Earthquake time...

January is turning out to be a very grey and grim month - we know that for sure because I keep a spreadsheet of the photo-voltaic panel generation and it looks like this January is going to be the worst since we had them installed.  Fortunately we have kilowatt hours in the bank so we shouldn't be faced with a large bill at the end of this month.

We decided to go out and do our shopping this morning.  Over breakfast we sorted out our week's menu and from that our shopping list.  I rang the dermatologist and got an appointment for next Wednesday so I will continue on my food regime until I have seen him and been given the go ahead to introduce something off the banned list.

We are unlikely to go out much in January - it is just a bit too chilly of an evening to sit in a taverna or restaurant unless it has really good heating and those places are few and far between so we decided that we would go out for a coffee instead not least because the coffee houses tend to be smaller, and therefore easier to heat!!!

Today our choice was to go to Coffee Island in Polis.  We had been here before Christmas to meet with Jurgen and Elvira and had been very impressed, it was clean, bright and warm and the tables were well spaced and even better the drinks were nice and cheap!!!  Today I had a chamomile tea and a sesame seed bar and John had a double espresso and a similar but different sesame seed bar - we spent the grand sum of 6 euros between us.   

We did our shopping.  It was quiet in Paps so we didn't have to wait long at the meat counter or the deli counter.  One thing I have really missed over the last few months is Cheese.  Not that long ago the choice of cheese in a Cypriot supermarket was pretty limited but even in our little Paps they have all sorts of fancy cheeses on offer in a wide range of colours.  One of my favourites is the black cheese in the top of this photograph - it is flavoured with lemon but (a) I am currently not allowed cheese and (b) it is very expensive so it wasn't something I was going to buy today!

We got home and packed the shopping away.  Tonight's supper was in the fridge as we were having the last of the Hunter's Pie so I didn't have to do any cooking today.  We sat down with a coffee and a piece of cake courtesy of Das.  He had made a lemon drizzle cake which was delicious after being warmed so the drizzle became more drizzly.  We ate it as an act of kindness - he is going on a fitness drive and wants to shed a few kilos so it was a shit job but somebody had to do it - anyway if you are reading this Das it was lovely and good luck with your new regime.

We had a quiet afternoon watching the TV.  We got in the last episode of Dexter - New Blood which had a bit of a surprise ending but tied up a whole load of loose ends and then we moved on to finish The Landscapers which we really enjoyed but I think the style of filming might put some people off as it is a bit like watching an amateur dramatic theatre performance crossed with an old Western but, having read more about the Edwards, it became clear why - they lived in what others would deem to be bizarre reality.

I had been looking forward to a lovely night's sleep but never imagined for one minute that we would experience our first earthquake in Droushia.  There have been plenty over the last 11 years that we have been living here but as our house is built on bedrock we had not experienced the aftermath save for the time we had been gardening in Akourdaleia.  Last night the bed started shaking or juddering or both and initially I thought one of the cats was giving its ear a good old scratch.  It didn't really disturb me and I went back to sleep - it wasn't until I read the news the following morning that it all became clear!