Stan's special surprise!!!

John and I had another day of doing things separately but we didn't mind because today was a special day for Stan - forever now to be known as Uncle Stanley.  Earlier this year Stan had celebrated his 75th birthday and Jacky wanted us to try and organise a proper game of golf for him.  We had managed, with the help of the lovely staff at Minthis Hills, to do that today.  John was taking him to the course for breakfast  and then a bit of practice putting before their early afternoon tee-off

We had managed to keep this a secret right up until today when Stan thought he was going for a bacon buttie with John down along the Tombs of the Kings and then another 9-hole challenge at the pitch and putt.  Not that there is anything wrong with that but this was just a ruse to keep him from guessing what was in store.

It was not until they had set off that John revealed what was in store for Stan today.

I had read some not very positive comments about the golf at Minthis Hills from visitors who had played recently to I was a bit worried but need not have been because they were all ready and waiting and knew that this was a special round to celebrate 'Uncle' Stan's 75th birthday.  The Golf Pro even managed to get them off a bit earlier than their anticipated tee-time which was good so they didn't have long to hang around after breakfast.  The weather wasn't too hot either which was good as they would have started playing at the hottest part of the day.



They had a really good day and even better they were able to book to play again at the same time next week.  So a massive big thanks to Margarete and Koula for accommodating our requests.  I have put up a positive review on TripAdviser which I hope will help.

We ladies, on the other hand, went down to Paphos stopping first at the Mall so that John's Mum and Jacky could go to Zara to see if they could purchase some t-shirts they had seen last week but had not bought.  They were in luck!!!  We then went and picked up Mum before setting of for Muse for our lunch.  We parked up and the ladies were impressed by the stunning view over the rooftops of Paphos out to the sea.


We sensibly opted for a table in the shade before settling down for a nice relaxing lunch.  It is  a lovely venue and clearly very, very popular.  Poor Mum was having to eat out twice today as she was going to Stage One theatre in Emba this evening and eating at Thanasi with her friends so she chose a starter and one skewer of chips - this got lost in translation and she got two skewers!!! Jacky, Janet and I went for the club sandwich which turned out to be rather a bigger meal than we had anticipated!!

We dropped Mum back home at home so she could get ready to go out and we had a little walk around Lemba stopping at the art college with its weird and wonderful sculptures.

We then decided to go the scenic route home via Akoursos which is a bit more interesting although a little winding which isn't up John's Mum's street, but it was fine - we passed little more than a couple of goats on the road but some of the scenery is lovely - the reservoir looked to be very low - all the rain from the winter doesn't seem to have alleviated the demand.

We saw a lovely old Bedford Bus on our way home - I do hope someone is going to do something with this vehicle and not leave it to rot.  Interestingly the one which we had for John's 50th birthday (2 years ago) is still languishing in a shed in Droushia and we don't know why - we think it may be something to do with either the accident it had when it arrived at the hotel or the dodgy gearbox that it had.

Anyway a good day was had by all and our visitors have decided that they want to do it all again next year so we are in the process of securing the accommodation and the flights.