Happy Birthday to my Sister

It has been a week of comings and goings.  For the first time in over two years our immediate neighbours have come to stay.  The photograph above, unbelievably, was taken six years ago after Dora and Gregoris had had their natural stone wall completed.  For a number of reasons they have not been able to visit and as we all know, to our cost, these houses need regular maintenance and upkeep if they are not to deteriorate.  So, after their extended absence they have returned and are looking to rectify this which is great news.  They have asked Bassam to have a look at what needs doing and now that all three of his children are at school in Polis he has much more freedom to be able to go back to building and maintenance work which was not so easy when he was their on-tap taxi driver.  We have arranged to go for dinner with them on Friday so will know more about their plans.

It has been exceptionally quiet today and we found out that the Syrian family who were living in 5a have moved, hence there was no noise from the children playing.  We were never entirely sure exactly how many were living in the little two bedroomed house but are sure it had, over the years, reached double figures.  Whilst this may well have been more desirable than wherever they had escaped from it was less than ideal for them all.  Let's hope that wherever they have gone it will be somewhere with more room for them all.

My sister celebrated a special birthday this week which would have been associated with retirement some years' ago but is now no longer the case.  She had traveled to celebrate with her daughter Ellie, son-in-law Andy and grandson Jack so the main part of our gift to her had not arrived before she left but was waiting for her on her return.  Her recent Covid house arrest has made her mind up to have a summer house in her garden so that she has somewhere else to sit when the weather is bad.  She said that it will be multi-purpose so I thought it would be nice for her to have a special teapot and cup and enjoy a brew - the specialist tea selection had arrived a couple of days earlier.  I am impressed as it looks even better than it did on-line and it all stacks together for safe-keeping.  Tea always tastes better when supped from a special cup - or it does in my book!

Liselotte has emerged from two weeks' self isolation having returned from a trip to Denmark and had invited John and I round for a catch-up and a cuppa - or in John's case something a little stronger.  I love their house although I am not sure I could cope with the amount of land that they have but it does mean that they are secluded and have the most amazing views from their terrace.

On our return it was obvious from the smell in the air that there was a fire and it was nearby - in fact there were two which were raging down the hill between Droushia and Prodromi.  Sadly it is the season for fires and I had heard the helicopters in the morning dealing with a different outbreak.  It is madness, particularly as often this have been set deliberately as a result of some dispute or another or from a carelessly discarded cigarette butt.  It is so sad, the island has next to no wildlife to speak of and then what there is has to cope with fire.