Hissing Sid...

Ok so a fairly short post today but it is all about our encounter with a snake, an unexpected encounter with the infamous Cyprus Blunt Nosed Viper.  We had gone down to see Millie-Mou who has recently been bitten by a snake and I was worried about her because she is currently on her own as John and Susan had to return to the UK for the funeral of John's mum.  Yesterday on my second visit she seemed to be stiffening all down her right side and was clearly unhappy. So I wanted John to come with me today to give me his opinion because, it being Friday, if she needed to go to the vets we wanted to take her today rather than leave it to the weekend when it would be more difficult.

On our arrival John went into the gym to see Millie and I walked up onto the patio where we would normally feed her if she was fit and healthy to pick up some food to try and get her to eat.

Just as I reached the top of the stairs I could see a snake making its way towards the water bowl and food.  From the shape of its head and its demeanour I was pretty sure it was a blunt nosed viper but I hadn't seen one this close up before.  I called for John and he armed himself with the only thing to hand - Susan's mop which we will probably have to replace as it got a right old hammering.

The snake was a canny thing - and it didn't want to be moved on from the food and water.  John didn't really want to kill it and to be fair the mop wasn't up to the job so he used it to shoo it out of the garden but the snake got progressively more pissed off - if you look very carefully you can see its head in the top left of the picture - mouth open spitting and attacking the mop.  At one point John raised the mop to give it a whack and couldn't see the snake as it had attached itself to the mop and was dangling above his head!  John managed to get the creature off the premises and over the side where we saw it disappear up a drainage pipe.  We were concerned that Millie had encountered this snake for a second time (if it was the one which bit her in the first place).  What was clear was that the water left our for her was attracting unwelcome visitors so we decided to return with food bowls so we could feed her in the gym and a bigger dirt box so if she needed to use it she could as the one Susan had left was far too small.

In fact we visited Millie three times today as I was so worried about her.  I wasn't keen on the spray the vet had given for her treatment as it appears it is normally only used on livestock and can be too strong for a domestic pet and she is such a teeny tiny thing and her front leg looks very strange although it might be just that the fur is all matted having been sprayed so much.

On our first two visits she ate nothing and was lethargic and shuffled around but on our final visit she had perked up considerably, she wanted to eat and she wanted to have a lot of love which John duly supplied.  Phew relief, I think they will need to take her back to have her front leg looked at but she seems to have turned a corner.  She is such a lovely little thing and looks so scraggy in the summer at the best of times.  I should sleep better tonight as I wont be so worried.

Thursday - Village Clean...

This morning I was having some me-time and a facial at Kate's - I had to cancel my previous appointment because we were flying off to Dubai so was looking forward to it.  Her salon is a little oasis and I feel so much better after a session.

En route I went down to see how Millie was doing - poor poor Millie was bitten by a snake recently or at least that is what the vet suspected.  Her front right paw was injured and looking at the way she was walking also her back right paw.  She looks scraggy in the summer at the best of times as she loses the fur around her neck and what with the strange blue spray the vet had given them to administer she was in a right old state.  I did manage to get her to eat something and witnessed her going to the loo and trying to use her poorly paw to cover it but she was shaky and distressed and I didn't like it.  I decided to return on my way back from Kate's to make sure she was ok.  John and Susan return on Sunday and they have told us that if anything untowards happens we are not to get upset but we would, of course we would.

I reluctantly left Millie and made my way down to Polis for my 10.00am appointment - I don't go down to Polis often except for my food shopping so it is quite nice to have a look around to see what has been happening down there.  When we first arrived permanently and before the Credit Crisis Polis was very up and coming but in the interim a whole load of businesses have closed.  There is talk once again of a new link road from Paphos to Polis which I guess they hope will bring increased footfall to our neck of the woods - who knows?

I parked in the rough carpark and noticed that there is a new ice-cream parlour which has opened.  I had better not tell John as he is a real lover of ice-cream and a bit of an aficionado!!

The lovely old building on the opposite side is still being renovated but sadly I think it looks bland.  It used to have a fabulous set of outside steps which led to a veranda - it was probably very very dangerous but it looked so good.  This has gone, not sure if it is only temporary and will be replaced but there is nothing much there now to give the building character.

I had a great hour being pampered at Kate's - we had a laugh as one client came in at the wrong time even though Kate had text her to confirm her appointment and she had responded - she said she responded but hadn't looked at the time - she was clearly miffed and thought it was Kate's fault when it clearly wasn't - Kate was gracious and managed to re-schedule the appointment and keep the client happy.  Smart move!

I called in to see Millie on the way back - she seemed less steady on her feet and more withdrawn - it could be just that it was very hot and she was feeling it.  I decided to move her food down into the gym with her as I thought she might be unable to jump up onto the table where she is normally fed.  She wasn't interested - in fact she wasn't interested in much poor little thing.

It was clean-up day today, not normally on a Thursday but we are busy on Saturday and there will be a big funeral in the village on that day for Nicos so it would have been inappropriate to do the clean then anyway.  As a result Di and Rob were unavailable so we were really pleased to see Luscious Lynda arrive with her visitor Julie to help out.

We thought we were going to have an issue to begin with because I went to get bags from the Mukhtar's supermarket and there was an issue.  To begin with I thought they were going to have to pay for some but it transpired that they had run out and were waiting for replacements.  The Mukhtar managed to find a roll although I had put plenty in the rucksack - seeing as we do this for the benefit of the village I think it is the least they can do to provide us with the bags!!

Julie was the most glamorous litter-picker we have had so far - she looked like she was dressed for an evening out but she mucked in and between the four of us we did the long route around the telephone mast and actually there was far less rubbish than we had anticipated.

We ended up at O Stathmos where we were going to have a quick beer but ended up having a couple of tonic and gins (no way with those measures they could be gins and tonic) - this was probably not the best idea in the world as we hadn't had any tea!!

DIY

Boris has been operated on today - when I phoned he hadn't come round properly and so they will tell us more tomorrow.


A very very early start to the day today as we were having our solar panels replaced for bright new efficient ones and Alan and his worker wanted to come before it was too hot so they were here at 6.45am!!!

The solar panels we are replacing have been in over 6 years and although we know that the water here in Droushia is never going to be as good as, say, where Mum and Dad are in Emba there have been times this last winter when it has been suprisingly disappointing.  When the old panels were removed one clearly had had an issue so this would have contributed to the poor performance.  The new ones are supposed to be super-dooper state of the art and we should see a marked improvement.

As we expect to remain here in Villa 10b for the foreseeable future (and beyond) we are investing in our home to make it as comfortable and efficient as possible.  We don't have a lot of spare cash but when we do that is where it goes.

So here are our newly installed panels - looking quite different from the old ones where you could see the pipes which housed the water.  These have an opaque glass front which apparently absorbs the heat more efficiently - time will tell - John is going to make me try out the shower first thing in the morning!!!

We called round to try and see Bassam and the children this morning but they weren't there and we couldn't get them on the phone.  So returned home and will try again later.

Being at home today allowed us to get on with a few things which have been on the list for a while, plus it ended up being a lot cooler than we had anticipated as the rain finally came today - not for long and not much but enough to clear the air and put a temporary stop to my gardening.

As we sat under the gazebo at the front of the house waiting for the rain to stop we decided that it was time to treat this area to a new cover.  I had bought two a few weeks ago in SuperHome Centre as the ones on the gazebos at the moment have been repaired more times than I care to remember.  It was John's plan to take this old one down and put it on top of the gazebo by the kitchen to give us more shade because on Sunday it was really too sunny there to really enjoy eating lunch and we have to be careful that people don't burn the tops of their heads.

The new covers look really nice - as they are a creamy beige and the old one was brown which had been faded by the sun to a strange colour - it won't matter where it is going.

So that was a tick in the box and a job well done.  The gazebo structures seem to last many seasons but the covers do not so it is good that you can buy replacements - I think they were about €30 so cheaper than replacing the whole thing.  The seating area in the front looks nice again!

As it was cooler and we were home I decided to spend some time in the garden giving things a bit of a prune.  I don't like starting that job and not finishing which can happen when the temperatures rise so it was an ideal opportunity.  I did some general cutting back and dead heading and clearing up and then asked John what he thought needed attention and we decided that we would take the time to tackle the bay tree which is in the front garden and which has now grown too big for me to cope with on my own.

Having taking the plunge and given the solanum outside the kitchen door a really good cut in the spring it is now a size that I can manage - we are keen to do the same with other trees and bushes in the garden just in case, for any reason, John isn't available to do the high bits.

So this picture is half way through giving the bay tree a 'flat top'.  You can see from the growth at the back how tall it had become.  There is also an issue with a very spiky cactus plant at its base which makes cutting one side of it rather hazardous.

I did what I could manage but had to get John in to cut the thicker stems which were right in the middle of the plant.  This tree makes a mess when it sheds leaves and I wanted to try and make sure I cleared up as much as I could otherwise you would have no idea there was any shingle in underneath!!

Here it is having had its first proper haircut in ages - it is still too big for me to manage without steps so we will be taking it down a bit further.  It is hard to believe it was only about 12 inches tall when we first moved into the house - just goes to show how much things can grow even without much care and attention.  This tree never gets watered.

The area outside the guest bedroom was next to get some attention.  Our olive tree is kept under control because that too is messy.  At the moment it has some lights wrapped around it which means we can't really cut it back as short as we would like but when they stop working we plan to practically halve its height - olive trees are great survivors so can cope with a severe pruning.

Charlie and Minnie seem to approve of the tidy and there is a little more light coming through as I chopped back the passion flower and the morning glory which are lovely but when the flowers are over they drop and make a mess.

I did a little crafting today in between my gardening.  Someone had very kindly given me an old wooden tea tray and I wanted to 'upcycle' it so I could have it in the garden - it is going to house the placemats and serviettes for the table by the kitchen and I wanted something rustic.  Not sure it will last very long as the bottom of it has a stress crease but it will look nice for a while.

I painted it and distressed it, put some decoupage on the bottom to hide the crack and give it some colour and then boat varnished it all over so it will be ok out in the garden.  I was quite happy with it in the end.

We finished our day taking advantage of the roof terrace and the view.  The little bit of rain seems to have cleared the air and the mountains and the coastline were as clear as anything.

We could see that our neighbours Lakis, Argy and Mum have arrived from the UK.  They said they would be here for a while and will have further work done to the house whilst they are here.

Our early morning was followed by an early night - we finished Season 3 of Dexter and turned in!!

sad news...

My lovely Boris is poorly and in the vets - he has been bitten by something and his ear is in a very poor state.  Fingers crossed it was not a scorpion - this would be very bad news.  We have everything crossed that he will pull through...


A very strange start to the weather today.  The cats woke me at 5.30am and in desperation to stop them trampolining on my head or worse my bladder I got up and fed them.  It was grey - maybe that rain was going to come after all.  Rain in June is not so unusual - when we moved here our furniture arrived in June and it rained on that day too.

There was great debate this morning as to whether or not John would play badminton - three times he said he wasn't going to and that he was going to give his leg a rest and then, having made my plans for the day accordingly, he changed his mind - does he not realise that this is only a woman's prerogative.  I thought he was crazy as he has been moaning about his leg for weeks/months and so somewhat miffed he decided not to go which I think was the right decision.

The rising sun burned the cloud off and so the rain didn't come and we spent a couple of hours before I went off to Paphos tidying the sheds - this was clearly my punishment for forcing John to stay at home - this has been on his 'to-do' list for ages!  The only trouble is that we can never agree on what should be thrown out or given to charity so we end up with exactly the same amount of 'stuff' just put away in difference places!

I escaped to the big city leaving John to it and made my way down to the Post Office where I had to go and collect a parcel.  They have a brilliant service where they text you to tell you when a parcel needs collecting and if you need to bring anything with you.  If they ask for an invoice (as they did last time) this means that they are likely to charge you for whatever it is you have had delivered to the island - or not Mr MiseryGuts is in a good mood!  There was no such request today so it was just a parcel that needed signing for which, for whatever reason, they had decided not to deliver up to the village.  As always parking around the Post Office was chaotic so I turned up a side road and parked outside a pretty little church where I could walk straight through and across to the office without issue and there was no queue at the counter for parcels so I got mine straight away.

No mum at pickleball today as she is resting following her issues over the weekend with her face but actually when I saw her afterwards she looked pretty much back to normal so will be back on the court later this week.  She and I went out in search of a houseplant which she wants to give to their friends Janet and Arthur on their wedding anniversary next week plus it will be Arthur's 90th birthday.  We decided to go to Kissos and got a very pretty begonia in a stunning apricot/orange colour which was wrapped up in matching paper and ribbons.

When I got back home John had been out on a bike ride - he said this hadn't affected his leg at all and he felt better for getting some exercise.  We are having our old solar panels (the two in the middle which are tipped up) replaced tomorrow with some new efficient ones which apparently need very little sun at all to heat the water - this will be good for us in the Winter when we can struggle to get hot water on days when others seem to have no problem.  John went up to check everything was ok for the guys tomorrow and took the opportunity to give the photo-voltaic panels a clean.  This needs to be done regularly to ensure maximum production and we have been doing well covering our usage over the year so we only pay for the standing charges.

The cats are always fascinated when John is up on the roof or we are up on the roof terrace - they like to come and join us so I caught Chivers making his way via the gazebo and along the conservatory roof - he is like a ninja, unlike Charlie who tried to do the same but encountered some water and then slipped quite unceremoniously - he wasn't hurt physically but his pride took a bashing!

I will finish with a picture of Frank, Frank is my hydrangea which I inherited when Dad's friend Frank left the island and which was looking a bit sad and pot-bound when I took it on a couple of years ago.  This year for the first time the flowers have colour - previously they were green and I thought it was because I had the plant firmly in the shade.  Last year it got a treat and was repotted into a lovely spacious pot with fresh compost and gets plenty of water and has rewarded me with beautiful blooms - I love this plant, the plant in general but this specimen in particular.

Two bits of sad news today:

Firstly, Millie, John and Susan's cat appears to have been bitten by a snake - we are hoping she is ok because John and Susan are returning to the UK for John's mum's funeral and we are looking after her for a week.

Secondly and a really sad bit of news is that Nicos the theatre director in the village went missing at the weekend on a fishing trip and has been found dead.  He was elderly and the last time I saw him he looked quite unwell but we had only be talking about him on Friday.  He was a lovely man who tried to set up a Angle Cypriot theatre group in the village and Di and I would go along in support.  He would always speak or greet us with a cheery wave from his battered car.  May he rest in peace.

A new week...

A new week begins and we are back to normal - woo hoo that mean's art which is a great start to my week thanks to Sheila and Klaus, Sheila for her patience and materials and Klaus for his culinary skills.  I am pleased to report both are back on top form, Sheila after a minor op on her face the other week and Klaus after having done something to his back.

The photograph is of Sheila and Klaus's home which they currently have up for sale in a number of places but if anyone reading this is interested then full details can be found here:  Sheila and Klaus's House

I started my new picture two weeks ago but missed last week because we had Jordan and Abi staying.  It was chosen to challenge me as the bird is carved out of wood and is standing by three glass fishing floats some of which have string knotted around them.  I am looking forward to this bit - I moaned at Sheila today that the plain background is boring!!!  Sheila has finished her study of roses and is moving on to a commission which she has to keep under wraps until it is completed so I am sworn to secrecy.  Watch this space is all I can say!

This evening we had belly dancing for the first time in weeks and although there was only Di and I there our teacher Sofi did not mind - she says that this particular lesson is the one time she can let herself go and relax because there is no syllabus and no exams just women of a certain age wiggling and giggling.

Sofi is an extraordinary woman in many ways.  She manages to make the moves in belly dancing look smooth and seamless and sexy - I on the other hand bear quite a striking resemblance to Max Wall particularly when we are doing belly rolls!!!

Last night Sofi had her two daughters there with us casting their experienced eyes over our failings and rolling them when we made mistakes.

It transpires that Sofi adopted both her girls, the eldest from new-born and the second as a small child in a Easter European orphanage.  Sofi says they are her gifts from god and has named the younger one Theodora which means exactly that.  They are lucky girls but they clearly mean much joy and meaning to Sofi's life and she adores them.

The weather forecast here in Cyprus for the next few days is unsettled, it seems as though Jordan and Abi took the sun back with them!

Temperatures in the UK are unseasonably hot, hotter even than here.  Last night there were dark clouds bubbling up in the direction of Lara and as the sun was setting it looked as though the sky was on fire.  It has looked like it was going to rain on a couple of occasions so it just might tonight.

The colours in the sky made me think of those poor poor people who were caught in that terrible fire in London.  What a terrible thing to have happened.

Posts out of Sync

My posts have gotten out of sync - not sure how so there is a post about Jordan and Abi's trip to the waterfalls down below a couple of days which is in the right place chronologically but somehow didn't get posted until today.

back to normal...

 I think we are experiencing 'empty nest syndrome' as the house seems very quiet and the pool is empty.  Our visitors text to say they got home safe and sound yesterday afternoon and that the temperature in the UK was 30 degrees!  They must have taken the sunshine home with them.  The cats are confused - no-one paying them extra attention!

I am lucky that I can get the bed changed, sheets washed, on the line and dried and straight back on the bed within an hour or so.  I didn't think they looked like they needed ironing, Mum would probably beg to differ but we have no visitors due to be staying until John's mum I think and that is in a couple of month's time so they will have been taken off and given a freshen up before then anyway.  I can see both Minnie and Charlie eyeing up the evacuated space - they will no doubt slip in there the minute our backs are turned.

It is Father's Day today and my turn to host Sunday Lunch but I had given Dad the option and he said he thought it might be nice to go out for Lunch so I had booked to go to The Farmyard in Kathikas.  This was before Mum looked like she had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson and so we had decided to cancel as Mum really didn't want to be seen looking like she had been beaten up.  It was a good decision because since then her stitches had burst as she had an infection and then she seemed to have had an adverse reaction to the drugs which they have given her.

We decided to have lunch here and I kept it simple as in the hot weather neither mum nor dad eat a huge amount.   Lemon Chicken and salad with coleslaw and roast new potatoes with onion and rosemary followed by Apple Studel and cream.

We started the Father's Day celebrations with a pre-lunch drinkie - we have several bottles of Castelgy gin needing attention due to a fabulous offer in Lidl the other week which Dad shot off to take advantage of!

We began our regular game of Noms - playing half before lunch and resuming the second half after Dad has his customary snooze.

 Although it was quite windy today it was warm and was very pleasant sat under the gazebo by the kitchen.  This was our original gazebo.  The structure is still sound even though it has lost its original cover and the replacement construction made by John is slowly being decimated by the cats!!  In fact the blanket thrown over the top for additional shade is currently being utilised as a hammock for Mr Boo and his little fat backside is in danger of falling through the 'brown stuff' in underneath.

We had a nice few hours together before Mum and Dad made their way back to Emba safe and sound.  It was at this point that the irregular hours I have been keeping whilst the youngsters have been staying here started to take its toll.  There was nothing for it but to lie back on the sofa and check my eyelids for pinholes.  This worked well until Charlie hauled his bulk on top of my bladder!

Sleeping in the afternoon was a BIG mistake because I wasn't then tired when we turned in for the night.  Dad is off to the opticians tomorrow as his glasses disintegrated over the weekend and Mum is going to the hospital to get her face checked out.  Fingers crossed all goes well.

Last Day...

So we have come to the end of our guests holiday and they are more than a little bit sad to be leaving.  They had to be at the airport mid-morning round about the time they have been rising to greet the day so today it was an alarm call and an early breakfast before they tackled the conundrum of getting their suitcase to weigh just 15 kilos!

Even though they had brought out some presents for us, including my absolute, absolute favourite large sized Asda Fruit and Nut chocolate bars and hadn't bought anything much to take back everything they had seemed to have relaxed and put on weight in the intervening few days and so the initial weigh-in was over 20 kilos which was cause for a re-pack.  Although the airport staff here at this end seem to be a little less rigid even they might have baulked at allowing an extra 5 kilos without charging.

Eventually, and just in time they managed to reorganise their case and their hand luggage until they were happy that they would conform to the restrictions.

We set off calling into Paps at the traffic lights so we could Abi to one last minute Cyprus specialty - a Chino!  They are probably available in the UK to be fair but she said she hadn't ever seen any.  This is a sort of coffee/caramel slush puppy and they are lush - probably horrendously calorific but just occasionally it is the only thing that hits the spot.

We often stop at the Paps bakery at the traffic lights on the Mesoghi Avenue after playing sport either for a Chino or an ice-cream and now they have doubled the size of the store and will be selling rotisserie chickens we will be calling in there even more often.

We got them to the airport without issue except for the guy at the traffic lights who didn't want to stop and could have ended up embedded in the side of the car but that was par for the course when travelling around Paphos!!! I went in with them to make sure that the flight was on time and as long as the luggage didn't pose a problem all would be good and they text to let us know that it was shortly afterwards.  We had decided to return to Droushia via Alpha Mega to get a few bits and pieces which is right up John's street as he likes grocery shopping although he was kicking himself on the way home that he forgot to pick up some of the chilli peanuts that he had when he goes around to the Bobsters.  Actually it is a nice supermarket to go to for a change and it stocks quite a lot of Tesco products (not that that really makes a huge difference to us) the fruit and veg was wonderful and we managed to get everything we wanted and a few more things besides.

So this last picture is me for the remainder of the day - checking my eyelids for pin-holes.  Having two 20 somethings staying has confirmed the fact that I am really getting old!!!

Because of the heat of the day (and the cats) we do tend to get up early and do things in the cooler hours then rest and miss out the heat and then do things again in the remaining cooler hours so a week of staying up way beyond midnight has taken its toll.  Fun but tiring!!!

We have mum and dad coming for lunch tomorrow, initially we had arranged to go to The Farmyard for lunch as it will be Father's Day but the wound on mum's face has become infected and she has needed to go to the hospital today to get it sorted.  I don't blame her not wanting to be seen in public until it looks a little better.

It was Abi and Jordan's last full day and after a great deal of discussion last night they decided to forego the 'expensive' pleasure of a day at the water park for a trip on the Alkion Glass Bottom boat from Latchi to the Blue Lagoon.  The late night last night meant that they didn't make the morning sailing but set off when we set off for pickleball so they could grab a snack at the harbour before getting on the afternoon cruise.

We went to Emba for pickleball.  Mum didn't play today, her face has sort of erupted since her operation on Monday which is a shame as she looked so well on Tuesday.  Now she looks like she has gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson and come off worst - I did feel sorry for her as she looked so uncomfortable with 'pockets' of sort of bruising under her eyes.

John is having problems with his leg/knee/ankle so decided not to push his luck and played pickleball but not badminton.  He, Diana and I went back to Mum and Dads for a cuppa before returning home.

The kids got back having had a great time on the boat - they said the sea was beautiful and the sand under their feet and the clear blue water was stunning.  They had taken snorkels so got a chance to have a look at the fish around the rocks there.  Jordan said it was a much better decision than a day at the water park so that was good.

We had arranged to go to Finikas in the village for a meze tonight and had asked Di and Rob to join us and I had been in last week and arranged that there would be fish for Jordan (although I had to smile that they also did him Halloumi but it was served on a plate with the wine soaked meat local port sausages!  fortunately he is happy to just take what he wants from the plate even if it has been mixed up a bit.  We had to sneak out from the house SAS style so that Charlie did not follow us.  Just outside the estate we have BigFoot and LittleFoot - they are now practically the same size and both now tethered which is better for everyone as LittleFoot isn't running around loose.  At the moment they both look to be in really good condition but there will have been plenty of grazing for them.

We had a cuddle with Bella en route - she is such a sweet dog that it is a shame that she insists on chasing cars and as a result has a badly broken back leg which has set itself incorrectly.  Fortunately she did not follow us into the village and join us at Finikas but remained rolling in the dust outside Luscious Lynda's with Lynda's own dog Fernleigh watching.  No doubt Lynda will give Bella a little treat as she does try and make Bella's life a little better.

We walked down through the village chatting to various people that we met including the Australian couple who come for about 4 months each year to their old family home.  In fact the old man who lived there was still alive when we first moved into Villa 10b.

I was feeling a little nervous about our meal last night, friends of Wendy and Bill had apparently eaten a meze there last night on Wendy's recommendation.  The friends are staying at the Droushia Heights for a couple of days.  Sadly they said their meal was terrible as it was all frozen which I have to say I found very hard to believe as we normally see Philippos in Paps shopping for fresh food if they know they have diners coming in and the meze doesn't really contain dishes that could have been frozen but people have different tastes and expectations.  We have never been disappointed when we eat there but we know a lot of people in the village who don't go in there for whatever reason.

I need not have worried as our meal was fabulous.  Jordan had a whole sea bream to himself part way through the feast and the eggs and courgette, chips, ravioli and bulgar wheat were well up to standard.
  This evening we also had extras of stifado and kleftiko along with the halloumi and loukanika, pork kebabs and sheftalia.  I prefer Joanna's stifado but each family seems to have their own pet recipe and kleftiko is not my favourite anyway so I didn't have any but there was more than enough food to go round.  It was lovely to be joined by Rob and Di who engaged the youngsters in lots of chat!

We decided to mooch down to the Hotel for a nightcap unaware that there was some sort of party/disco taking place around the poolside - the atmosphere was fabulous and the music brilliant so we ended up staying a lot longer than we had intended.  It was the perfect impromptu end to their holiday.  Early up tomorrow as they have to be at the airport for 11.25am.  The week has flown by.

remembering...

Today would have been Elena's birthday and it is incredible to think that six months have gone since her passing.  I shall go at some point today to have a little word with her - there is so much going on that she would have loved to have been aware of or involved in - I miss her as I know many, many people do - the village is not the same without her.  Rest in peace Elena-mou, gone but never forgotten.

John and Susan have returned unexpectedly to the UK because John's mother has only been given a short time to live - this has happened on a number of occasions and she has rallied but this time seems to be the time and inspite of John's ongoing eye issue (having been hit by a shuttlecock) he was determined to get back in time.  They left last night having been given the go-ahead by the eye hospital in Limassol.  This means that we have Millie Mou to look after.  Bless her she was there and waiting this morning looking a little disheveled as she has lost her magnificent winter coat.  We had some cuddles and I gave her a brush and I fed her and then I had to leave her.  I hate leaving her as although she lives most of the time outside she is used to having the company of Zak (dog) and John and Susan.

I had a text message yesterday from the main post office in Paphos saying that a package had arrived and asking me to go collect it together with the invoice, this is not good news because by asking for the invoice they are indicating they are expecting a payment of some sort.  The problem is that recently I have ordered a number of things from Amazon or Ebay and I don't know which invoice they will be requiring.  People ask me if there is anything I miss from the UK and to be fair there is very little because most things are available here although whether you want to pay the prices asked is a different matter.  In the past batteries were really really cheap over here and we used to bring batteries back with us but now they are expensive and recently I haven't been able to find any triple A rechargables so I had ordered some from China or Hong Kong or somewhere else in the Far East.

Anyway I decided to go to the Post Office to ask them to give me some more details about the package so I could find the relevant invoice.  The man at the Post Office who deals with payments is a miserable looking sod but I sat opposite him at Herby Caroline's wedding and he seems to recognise me which is a bonus.

I explained that I had received a text but hadn't brought an invoice because I didn't know which one to bring and they went out and found the package which turned out to be the batteries and then placed it and the paperwork in front of Mr Misery-Guts - great!

He asked me where my invoice was and I explained, he then asked me how much I had paid for said batteries and I said I couldn't really remember but was happy to go back and get the invoice and pick them up another day.  He looked at them unimpressed and declared that they 'looked cheap' so declared that they were free from any duty - RESULT.  Thank you Mr Misery-Guts!

We had a newbie at Pickleball today - it is daunting for someone to break into the 'circle of trust' particularly when you have no idea what Pickleball is all about - she will be ok I am sure as previously she was a badminton player.  I think we made her welcome and I spent a lot of time with her in the other room trying to improve her hand/eye coordination as did Mum and Di.  Time will tell but she said she enjoyed herself so that is good.

After pickleball Mum and I ran a few errands which included a trip to Lidl and a trip to try and find a flea comb for Fred which involved going to a petshop where I thought the parrot was stuffed (clearly not a Norwegian Blue of Monty Python fame) but which turned out to be very much alive and which scared the shit out of me when it decided to make my acquaintance from outside its cage.  Actually it was a magnificent bird - not sure I approve of it being kept in the petshop but it wasn't tethered and I guess could have made a bid for freedom if it had wanted to.

Anyway I managed to get a flea-comb for Fred who will get pampered to within an inch of his life - that is if he can be coaxed away from Dad's lap where he has become a permanent fixture.

We then went to Tala to see what they have done to the newly refurbished square.  If you didn't know what it looked like before then I am sure you would think this looks lovely but we felt it had just lost some of its rural charm.  The bars on the opposite side from Voukani have just been obliterated.  It wasn't somewhere that would make me want to go and have a drink which is a shame because I was hoping it would be another venue for Mum and Dad to go for a cuppa or a light lunch.

Voukani is still there and seems to be a very Brit orientated establishment, there is a small meze place to the left of it as you look at it and there is a Pafiakos charity shop to the right.  Hardly the stuff to make visitors flock but maybe that wasn't the idea...

My visitors had a day to themselves - they wanted a bit of culture and probably got plenty of it trying to negotiate their way out of Droushia via Inea where most of the roads seem to have been dug up and blocked off.  My hand written (not to scale map) on how to get to the Harbour via Peyia was stoically ignored as they turned left out of the estate instead of right.  No harm done they managed to find their way to the mosaics and also to the Mall where they have purchased a new inflatable for the pool.

This needed to be tested obviously although Jordan had a bit of trouble blowing it up until he adopted his trumpet playing lip and teeth formation and then it was all systems go.

It is great to see the pool being used even late into the evening when we normally have it tucked up and ready for bed with the cover on.  Tomorrow we are forecast storms which is a bit of a shame as we had a day at the beach at Pomos penciled in - we will go out anyway as the weather is likely to be better down on the coast anyway.  After that we will be heading to the airport to pick up John who returns from his week away.

It was to be a quiet day at home today followed by a little local sightseeing before our evening meal which was to be at Fitos tonight and which was, very kindly, paid for by Jordan and Abi.  It had been another late night last night by the time John was home and unpacked and unwound and got the drinks in!

We had had plenty of sun at the beach yesterday so our guests chose to relax around the pool and up on the sun terrace whilst I did some washing for them so they could return home with a suitcase of clean clothes.  We started by having our breakfast outside.  Fresh free-range eggs from Tanja in the village and my dozen turned out to be 15 which was a result.

John was relaxing in the shade, happy to be home and with Mr Boo happy that he was home too.  Chivers has taken umbrage at John's disappearance and has been conspicuous by his absence and now that it is hot takes himself off somewhere and resolutely refuses to come home to call - he is making John pay for going away.

Quiet days are good but we only seem to have quiet days when we have visitors so it is good that they make us take stock and enjoy our surroundings.  Yes we have jobs that need doing but we are experiencing a bit of a heat wave at the moment so during the day it is really a bit too hot to be working too much (take note Bobster!!!).

So this was our Thursday, in and out of the pool, a light lunch and nothing else too taxing.  John wanted to take Abi and Jordan to see a couple of local places of interest so we showered and changed ready for our evening meal and took ourselves off down the road to Kritou Terra so that we could show them the waterfalls.  The ride is beautiful even though things are now beginning to get very dry and dusty and the noise from the cicadas was deafening in places.  Kritou Terra is a very pretty traditional village with some lovely old houses and both Abi and Jordan like a bit of culture and nature so they were up for a bit of exploring.

We love the waterfalls and are amazed that we only discovered they were there last year - they have clearly been there for a long time!  We were lucky that no-one else was there at the same time and we spent ages trying to find the bullfrog that we could hear almost speaking to us and also saw crabs and some goldfish.  We stayed long enough for me to get bitten on my leg and my arm by the resident mosquitoes!

We then took them down to the church in the cave which is little bit spooky with its wax dolls and dolls heads.  This little place of worship has clearly been in use fairly recently as it was full of fresh flowers - I am guessing it was for Kataclysmos which was the other week.

We ate our evening meal at Fitos.  Fitos has broken his wrist - he blames Joanna - not sure if he was joking or not and there was some confusion between Joanna and Andri over the booking of our normal table, table 1, so we sat at a different table and had a different view!  The food was excellent.  Jordan tackled the swordfish (being a fish eater) and Abi tackled the village chicken (not being a fish eater) and John had a massive pork chop and I had the stifado.  We were treated to fridge cake tonight and Jordan insisted we took home what we couldn't eat has he had earmarked that for another occasion.

On our return they wanted to play UNO and we were up for that.  Apparently Jordan hates losing and he was absolutely clobbered to death every time a penalty card was played.  It didn't help that Abi was well into her second bottle of rose at this point so found it all highly amusing!

It was an unusually balmy evening in Droushia with no chill and no condensation so Abi was desperate for a midnight swim - the water actually felt like a bath and she cajoled poor Jordan into joining her.  John and I played the responsible adults because late nights, alcohol and swimming pools can be a dangerous combination.  No problems though and we eventually got the children to bed in the early hours - I am going to need to sleep for a week to get over the exuberance of youth!