The forecast rain came during the night. It has become an unfamiliar sound and, since the last winter, we have had the outside of our bedroom wall stone clad with the down pipe from the guttering incorporated into the cladding. I had not appreciated what sort of noise the water would now make as it made its journey from the roof out to the road so to me it sounded like we had a water leak and so I just had to get up and make sure what was going on. It was the middle of the night but at least I could be sure that we were not going to be washed away and even better where the rain was falling on the stonework that John had treated with the Nanopro-C it was running away like mercury! Satisfied that all was fine and dandy at 10B I returned to my bed.
The rain persisted and was accompanied by a thunder storm passing over from Latchi heading towards Paphos. The rain no longer bothers me - we had a baptism of fire the first winter we were here - water coming in everywhere including places where you would have thought it was impossible but over the intervening years we have done what we can to ensure that the house is as water-tight as possible. There really isn't much more we can do now save general annual maintenance.
We were going off down to Paphos early this morning. One of our friends is returning to the UK after nearly 15 years on the island and is selling items which she does not want to take back with her. Mum is having her dishwasher and we had arranged to pick it up and plumb it in for her. The one Mum currently uses has seen better days - the upper basket is in need of replacement and if I could find one it would cost a small fortune. John had forgotten quite how awkward it would be to replace the existing machine with the new one and got an electric shock for his troubles but eventually he got it sorted but by that time had got all hot and sticky because it was warm and muggy down at Mum's.
We got even hotter and stickier at pickleball but as always on a Friday this was as a result of some good games and some even better banter. We had a full six today so slightly more time to rest and as the session wore on I chose to sit out with Mum as my foot was beginning to ache and I do not want to push my luck as it seems to be getting back to normal albeit slowly.
We were more than ready for a cuppa when we got back to Mum's and I think we had earned it!!
Although it had been fairly warm, bright and muggy down in Emba as we made our way back home the weather really deteriorated and as we got nearer to Kathikas it was as black as your hat. As we passed along the road from Stroumbi and Kathikas where you can (if the weather is good) see the sea on both sides it was like a scene out of some disaster movie as an impending storm made its way up the valley.
We had stopped en route at Tsada to get some veggies from the fruit and veg shop there and for John to chop in his empty crate of Leon for a full one. I decided to try the butcher there - he is such a nice chap save for the language difficulties as he seems to speak Bulglish (Bulgarian English) or something similar - anyway he smiles a lot and eventually we got what we wanted.
The chicken fillet and pork leg was cheap as chips but the beef mince less so although it did make a fabulous chili for our supper with absolutely no fat or gristle but we have a sneaky suspicion that it was finest steak that went through the mincer rather than offcuts! We accompanied the chili with a bottle of red which has been loafing around on the wine rack and needed to be drunk up - haven't had Cimerosa Shiraz for some time and had forgotten how heavy it is. If blame the fact that I was up in the early hours this morning checking out the weird rainfall noises for the fact that shortly after I had eaten my supper I was away with the fairies catching flies on the sofa. I didn't mind too much that we went to bed early because we are up in the morning and doing a village clean weather permitting and I am so excited that this time we have got a bit of a celebrity joining us. It would just be nice if plain ordinary Droushians came along!
The rain persisted and was accompanied by a thunder storm passing over from Latchi heading towards Paphos. The rain no longer bothers me - we had a baptism of fire the first winter we were here - water coming in everywhere including places where you would have thought it was impossible but over the intervening years we have done what we can to ensure that the house is as water-tight as possible. There really isn't much more we can do now save general annual maintenance.
We were going off down to Paphos early this morning. One of our friends is returning to the UK after nearly 15 years on the island and is selling items which she does not want to take back with her. Mum is having her dishwasher and we had arranged to pick it up and plumb it in for her. The one Mum currently uses has seen better days - the upper basket is in need of replacement and if I could find one it would cost a small fortune. John had forgotten quite how awkward it would be to replace the existing machine with the new one and got an electric shock for his troubles but eventually he got it sorted but by that time had got all hot and sticky because it was warm and muggy down at Mum's.
We got even hotter and stickier at pickleball but as always on a Friday this was as a result of some good games and some even better banter. We had a full six today so slightly more time to rest and as the session wore on I chose to sit out with Mum as my foot was beginning to ache and I do not want to push my luck as it seems to be getting back to normal albeit slowly.
We were more than ready for a cuppa when we got back to Mum's and I think we had earned it!!
Although it had been fairly warm, bright and muggy down in Emba as we made our way back home the weather really deteriorated and as we got nearer to Kathikas it was as black as your hat. As we passed along the road from Stroumbi and Kathikas where you can (if the weather is good) see the sea on both sides it was like a scene out of some disaster movie as an impending storm made its way up the valley.
We had stopped en route at Tsada to get some veggies from the fruit and veg shop there and for John to chop in his empty crate of Leon for a full one. I decided to try the butcher there - he is such a nice chap save for the language difficulties as he seems to speak Bulglish (Bulgarian English) or something similar - anyway he smiles a lot and eventually we got what we wanted.The chicken fillet and pork leg was cheap as chips but the beef mince less so although it did make a fabulous chili for our supper with absolutely no fat or gristle but we have a sneaky suspicion that it was finest steak that went through the mincer rather than offcuts! We accompanied the chili with a bottle of red which has been loafing around on the wine rack and needed to be drunk up - haven't had Cimerosa Shiraz for some time and had forgotten how heavy it is. If blame the fact that I was up in the early hours this morning checking out the weird rainfall noises for the fact that shortly after I had eaten my supper I was away with the fairies catching flies on the sofa. I didn't mind too much that we went to bed early because we are up in the morning and doing a village clean weather permitting and I am so excited that this time we have got a bit of a celebrity joining us. It would just be nice if plain ordinary Droushians came along!
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