A Brighter Day

Today was a lovely day, we woke to glorious sunshine, cool temperatures but bright skies so we decided we would take Lakis' car out for a spin to make sure that the battery was behaving itself and we took the road out toward Pittokopis and then beyond until we came across what looked like newish blue road signs to Fasli and Androulikou.

At Fasli there are a few seemingly abandoned buildings although on closer inspection it looks like the first one you come across has been used recently and may even be being done up although the front door or what we though was the front door had been smashed either by the recent bad weather or probably more likely a bit of vandalism which is a shame.  John tried his best to make the building a bit more secure and stood up some door frames which would have otherwise rotted in the wet weather.

The view from this building is absolutely stunning so you could imagine the attraction in the summer of being up here in the hills away from the humidity communing with nature and looking out at the sea.  The building appeared to have a few home comforts and appears to have been inhabited by an English speaker if the books were anything to go by.

It is a fascinating building and we only went inside to try and make it more secure.  We hope whoever owns it will appreciate that we made an effort for them but really it needs someone to go there soon and sort out where the glass panes in the door have smashed or been smashed.  We have no idea how to find out who that person is but maybe someone reading this might know - we really hope so.  Even better it would be great to meet whoever that person is and to go back and see this wonderful place when someone is using it and loving it.

There are some funny little egg shaped structures dotted around outside - we think they are outside toilets - the construction certainly would bare that theory out and when I delved a little deeper there appeared to be an open 'drain' in the middle with a stone placed over the top so we think they are the Cypriot equivalent of an outside privvy.

We called in to see Bassam on our way home.  Today was Amoura's 16th birthday - she is away on a School trip to Kakopetria and last week it was Lola's 11th birthday - none of the children were at home, it being a school day, but is was lovely to meet up with Bassam and have a coffee with him served in the cups and saucers which Elena used to absolutely love.

Bassam was ok although he is struggling to cope with looking after the three children and particularly so at the moment when the bus drivers are on strike - he gets the kids to school and then no teachers pitch up because they cannot get there.

It was freezing at Orexi HQ - Bassam said there was little point lighting the fire when he had to be in and out at the drop of the hat to pick up the kids or take them somewhere.  It cannot be easy for him and we do what we can when we are called upon.  Elena's mum had returned home yesterday and sadly we had missed her.  We left a card for both the girls in which we had left some money as they are now getting old enough to decide how they want to spend it.  Shortly after we returned home we had a call from Lola thanking us for her card and cash and she told us she would be buying something nice with it bless her.

On our return home I tried to get a photograph of the Troodos from the roof terrace.  There is a lot of snow and today the roads are still closed although I think the situation is improving until the weather deteriorates again at the weekend - rain here means snow up there.  We are surprised to see Angela and Philip have returned to 3B - we thought they had gone back to London but must have gone to Limassol for a couple of nights.  They have had dreadful weather since they arrived on Boxing Day.

For some reason this winter we have seen many many more birds of prey, particularly the smaller ones - maybe this weather has brought about a glut of rodents or maybe the hunters are leaving them alone - whatever the reason we love to see them.

It was very cold today.  John and I and Diana and Rob had organised to go out this evening - we had hoped to go to Fitos in Kathikas but the bad weather had prevented them opening after their short break after Christmas so we had struggled to find an alternative venue but had agreed to try The Old Cinema in Peyia where we had been with Mum and Dad and Jane and John two years ago and had planned to return but never got round to it.  We knew it would be open and we knew it had a fabulous wood burner so we could more or less guarantee being warm.  As a result we did not light the wood burner so mid afternoon the lounge felt very chilly so we are lucky to have the gas fire to keep us warm that and my rather roughly crocheted blankets which today were much appreciated by Mr Boo.



So this evening we went on a big adventure and ate out in Peyia - I was driver but I don't mind.  As I said we went to the Old Cinema which is a lovely traditional building with a cracking wood burner to keep us warm - a simple menu but the food was good.  Di and I had a meze, John had a large pork chop and Rob had moussaka.  Our waitress Jade came from Chesterfield!!!  I would certainly go back, in fact John and I said we really ought to venture out a little more but when you have Fitos on your doorstep and you know how good and how cheap the food is it is hard to go anywhere else.  It is just a shame that Fitos is a modern building so lacked the character that we had in the Old Cinema - not least when you go upstairs to the loo and walk past all those old bits and pieces like the bike and the typewriter and Fitos doesn't have the wood burner - it has gas heaters and the resulting condensation that they produce but we still love it and it is our 'go-to' eatery.

After a lovely evening we felt our lives were getting back to a bit of normality after the festive season and we have decided that we should try and reinstate our monthly Droushia Days out when the four of us would revisit something or somewhere we hadn't been for a while or go to pastures new and be tourists for a while.  We are so lucky to have Di and Rob just down the road from us to share these experiences with.  It will be the first time in 2019 that I have had cause to say....   Ain't We Lucky Bobster?