Soggy Saturday

Here is another one to fill in the gaps before Xmas...

So it started raining when we left for the jingle yesterday and I don't reckon it stopped all night so when we woke this morning it was a grim soggy Saturday when Cyprus looks at its absolute worst - the poor people who have come here for their Winter Sun holiday will be sadly disappointed until it improves in the next day or so.  Poor Jane and John have not had the best of starts to their trip - it was warmer in the UK in the early hours of the morning that it was in Emba today.

On a day like today we have no hesitation in keeping the house warm even though we were off out for lunch.  The gas fire, now that John seems to have sorted out all its little foibles, gives instant heat and a nice warm glow - you feel warmer just looking at it.

Breakfast was to be taken by the fire and very nice and toasty warm it was too.  As we were going down to Emba for lunch with Jane and John and then taking them to their apartment where they will stay for the remainder of their holiday we were faced with the inevitable conundrum of what to wear as it is always warmer down on the coast.  Mum provided us with a weather report which indicated that today wasn't really any better in Emba so that was helpful, layers and something to keep off the rain!

We went down to feed Millie before setting off for lunch.  Fortunately she has access to shelter indoors so we don't have to worry about her getting soaking wet.

As we drove down towards John and Susan's the cloud formations were incredible sitting low in the valleys so that we were above them in places.  For once it looked as though Polis and Argaka were having the worst of it and as we turned to look back up towards Droushia it looked much brighter - although it clearly didn't stay that way as we only generated a minuscule amount of electricity during the course of the day.

We were well dressed for the weather having both dug out our hats and scarves to keep dry - my old butcher boy hat came with me from the UK - it came from the Monsoon outlet shop in the Clarks village and John loves it (on me - not for him!)

With the temperatures only in single figures we set off down to Emba glad that we had gone in the Peugeot rather than Kenny as Kenny's heater is nowhere near as good and we were very grateful for the heater today.  When we arrived at Mum and Dad's Mum had already gone to Brian and Mary's who were hosting Dad's walking group for festive meal.  Dad was just about to leave so we had a quick catch-up before he set off.  Apparently Fred will be coming home on Monday and he is currently being trained to get used to having a cage which is what they will need if he is to become a fully fledged house cat and avoid being beaten up again.

On the subject of Cats we had decided to have lunch a the Bad Cat today - John and I had not eaten there before but Mum and Dad have been several times recently and at this time of the year a lot of places are closed or only open in the evening.

For one awful minute we thought the Bad Cat was closed too as we couldn't see any lights on upstairs but we were more than happy to see their blackboard outside which meant that we wouldn't have to go in search of an alternative establishment.

I am pleased to report that it was lovely and warm in there and so it was no hardship to sit there until 3.00pm when Jane and John could check in to their apartment.

We got them settled in and managed to sort out their TV box so that Jane would be able to catch up with the Strictly Final and the Apprentice if she has time and then said goodbye (until tomorrow when we are meeting them and Mum and Dad for Sunday lunch at Sonny's).

As we were down in the Metrolops we took the opportunity to shoot over to Geroskipou and the Beer Seller for John to spend the money his mum had sent him on some specialist beers for Chrimbo.  Athos, the owner, was in fine form and invited us to sit with him and have a drink with him for Christmas.  He chose for me a light floral beer which was actually really lovely and I am not normally a beer drinker.

We stayed with him longer than we had expected to so by the time we got home the cats were starvin marvin and let it be known in no uncertain terms.

To make it up to them we had a snuggly evening in with the new blinkies, the lights down low, the fire roaring and rubbish on the tv - BLISS

We had all four in, just the way we like it - I do hope Boris appreciates just what a lucky chappie he is - it was two years ago that he pitched up, chose us and made this his home.