The weather outside is frightful...

I should have known the moment I decided to do some washing that the weather would turn and bloody hell did it turn!!!  We had awful weather driving rain and rolling mists - the weather warning was absolutely correct this time.

It started to bucket down as I went to the Community Office to drop a card off for Marianna.  It was here that I encountered our slightly freaky Village Father Christmas who looks like he is either getting in touch with his feminine side as he is sporting what looks like permanent eye liner and carrying a pink carrier bag full of gifts with a second at his feet.  Maybe our village is being very right-on with the first LBGTQ Santa to be on display!!!

In stopping a mili-second to take a photograph I got soaked and blow me blooming Marianna wasn't tin the areas here so I had to leave the card with the lovely lady that does the cleaning whose name escapes me.

As I left to go to Art the heavens opened and I had to abandon my trip to see Dad as the rain was forming rivers in the Cemetery and I didn't want to be walking mud into Sheila's house - as it was I had to run in clutching my work hoping that it would escape unscathed and that I would have clean feet on entry.  It did and I did which was good and after a catch up with Sheila and a nice hot cup of coffee and a biccie I was raring to go.

Progress this morning seemed slow as I was working on the inside of the pomegranate and getting shape and shadow so that the seeds look three dimensional is difficult.  Sheila has all but finished her picture of the buffalo - she has some soft pastel work to do over the top or at least I think that is what the soft pastels are for - I have only used them a little when adding some smudgy colour to the background of a picture and I shall do something with one as John does not like the plain yellow behind the fruit but it will all look a bit different with the remainder of the fruit etc is completed.

After art it had been my intention to nip to Judi's to see why she was having an issue with emails on her new laptop then to pop in and have a cuppa with Di before returning home and then John and I would go down to Polis to sort Lakis's tyre and get the shopping I need in readiness for Christmas.

This went out of the window at Judi's.  I had set up her email on her new laptop but it transpires that her Primetel email isn't playing ball - she can receive emails quite happily but not send them.  It took me forever to try and find out what was happening and even then I didn't get completely to the bottom of things and all the time John was waiting for me to return so that he could get the tyre sorted and the car off the jack.  In the end I had to admit defeat and eventually decided to take the laptop home with me so that I could spend time at my leisure trying to suss things out.  All I can say is bloody bloody bloody Primetel which has to work differently than any other provider when you are setting up an email account with Windows 10.  CYTA - no problem, GMAIL - no problem, Primetel - a complete pain in the arse.

We didn't get to Paps for my shopping but we did get to Savvas's tyre place out on the trading estate and it was grey and soggy when we got there.  The flat tyre could not be saved so we had to buy a new one and the dodgy spare was exactly that DODGY but John had taken down a practically brand new tyre that he had but which didn't fit either of our cars nor Lakis's car and in return for that and the dodgy Savvas gave John a free tyre which would be suitable as a spare.

We returned home and rang Lakis and Argy to tell them what we had done.  It was great to speak to them but Argy was concerned because she had apparently sent us a parcel and as of that moment it had not arrived.  She and we need not have worried because Di and Rob pitched up in the rain clutching our post which included said parcel which we think may be a Christmas Present so we are leaving it unopened until Christmas.

Just so you can see how foul the weather was yesterday someone put this photograph on the internet - let's hope that the rain is now beginning to fill those reservoirs that were so sadly lacking at the end of the Summer.  John hates the rain but I no longer have that feeling of dread that I used to have because we have done just about everything we can to make our house as waterproof as possible.  It does make us wonder what state the walls in 3a and 3b are in since they decided to chop off the wood which provided the overhang for the roof tiles so that the tiles finish flush with the upright walls.

The Syrian man from 3a came and introduced himself to John and I today - he seems quite nice and his English was certainly better than our Syrian.  He is a stonemason which comes as no surprise as all the Syrians that end up in the village seem to work with stone.  Anyway as neighbours we don't really have any complaints - they keep themselves to themselves but will acknowledge you if they see you even the female members of the family which means that they are more relaxed about meeting different cultures.  Whilst John was speaking to him and I had gone to Art more people came to have a look at the property for sale by the Bank - John thinks it was a Cypriot family so maybe there will be some more new people on the estate in the New Year - who knows.

Christmas gets closer

Nicky and Mark are normally very early risers but whether it was the excitement of our Christmas Day yesterday, or whether it was because they were sleeping in a room which is pitch black with the shutters shut plus they were pinned to the bed by a massive tog feather duvet with a big fat fluffy throw on top, but this morning there was little movement from the Kirby's before 8.30am (Mark) and 9.30am (Nicky).  We were pleased because we reckon they work so hard that they probably just really needed it and it is very satisfying to know that our visitors have a good, relaxing time when they stay with us.

When we were all up and about we had a leisurely breakfast before they packed up and set off back to Emba although we think they were calling into Lidl and Jumbo en route, the former for a turkey of some description and the latter because they were so taken by their Present Game gift they they went off in search of more bottle lights and it looks like they just might have been successful - with the bottle at least doing the job that it was designed for as a receptacle for diffusing reeds.

Mum came to lunch as it was Sunday.  Fortunately it was another nice day so we didn't have to worry about her travelling.  Next Sunday she is coming up and will be staying for the whole of the festive season so we spent some time trolling through the TV times to get ideas for films and TV shows that she might enjoy watching if we are confined to barracks - hopefully not as it would be good to get out and about for a little walk now and again.  Lunch today was a sausage cassoulet served with crusty bread which I thought would be a nice change and warm and filling.  We had some of the Lidl cheesecake left over so that finished the meal off nicely.

As we have been doing for the last couple of weeks we caught up on Sidney and the other members of the family which feature in Our Yorkshire Farm which has taken us through Winter, Spring and this week Summer and the exceptionally hot Summer that the UK experienced this year.

We are absolutely in awe of this family of two adults and nine children who restore your faith in mankind (or should that be personkind nowadays?).  They make you want to be part of their family, they make you appreciate what an easy life you have when theirs is so demanding but they never seem to complain and they make John and I wish that, if we had had children, they would have turned out to be as fabulous as the likes of Reuben (John's favourite) and Sidney (my favourite).

The final episode will feature their lives in the Autumn and we will watch that next Sunday evening when Mum is all safely ensconced in her temporary home which reminds me that I need to find our her electric blanket and sort out the bedding because I am worried that the current configuration of bedding might just squash her completely as it is too heavy!!  I want her to be warm and cosy but she will need to be able to get out if only to answer a call of nature!

Once we were sure that Mum was home safely we settled down to some easy viewing before retiring to bed.  I eventually managed to find the two part series called Harrogate - A Very Yorkshire Christmas which was filmed last year and told the story of how the community of Harrogate pull together to raise money for the Christmas Lighting and then it follows for local business who are competing for the Best Dressed Shop Window award.  It was a great little programme although the stream that I found was a mirror image of the original which didn't really matter except that when you saw any writing it was like it was in a mirror which is a tad confusing!

Charlie is really beginning to get back to his old self for which read that he is easily bored and in need of entertainment - the only trouble is he keeps losing his crisp packet knot under the sofa and then scratches and scrapes to try and get it back.  We bought a brush thing to hook out said crisp packet knot but Charlie decided it would be much more fun to kick the shit out of the brush thing - just check out those eyes!!!!!!!!

The end to a lovely weekend and a new week starts tomorrow - we have a week before Christmas Eve and I need to get myself organised!

Christmas comes early

Today is our early Christmas Day with Mark and Nicky and I am typing this after the event and so I can confirm that it was an epic day - the sort of day that Christmas Days should be - easy and fun.  It is a good practice for Christmas Day proper and Elena (God rest your special Soul) you would be so pleased that the 7 P's (proper prior preparation prevents piss poor performance) did the trick so that it was a stressless day for everyone including me.

We started off our special day with a leisurely jim-jam start in the lounge watching Scrooge the Musical which was Mark's choice, although John reckons that he was the only one that watched it all the way through - to be fair it was a little on the naff side but it did get us all in the Christmas spirit and eased us into the day.  We then had a lovely brunch because I hadn't planned on feeding our guests again until later in the day which they were more than happy about.

Nicky had a craving for some mince pies and so we decided that we would, as it was a beautiful day, get showered and changed and pop down to Polis to see if we could track some down and then call in somewhere for a 'Christmas Day' drink and then return home for a film-fest and our meal and The Present Game.

We got introduced to the present game by my sister when she and her family and Vanessa and Colin and family, and Mum and Dad and Joyce and David and John and I, all squeezed into our conservatory to play.  Basically you buy a gift for no more than €5 (nice or naff) and throw a dice to win one.  When there are large numbers playing it is ok to be able to see the selection of gifts on offer because the majority will have come from others but when we play it is normally only with another couple so it is pretty obvious who has provided which gift so we have tweaked to the rules so that we play blind shaking the dice for a numbered pebble and the number corresponds to a bag holding a gift and we none of us know which number is in which bag.  Got it?  No?  Well you will just have to come visit us over the festive season and play!!!

So here we are with the kids in the back on our way down to Polis and the great mince pie hunt.  We were also stopping at Glykkis because Nicky and Mark liked the new door handles we had got and we had got them from there.  We found the right ones and although there weren't enough of the shelves the lovely Maria was ordering them in for delivery early next week.

So when I said it was a beautiful day this is exactly how beautiful it was because when we came out of Glykkis, and we hadn't been in there very long, this was the temperature in the car!!!!  We then set off for Paps not expecting to be successful, only to find that they must have just had a delivery of mince pies and there was a whole display of four different sorts available to buy.  SUCCESS!!!  Second success was the fact that there was absolutely no-one at the meat counter and even better they had a pig's liver so Minnie-Mou and Boris will be happy.

We wanted to try and find somewhere for a drink where we could sit in the sun and so thought that under the vines in O Stathmos in the village would be our best bet and we were right - it ws glorious - John is in a short sleeved shirt just to prove the point!!!  I ordered a gin and tonic - what I got was a glass full of gin and a side order of a tonic!  Not having fed our guests properly as of yet I hooked out the ice and managed to water down the alcohol bit by bit.  It was great sitting there - the midway point in December and we are sat outside - how fab!

We had one drink - just as well with the measures being dolled out but Nicky was a good girl and only had water which for the safety of all concerned was a good thing!!!

If you are in any doubt as to how warm it was today and are not convinced by the temperature gauge in the car then check out the weather station in the conservatory!!!!  This is more the sort of weather we have come to expect in December.  The wet and windy conditions of late have been more akin to January or February - save for the first Winter we were here when it was the wettest for 40 years.

So armed with the holy grail that was the Mince Pies and somewhat full of Christmas Spirit, save for Nicky, we settled down for the remainder of our Christmas Day - first stop to change back into our jimmies so that we were comfy.

We decided that we would watch a Christmassy Film first and then have our supper and then play the Present Game and, if we were still up for it, watch a second film.

So Nicky and Mark took up their positions on the sofa, John took up the mantel of Barman and I made sure that everything was ready for supper.  We were to have Chicken Biryani (of sorts because I had to leave out the key ingredients of cinnamon and cloves because Mark doesn't like them) raita, tomato onion and coriander salad, pickles and flat breads followed by a Lidl Lemon and Mascapone cheesecake.

We rewatched the last film that I went to see at the Cinema - Love Actually.  I had forgotten what a good film it is and watching all those couples lurch through their relationships it made me feel so very blessed to have John by my side - he is my rock and puts up with so much from me but is always there when I need him.  I gave his hand an extra big squeeze to let him know that I love and appreciate him so much even though I can be a bit of a nightmare at times.

We played the present game - who knew that competing for gifts of little to no value could be such fun and what is just as much fun, if not more, is finding those gifts and being creative in what you get.  Nicky and Mark brought two and John and I provided three (as there is an additional gift for whoever holds the special Six pebble at the end of the game).  When we have sorted out who gets which gift we give people the opportunity to swap which is good if you have won back a prize you purchased with someone else in mind!!!  John got a kit to make a mechanical spider which will keep him quiet for ages looking at the minuscule size of the pieces and I got a box of Nicky's own handmade chocolates!  Mark got a beautiful sequin-bound note book which is very tactile and changes colour when you move the sequins - this was quickly snaffled by Nicky and is to be the notebook where she records her path to future happiness!!!  Nicky got a weather station like the one we have in the conservatory and, as holder of the Six pebble, the extra prize which was a string of leg lights which a cork at the top which you can use to light up a bottle and a little square bottle for them to go in - to be fair this was the cheapest of cheap gifts courtesy of Jumbo but the one which seemed to have the biggest impact - she LOVED it.

Game over we settled down to the second film and having enjoyed the performance of Bill Nighy in Love Actually we watched Pride - a film which John and I love and one which Nicky and Mark had not seen.  This is such a great film based on true events which is both funny and sad and has the best music from the 80s running through it.  We all managed to stay awake and, as we prepared to retire for the night, agreed it had been a really, really successful day.  Another Christmas tradition created me-thinks and a very good one too.

Mr and Mrs Kirby may you have had a fabulous Christmas and all the very best for 2019 xxxx

An early Christmas with the Kirby's

As from today our Christmas celebrations will be in full swing but not before we had some regular and irregular Friday activities!!!

We had to shoot down to Polis first thing and decided that we should give Lakis car a little run to ensure it was all OK after having a new battery recently.  So we set off quite happily but soon had a strange noise coming from the back driver's side quarter.  Initially we thought it might be a brake pad that was stuck on which happens when a car is left sitting and undriven for a while but then the noise got a little worse and as we pulled in to the side of the road I said "you don't think it's got a puncture do you?" and John opened the door looked behind him and found that he did indeed have a puncture which was a bugger.  I had arranged to meet someone at Paps at 11.00 and at this point we had no idea whether John would be able to change the tyre so I rang my lovely friend Diana to come and rescue me and even though John was able to change the tyre relatively quickly the replacement looked well dodgy - so dodgy that I said to John I wasn't overly happy to get back in the car so he shot off and I stood admiring the beautiful view as Di was already en route.  Thanks Di, I was so grateful to you for getting me home safely.  Cars swapped we did what we had to do in Polis and in time and then we trundled off to Paphos for a game of pickleball.

We had just five of us today but we had a right old laugh and some very good games.  I distinctly remember John saying we would get too hot and sweaty today but he was wrong - partly because it was an incredibly bright and sunny day after heavy downpours earlier in the morning and partly because we all ran round like mad things!!!  This was to be the last game of 2019 - next week John and I will go down to remove the lines and clean the court so that Marios can hold his dance group Christmas party.

I have tried to video us playing before and normally get all set up and capture a two shot rally or a duffed serve into the net but today I did a little better.  Videos just do not give any sense of the speed at which we play nor how hard the ball is hit and the spin that people put on the ball.  If anyone is interested in taking the game up they really should go along and give it a try.  We may need to look for a new player next year for Thursdays and we have struggled to find someone with the requisite skills and the commitment to play which is such a shame.

So pickleball done and dusted for this year we shot off home for a quick shower and to get ready for Nicky and Mark who were spending this weekend with us - two nights instead of their normal one. We had the house trimmed, the Christmas lights on, the woodburner lit and dinner under control.  Tonight they will be enjoying (hopefully) pulled pork with crispy skinned jacket potatoes, coleslaw and corn on the cob.  This was followed by baked bananas with cream and ice-cream.  This was to be our early Christmas Eve and tomorrow is to be our Christmas Day.  We fed and watered the children and got them to bed early enough for John to endure another game watching the Mighty Blades.  To be fair Mark and I sat through the first half with the score at 1-1 and then retired with John chuntering away something about the Blades being 'bloody useless'  - they lost and were apparently woeful in the second half.

This was a lovely start to our weekend, warm and cosy, good food, good friends, good drinkies!!

Creating new traditions...

Today we made some new Christmas Traditions with John and Pickleball John going for a quiet Christmas beer and a pizza at the Brewery for a couple of hours and I went off down to Emba to spend some quality time with Mum.  It is a juggling act really and one that I am still learning because bar moving in with her we cannot be with her all the time although we often feel guilty that we are not and on the other hand we need to have time to ourselves and our own social life.  Sometimes I manage successfully to have all the balls in the air and then, bugger me, I drop them!  So today I was taking Mum to the Marks and Sparks foodhall in the Old Town just to see if they had some nice little goodies for our Christmas and Mum was looking for a little gift for Sheila and Klaus as they are having Mum for a day over Christmas and it just so happens to be on Sheila's birthday.  So we went for a wander but the prices were astronomical even for a little Christmas treat so we abandoned that idea.

Mum and I headed off for the Elysium Hotel - Mum had been last week for afternoon tea and had loved the decorations and wanted me to see them and so we were going to treat ourselves to a cuppa and a piece of cake.  The carpark at the Elysium is quite small and I was keen to park my car somewhere safe - I was a bit concerned about the motor on my left!!!  Actually I was going to take a photo of Mum stood next to it but she was worried she might set off the alarm so kept well away!!

The Elysium really is a lovely hotel and I would imagine it is pretty magical if you can afford to stay there over the Christmas period.  As you walk across to the reception there is a lovely tableau with an old bus all decked out and beautifully done.  We were lucky that we had chosen the one day this week when there was no rain, in fact it was a pretty stunning December day.



You cannot fail but to be impressed by the decorations which are all so tastefully done.  The centrepiece is the stairwell with a massive tree that spans the two floors and all the handrails covered in baubles in gold and cream and a sort of teal colour.  As you look around there are little decorations all over - not in your face and perhaps slightly understated for those guests for whom Christmas has little or no relevance.

Mum is a nightmare to photograph, basically she doesn't like it so she is never still long enough to get a good snap!  We sat in what I guess they call the Drawing Room and had a cup of tea and shared a piece of apple crumble cake.  I meant to make a note of the tea we had - it was black tea with loose large tea-leaves in a bag and it made a splendid cuppa - in fact we got two big cups each out of the pots of water.  The cake was delicious - the apple was slightly tart and the pastry light and not overly sweet.  It might have been a bit on the pricey side but it was a lovely way to spend an hour or so.


As we left I managed to get Mum to stand still long enough to get a selfie with the bus behind us.  The sun was beginning to set on what had been a glorious day - pointing the camera directly into the sun you get some pretty amazing results because it looks like we are in darkness but it was only about 4 o'clock but then again we are fast approaching the shortest day.

It was a lovely afternoon and I dropped Mum back home and made sure she was in and safe and sound before going up the hill to the Brewery to pick up the Johns.

I was so glad that I had booked them a table inside because the Brewery is in a strange position where it seems to have a climate all of its own and can be quite chilly when the sun goes down.  I have to say that the courtyard looked quite unappealing!  The boys seemed to have had a good couple of hours although the other John was mortified to discover, just as we were dropping him home, that he had left his two slices of leftover pizza at the Brewery and he had saved them for his tea!

We returned home with the sun in our eyes - it was a glorious sight.  We hoped that was an indication for a nice day tomorrow.  With the clear skies the temperatures fell away sharply.  Di tells me that they checked around 9.00pm and it was only 4 degrees - that is bloody cold in anyone's language.

Rain stopped play...

Today we were planning to carry out a village clean with the school children - the event had been postponed from last week.  I had checked the weather forecast and whilst it was a bit wild first thing it was due to calm around 9.00am and we were due to meet at the school at 9.30am.  It was incredibly wild when we woke, wild and damp and grey and we had a phone call from Georgia to say that the school had decided it was too unpleasant for the children - we didn't argue!!!  As it turned out the forecast was correct but by the time the weather improved it was too late and we were, by then, ensconced on the sofas with the film guide to hand.

I was allowed to chose the first film.  John and I have very very different tastes in movies - in fact it is quite hard to get me to sit and watch a film from start to finish and I absolutely hate, and I mean hate, going to the cinema with the great unwashed and their bloody nachos and mobile phones.  I think the last time I went to the cinema proper was in Yeovil with the skittles team to watch Love Actually and that film is about 15 years old and I am still getting over the experience!

So my choice was a film called Wonder from 2017 which starred Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson.  It got some pretty good write-ups scoring 8 out of 10 on IMDB and was nominated for an Oscar.

Basically the story is "based on a bestselling book and tells the inspiring and heartwarming story of August Pullman, a boy with facial differences who enters the fifth grade, attending a mainstream elementary school for the first time".

It was a nice little movie with some laughs and some tears and is one I would recommend others to watch.  Nothing too taxing and if you have children it might just make them think about how they treat other children who are deemed to be 'different'.  Actually that isn't just a lesson for children it is a lesson for us adults too.

John said he didn't mind it as a film and had quite enjoyed it but then after we had had a big old crumpet, lounza, egg stack as brunch he got his turn to pick.

John is either an all-action, sci-fi or animation movie kind of guy and so I had my fingers very firmly crossed for the latter and I was not disappointed when he chose something called Smallfoot which is a new 2018 movie.

Now this is a great little animation film which references scenes from other movies and has some subtle jokes and references which would possibly only be picked up by an adult so it is good for young and old alike.  Basically it is a story about how Yeti believe humans exist rather than the other way round.

This is a Warner Animation film rather than Disney or Pixar and the quality of the animation is superb and the songs are pretty good too.

One of the main characters is voiced by James Corden and we know he can actually sing because we have seen his Carpool Videos - anyway he does a fair funky rendition of Under Pressure!

So we both enjoyed that film as well and didn't feel in the slightest bit guilty for having slobbed out all day as we have a busy few weeks ahead of us starting this weekend with Nicky and Mark coming to stay.  With this in mind I was getting pulled pork and chicken biryani started - not sure which meal we will be having on which day but I want to be doing as little prep and cooking as possible whilst they are here and then Mum comes on Sunday so will need to have something ready for that too!

This evening we were out at Fitos catching up with Mina and Claire and meeting Mina's legendary Pops Peter.  Peter is a London Cypriot who has just celebrated his 80th birthday - he is an unbelievably switched on and lively guy and we really enjoyed his company.  I said to Mina that if someone told me he was in his 60s I wouldn't have argued except for the fact I know how old she is and that would have been impossible!!!

It was a great evening with a great bundh of people and went by in a flash - the food was excellent - I had a taste of the two bean soup on offer - I really liked it but knew it would have been too much as my main meal but I was glad I tried it.  Peter had the beef soup before he made his way through a beef and mushroom pie - that man can eat and hold court at the same time!!!  Today we had a really lovely moist carrot cake as the free pudding offering which we havent' had before and this was all washed down with coffees and drinkies for those that wished!!!

Thank you to Di and Rob for kindly driving tonight and for coming in for a nightcap before returning down Cardiac Hill.  

Saying goodbye to our lovely friends...

Today we were going down to see Mum and meeting up with Wendy and Bill.  Sadly on the day of Dad's funeral Wendy and Bill had car issues and didn't manage to make it.  We did all go up to the Cemetery on Saturday so that they could see where he was buried and to pay their respects.  Bill sadly lost his Dad at this time of year so is familiar with having just one parent remaining.  It was good for us all to get together.  They managed to find Mum's place quite easily which was good and we had a nice hour or so chatting.  At that time the weather was lovely and bright and quite warm but it deteriorated as the day went on so Mum's trip to Classic Cinema went out the window which I was not too upset about because I worry about her being out in the dark when the weather is bad.

It would be the last opportunity we would have to spend a bit of time with Wendy and Bill before they return to the UK early on Thursday.  It has been so lovely to see them - we just hadn't realised how much we had missed not having them just up the road in Pissouri.  It is strange that it was this blog that brought us together and I know that periodically Wendy still reads it!  We met for the first time in Faros the first winter that we were living over here permanently and we hit it off immediately - they were, are and always will be our No 1 Stalkers!!!  Anyway with this in mind we decided to grab a spot of lunch together in the Mall and then Wendy could have a little moochette in Jumbos and I had a few bits I wanted to get including something else for John for Christmas as I have only one little thing for him to unwrap.  I, on the other hand, have the Kenny-mobile back on the road and safe - that is my Christmas present.

We had our lunch and said our goodbyes and went our separate ways and because I failed to find anything for John we decided to stop off at Sports Direct which was a little more successful so there will be something for John to open.  Bless him he never asks for anything at Christmas except socks - he always asks for socks even though he has a drawer full of them!

As we made our way home the heavens opened and it was grimmer than grim.  At Tsada they are resurfacing the road which is causing a bit of chaos and where they were laying the fresh tarmac it looked like the road was on fire.  The further towards Kathikas we went the worse it got - at some point the windscreen wipers almost struggled to cope.  We couldn't wait to get back home safe and sound and snuggled up on the sofa and then we remembered we were due to pick up Kenny so that was going to have to wait.

We made our way down to Andreas's garage - with some trepidation as we were unsure how much the job was going to cost and whether there were any other brake issues we hadn't known about as John had asked him to check everything over.  As it happens it cost us a massive €48 to get Kenny fixed which is a bargain to have him back on the road and, as I said, this is my Christmas present and I am well happy with it.  I have to say that the whole getting the part imported from Malaysia was pretty easy really once I had got the delivery address thing sorted.

We ran in and unpacked our shopping and tried on our Christmas hats that we have a feeling we may be needing to wear tomorrow if the clean up with the school children goes ahead - looking at the photo it is probably not a bad thing that it is out of focus!!!

I put the pork into the slow cooker which is going to be pulled for Saturday night's supper when Nicky and Mark are here - the chicken for the biryani is marinading.  Nice cooking smells but we weren't hungry - my chicken teriyaki from the Mall was delicious and filled me up.

Another wild wild night - December has been pretty poor up here in the hills but the island really needs the rain.

Escaping the power cuts

We had terrific storms overnight and woke to a powercut which put the mockers on my regular Art Monday because without power it is pretty difficult to work in detail.  As it happened the electric did come back mid morning but apparently at half power and then went off again before coming back at full strength.  As I was home I was enlisted as John's Part IV and went with him to check on the houses and pools of our neighbours.    The sun was beginning to break through and actually eventually it turned into a much better day than we had anticipated - that was until the evening when we were back to storms and powercuts.

Over at Lakis and Argy's all was good.  You can see the benefits of having a lock up and leave outside area because although the weather has been wild everything at 2b is clean and tidy - unlike our garden which is a right old mess.  With the power reduced John couldn't do any pumping out at this point so we just checked things were as ok as they could be and will have to keep an eye on the weather and the electric in case we need to reduce the water level.

My pots along the side of the carport have been decimated - they were coming along beautifully with an array of succulents which I hoped would survive in all conditions but I hadn't banked on the goats coming through the estate.

We came home the other day to find bits all over the place but it had been rather wild and windy and then we noticed the unmistakable gifts that the goats leave behind and put two and two together - maybe I should have shoveled it up and used it as fertilizer!!!

So what the weather didn't destroy the goats did but those plants are hardy little souls so they should come back in due course.  Glad though that the mystery is solved because initially we thought someone had trashed them which was hard to believe but then again Persephone did have a couple of Cypriot ladies come up once and remove a Poligala from her front garden so I guess all things are possible.  I shoved back some of the plants which had been pulled out and will just hope they survive.

With no or limited power at home we decided to go down to Polis and get a bit of shopping done and then go and have a quite spot of lunch together.  John had checked that the part I had ordered from Malaysia was the correct part so we were able to take Kenny down to Andreas to be fixed.  John driving carefully and me following behind to make sure all was ok.

We went off down to the Souli where the sun was shining and we found a table in a sheltered spot so that we were able to sit outside and have our favourite 'light' lunch of a starter portion of chips, salad, calamari and olives - this is more than enough for the two of us and was delicious.  It was really nice to have an unexpected 'date' lunch - just the two of us sat enjoying the winter sunshine and eating some nice food without anything needing our immediate attention.

On our return we decided we should put up some decorations in readiness for Christmas particularly as we have Nicky and Mark coming to stay for the weekend.

It was rather sad that the white tree we had inherited from Mum and Dad had met its maker whilst up in our loft - it was one of those bright white outside ones but it was looking rather sad and rusty and a whole segment of the lights no longer worked.  It normally sits in the conservatory but this year our little tree will just have to make do - I love Christmas normally but this year is going to be very strange and so I have mixed feelings - I just want it to be as nice as we can make it for Mum.

We have not gone overboard but hopefully it will look festive - we always burn a lot of candles anyway which was just as well because we had just sat down and eaten our bit of supper (remainder of yesterday's lunch) when the electricity went again and we were thrust into darkness.  We weren't overly bothered as the house was reasonably warm although we didn't have the woodburner lit and the candles were casting a romantic light.

The power outage wasn't too long so we were able to watch an episode of Escape to the Chateau which we love and a couple more episodes of Masterchef before going to bed.  More power outages in the night - I shall leave it until about February before I set the clock on the microwave again!