Back tracking

Mum said my blog yesterday made her cry, that was not my intention so today I am going back several weeks.  Regular readers of my blog will know that I normally post in arrears - I have done this for a reason because I am conscious not to broadcast our actual whereabouts for all and sundry to be aware of. 

I had several posts sitting waiting to be published and so I am going to go back and post them just so long as there is nothing in them that might be upsetting.

So sadly the weather forecasters were right on the button and the weather across the island has been wet, wet, wet.  The photograph shows Old Town Limassol with cars underwater.  We had rain and storms in the night but nothing that kept me awake so it couldn't have been too bad.  Mum says that their front garden is under water and there is more rain forecast for today - still it is February and February is renowned for being changeable, at best, a washout at worst.  Last year our friends Pete and Helen came for a week in February and had the most fantastic week - they were lucky!!!!


We got up to make the last minute preparations for Nicky and Mark's visit, they text to let us know that they were running late which comes as no surprise, they are normally late but today they had a good excuse as there was a family issue involving Frank (Nicky's Mum's partner) who is currently in hospital recovering from a nasty accident which he had on his ATV.

We had more or less decided that it was to be a slob out day and this was confirmed by Nicky and Mark when they arrived - once they were in and slippers on they had no wish to venture out elsewhere and who can blame them?

I needed to make a pudding for tonight - my current favourite recipe is the eggless lemon cake now that I have remembered it is made with bicarbonate of soda and not baking powder (it makes such a difference!!) today I rang the changes by using brown sugar instead of white which gave it a different texture and a slightly more caramel flavour both in the cake and the syrup to lace it.

Lunch today was something light so as not to spoil our meal later on but enough to give a satisfactory lining before we cracked open the wine and started to play games.

We had baked brie which was cut open and a sprinkling of dukkah put on top this was served with a little jug of my home-made chili sauce and a fresh rocket and gem lettuce salad which had been tossed in a lime dressing.  Even if I do say so myself it was delicious - I just love baked brie and Paps has had a new brand in which is delicious and half the price of the Castello one that I normally buy (and then only when it is on offer).

So with a suitable stomach lining in place, the fire bedded down and tickling away nicely, the wine open and the board games out we decided that we would start with Risk, Nicky had brought it with her back in November and we didn't get round to playing it - this is a complicated and strategic game which needs to be embarked upon when you are all compos mentis which at this stage we were but having got it all set up we realised that they were missing five of the die which they had half-hinched for Yahtzee on a previous occasion so Risk will have to wait for another day!!!

We then got out a game which John's sister Janice plays with her husband and kids.  It is billed as a game for horrible people and is called Cards against Humanity and is like a very very adult version of blankety blank and I mean adult!!!

We moved on to Cranium which involves drawing, singing, miming and a lot of laughs!!!  All good fun and a great way to while away an afternoon before having our supper and then settling down for a film which Mark and Nicky managed to watch half of but John and I completed - we watched 6 days about the Iranian Embassy Siege in 1980.  It was quite clearly a British film, very very understated, had it been an American offering it would have been so much more gung-ho.

It had been a lovely day - always good to spend time with Nicky and Mark - we have known them several years and their company is easy - we have penciled in our next weekend and we are all looking forward to it already.