Happy Half Century Mrs Kirby...

Today was our lovely friend Nicky's big birthday bash celebrations - her birthday is actually on Monday which is clean/green Monday here on the island and well, Mondays in March seem to be the worst day ever for organising a birthday bash as both Mark (Nicky's husband) and John will testify.

So with that in mind Nicky's half century was to be celebrated through-out the course of today starting with breakfast at Haris's Bar in Peyia.

Today's weather forecast was abysmal - so bad that the planned annual carnival parade in Paphos has been shifted to tomorrow.  It was hard to see why when we arrived but the storm which broke overhead half-way through our breakfast was a stinker with hailstones like golf balls which could have, and probably did, do damage to some vehicles as they came down with such force.

We were toasty warm inside and the bar was doing a roaring trade - no surprise as the breakfasts are tremendous value.  We were impressed that our table of 10 got their meals all at the same time and all correct as nearly each and everyone of us made slight alterations as to what was on offer including Lynne who ordered the vegetarian option but with bacon!!!

Nicky said it would be rude not to slip in a cheeky little espresso martini to start the day off in style!!!

Fortunately the storm was short lived (until the next one) so whilst it seemed appealing to stay in that nice warm environment Mark had us down to play Ten Pin Bowling in the afternoon for a couple of hours so when the hail and rain had just about stopped we made a dash for it and headed off to Cosmic Bowling.

This is not somewhere John and I have ever been before.  The parking is a bit tight so anyone planning to go might be advised to park at Sun Tower and walk up just in case they get into the carpark and cannot get out!!!  I had to wait an age for some woman to manoeuvre her car back and forth, back and forth in order to get her car out of a spot - she clearly thought she was driving a much larger car than she was!!!

OMG Cosmic Bowl is a mecca for rug-rats, hundreds of them but fortunately mainly confined to one end of the building whilst we were down the other.  Ten Pin Bowling is not really my thing unless played on the Wii when I can crack out strike after strike but in real life I can only manage a light ball and the manufacturers seem to equate that with someone with teeny-tiny fingers whereas mine are more like pigs' tits so when I can find a ball I can lift I then struggle to extricate my fingers and more importantly my thumb so the results from my throw are inconsistent to say the least!!!  Still good fun was had by all - the teams split male and female which was, on reflection, the best way to do it.

There being a lull before the evening meal we all went our separate ways to get ready and for us this meant being able to go back home and feed the cats and spend some time with them before heading back down to Paphos which we did accompanied by a pretty spectacular lightning show, blackening skies and the knowledge that yet another storm was on its way.

Our evening meal was being held at The Lodge where they were all trimmed up and dressed for the carnival and where they served us what can only be described as a real meat feast accompanied by local wines and beers included in the price although no idea how much that would have cost because  the whole of the day had been on Mark for which many, many thanks.

No birthday is complete without a cake and Mark had organised a real corker for Nicky which had Ferrero Rocher and golden popcorn and all sorts of lushness going on around the outside - I believe this was a Love Island Cake confection and didn't it look absolutely out of this world?  I think it probably tasted good too but it was chocolate cake and you know me and chocolate cake!!!

There was also entertainment on during the course of the evening.  It started with a guy doing a sort of rock accoustic set who was very good but struggled a bit to hold people's attention as most were waiting for the main event which was Aimee Flack who put on a really good show which included a bit of Dad Dancing from members of our group!!!

I have to say Mark that for all your worrying you did an excellent job and we had a great day.  It was so kind of you to invite us and for telling us to keep our wallets at home which was so very generous.  We hope that Monday is a great day for just you and Nicky together being romantic without us rowdy crowd around you.

Happy Half Century Mrs K - and many many more!