How did you get a black eye Rob?

I think Di and Rob must have been lucky to walk home when it wasn't bucketing down because for most of the night that is what is was doing.  When we were inside we could hear the rain coming and going and when we got to bed after clearing up it seemed to do nothing but lash it down.  February had started so promisingly but has deteriorated into a cold and chilly month.  Jane and John come over in just under two weeks' so I really hope it bucks its ideas up as they love to walk and at the moment even if it isn't raining the ground beneath your feet is sodden.  Anyway we checked on Di and Rob and apparently Rob had decided on a quiet day today after the excesses of last night - John seems to think it was that last extra potato that will have tipped the Bobster over the edge!!!

I have to admit that John and I didn't rush to get up this morning and as we didn't have anything special to do down in Paphos we decided to have an easy morning and then pick Mum up before playing pickleball although not before swinging by Nicky and Mark's to relieve them of some partially drunk bottles of gin that they had acquired, for which many thanks!!!

This is Mum's front garden - it looks quite pretty, like a natural pond save that this is flood water from the torrential rain and hail Emba endured last night.  Mum, Sue and Fran had gone out together to the Flying Dragon for a Chinese and Mum said they nearly needed a ferry to get home.  When we arrived to pick her up today this flood water had subsided somewhat but was still pretty impressive.

Liselotte was returning from her trip to Denmark today but not in time to play pickleball so there were just the five of us.

Afterwards John and I took Mum to 'The One' cafe which is on the Emba by-pass.  We have been trying to find somewhere she might feel comfortable to go for a coffee either alone or with a friend now that Chocco's has gone.  We didn't think she had been there so were hoping it would be a surprise but we should have known better because it transpires that she had been there already.  We were a bit disappointed because we had really hoped we had found a nice new venue but had failed.

We think they serve a really nice cup of coffee there, it is smooth and flavoursome but would be too strong for Mum who prefers to make tea and coffee herself as she doesn't like it strong.  On the plus side we had one piece of orange cake that was massive and actually fed the three of us.  We saw someone having a pizza there - it looked really good but they don't do a Hawaiian which would be Mum's choice and the other toppings included ingredients like mushrooms and peppers which Mum doesn't eat and which they could only remove for her.  Back to the drawing board then.

Once back in Droushia it was a quick turn round.  Although the weather had looked to be stormy it would appear that for a change our village had escaped most of it as the roads approaching our house were dry and the water was hot thanks to the sun and we were glad for that as we were going out to Fitos this evening and meeting up with Marianne and Jeff..  We have known for some time having met them at a number of social events and Marianne comes periodically to the Ladies Lunch and she helped me, when I was looking for a cleaner for Mum, by recommending her own lady Kim and that worked out perfectly.  Then recently when I was asking for help regarding Mum's tax return this year, now that her circumstances have changed, Marianne came back to me and offered to help.

We have bumped into Jeff in Fitos' on a Friday night collecting a take-away so this evening it was nice for the four of us to be sat at a table enjoying the food.  We met at 7.00pm and we had been uncertain about how the conversation would flow but shouldn't have worried because before we knew it, it was 10.00pm!!!  The food was up to its usual excellent standard and I rang the changes by having fish rather than the beef pie although it was on the menu - I just fancied something lighter!  Anyway it was a very pleasant evening and we will do it again at some point I am sure.