The weather overnight was stormy and wet and the forecast for the day was the same although thankfully it did brighten up and remained dry in the afternoon which was good because sadly Mum and I were going to a funeral.
Liz, who normally plays pickleball on a Tuesday, lost her partner John in a car accident last week. The circumstances surrounding the accident are unclear but the reports say he lost control of his car on the road back to Amargeti and hit a concrete bollard and then died on the way to the hospital. At the time, thankfully, Liz had her daughter staying which will have been a godsend under the circumstances.
The service was due to have taken place in Amargeti Church which is a magnificent building and dedicated to Zoodohos Pigi who was, apparently, the Mother of God of the Life Giving Spring hence the name of the local taverna "The Spring of Life". Unfortunately at very short notice the service had to be moved to the cemetery and we think this was because currently due to the Corona Virus there can no longer be gatherings of more than 75 people indoors and there was a good turn out. Mum and I did not stay to have a drink afterwards - we shall see Liz when she feels able to return to pickleball and will support her then.
Today we awaited an announcement from the President, Nicos Anastasiades, about the measures that are to be put in place to try and contain the Corona Virus. It is all a bit confusing and worrying for people here on holiday wanting to get back and those wishing to come. Basically for a period of 15 days starting Sunday the island is going into lock-down with only residents being able to fly in and then self isolate for 2 weeks. This means that holiday-makers will not be allowed to come and so Wendy will not be coming on Tuesday as a late birthday surprise and John is trying to rearrange his trip to the UK because although he can get there he doesn't want to have to self isolate on his return because I would have to as well and then if Mum needed us we wouldn't be available. Several airlines have just stopped flights to and from Cyprus and although RyanAir and EasyJet haven't you can only imagine that if demand dries up the number of flights operating will become less and less and if the health situation gets worse then possibly there will be none at all. There is some element of panic buying going on too and I have advised Mum just to make sure she keeps her cupboards stocked with enough to keep her going for a couple of weeks which necessitated a trip to the vets for Freddo's special food. Jane and John are here - they arrived on Wednesday when restrictions were lowered for some bizarre reason so they don't seem to fall into any camp save for the fact that they cannot be sure their return flight will be operational.
There is little we can do now save be sensible so once Laura and Mark return home (tomorrow) we shall be limiting what we do and where we go and we do have a freezer full of food and currently enough for the cats for a week.
It being L&M's last night we had arranged to go to Fitos but not with them but with a couple we met in Kathikas the other week (see what happens when you pull a surprise visit on someone!!!). Anyway L&M were more than happy to meet Tas and Belinda and initially Mark and Nicky and Di and Rob were coming but poor Di had sniffles and Mark didn't want to chance picking anything up after his stent operation.
So it was just the six of us that went out and it was a typically good Fitos evening with good food and good company. We wish the best of luck to Tas and Belinda for their impending move which may or may not be delayed due to the restrictions. Fingers crossed things will improve and soon.
It is going to be a sad day tomorrow saying good-bye to the Pamments so for now I prefer not to think about it.
Liz, who normally plays pickleball on a Tuesday, lost her partner John in a car accident last week. The circumstances surrounding the accident are unclear but the reports say he lost control of his car on the road back to Amargeti and hit a concrete bollard and then died on the way to the hospital. At the time, thankfully, Liz had her daughter staying which will have been a godsend under the circumstances.
The service was due to have taken place in Amargeti Church which is a magnificent building and dedicated to Zoodohos Pigi who was, apparently, the Mother of God of the Life Giving Spring hence the name of the local taverna "The Spring of Life". Unfortunately at very short notice the service had to be moved to the cemetery and we think this was because currently due to the Corona Virus there can no longer be gatherings of more than 75 people indoors and there was a good turn out. Mum and I did not stay to have a drink afterwards - we shall see Liz when she feels able to return to pickleball and will support her then.
Today we awaited an announcement from the President, Nicos Anastasiades, about the measures that are to be put in place to try and contain the Corona Virus. It is all a bit confusing and worrying for people here on holiday wanting to get back and those wishing to come. Basically for a period of 15 days starting Sunday the island is going into lock-down with only residents being able to fly in and then self isolate for 2 weeks. This means that holiday-makers will not be allowed to come and so Wendy will not be coming on Tuesday as a late birthday surprise and John is trying to rearrange his trip to the UK because although he can get there he doesn't want to have to self isolate on his return because I would have to as well and then if Mum needed us we wouldn't be available. Several airlines have just stopped flights to and from Cyprus and although RyanAir and EasyJet haven't you can only imagine that if demand dries up the number of flights operating will become less and less and if the health situation gets worse then possibly there will be none at all. There is some element of panic buying going on too and I have advised Mum just to make sure she keeps her cupboards stocked with enough to keep her going for a couple of weeks which necessitated a trip to the vets for Freddo's special food. Jane and John are here - they arrived on Wednesday when restrictions were lowered for some bizarre reason so they don't seem to fall into any camp save for the fact that they cannot be sure their return flight will be operational.
There is little we can do now save be sensible so once Laura and Mark return home (tomorrow) we shall be limiting what we do and where we go and we do have a freezer full of food and currently enough for the cats for a week.
It being L&M's last night we had arranged to go to Fitos but not with them but with a couple we met in Kathikas the other week (see what happens when you pull a surprise visit on someone!!!). Anyway L&M were more than happy to meet Tas and Belinda and initially Mark and Nicky and Di and Rob were coming but poor Di had sniffles and Mark didn't want to chance picking anything up after his stent operation.
So it was just the six of us that went out and it was a typically good Fitos evening with good food and good company. We wish the best of luck to Tas and Belinda for their impending move which may or may not be delayed due to the restrictions. Fingers crossed things will improve and soon.
It is going to be a sad day tomorrow saying good-bye to the Pamments so for now I prefer not to think about it.
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