Jane and John's last day...

When we were at Elena's yesterday I was presented with these beautiful hand-made birthday cards, the top one from Rabia, the one on the left from Amoura and the one of the tree from Lola.  It was so sweet of them to remember and to take the time to make their own cards - particularly in this technological age.  I was really touched and smiled when Rabia said he was sorry his was only on paper but when John picks him up for footie on Saturday he will have made a proper one.  They are such lovely children and that is high praise indeed coming from me who couldn't normally eat a whole one!!!

I have eventually finished knitting my hottie wattie bottie covers - the one on the left is mine and the one on the right is John's - I struggled to get his finished because when I started it in wool to match my own I realised I wasn't going to have enough and then found that the shop no longer sold the colour I wanted so I had to unravel it and start again.  I was three quarters of the way through with a new colour scheme when I realised that once again I wasn't going to have enough and so I had to eke it out and fudge it a bit - if you turn it over you will see that the top of the neck is just one colour and not mixed - not that anyone is going to notice when it is in the bed but there are standards!!!  John thinks I should knock out a few more of these but you have to knit them with double strands of wool so you use twice as much as you would think and over here wool is hard to find and when you do it is expensive or if not expensive it is in colours that are horrible!

If we though the weather yesterday was bad today it was really awful - in fact we could not see our hands in front of our faces and it poured with rain.  We traveled down to Emba and this is the junction where Fitos' taverna is in Kathikas and you can hardly see the car waiting to come out.

We drove down via Peyia as we were calling into Hearns Bookshop to pick up a book for Louise Jones, needed petrol and wanted to drop off the tablecloths and napkins we used in the Yurt for a proper wash and iron before returning them to Elena.  You can see how rough the seas were looking all around the coast - so much white water where it is normally calm - what a glorious day for March - NOT!!!

Whilst John was playing badminton Mum and I trekked back to Droushia to check on our flood defences - there had been so much rain overnight and during the morning that we had struggled to keep it under control.   This has made us convinced that our next project will be the tiling of the conservatory floor and getting the door sorted so that we can stop the rain coming in underneath.  On our return the sun was setting with a little colour to it so we are hopeful that tomorrow will be a better day.

As I said tonight is Jane and John's last night (and Mike of course as he will be travelling back with them on the same flight).  John had wanted to eat at Phideas in Coral Bay - somewhere we have not visited for years and years as they fancied a bit of traditional food on their last night.  I thought it might be cold there and had contacted them to to make sure we were sitting somewhere warm.

We were really pleasantly surprised by the venue.  It was warm and cosy and the food was good.  John and Jane shared a traditional meze and Mike and Dad shared a mixed meat and fish meze.  Mum had a chicken kebab, my John opted for the mixed grill and I had the chef's special lamb and it was lovely.

We shall return again - I think is is a particularly nice place to go in the winter as the wood burner made it so warm but think it would be a good place to take John's cousin and family when they are staying down the road at the Ascos Hotel or when John's Mum and stepdad are here because it is traditional without being too traditional (no testicles or goat's head on the menu).

Have to thank John and Mike for paying for our meal which was very kind and unexpected.  Can't believe that John and Jane's month has gone by already.  All that birthday celebration planning and now it has been and gone.  It has been great having them here and hope it won't be too long before they return again.