Friday

Yesterday mum had a close encounter with a carton of cream in Paps in Chloraka - it came crashing down onto her leg bruising it and taking the skin off.  The episode left her shaken, fortunately the first aid team sorted her out but apparently there is a bit of an issue with the way they stack things which isn't helped when you are short like Mum and me and have to try and reach for things because there is never anyone around to help.  Fortunately this morning she says she is ok just a bit battered.  The only trouble is that we have to keep an eye on injuries like this because they can have a nasty habit of turning into ulcers and I don't think my Brownie Badge for Bandaging is going to stand me in good stead if that happens.

I was pleased to see Mum looking reasonably ok save for bruises when I called in today before pickleball.  Today was slightly different because Liselotte and John were bringing their Amazonian mate Morton to play and John was concerned that Morton might not know his own strength and it would be awful if a ball smacked into Mum particularly now she has collected a new injury.  So John and I set off early this morning because I wanted to go to the tax office to try and found out what has happened to Mum's application to be taxed over here.  Apparently the woman I need to speak to is on holiday so I will have to deal with this when Hazel has gone home.  I then dropped John at the pickleball court so that he and Di could join Morton, Liselotte and John for the first half of the session and then when Liselotte and Morton go to badminton Mum and I were going to join them.

It was like Christmas and Birthday all rolled into one for John today because we found some real ale on offer at Paps in Chloraka which is amazing because our Paps hasn't had a single bottle of British Beer on the shelves for months and even though the Bobster had been to visit Athos at the Beer Seller yesterday I contacted Di to check to see if he would want some - is the Pope Catholic???

The Danish contingency were just finishing up when Mum and I arrived to play.  It wasn't quite so hot indoors this week as it was last week but it was hot enough - and hour and a half is enough for me - I was absolutely sopping by the time I finished running around. We went back to Mum's for a cooling drink before we had to meet someone at the petrol station in Peyia because I had advertised four of the excess magnetic charging cables and they wanted to buy them.

We dropped off the beers from Paps to the Bobster who had very kindly bought John a bottle of the Cornish Ale - Proper Job and John could barely wait to flip the top and sample as Bobster had it chilled to perfection!  By the looks on his face it was the best beer EVER at that particular moment in time!

I fell into the pool to cool down and that was fabulous - for all the times we moan about the pool being a bit of a bind and drain on resources occasions like this make it soooooo worthwhile!

We have a busy day tomorrow - we are nipping over to Polemi to say goodbye to Kim and Steve who still have a week on the island but we will be busy with Hazel so may not get the chance to see them.  Then I will be doing the last minute cleaning and plumping of cushions and whatever in readiness for Hazel - we will be off to airport early evening and hope that the flight is on time.  On that subject last Friday Liselotte and John were due to be at Larnaca airport to pick up Morton and Lena at 3.00am but knew the flight was delayed so got there are 4.00am but could see no information on the Norwegian airlines flight only to receive a call from Lena to say they had landed but in Paphos due to fog at Larnaca.  They were not allowed off the plane as they hoped to complete the journey in due course but nothing was doing so Liselotte and John set off back to Paphos where eventually the airline abandoned the idea of getting the plane to Larnaca.

I couldn't resist taking this photograph - there is an internet site called "Parking like a Twat in Cyprus" and I thought this qualified.  These are electricians working at our neighbours - had they driven beyond the silver saloon car there was loads of space to park but no no no they squeezed in between Galatia's truck and Lakis's car at a jaunty angle leaving it difficult for people to pass!