Village Clean...

Today I had organised a village clean in the late afternoon - in fact when I organised it originally it was so late in the afternoon that we would have ended up cleaning in the dark because I had totally forgotten how quickly the nights are drawing in - I jest not - at around 6.30pm it is beginning to get dark and as we were tackling the main road I wanted to make sure we were safe so had originally intended to start at 6.30pm and then brought it forward to 5.00pm.

We spent the day quietly - we say goodbye to George and Pam at the weekend but hello to Kaye, Elena, Andy and Jack on Saturday and hello to Aunty Joyce and Uncle David early next week.

It is now quite autumnal up in Droushia - not anything like down in Paphos or even Polis where it is still very much more Summery.  It is too easy to start wrapping yourself up so we have decided to try and use the pool for as long as possible or at least until the water temperature is down to 70 degrees.  It is not far off now but it was a lovely day and I did brave it this afternoon - a lot of shrieking and fannying about preceded this shot but it was, as always, lovely once you got in and got your shoulders wet.  Charlie was not convinced - he has me marked down as a nutter.

The stalwarts of the clean-up team assembled at 5.00pm at the Droushia Heights Hotel to clean that old favourite - the main road down to the museum.  There has recently been some heavy plant work going on there - something to do with storm drains we think.  Klaus has his own pick-up-stick so today we presented the Bobster and Di with their own as we have four and they have proved themselves capable of wielding these tools!

We did this same route on the last clean and were pleasantly surprised at how little litter we picked up, sadly the same could not be said for today as it was possibly the worst we have encountered, probably not helped by having a gang of workmen there lobbing their litter all over the place although they cannot be entirely to blame but really shame on those who pass through Droushia and do not dispose of their rubbish in a better fashion.  Today we came across neatly tied up carrier bags filled with shite.  If you can go to all the trouble of tying up the bag why can you not put it in one of the many green bins on the route down the hill?????????

It was a pleasant evening to be walking and you can see from the long shadows that the sun was getting low in the sky at 5.30pm when we were passing the Akamas Spa.  We still found mucky DVD's and mucky magazines discarded en route - WHY?  Some of them aren't even opened!!!  Cans and plastic water bottles are the main culprits - both of which will rot in time but over many many years.

We are passed by many of the local villagers, many of whom wave enthusiastically and applaud our efforts but are too busy to join in - fair enough at least they didn't throw any rubbish out of their vehicles whilst speeding by!!

We finish at the bottom of the hill just before the sun is about to slip below the ridge - we are somewhat dispirited by the exercise - we must have filled about 15 bags with rubbish but are satisfied that the road for a minute or two is clean and clear.  Loukas emerges from the Parastratima Kiosk with five cold bottles of water to thank us for our efforts - good man!

We had left the Pug at the bottom of the hill to bring everyone home and we drop off Klaus and then Rob and Di and then return home.  We are both feeling a bit peckish but I haven't been shopping properly for weeks and I have an eclectic mix of food in the fridge and freezer left over from other people's holidays for which I am grateful - don't get me wrong - but often they are things I wouldn't normally buy myself.  We want something quick and I plump for some chicken nugget type things that are in the freezer.  I never buy these and after eating them I am reminded why!