Visitors!!

Today I gave up my normal Monday morning Art session in favour of my visitors which is only fair really, that and the chance to go and get my hair cut which was becoming more of a necessity.  This meant that whilst I was having my barnet addressed John's Mum and Jackie could have free reign in Jumbos as John and Stan were going to sample the delights of the par three nine hole pitch and put down just opposite the Laura Beach Hotel (or thereabouts).  The sweetener to the ladies going shopping was that Stan had been promised a full English in the New Horizon Pub opposite prior to tee-ing off and this is not something which Stan is normally allowed to indulge in.

This is good for John for lots of reasons.  He would dearly love to play golf over here but time and finances just don't allow.  If he had the time he certainly doesn't have the money to pay the stupid prices that the courses over here demand and now that the lovely UK Government plan to tax the pension that he receives money will be even tighter for us and bless John he spends so much of his time with me and Mum that it is good for him to have some male company even if it is with a Sheffield Wednesday supporter - but then beggars cannot be choosers!

So this morning John got out some clubs and stuff in readiness and we went down to Polis Gardens to pick up our visitors - the men to play golf, the ladies to shop and me to have a haircut and then a visit to see Mum and show Jackie and Stan the lovely bungalow where she lives.

The men barely had time to get out of the car before they were disappearing off for their brekkie.  I had driven down from Polis - taking it slowly which was a good job as Paphos was crawling with traffic cops - even going slowly I still couldn't be sure that I had been adhering to the speed limit - time will tell I guess so may get a letter in the post which will be a bugger particularly as I have shed the previous points I had on my licence.

We chose a good time to get to the Mall.  It is Cyprus Independence Day today and a bank holiday although seemingly not major enough to affect the shops here as everywhere was open.  I left Janet and Jackie to do what they wanted to do whilst I was with Lumi and once finished I met up with them for a coffee.  They had 'done' Jumbos although it transpired that there were things they had wished they had picked up and I said to them that there was no rush, we were here to get what they wanted and I didn't want them to get back home and then regret they had missed getting something they wanted so they went off and 'did' Jumbos for a second time.  I had passed through en route to the coffee shop and had purchased two mop heads - that must be a record for me in Jumbos!

With their shopping complete we headed back to the golf course.  By this time the carpark in Jumbos was its usual nightmare and we were glad to be leaving.  Last night's rain hadn't changed the weather today - it was bright and hot with some fluffy clouds and the golf course looked lovely.  The boys were having what they considered to be a well earned pint - John happy in the knowledge that the Blades had once again trounced the Owls!!

I think they are all having a good holiday - I certainly hope so - the weather has been considerably warmer than they had anticipated but they have the pools back at their accommodation and air conditioning if they need it.

Mum's home is a short drive from the golf course but my text telling her we would be with her shortly got lost somewhere in the ether.  This has been happening a lot recently and we don't know why.

Stan and Jackie were well impressed with where Mum lives and during the course of the guided tour Jackie spotted the black and white tile stickers mum had used to cover the top of her coffee table and thought she would like to do the same thing with a table at home.  Mum had a packet left over so gave them to Jackie to take home and work out how many more she might need so that we can get them for her.

Eventually we took our party back to Polis and left them so they could enjoy the remainder of the day - I think they, like us and like Mum were going to be eating their doggy-bags from yesterday and the leftover barbeque food tonight rather than going out.

John and I were going to collapse on the sofas and slob out and then we realised we needed to go round and sort out George and Pam's now that Malc and Louise have left.  To be fair Louise had cleaned everywhere so it was only a matter of the towels which had been blown all round the garden and switching off the fridge/freezer and then packing away all the outside furniture until the next time someone comes over.

Busy day tomorrow as we are going down to Paphos airport to pick up my aunt and uncle - the last of our visitors this year and they have chosen to come in October because it shouldn't be too hot except currently the temperatures down at Mums are in the 30s!