The weather turns very wintery

When I got up to make coffee this morning the sky outside looked like something was on fire.  I was hopeful that this glorious sight was heralding a fabulous day weather-wise.  I had an early appointment down in Polis with the dermatologist and then I was going off to see Mum. 

My appointment with Dr (Tom Conti lookalike in Shirley Valentine) Christoforou (who is very nice but also a bit scary when he talks to you and stares at you over the top of his little half glasses) was at 9.00am and when I got there there were at least 5 people waiting who all seemed to have been given an appointment time of 8.00am which is quite typical here.  Dr Christoforou is aided by a chap who speaks no English and just seems to hover around although today he did get a brush out of the cupboard and swept the floor.  There is also a very glamorous girlie who I think may be the receptionist.  She arrived around 9.15 and didn't do anything save stare at her mobile phone.  I think Dr Tom clocks who comes in and the order in which they should be seen thank goodness.   For some reason Dr Tom doesn't seem to want to take the 6 euros which we are supposed to contribute towards seeing a specialist - I am not complaining though.

Anyway it was eventually my turn and it was only 9.20 and me and Tom had a great long chat about histiminies and food and anti-histiminies (which he is going to check to see if I can get on GESY which will make them a much more reasonable cost.  Tom was impressed that I had taken it all very seriously and done my homework and he said that he felt I could start to reintroduce food very slowly and that I would probably know better than anyone whether there was a problem or not.  He also agreed that he felt that stress may well be the major contributing factor.   It is now in my hands and he does not need to see me unless the reintroduction of food goes badly or anything else occurs which I need to speak to him about.  With regard to the heartburn and feeling that something is stuck in my throat he has suggested that I ask to see a gastroenterologist if it doesn't improve.

I returned home to fill John in on what had happened and then set off for Mums.  The lovely sunny weather had disappeared and you can't really tell from this picture but had been replaced by flurries of snow.  It started at Kathikas and actually got worse until I got to Tsada where it was quite heavy but not settling.

I did the shopping I needed to do which included a trip to Naz the Butcher.  His shop has a little parking out the front but is on a busy road so when I got in the car to leave along with another woman who had been in buying meat Naz shot out from the shop, stood in the middle of the road and stopped the traffic so that both she and I could leave without a problem.  What fabulous customer service was that?  I got to Mums without any problem.  We spent a pleasant couple of hours together which included a bit of jigsaw-work.  The light over Mum's dining room table can make it quite awkward to see the pieces properly so we were quite stumped at one point until I realised that the edge contained "all the pieces but not necessarily in the right order!".

I made my way home, hoping that the snow hadn't come to much and that it had warmed up a little but sadly it was bitter and the house felt really chilly because John had been doing some DIY and had the doors open.

John had had a productive but exhausting time in my absence because he had decided to complete the last part of the project involving the "chandelier light" over the dining table.

The light had been temporarily attached to electric via a standard lamp which arched over the dining table.  John had always planned to attach it to the electric supply for the fan and to fit a remote control to the fan which would enable us to work the fan and the light separately.  Last week we eventually got round to going to Pentaras in Paphos where we bought the fan 11 years ago to see if there was a remote control available.  I picked it up last week.  Costas at Pentaras had quizzed John about what he planned to do and was a bit bamboozled but said that John clearly knew what he wanted to achieve and about the technicalities of the electric supply so wished him luck.

The problem with the job is that we have such high ceilings and I am bugger all help to John being such a short arse.  When I got home he had got the fan and the light working as he wanted but was struggling to get the wood panel back up and in the right place and was getting a little stressed about it.  Anyway eventually we could declare that this was a job well done and could be removed from the To-Do list at last.  

Let's just say the cats and I were ever so pleased when everything got packed away and we cleared up and the woodburner was lit.  Even though it was very cold outside the house soon warmed up and our supper of crispy chili pork with peppers and rice noodles warmed us up inside and it was very tasty.

I am not sure if it is the medication but I am finding quite a lot of food bland so but loads of chili in the meal which John said was close to blowing his head off and which I thought was just about right!!!  

I decided that I would introduce dairy back into my diet because actually just about the only thing I miss has been cheese - I drink no milk and only have it in porridge and I have found alternatives for cream and butter.  My food diary will now be more important than ever to get to grips with any outbreak.

The tintyweb was alive with people reporting on the weather on the island so just before retiring to bed I stuck my head outside to see that we had had a little flurry of snow - thankfully nothing much.  Fingers crossed that the weather will be dry tomorrow as Mum, Lilian and Sandy are venturing up to the Garden Centre.