A different Monday for us...

I was not at art this morning - poor Sheila is still suffering with her back - fingers crossed that this is a very temporary situation for her but sadly the weather is against us at the moment - some horrendous bank of low pressure is blanketing the whole of Europe and as a result the weather is abysmal.

We were undecided about what to do today but when John's lovely mum was over in the Summer she gave us some money in lieu of missed birthdays and Christmases and we have finally got around to spending it on something specific.

We have changed the lights in the kitchen and the two lights that were in the kitchen are going to be moved out into the conservatory because we like them but they do not cast enough light onto the worksurfaces for you to see what you are doing clearly.

It was a straight-ish swap with a bit of jiggery-pokery but they went up without the need to redecorate the ceiling just at the moment although this is something we plan to do after the wet weather has ceased just in case we end up with any water seeping through or damage done by boiling kettles etc.

The lights successfully installed albeit that they hang a little wonkily until they have stretched out properly we decided to venture down to Paphos and see whether Steptoes still had the TV cabinet that matches our coffee table and sideboard.  John needed to stop for petrol and this was his first opportunity to use our new local filling station.  We have long said that it would be good to have a petrol station closer to us than Stroumbi or Polis but even though we do we rarely use it - we are creatures of habit and like to go to one in Polis where the owner always engages us in conversation and our windscreen and back window get a wash.  There was no windscreen wash today and, horror of horrors the fuel at Stroumbi would have been one cent a litre cheaper!!!

We made our way down to Steptoes which is a massive furniture store and which has been furnishing the island for years.  It has gone from a very cheap and cheerful establishment providing complete house packages for all those ex-pats who came over in the 'good old days' and purchased their holiday homes or permanent homes in the sun to quite the largest home furnishing shop in Paphos with something to suit everyone.  Initially we did not thing they had the TV cabinet we had seen previously but there was something which might have suited and then we found the one we were looking for and decided to spend some of the money John's mum gave us on it.  We could have taken the showroom one there and then but decided to wait until Friday for a new boxed one and even better there was 10% taken off the price.

Pleased with our purchase we decided to bite the bullet and go next door into Euroblinds to see about getting some new blinds for the lounge/dining room/kitchen.  We did not pay much for the ones which are there and to be honest it shows - the one over the kitchen sink is very flimsy and the two roman blinds at the little windows are ok but no longer match anything else in the room.  Euroblinds were very good when Mum had the sun room fitted out and the very very tall girl in attendance was good in that she pointed out that they had two ranges that were in the sale so I checked them out first and found just what I was looking for.  They are coming up to measure on Saturday and this will take care of the remainder of the money from Janet.

We were keen to get back home as the plan is for the new TV cabinet to go in the lounge (obviously) and for the existing one to be moved out into the conservatory to replace the brown plastic box that houses my craft stuff.  That being the case I needed to sort through the brown plastic box and get it emptied in readiness for Friday.

We stopped at the London Road Nursery to buy a plant.  We have been invited out tomorrow night to Fitos as a thank you from David and Edda for helping them when they had their car accident before Christmas.  David told me that it had been Edda's birthday over Christmas but they had been in no position to celebrate but now they were feeling better and their son Julian was over and it was his birthday tomorrow so they were having a bit of a celebration as a result.

We know that Edda loves her garden and so I wanted to chose something she might find a home for at number 13.  We thought this Dahlia was stunning with its white tipped petals - it is called a Dinner Plate Dahlia and has several buds waiting to burst into life.

We were feeling a bit peckish and wanted something instant and John had spied a tiny little Gyros place just down the road from Paps bakery so we decided to give it a go.  The chicken gyros hit the spot and is probably the best 4 euros each we have spent in a long time - all nice and fresh and served by a very pleasant lady who spoke good English with a South African twang.  Don't ask me what it is called but it is tucked next door to the little supermarket/kiosk place which is opposite Tavernaki.

The weather this afternoon deteriorated and this evening was just appalling and we had been trying to get together with Mina for ages but there had been all sorts of reasons why we had had to rearrange not least the fact that Mina has now taken delivery of her new puppy Lottie.  I gave Mina the chance to call off again, mindful of the fact that she may not want to leave Lottie alone in a thunder storm.  Mina had arranged for Toma to sit with Lottie so was more than happy to come and actually got here without getting lost!!!

When I had done our meal for Sunday I had made double the amount so that all I had to do was stick it in the slow cooker and it wouldn't matter if Mina had to call off as it wouldn't spoil.  I was pleased though that she decided to come and enjoy relaxing for a couple of hours which she did.  The house was toasty warm, the chicken casserole went down well as did the crumble.

We were pleased when we heard that Mina had got home safely - the road to the kennels is very rural to say the least and we have witnessed so many landslides when the weather is like this.  We hope to catch up with her again really soon and before her Dad returns to the UK.

Cheers for the bottle of wine Mina - sorry you didn't get the opportunity to try it for yourself but we can confirm that it was up to its usual standard!!  (See what I mean about the Roman blinds!!).