Christmas cometh...

Sorry lovely readers but I was soooooo tired last night I forgot to post my blog and today it is Mum's birthday and we will be out, I am cooking a family lunch tomorrow,  we have a family "last evening meal" Monday, trip to the airport Tuesday, crash diet and packing Wednesday and then I am off to the UK Thursday where for the first few days I will have no internet access so over the next week or so my blog posts will be sporadic.  I shall use it as an opportunity to recharge my spent batteries before the wedding celebrations and John will have two weeks of working his way through the ever-growing 'To-Do' list as more jobs have become apparent after the awful winter weather.



For us the arrival of the Kyriakides is like Christmas as they come laden with gifts.

We keep an eye on their property because we are neighbours and they are lovely people and they live in London so worry about what is happening when they are not here.

We do the same for our immediate neighbours Gregoris and Theodora and we do the same for our next-door-neighbours-but-one George and Pam but this keeps us busy enough.  We do it because we want to and not for money - when we came over permanently and did our residency we declared that we would not work and so we do not.   The cats and I benefit from what is really John's hard work!

So today Boris is sporting a very blingy new collar - I am not sure he appreciates it as it is possibly a little too 'girlie' for him - the other cats are all leaping around playing with the balls that came with it - I have a feeling the bells inside will be removed in due course as they are driving John around the bend!!

We called round this morning to say thank-you for our pressies and to ensure that they had everything they needed.  They have come when there is a whole raft of bank holidays which means that things may or may not be open today because after Easter there is yet another holiday tomorrow so some places have just taken the view that they might as well close for the whole period.  Lakis seems happy to have his 'mucker' back with him!!  We were taking the Micky out of him because he is Mr Gadget - he comes over with all sorts of gizmos.  This morning he was setting up a vast number of radio alarms and, once his internet is reconnected, we have a project involving his doorbell!!


I did particularly well with my goodie bag.  Argy seems to think that she and I are much the same size although I think she is being a little kind - I would have said she was slimmer than me!

Anyway I have a great pair of cropped trousers and a very pretty embellished t-shirt top which I am most definitely going to take with me when I go away because it wont crease and will be comfortable.

Argy reads the blog so she read the comments I had made regarding the lovely soaps I gave Jane for her birthday and so she got me a Jo Malone soap which smells absolutely fabulous.  It will be like my candle - I can't possibly use it because if I did once it was gone I would have nothing to replace it!!!  Unlike the candle I will be able to use it by placing it in my knicker drawer so that my undies will smell divine!!!

My final gift was a lovely little handbag in an unusual sort of clover colour which is a nice neutral shade which will go with all sorts so again I think this is destined to go to the UK with me in a couple of weeks.

John got a selection of shirts and tops - all carefully chosen by someone who clearly has a good eye when matching the person to clothing or vice versa!

It was fabulous to have all these lovely new things but both John and I feel overwhelmed and embarrassed by their generosity.  We are at pains to underline the fact that we do not do the things we do for any sort of reward save that they can come over on their holidays and know that there will be no nasty surprises awaiting them.  They say that they know that but I don't think they are really listening!!!

They were shooting off to Polis to stock up on food and to see if MTN were open to reinstate their internet so we had a quick coffee with them and left them to it.  They plan to be here for quite some time so we will have plenty of opportunity to spend time with them.

MTN was not open so they will be without the internet for a couple more days so when they are back on line and read this (as I know they will) a big big big thank you for the presents - we loved them all and are very very grateful xxx