I have a hot date!!!

I was glad to learn that John had arrived at his mums safe and sound.  He had sent me a text in the wee small hours which I heard come in but then he text me at a more reasonable hour.  He is excited that he will be going to the match later today when the Mighty Blades take on Brentford.  All games now are must win but Saturday’s which is against arch rivals and fellow automatic promotion seekers Leeds is what they call a six pointer.  Anyway in the course of our electronic conversation we realised that he does not return on Friday week as we had been telling everyone – on inspecting his boarding card he actually returns on Thursday week.  Thank God he checked or we would have had a repeat performance of last year when Mum was ready for a flight which had departed the previous day.

Happy that John was ok I got up to what was another lovely day and I was super enthusiastic about tackling some of the tasks I have set myself to complete whilst he is away.  I could hear voices outside which is quite unusual as our estate is generally very quiet so I went to investigate – it would appear that the renovations to the house opposite are now in full swing as Sharon was there project managing a little Cypriot man in an ancient blue pick-up who was peering at what remains of the electricity meter box.  As I returned to our house I noticed that we have a tulip flowering in the front garden – I am not sure what sort this is as it has no stem but one massive great flower which will probably last a day still it is lovely to see it and it adds a welcome splash of colour.

This morning I had earmarked to use the sewing machine because I had a hot date for lunch with Dip who has been over for a while but leaves tomorrow and didn't get round to seeing John so I was second best!!!  When I shortened our bedroom curtains I was left with quite a lot of material and John suggested making some cushion covers for the two small cushions which he didn't like - probably because they were blue on one side and green on the other.  I made the covers and still had a lot left over so decided that I would make a runner for the bed.  As the weather was nice I took our big throw off of the bed and washed it - it is a bit of a squeeze to get it into the washing machine and the washing machine moans and groans whilst it is doing the job but it manages and what was great was that it was just the right sort of day to get it dry - it is very very thick so it needs a bright and breezy day.

Dip arrived at lunchtime - bless him he was clutching a rather bedraggled Poinsettia which he gave to me - apparently he was charged with bringing me flowers but he said he was en route at the time and didn't know where to get any so the plant was the next best thing but he had no idea what it was - I didn't like to tell him that these are normally sold and at their best at Christmas - this one might well have been but now it is March!!!  I shall nurture it and hope that I can get it to flourish!!  Anyway we set off for lunch at Latchi.  The car was a bit loathe to start but was fine on the way down.  Dip said it had played up a bit coming up from Paphos but put it down to a bit of dirt in the fuel or maybe the filter needed changing - anyway we thought nothing of it and continued with our plans.  At Latchi you can see by the river flowing out to the sea right near the old boat how much rain we have had.

We sat outside in Molos for our lunch - it was very pleasant although not clear, like there was dust in the atmosphere but that made it warm.  I have never really spent much time with Dip so it was nice to be able to learn a bit about him and also very kind of him to pay for my lunch!!!  We got on to the inevitable subject of Brexit.  It was interesting to learn that Dip was about to embark on a six month contract working for Apple which would have taken him all over Europe but the French and the Germans are now insisting that Brits working in their countries must have both a bank account in the country and pay into their social insurance scheme so that went out the window.  It seems to me that Brexit may be responsible for a whole raft of people denied the right to work abroad without jumping through hoops to do so and that is a shame because that lack of opportunity may make people very insular.

Lunch was lovely, I took the opportunity to have a mushroom risotto - John absolutely hates mushrooms so I don't order them when he is around.  Dip thought he had chosen a light option in a club sandwich but his plate of food was enormous.  Dip has enjoyed his stay but says he misses not having Karen with him so had been grateful to have some human company today!  I think that was a compliment.

The car started to play up from the minute we left Latchi - so much so that I didn't think we were going to make it up the hill to Droushia.  I suggested we try and get to Andreas's garage which was halfway up the hill and get them to take a look at it.

Andreas wasn't there but Savvas his son in law was which was good because he recognised me but bad because Savvas speaks very little English but rather more than I can speak Greek.  Anyway I managed to tell him that the car was good going down but no good going up (Το αυτοκίνητο είναι καλό που πάει κάτω, αλλά δεν είναι καλό ανεβαίνει) and followed that with some jerky movements.  He seemed to understand!!!  Anyway he opened the bonnet and took off some sort of cowl and then started the engine and...
...listened - then called in another guy who also listened - we dubbed them the Car Whisperers - anyway shortly afterwards Andreas did arrive and took the car for a drive - screaming up the hill and bringing it back seemingly ok but he did say that there was a fuel problem but he couldn't decide whether it was pump, filter, plugs or something else - or at least I think that was he said!!!  Anyway the upshot was that he couldn't look at it until tomorrow and of course Dip was going back to the UK then.  Dip decided to limp the car back to Paphos to the garage he had used previously and would take it from there.  I was so relieved when he let me know he had got back safely.

I was so pleased to hear that John got to watch a live game of football at Bramall Lane and that the Mighty Blades secured a win.

Day one without John completed.