catching up...

The Saturday before Christmas Eve and I was up and at it in the kitchen getting as much prepared as I could for the forthcoming celebrations.  I have for the last few years done a meal on Christmas Eve in the evening but this year Dad will be driving as Mum is still recovering from her eye op and we are keen to make sure they get home safely in daylight.  This year Di and Rob will be joining us for Christmas Eve so there was food to prepare and Christmas gifts for the table to get ready and the house to clean but as it is all for a lovely reason I don't mind.  We got ourselves square and decided to pop down to Polis for a few bits which I had forgotten!

Our friends Simon and Melanie and their children Jasmine and Frances and Melanie's sister CC are up in the village for Christmas and they had invited us for coffee and a mince pie this morning so once sorted we wandered down to the village to catch up with them - we haven't seen them for ages and the children are growing up so quickly.  Frances, on the left was very dark haired when she was born and now has long curly blonde tresses.  She is a chatterer and could tell me all about the Christmas Elf who goes back to Santa every day to tell him whether she has been good or not!  Jasmine is a little more shy but she had done a picture to give to John and I - we were obviously both very hot from the fire either that or had both had a few mulled wines too many as we were given very red faces!!!

We stayed for a while - it was good to see them again and they will be back and forth over the festive season so we may well see them again next week.  The girls are charming and we left with freshly decorated Christmas Tree decorations, lots of hugs and kisses and a feeling that Christmas really had begun.

We called into the local post office before it closes for a few days and thankfully one of John's presents was sitting there awaiting collection.  Realising that we were there Phillipos and Marina rushed out to wish us a Merry Christmas (καλά Χριστούγεννα) bearing some freshly made Loukanika which are lumpy sausages made with cured meat, herbs and wine - they look awful (like giant turds) smell divine and taste fabulous and are expensive to buy so this was truly a very kind gift - Diana went up later and got a loaf of bread - we wonder whether they went into panic mode trying to find gifts to give visiting post collectors!

Down in Polis there was a Christmas Fayre taking place in the square and although it was warm there was a sandstorm so the skies were yellow and laden and the atmosphere quite unpleasant as you could feel the sand in your eyes and in your throat.  There were plenty of people about though and the atmosphere was good apart from the Ringmaster who was very loud and never stopped shouting so if you had been there for any great length of time you might have had a headache!

We got all the things we needed from local stores rather than fight our way around Paps - although I reckon as long as you didn't want meat Paps would have been ok.

We got home made sure everything was ready for the beginnings of our celebrations and settled down to a nice quiet and relaxed evening - the weather deteriorated and we had a wild storm with high winds and hail.  It didn't bother us as we were warm and toasty inside and everything was in hand but relaxed it was not - John was watching his beloved Sheffield United who were playing Aston Villa - the Blades have had a woeful run of form of late so this really was a must-win in John's book.

A dodgy penalty was awarded to Aston Villa within the first couple of minutes and then SUFC conceded a second - John was about to retire to bed in disgust when SUFC scored a scorcher which was followed by a second and the game ended up a draw.  Not as bad as it could have been but not as good as they needed.

I kept my head down in the kitchen - I can't bear to watch John watching the Blades play!

WHAT A DAY!!!!!

The 21st of December and Christmas Day is just around the corner and this is what the local supermarket car park looks like at 9.00am!  I had a date with Kate this morning at 10.00 so decided to get down early to fight my way around Paps and well let's just say that apart from the fact that they were using the ticket system on the meat counter there was nothing to indicate that the festive season was just about upon us.  Perhaps the canny Cypriots are sensible enough to have realised that Paps will probably only be shut for the shortest amount of time possible and even then there will be a kiosk or periptero open somewhere if you are desperate for something.

The ticket system on the meat counter was causing consternation because people were milling around the pork chops unaware that they needed a little yellow ticket.  Some people get their ticket, wander off, miss their turn and then come back and demand to be served next.  Some people try and catch the eye of a friendly butcher in the hopes that they can forego the ticketing system all together, others find a friend in the queue and tag their order onto the end of their friends.  The butchers are getting wise to it, the woman butcher wont stand any nonsense so today although a little slow the system was working.  As I waited my turn to purchase liver for the cats (having first ascertained with the lovely Valentin that they had some in the cold store) I met up with a woman whose mother lives in Droushia and who is confined to a wheelchair and is looked after by Tina who plays pickleball on a Thursday.  Close behind was the selfsame Tina who said she was so looking forward to this afternoon and her game - she is a great new member to the team and I am glad she has joined us.


I went from Paps and parked up in the rough carpark and walked through into the square en route to Kate's - I know that most shops don't seem to open until 10.00am but I was amazed at how quiet Polis was.  There were a few stalwart punters in Central Point and a couple of tourists having breakfast in Chix Chox - how did I know well they were in shorts and t-shirts and any self respecting resident would be in long sleeves at the very least, having said that I had emerged from Droushia in little more than I would wear in the summer - it was such a beautiful day with some real warmth in the sunshine.  Such a change from last December!

Even the local men were out enjoying the sunshine and setting the world to rights over a noisy game of Tavli.

I made my way to the sanctuary that is Beauty by Kate for a wonderful facial and a spot of reflexology on my feet and legs.  My appointment there was rounded off with a little glass of mulled wine and two mince pies wrapped up for me to take home to John.

With an extra spring in my step I returned to the car and set off for Giolou where I hoped to catch either Mina or Clare or both as I had a little gift for them which I had seen when I was in the Mall.  When we had dinner with them last week the table was laid with some beautiful slate tablemats and I had seen some slate coasters in Tiger - in fact I had picked them up because they had caught my eye and were such a good price.  I had returned to Tiger on Monday to grab two packs to give to the girls as a little gift from John and I for Xmas.

The drive to Hounds on Holiday was absolutely fabulous - the clear blue skies made a perfect backdrop to the countryside which, after a little rain is looking green and lush.

I found Mina in with the dogs.  She was moaning that she had a sore throat and was feeling achy so I gave her the name of the throat spray mum had got me and the foul tasting medicine which had done its trick.  Clare is recovering from a sort of flu bug but was helping out Mina's Dad and had to get better fast as her mother was coming out for Christmas.  We air kissed so as not to spread the germs and we left promising to make sure we see more of one another during the forthcoming year.

Hounds is located in a lovely spot and the girls are making themselves a fabulous home.  They both work really hard, Mina at the Kennels and Clare at the Aliathon Gallery and when then down tools at Christmas they both seem to get ill which is a shame.

I decided to drive home via Theletra which is a bit windy but so interesting and actually probably the quickest way to get back to Droushia.

Whilst I had been out John had gone up to the Village as the President of Cyprus was coming to officially open our bloody great Community Centre which has been a bit of a bone of contention amongst some of the residents.

He called me just as I was coming through Kathikas and said that the whole village had been invited to the Droushia Heights for a drink after the ceremony so I said I would pick him up and we would go for a quick drink before returning home.

John had met up with Bassam at the ceremony and here they are with the President getting their photograph taken.  Apparently, so some of our Cypriot friends were thrilled to inform us, during our Mukhtar's speech he had mentioned the clean-up team and personally thanked us for our contribution to keeping the village looking lovely.

When we arrived at the hotel it was absolutely packed and we hadn't realised that a complete buffet had been laid on for anyone who wanted to eat.  We were going out later to Fitos before he shuts tomorrow with Di and Rob so we simply had a coffee and a chat with Soteris who told us all about the plans that are in place to develop a village square in Droushia before making our way home.  Fetoula on reception said we were the only people she knew who would leave without eating as she expected to see people leaving with carrier bags full and I did spy the one eyed goatherd with two carrier bags in his hands as he approached the buffet!!

It was great to see the village come together and it was especially great to know that our efforts have not gone unnoticed and that some of the younger Cypriots that we know were keen to ensure we understood that we had been mentioned in despatches.

As I said we were out with Di and Rob tonight, we wanted to make sure we ate at Fitos once more this year as he will close tomorrow for two weeks.  I have to say it was one of the nicest meals we have had there for some time.  The stifado which Rob and I chose was absolutely divine.  We started off with a plate of some sort of boiled chicken dish which tasted fabulous even if it didn't look so good - this was accompanied by some crisp fresh raw cabbage sprinkled with olive oil and lemon juice and salt.  Then came the salad and dips and pittas and toasted village bread, then our main courses, then fridge cake and fruit, drinks and coffee and more drinks and more wine and and and baggy heads no doubt!!!  All for the princely sum of around 50 euros for the four of us!!!

There was a meeting of Droushians as Simon came in for a takeaway and we arranged to see him, Melanie and the girls on Saturday morning and then David Dixie-Seven and wife Edda came in with two others and David collared John and Rob to help him put his swimming pool cover on tomorrow - but hey that's what friends and neighbours are for.

When we got home the conservatory looked super festive and all four cats were in admiring the Christmas tree - life is good - ain't we lucky?

WOW!!!

Today we were being good children and John was taking Dad to Limassol for what we hoped would be, and which in fact turned out to be, the final visit for the cataract operation he had there and I was taking Mum for a bit of Chrimbo shopping and a wander round the Old Town before the four of us were gathering together in the Mall for the Noms Players Christmas 'Do' aka a Bargain Bucket from KFC with second bucket of hot wings free courtesy of our petrol vouchers!

We arrived down at Mum and Dad's just after 9.00am and bumped in to Graham who comes and does some fabulous gardening for Mum and Dad and commiserated with him as we had learned that his wife had fallen over yesterday and broken an arm in two places.  He told us she was only just getting over the broken toes she had sustained after she asked him to move his chair and he pulled it back and firmly planted it on her foot - poor woman.  He then got in his car and made his way back home with no mention of anything else...

...so a year ago last October after a day out with Mum I ended up climbing a tree over by the polytunnels the other side of the field from their bungalow because there was a kitten stuck up there and Mum seemed to think it had been up there for several days.  During the course of the rescue or maybe during the trip out when we went to the Begonia Garden Centre to get Mum a clock vine I lost one of my most favourite earrings - one of a pair that John had bought me from a trip to Dubai some 20 years ago and which were heavy and expensive and I was gutted.  We retraced our steps and searched and searched and returned to the tree on many occasions but the earring was never found and I was sad because I have a terrible track record with expensive jewelry and this just reinforced it.
Anyway when we arrived at Mum's having spoken to Graham, Mum told me to close my eyes and hold out my hand and in it she put my missing earring which Graham had located somewhere in their garden - I couldn't believe it - it was the best Christmas present anyone could have given me and I cannot believe Graham said nothing to me - I guess he just wanted not to spoil Mum's surprise.

So this was a brilliant start to what was a lovely day.  Dad got the all clear and no longer has to make the trip to Limassol for his eye.  This operation was a success and for that we are all very grateful.  Mum and I parked up easily in the old sunken carpark and had a wander down towards Marks and Sparks admiring the refurbishment that is taking place and wondering what the round building with the huge terrace outside is going to be.  There is a new lift being constructed from the sunken car park that will take you up to this new round building.

We had a little look around Marks and Sparks - you can't beat a bit of Magic and Sparkle at Christmas Time and a bit of good old fashioned Christmas Fayre even though it was a very warm and bright day more reminiscent of a good English Summer rather than Winter!



There is still work to be done in the Old Town - the length of time that it has taken to get it to where it is today as made it so very hard for businesses to continue to trade in the interim so there are many empty shops.  Shops also moved down to the Mall before this regeneration started, hopefully some may return when the footfall grows.  Having said all that there are some lovely touches and some great cafes and individual shops springing up and hopefully staying in business.



I am particularly taken by the street art which is all over the place and brightens up plain walls.

The International Woman of Mystery aka Mum and I chose a small coffee shop to stop for a cuppa as our favourite Boo-Tea-Licious is closed on a Wednesday unfortunately.

This new place was called Beatriz and the girl that served us was very friendly and nice and as Mum and I shared a teabag she only charged us for one drink.

Just around the corner we came across the 'living' wall which is a fabulous structure made up of hundreds of pot plants.  If you are looking for it, it is near the entrance to the market.

We were amazed to see that Scorpios has either gone or changed its name - if you were coming up the hill from the sunken carpark looking at the tavernas in front of you Scorpios was the first one on the right and was originally run by two brothers.  We had been going there on and off for years.  I couldn't see either of the two brothers so guess it must have changed hands.

We all assembled in the Mall having had a successful morning and all enjoyed our KFC - in fact John and I returned home with a bucket full which we reheated later and had with a very pleasant bottle of Ruby Cabernet which we had picked up from Lidl on our last visit.

Life is good and we are lucky!

A Grey Day...

So we are creeping ever closer to Christmas and whilst the days may be fair the nights are cold up here in the hills and in fact today when I woke it was rather cloudy and grey and we had clearly had rain overnight.

My attempt to make the bed this morning was stymied by the boys who had grabbed the warm bits for themselves.  Now I can make a bed around one sleeping cat, if that cat is Charlie, in the same fashion as when a conjurer whips off a table cloth and keeps the items laid out on top undisturbed.  Charlie sleeps like the dead and so I can wiggle and pull and fold the bedding around him and he doesn't care - I do not have the strength or expertise to do it around three cats so I left them until their tummies forced them to make a move towards the kitchen.

At this point I must tell regular readers that sadly the Judy/Tinks experiment didn't work and Tinks the tiny dog has been returned to Hounds on Holiday still seeking a new home which is a shame.

So back to today and after having played a pretty strenuous hour and a half of pickleball with depleted numbers so that there were only four of us - Jeff, Tom, Di and myself, I took Mum to do a bit of shopping.  I feel like her 'Minder' as help her navigate around in her shades - she says she is terrified of tripping over and I can't blame her but the shades are there to help and work fine in strong sunlight but on an overcast day can create or hide shadows which she could mistake for a step.  Anyway the International Woman of Mystery and I went to the local Papantoniou supermarket for some bits and pieces.  The one in Chloraka is the original shop which has been located there in one form or another for 30 years.  Originally it was nothing more than a shed with the fresh produce in orange boxes outside and everything inside a bit dark and dingy and dusty.  Times have changed and the Papantoniou empire is spread far and wide over the island and although the original shop has changed it was a bit like Topsy and just grew and grew and now has to compete with the likes of AlphaMega and the unpronounceable one that has branches in the old Carrefour buildings - these are much more modern and provide a much nicer shopping experience.  I love our Paps in Polis which is relatively new but used to really hate the one in Chloraka as it never really felt clean.  I am not entirely sure how old the photograph is above but where the shopping trollies are there are now mature trees!

So over the past few weeks, whilst still trading, the original Paps store has been given something of a makeover which is still underway.   This is the same facade as in the photograph above - you can tell that from the rectangular window with the small panes.

Mum and I are in debate as to what the glass corner on the left is going to be used for - our guess is either (a) a small cafe or (b) an area to put items on promotion.

The entrance has been moved from under that rectangular window to over on the right which is causing all sorts of confusion but inside the store is now light and airy and everything looks fresh and clean but until the refurbishment is complete it is a lottery as to whether you will be able to find what you are looking for!

I was instructed by Effie (Mum and Dad's neighbour) to help myself to any pomelos that looked ripe and were still on the trees as there are a whole load on the ground but she says they are there because they are no good.  She has two heavily laden trees and she doesn't eat them - fortunately we love them so I was more than happy to relieve her of a few although I think it may just be a little too early.  The three I chose were each the size of a small football but the skins will be a good centimetre thick and once peeled you end up with something the size of a navel orange!  It is worth the effort though and once we start we can't stop eating them.

John did not come to Emba with me so having sorted out Mum and Dad (who we will see again tomorrow as John is taking Dad to Limassol for what we hope will be his final check-up on his eye) I drove back via a Potama Bay and stopped to take a photograph of this area which is likely to change soon if the planned Marina gets the go ahead - shame really as I like the ruggedness of this bit of coastline even though it has been tidied up over the years.

We had a quiet night as we have a busy-ish day tomorrow.

not many days to go...

We are oh so very close to Christmas now that I am beginning to panic so tonight I am dedicating my time to getting prepared and the panic is probably why I woke today so very early, either that or the fact that Minnie Mou had wrapped herself around my head so I looked like Davy Crockett!  I disentangled myself and headed off to the kitchen to be greeted by the other three members of my ginger posse who were all in and ready to be fed.  I ventured outside to get something from the freezer and was amazed at just how warm it felt.  It was overcast and muggy but with a warm wind.  We were due a coptic a couple of days ago so maybe this was it - there have been warnings about sand in the atmosphere and then rain.  I cannot see us sitting outside opening Christmas presents this year but having checked the water temperature of the pool a dip looks likely as it has gone up to 52 degrees and our cut off was 50!

I found this cushion on-line - I think I should have asked someone to buy it for me because, as you know, I am often faced with the challenge of sorting out the sheets with one or more feline hangers-on making it difficult - today was no exception!

I had a text message to tell me that there was a parcel at the Post Office - I am hoping that this might be one of John's Christmas presents otherwise his stocking is going to be very skinny.  We decided to leave in plenty of time to get to the main Paphos branch as we envisaged it might be chaos as this is the last day it is open before Christmas.

Mum had text to say that Mrs Metaxa is pleased with her progress so she no longer has to wear her Roy Orbisons indoors - no longer such an International Woman of Mystery!  Her new issue is her teeth - one fell out the other day and she has had to have it cemented back in but the dentist doesn't think this will last long and she also needs some extractions but with her heart problem this is something they don't really want to do.  Oh the joys of getting older - if it isn't one thing it is another.

For some reason I didn't take any photographs today of events as they took place so you will have to forgive me for filling the blog with snaps of our Christmas decorations!

The parcel was indeed of John's presents so phew he will have something to unwrap and fortuitously whilst I was in the queue I received a second message from the Post Office to say I had a second parcel so managed to get both at the same time, a couple of minutes later and we would have been on our way to Emba and had to turn back so that was lucky.

We had a slightly different crowd at Pickleball this afternoon with Kyle and Liz joining Di, John and I to make up the numbers and we had a very good natured, jolly session.  Bless Liz - she is in her 80s and played so hard and worked up such a sweat that I thought we might need to call in some paramedics!   Our thoughts are with Kyle who will be returning to the UK briefly due to a family bereavement.

All was good with Mum and Dad and we have to say a big thank you for getting down to Lidl for us and securing half a dozen bottles of the lovely Ruby Cabernet we had the other evening.  John and I called into the bakery to grab a spit roast chicken and some roast potatoes so that we could get in and have tea before I knuckled down and got as much as I could ready for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Meeting up with friends...

So this picture was taken exactly a year ago when we were off to Paphos to meet up with Jane and John Page and to eat at the now closed Bad Cat restaurant.  The weather last December was appalling - it was wet almost continuously and poor Jane and John got very little respite the whole month they were here.

This is a photograph from this morning at about 9.00am when the sun was beginning to break through a mackerel sky and provide us with a warm day, a warm day with quite a bit of sunshine - enough to generate nearly 8KW of electricity!  It was to be a different Monday for us - I wasn't going to art as we had the opportunity to catch up with our lovely friends Bill and Wendy Bailey (No 1 Stalkers) on their brief visit over Christmas and we are very grateful they managed to find time to squeeze us in before their son Stuart comes out for a well earned rest.

As we approached The Mall, where we hoped to complete our Chrimbo shopping and meet up with Stalkers No1 and Stalkers No2 (Di and Rob), the temperatures had reached 20 degrees at it was not yet 9.30am!  It was so worth getting up early and getting off because when we reached The Mall the carpark was nigh on empty probably because most of the shops open a little later but we really only needed to go to Jumbos and Tiger and so that wasn't a problem for us.

We fair whizzed around Jumbo getting the last few things on the list.  You have to love Jumbo, it has absolutely everything you need for Christmas and at such low prices and if unimaginably you can't find what you want there you can probably get whatever it is in Tiger.  To be fair I dont think anything on the list was absolutely essential but as you readers will have gathered both John and I love Christmas and the more Christmassy the better!!!

We got done so quickly that we even had time for a nice leisurely Costa Coffee outside in the sunshine overlooking what appears to be a monorail system that is being installed so that tourists can visit the antiquities by the Kings Mall and down at the harbour.  I had read it was a walkway but it doesn't look like a walkway it looks like a train track.

We all met up for lunch and John and I managed to use one of our 2 for 1 vouchers that we got from the Esso garage and we had a lovely couple of hours setting the world to rights.  We are hoping that next year we will see more of Wendy and Bill than we have done of late - we will certainly try and make sure that we do.  We then all went our separate ways to do whatever shopping we had left (we had none!) having had a lovely lunch.

I had an email from my old work colleague Gemma when I got home.  Above is the office building where we used to work - the IT department was right up on the top floor - I spent just short of 20 years there.  Since I left this building (which was originally the Central Cinema and quite an iconic building before it was razed to the ground and this modern office block built) has been sold and is being converted into 17 flats - good help us where the hell are they going to park as the parking space behind only managed to accommodate about half a dozen cars and only then if they were careful.  Gemma sent me the details of how it is all being converted which is fascinating and if anyone is interested you can find them here:  Central House Conversion.  How times change!

Sunday

Ok so the good news is that Mum is improving and she and Dad were happy to come up to Droushia today as planned for Sunday Lunch.  We had a brief passing shower at around 6.30am when I got up to deal with the cats but then it cleared and it was overcast but ok.  John got the fire lit early to ensure that everyone would be cosy warm but as I was cooking it got rather warmer than we had anticipated!  I was, unusually, using the oven proper rather than the microwave combi-oven because I had rather a lot to be cooked at the same time.  The oven proper seems to have three heat settings, luke-warm, hot-ish and bloody nuclear.  I had an unfortunate incident the first Christmas we were here when I managed to melt a silicon sheet by placing it on the bottom.  Today we were supposed to be having a pie but sadly, for some reason, the pastry wouldn't cook - around the edges it was black and crispy and in the middle it was soggy - I have no idea why and was a bit miffed but just removed the offending layer and served the filling.

If my pie pastry was a let-down my cauliflower cheese was, eventually, my piece de resistance, I say eventually because I made the cheese sauce from scratch and it was lumpy so I had to pass it through a sieve which was a bit laborious to say the least.

I don't normally like cauliflower except when it is raw but I have to say I absolutely loved this recipe - I reckon the addition of the mustard and the super cheesy super crispy breadcrumb topping made all the difference.  I shall probably do something similar on Christmas Day because everyone wolfed it down.

Coming a very close second were my roastie potatoes which were crispy and crunchy on the outside and soft and fluffy on the inside and I actually had to help myself to two additional ones a my original dip in!

The pie filling didn't seem to miss its overcoat which was just as well and having pre-cooked the beef beforehand in a fair old glug of one of John's beers it was pretty tasty - we had good old carrots and green beans to go with it all and then afterwards there was a choice of either my homemade mincemeat slab or homemade pear and ginger crumble, both went down well and as John wouldn't let the remainder of the mincemeat out of his sight we sent Mum and Dad home with a bowl of the crumble.

I know Mum will hate me for this photograph so I apologise well in advance but here she is looking like the International Woman of Mystery she is, either that or some International Card Sharp/Shark.

She managed to play without the aid of a head-torch and fared much better than I did because I kept getting hammered by the miz hands (which wont mean anything to anyone that doesn't play Noms but let's just say there is a penalty round and I copped most of the minus penalty points).

It is hard to believe that next Sunday it will be Christmas Eve and we will have Mum and Dad and Di and Rob dining with us.  I have sorted the menu and started to prepare some of it in advance.  We will be eating lunchtime and we want Mum and Dad to get back in good light so it wont be a long affair but I do have a game for us to play to get into the festive spirit.  I do love Christmas and it could so easily just pass by as any other day because we don't have the magic of children to make it special but I have John and that is near enough!!!

The stress of my pastry obviously got to me as I developed a mega-headache shortly after Mum and Dad text to let us know they were home safely.  I slept on the sofa for couple of hours before catching up on a bit of TV.