroskipou to meet someone - this is all to do with the surprise birthday party celebrations for Jane in a couple of weeks' time and as John had gone to the airport a little earlier than we had originally planned I had some time on my hands to kill so drove down to the fish restaurant by the airport (which is also currently closed) and took some photographs down there.  This actually looks quite a nice place to eat so might contemplate trying it if we are down that way picking up visitors at a suitable time.  Not sure when it opens - normally everything picks back up again at Easter but Easter is very late in Cyprus this year so I am guessing it will be before then.

I had to be at the square in Geriskipou and I was a little early so I did a bit of a wander round and took some photographs - they have done a whole load of work in the Square over the years and it is very attractive  There used to be a clear demarcation between the end of Geriskipou and the outskirts of Paphos but these have now become very blurred.  As we used to drive through from the airport before the motorway was built there used to be just pottery shops and basket shops and very little else.

There is this lovely basket shop just off the square which is reminiscent of what all the shops along that road used to look like - it is good that a little of the history and culture remains in amongst all the betting shops and neon lights.

So I sorted what I needed to sort for Jane's Do and then shot off down to Mum and Dad's completely forgetting about the road works and diversions through the town centre.  This evening we were going out with Jane and John - it will be the first time I have seen them since they arrived mid-week.

We were going across to Coral Bay to the Blue Olive to sample the delights of Derrick's Surf and Turf specials with Dad and I and Jane and John both opting for Chateaubriand steaks.  Sorry for the picture Jane I didn't realise when I took it you had your eyes shut and I only took the one!!!

We had a lovely evening and it was good to catch up - they are planning on sampling the Dixie Seven when they play at the Droushia Heights on Friday so I will go and join them.

My turn for lunch tomorrow - the weather forecast is awful - we had planned to go to the beach for a walk and then find somewhere to eat but will give that a miss.

My first time in Villa 10b home alone - save for the four cats.  Minnie is most confused - she always comes for a cuddle on John's chest before settling down to sleep - mine was clearly second best!!