Thursday

This morning I was treating myself to a facial at Kate's whilst John was doing a bit of shopping and then going for a haircut - forgetting that it was Thursday and the barbers isn't open on a Thursday, like petrol stations aren't open on a Tuesday afternoon and bugger all is open in Polis on a Saturday afternoon and Sunday!!!  The idiosyncratic shopping opening hours of Cyprus!!!

My facial is my little treat - I probably don't go enough for it to be making any real difference to my skin (which has never been that good in the first place) but I can't really afford to go more often - I manage to go every couple of months and my loyalty will be rewarded next time with a free back massage which I am looking forward to although the last time I had a back massage (I won it as part of a competition) I opted for the deep muscle one and regretted the choice almost immediately as I felt completely pummeled into submission!!!  I am sure it probably did me no end of good but I was just too exhausted to tell - I had envisaged lovely aromas and a snooze not 20 rounds with someone from the WWF and we are not talking the World Wildlife Fund here!!!

My facial involves a bit of massage on my feet - this has taken some getting used to as I don't like my feet being touched as a rule but now I am ok about it and can relax - this gave me the opportunity to reflect upon the error of my ways this morning when John pointed out that I had not done a Brian Hanrahan with the laundry.  This means counting the things going out and counting them coming back in apparently!!  The reason being was that a pillow case didn't make it to the washing machine even though it had been removed ready to do so - I found it languishing on the bedroom floor.   Fortunately it was only the under pillow pillow case from my side of the bed so was probably not dirty - it just got a hang on the line for a blow - duly reprimanded I will endeavour to do better in future!

I had some errands to run this morning which involved passing through Kathikas where I encountered a random bollard in the middle of the road - that was it - just a bollard which looked for all the world as though some late night reveler at the Farmyard had placed it there as a joke - on further inspection I realised that it was marking a massive hole just in front where some metal grate had fallen away.  Blimey not much health and safety going on here and I could just imagine that later on this evening when it was dark some fast moving vehicle could ignore the bollard completely and then end up in some snotty heap where its wheel had found that hole.

We were going down to Emba this evening for one of our regular meals with Mum and Dad and Jackie and Costas (Tea for Two) so I needed to remember that hole was there otherwise that snotty heap could be us.

It was another cracking day and as I returned home I thought I would drag John out to go and find a local beauty spot which might be somewhere we take Sally and Tommy when they are here depending on time and the weather.

So off we went in search of some local waterfalls not expecting to find very much particularly as it has been so dry and were amazed to find the most beautiful spot with running water.  John was so impressed he decided that he just had to go in even though the water was very cold!!!  Not sure whether you should swim there particularly as there are barriers around the perimeter.  There are also picnic tables and a barbeque pit and it was litter free - all the litter was bagged up and awaiting collection.

We stayed a while before embarking on a walk which took us through some beautiful scenery and ultimately to a cave - we had no idea!  Fortunately we had reasonable footwear and were able to complete the walk even though it was a bit of a scramble in places.  Wow what a hidden gem - as I said we had no idea this existed and it was so beautiful you almost want to keep it to yourself so that it doesn't get trashed.

On our way back up we passed two other couples who were making the same discovery of these waterfalls - we are guessing that some work has been put in recently to make these areas more accessible to the public - we certainly don't remember seeing the signposts previously and clearly work has been done to cut steps into the hillside to gain access to the cave.

I said to John as I was getting my breath back after the steep climb, that I wouldn't want to be doing that walk with it any hotter than it was today!!  Maybe we should have done the walk first and then cooled off in the pool!!!

We then took a drive around some of the backstreets of Kritou Terra - one of which was so tight we nearly touched both sides with the wing mirrors!!  It is a very pretty little village with lots of history including an ancient casino.  The first casino in Cyprus which began operating in the 1870's.  We found it but didn't go in as time was running out.

We did find the new Taverna and stopped for a coffee and a chat with the owner Glavkos who wanted us to stay for a beer on the house - we declined saying we would return shortly and give the food a try.

We were impressed by the state of the art kitchen and the fact that Glavkos told us that other than buying in the meat everything else they provide themselves.

He grows massive gourds and I have agreed to go up one day with my tools to show him the carving that I was taught a couple of years ago - he seemed a nice man and even more so when he told us he was a cat lover - he had some beautiful kittens which he said he was more than happy to keep and feed because they kept the snakes and the mice away.

As I said earlier we were out this evening in Emba and yes, we did avoid the hole in Kathikas both on the way down and on the way back.  It was lovely to meet up with Jackie and Costas - we haven't seen them since they came to our Anniversary Tea Party.  To Thanasi was packed this evening - they must be doing something right to have so many people in on a Thursday evening!  We had a lovely evening all together - we always do!