A steep old walk!

It was a lovely day today and we had the food in hand for tomorrow so it was to be a day in and around the house.   John wanted to sit down for what was to be a crunch football match.  SUFC had to win to ensure a play-off place rather than sit and hope that results would go in their favour - the only trouble was they were playing top of the table and championship champions Fulham and they had beaten Luton 7-0 on their last outing.  On the subject of 7-0 my cousin's team Bristol Rovers needed to win by that amount partway through their game in order to secure automatic promotion from league 1.  Bristol Rovers did it - my cousin Frank and his son Robbie were there to witness the Gas Boys triumph!!!!  I am happy to say that the Mighty Blades cuffed Fulham 4-0 so will go on to play Notts Forrest in the play-offs.  This did all pass me by somewhat as I was busy fiddling about in the garden - cutting back and rescuing some of the local inhabitants!

My lavender bushes needed attention.  They are old and quite woody at the bottom and grow far too tall before flowering so that the flowers all want to flop over.  It is my own fault as I never but them back hard enough when they were smaller.  

I didn't want to lose the flowers - at least not all of them so I decided to give them a Jason Lee haircut (aka a pineapple head) where the sides are cut tight and the top is allowed to flourish - that way I can manouevre around the plants and still get some flowers which look lovely and attract the bees.  Once they have finished flowering I can cut them back into a nice ball shape and try and keep them under control.  I did five of them before I decided I had been out in the sunshine long enough for one day!

I like to do a little gardening every day if I can so that it doesn't become a chore and I do want it to look nice for when my sister comes at the end of the week.  She text today to see if there was anything I wanted bringing over and I couldn't think of anything.  I never can when I am put on the spot so I guess I cannot be desperate for something specific.  I would like to find some Anemone de Caen corms - I used to have several which flowered in the garden in the spring and I am down to one.  I think I used to pick them up from the old Euro Shop when it was on the Mesoghi Avenue.  Anyway it is a bit late to plant them now so will keep my eye out - bulbs usually do quite well here although I think it was too wet this winter as my anemone have disappeared and my tulips and daffodils been pretty pathetic and I can't see any evidence of the gladioli. 

My friend Isabel has been very poorly - it all started with a filling and went badly downhill from there.  I wont go into all the gory details but she ended up with infections and labyrinthitis and lost a lot of weight and became very weak.  John and I did her shopping for her last week as a result.  Anyway she is beginning to feel a little better so I decided to walk down and see her this afternoon to make sure.  She lives down quite a long steep hill at what we call 'The Gated Community' and she is the only person living there full time - it is not somewhere you drive past so she spends a lot of time on her own except for the company of her dog Andro - when her lovely neighbours Iris and Andros are staying from Nicosia I know they involve her and keep an eye on her but other than that there is no-one else.  Her plan is to return to Scotland permanently once her son, partner and grandson have visited - at least there she will have a much better support network than here.  Today was the second anniversary of her husband David's untimely and unexpected passing.  She has spent almost all her time in that house in lockdown conditions in one form or another and on her own which was not the future she envisaged for herself when she married David at the end of 2019.  We sat and had a drink together and had a chat.  She is looking better but terribly thin - I have suggested she goes and treats herself to a big old tub of icecream which should be easy to eat and full of calories! 

The walk back up the hill was strenuous to say the least - I don't know how Isabel manages with her limited lung capacity.  I tried to do it without stopping but had to stop at the big house to catch my breath before continuing on up to the main road.  Here I had a choice of three routes back home - each with a hill, past the Val's which is short and sharp, past Similides which is meandering and longer and joins the Val's route or up opposite Kelly's which is probably the most scenic so I chose that one.  The fields along the side of the main road above where Di and Rob live are full of late flowering orchids.  I thought I would call in to see Di and Rob as I was passing - having negotiated the Gated Community Hill I thought that their Cardiac Hill would be a breeze but I could see that their car was missing so assumed they would be shopping and gave it a miss.  I don't mind doing that hill if I know they are going to be in and I can get my breath back but not if I do it and no-one is there!!!

The route up from Kelly's is challenging but the views are amazing so I use them as an excuse to take my time and stop.  I had got to the top at Andreas's house when I could hear a car behind me.  As it got level it stopped and the driver wound the window down.  I hoped it wasn't someone wanting directions because I was well out of puff by that point but in fact it was Jimmy and Fiona stopping to say Hi on their way to Nicky and Mark's.  They asked if I would like a lift - I couldn't believe my ears when I said that I was happy to finish my walk!!!!  To be fair I was on level ground at that point and only had to walk back up into the estate!

Catching up with Friends

Today the weather was just lovely to start the day.  We had scoured the cupboards and decided we had sufficient food for the next few days so didn't have to rush to go shopping.  Instead we wandered over to Lakis and Argy for a nice morning coffee and chat.  They are going to Limassol for the weekend because it is the 40 day memorial of her mum's passing which will be marked along with the her father's passing which was many years earlier.  Argy is understandably feeling anxious about it all but hopefully once this milestone has passed she can begin to build her new normal here.  

Whilst we were sat having coffee we spotted Sheila and Klaus disappearing into the distance.  They had been up to leave us a bag of avocado and a bag of oranges bless them.  We were sorry to have missed them but we are catching up with them next week which will be lovely.  There were too many avocado for me to manage so I set a couple aside to give to Liselotte who was visiting with John this evening for a game of cards and a pizza.  We haven't seen them for two months and Liselotte is off on her travels again soon so we wanted to catch up before another two months passes.

We were all under control with the pizza making - John and I have them off to a fine art and John had made a lovely light lemon fool pudding to just cleanse the palate.  Being ahead of the game allowed me to spend some time out in the garden because I knew Liselotte would want to have a wander around.  There are some really vivid splashes of colour - the photograph above is a flower which appears on a spindly succulent for a day or so - they are in the trough in the front garden.

The wild and the Californian poppies are at their best at the moment and there is an avenue of poppies which lead up to the outside shower.  I keep having to cut them back to allow John access!!!  They shut up at night so I am not sure that LL will see much when she arrives as they are not coming until she has returned from playing badminton at Emba this afternoon.

I rang to speak to Mum - she had had a bit of a disaster this afternoon.  Apparently as she was driving up the drive to put her car in the garage having been to the hairdressers a cat ran across in front of her and rather than doing an emergency stop she swerved to avoid it.  The only trouble is that the drive is one car width and there is quite a drop down from the drive to the garden either side.  She swerved and her front driver's side wheel went down and she got the car stuck.  

Fortunately she had the sense to ring the Rescue Line which comes with her car insurance and they came and sorted her out pretty quickly.  Unfortunately she got out of the car and straight into a rose bush which tore the skin on the back of her leg so we are back to square one with wounds that need to heal just when I thought we were getting her sorted before my sister comes next week but sadly not.

We had a lovely evening with John and Liselotte  The food was amazing and I managed to win the Noms game and John Wares team Sunderland managed to play themselves into the play-off finals for League 1.  John and LL left early enough to be back home to witness the one goal scored.  All in all a great night.

Bye Bye Neighbours

The weather was not so nice today and our neighbours were having their solar heating system installed.  Savvas the electrician was overseeing the operation - he is louder than our alarm clock but fortunately I was awake when I could hear his dulcet tones instructing the lorry driver to go into the field next door to deliver the equipment.  You can see that it was grey and misty and in fact we got rain today both here and down in Paphos.

We said our goodbyes to George and Pam who are returning to the UK after being here for five weeks but they will return later in the year.  They are leaving with all their garden dug up in readiness for it to be tiled which meant that poor Pam was unable to hang out her washing - not a problem because I could put it out at ours to get it dry.

I went off to Mums via Cycleband - she wanted to go to Sklavenitis today so I was happy to take her and go have a look around.

I also called into Furniture R Us in Emba - nearly missed the turning because they have built some massive houses there since I last went!  I am wanting to turn an area in the conservatory into a workspace for me for my arts and crafts and possibly somewhere to put the sewing machine rather than use the dining table.  I had thought about a keyhole desk but unfortunately there isn't enough room so I thought the above would be ideal - I will need to find a wheelie chair but that shouldn't be a problem.  Anyway the shop closed at 2pm and I didn't really get a chance to discuss it with John so will have a think about it.

Mum has been struggling with her current jigsaw - I told her to have a good try and to be fair she has but found the picture too difficult - it was of a running horse but all the pieces seemed to be the same colour.  I got her another one this morning to try - sadly not with nice large pieces but the picture was of cats and looked more interesting.

We spent a while sorting out the edge pieces and as the picture is made up five smaller ones each with a nice black edge to them found those as well so that she can try and get that part done.

We did our shopping at Sklavenitis and even stopped to have a cuppa in there together.  I am impressed with that shop - it really has some very nice homeware at prices that would give Jumbos a run for its money and the quality looks better.  I toyed with the idea of getting a nice lightweight reversible quilted throw for our bed in shades of blue but we really have a lot of bedding so decided against it but it was only 15 euros for one which would have fitted our king sized bed.

I called in to get my meat order from Shuks.  This week he was doing a rather nice barbeque pack which I thought we could dip into on Sunday when Mum comes up.  The following week my sister will be here so we will be going out on Sunday for sure.

I called into Mum and Dad's old house on my way home.  Nicky had said there was a rose there which could come out if I wanted it but when I went to investigate I didn't think that would happen without ruining it so I left it.  I haven't been back there since Nicky did me a birthday afternoon tea two years ago.  It was so much my Dad's dream - I don't expect he ever thought that a little guy from a hamlet in deepest darkest Cornwall would ever get the opportunity to buy a piece of land and have a house built but he did.  I know that Mark and Nicky are keen to sell and fingers crossed when they do it will be someone who loves it.

Our supper tonight was down to be Pork Stir Fry but once again John had forgotten to take the meat out of the freezer so he was lucky that I got some chicken from Shuks and could use that.  We were using up all the odds and sods knocking about in the fridge and it was bloomin' delicious - we ate early because it was super spicy and I needed to have digested that before going to bed otherwise I was going to be paying for it good and proper!

A good day all round

We are trying to be a bit good at the moment - so our day starts with some lovely fresh strawberries and some Greek yoghurt and some cinnamon.  It is delicious but sometimes just doesn't feel as filling as a good old slice of toast with some butter and jamalade (Dad always called it jamalade!).   I was set to do battle with the Post Office today having run Cyprus Mail HQ to find that my replacement hoover handset was actually in Polis but they couldn't tell me how much money customs were going to want.  Maybe the strawberries weren't going to be man enough today!

 

So here is my parcel back home with us.  I have to say that the supplier Tineco had been amazing and had said that if there was anything to pay that they would reimburse the costs but really as this was a replacement under warranty there shouldn't have been anything but this is Cyprus and the postal system is a law unto itself.  So I had no paperwork other than the exchange of emails with Tineco where they agreed to replace the item and send it to Cyprus.  As it happens I needed nothing - I asked about my parcel, the girlie gave it to me and asked me for 6 euros handling charge - I was more than happy with that and super excited that my lovely hoover will be functioning once again.

We went out on a voyage of discovery this afternoon which was a bit of a waste of time but did take us to an area we weren't so familiar with.  Apparently there are some nice caves not a million miles away from the Gravity Road but although we had some written instructions and a Google Maps pin we just couldn't find it.

We walked through some stunning countryside even though we didn't find the caves - we are going to see if we can get some clearer instructions and try again another time!  There are obviously some nice tracks around here that we can explore in the future.

Richard came round this evening for a pizza and a catch up.  He has been working so hard since his return from the UK in January and, whilst he was helping out a friend of his Mum's, he injured his shoulder quite badly.  He is desperately looking for some reliable help with his floor cleaning business because he has more work than he can cope with.

We were amazed that Miss Minnie Mou decided his was a lap she wanted to snuggled down on which is bloomin' amazing as she is normally just out of arms' reach or scurrying around like the scaredest of scaredy cats.  

It was good to catch up.  I know that Richard is keen to try and create some sort of work life balance but currently this is evading him.  If anyone reading this knows of someone who might like a job helping a really decent guy with a diamond floor polishing business then send me a message!

A quiet day

It was to be a quiet day today save for a bit of food shopping in Paps to fill my empty cupboards.  Isabel had text me to ask if I could do some for her as well as she has been very poorly and not feeling up to driving.  It wasn't a problem but did take me back to when we initially started shopping for her and David (her late husband) when lockdown first started.  We did our shopping - everything, and I mean everything, has increased in price and not by a couple of cents either and I don't think we have reached the worst of it yet.  

We stopped in the village on the way back to check the post, as is the norm nobody loves us.  I am awaiting a parcel which is my replacement hoover head but fear it is lost in the bowels of customs and excise because it does not appear on the new computerised Cyprus post system anywhere even though I can use international tracking and find that it is in the country.  It will probably go the way of the Christmas Present I bought for John which was released from Customs in February and for which I have paid the 'handling fee' and VAT and which is still to put in an appearance.

I didn't do much in the afternoon save for a bit of gardening.  I have a mystery plant that has germinated from some seeds which I had loafing around and for which I have lost the names.  It will be some sort of climber for sure because if I look back on the tintyweb I have only bought seeds for climbers but currently it little baby is too small for any of the apps to recognise.

The garden is really springing into life - the weather has been cooler and damper at night so plants like my hosta are doing really well.  The one above is an original one - I think this one came from London Road and is large leafed with yellow edges but we actually think there are two in the pot because a bit later in the season the leaves which appear have a white edge.

George and Pam's five week holiday is fast coming to an end.  They leave on Thursday morning so we asked them to come in for a drink with us this evening so they could have their last night to themselves.  George looks so well - he is complaining that he has put on too much weight whilst here but we think he looks the better for it.  Pam is still struggling with her hearing which does lead to some interesting conversations at times.  We knew they would not want to stay too late but it was lovely to have them here even if only for a short while.

It was a cool evening but John and I had found it rather warm sitting in the conservatory so we decided to have a nightcap outside before going to bed.  This is the area that we are thinking of ungrading but it will all be down to the cost so we are waiting to hear from Bassam on that score.

Dreadful weather...

I will be completely out of sorts for the rest of the week because it is Monday and Mum is coming up today instead of coming yesterday.  We had planned to go for a walk but as you can see from the photograph the forecast bad weather for today came.  It was grey and cold with rolling mists and smatterings of rain off and on before the heavens opened and we had heavy rain and strong winds throughout most of the night.  

Sonia called round this morning for coffee.  She has been a bit incapacitated with a dodgy hip and so last week I did some shopping for her in Paphs and neither of us had any change when I handed it over so knowing that she wasn't going to run off anywhere anytime soon I told her to pop it round when she had it which was today.  She says she is feeling better which is good and we managed to get a brief dry spell so that we could have our coffee outside.  She was saying that Charlie no longer goes to her garden to visit her.  I think Charlie has been spooked by all the recent changes here - not least that Persephone brought her new cat and apparently he and Charlie didn't quite see eye to eye.  To be honest I am not sorry that he no longer goes wandering as he is less likely to get into trouble that way.

I don't think Mum had the best of journeys up as the poor visibility started just up from Coral Bay and stayed with her and actually forced her to leave earlier than planned so that we could be sure she got home safely.  She had been for a checkup on her eye.  Mrs Metaxa seems to be pleased with the end result and Mum said she did ok with the eye chart.  Mrs Metaxa uses a chart with numbers rather than letters and I think this is an ETDRS chart which stands for Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study chart which she is using because of Mum's elevated sugar and family medical history.  Anyway Mum has two more weeks of gradually reduced eyWe didn't e drop treatment and then she should be able to go to the opticians for her new prescription and will have to have new glasses having broken her existing ones, although they still function thanks to John repairing with some superglue.

We had planned a walk today but the weather was too cold, too unpredictable and there was too much dust in the atmosphere to do this so we spent the day inside which was a bit of a shame.  Still lunch went down well - I heated the quiche and served it with baby new potatoes in mint and butter and some coleslaw and John did his apple oatie muffins served with ice-cream.  Our cupboards are now most definitely bare and we will have to go shopping tomorrow!!!!

It was with some relief that we heard from Mum she had got home safe and sound.  We had nipped up to see Bassam - Elena's Mum Elizabeth is here for a short while.  Bassam wants us all to go for a meal together so we are going to plan in meeting up with him at Fitos like we did during one of the lockdown respites.  He is working out a price for our proposed gazebo refurb - we shall do it if the price is right and will have to do it if the existing one falls down.

It didn't feel like a Monday all day - I really will be confused.com for the rest of the week.

I was up early this morning to go walking with Nicky - it was a wise decision to be off by 8.00am because it turned out to be a hot day and we haven't walked for a while so it was going to be a bit tough!  Crazily I have agreed to go walking with Rachel tomorrow morning so I will be doubly knackered.  We did our regular route out of the village and down past the dump towards Arodes and then back through Inea and home.   

All along the back road which goes from Droushia to Arodes we could see that the Land Registry had been out because there were the unmistakable bits of red and white tape flapping around.   They tie it to anything that is available so there were quite a number of stems of fennel sporting what looked like college ties and a couple of bits of rebar had been hammered into the road with ties on them too.  They seemed to be quite regularly spaced so we wonder if this is for street lights which might mean that this area is going to be developed.  I hope if it is that something is done about the dump.

We encountered processionary caterpillars today - they are exactly as described caterpillars that travers the roads nose to tail - they develop in big cobwebby nests in fir trees and then fall down and process to wherever they go next.  They are extremely dangerous to animals because of their furry outer.  Best left well alone to process elsewhere.

We pass some beautiful gardens but at the moment the wild flowers and flowering trees are absolutely spectacular.  There is one just on the edge of Inea which I call the Orchid Tree - it is in full bloom at the moment and is actually called a Bauhinia Tree.   Apparently you can grow these from seed so I am going to keep an eye out for when the pods form and avail myself of a few to see if I can propagate something.  On that subject I was showing Nicky a beautiful trailing geranium which was growing in Androulla's beautiful garden.  Androulla happened to be in the garden and we had a chat and she broke me off two cutting which I really hope will come good.

We had a bit of an 'Ahhhhh' moment when we passed a mare and her foal.  I kept my distance hence the poor quality of the photograph but remember John having to make a hasty retreat once when a mare decided he had got a bit too close and he had to quickly reverse out of the field but was wearing flipflops which hampered his progress.

The remainder of the day was taken up with a job which we have been putting off for ages, tackling tidying John's big shed.  We realise that the more storage you have the more you tuck away and John's shed is a treasure trove of 'stuff'.  He has just about everything you need in there if he can find it but often he knows he has something but cannot find it.

We eventually got round to checking the state of our tent and sleeping bags which we haven't used for about 9 years - they were ok but the same could not be said for the blow up mattress which was like an old fashioned lilo and which had become one perished mass of rubber!

We did manage to sort out sufficient space that John can now walk in and around the shed and see what he has - there are still lots of things which need to be ousted from the various shelves, cupboards, drawers, bags and boxes inside but it was getting hot and by late afternoon we really had had enough.  Still it is quite cathartic and we have had a very productive couple of days - things do look better tidy that's for sure.  Just not quite sure that we are going to do with some old decompression suit John found lurking in the bowels or more to the point when he thought we might need to use it!

It was rather lovely to grab a shower and know that we had leftover pizza in the fridge for tea which I served with the refried chips and a salad which featured my homemade cheese which I love - it is a cross between cottage cheese and fetta and even John ate it so it must have been ok.

Year 12...

We start our 12th year in Cyprus today - where has that time gone?

It was to be a very different Sunday for us today.  We were not entertaining Mum, she was having lunch with her friend Lilian so we were able to accept an invitation from Lakis and Argy to have Sunday lunch with them although it was not going to be at lunchtime but mid afternoon leaving us with a long leisurely morning and no panic about food.  We were having steaks from Shuks and I had made my sauce and the coleslaw and prepared the onion rings in advance.  John had made some apple oatie muffins yesterday so we had nothing to worry about, Argy was doing all the rest.

We had a visit from Bassam this morning, he is back from his trip to the Lebanon and bless him he always brings me back a present.  This time we had a selection of nuts which we will look forward to sampling one evening with a glass of vino or two.

We would like Bassam to do some work for us when he isn't so busy but with escalating building costs we want to get the price sorted now and the materials ordered providing the price is right.  We want to replace our old old gazebo which is where we eat when we eat outside with something more permanent and aesthetically pleasing.  Bassam has some great ideas and so we are going to wait to see what he comes up with.

Prior to eating we decided to go down to Latchi and have a walk - we all love Latchi and although there was a lot of dust in the atmosphere it was warm and pleasant to have a wander along the harbour looking at the boats - it was busy, not as busy as yesterday when it hosted the fish festival but it is good to see that there are plenty of tourists about for the poor businesses that have struggled over the past two years.

We had a wander along the harbour and then made our way back towards the bars to try and grab a beer before going back for our meal.  It was right in the middle of lunch service so we didn't want to take up a prime position so found a table inside at Molos where we struggled to get service - this doesn't auger well for the full on tourist season.   When we did get a girl to come to our table she couldn't or wouldn't take a drinks order - we did get our order eventually but when we wanted to pay the young lad who was serving couldn't or wouldn't provide a bill!!!

We had a lovely meal with our neighbours, the steaks were spot on - Argy had worried they were too small but the steaks from Shuks don't shrink and I managed to cook them exactly how Lakis and Argy like them (well done) and how John and I like them (rare).  Argy did her famous and super delicious roast potatoes and we had salad and dips and coleslaw and onion rings and then some of John's oatie cakes and some filo pastry confectionary which Argy had purchased.  It was also an opportunity to crack open the lovely bottle of Methy which the Windery had given me for my birthday.

It wasn't a late night for us but we had so enjoyed a change from the norm.

Here's to Year 12

Today we complete 11 years living here in Droushia.  So much has happened since then.  We left the UK directly after William and Kate's wedding and celebrations and arrived shortly before the death of Osama bin Laden.  I cannot believe we have lived a third of our married life here - the time has gone so quickly and we have said hello and, sadly, goodbye to many people during that time.

We do not have Mum coming up tomorrow (Sunday) I have negotiated with her to ring the changes every now and again so she will be coming up on Monday instead.  John has asked for a caramelised onion quiche with wedges and coleslaw for lunch that day and so I decided to get the quiche ready in advance.  I had thought I would need to go shopping but managed to find sufficient ingredients to get it made.  I then had a text from Isabel who has been extremely poorly and suffering from dehydration so asked if we could deliver her some water as (a) she thought hers tasted odd and (b) she wasn't fit enough to make the journey up to the village.  Poor Isabel has really gone through the ringer over the last couple of weeks.  I think she will be glad when she returns to Scotland where she will have a much bigger network of people to socialise with and who will keep an eye on her.

We called into the cemetery to see Dad and to rescue the pot of violas that were looking a bit worse for wear.  I decided to cut them back and fill the pot with some succulent cuttings from the garden which hopefully will take root and fill out sufficiently to put the pot back in place for when my sister comes.  As it has been so warm and windy anything that needs regular watering is suffering and now that we no longer have Klaus to keep an eye on Dad's grave we need to go more often if things are to survive.

We had considered going down to the Fish Festival in Latchi but skies were laden with dust and we needed to sort Isabel out so decided against it and John sat watching the football results coming in - it is getting to the end of the season so today several leagues completed their matches and promotions and relegations were confirmed.  I spent time in the garden.  The wisteria had gone mad - it hasn't flowered yet and may never but the green is lovely and provides and nice shady walkway into the house.

Some time ago Mum gave me the electric griddle thing that we used to use when we went and had barbeques with her and Dad.  It all felt a bit nostalgic - I reckon the last time this was used Dad was alive.  He and I used to barbeque together or he and John.  Anyway because we had anticipated eating at the fish festival we hadn't really planned much for our supper so we had to have a good old rummage in the freezer and came up with some lamb koftas and chicken kebabs from Shuks which we had with a small salad and some wedges.

The griddle thing cooked the kebabs/kofta perfectly and not having expected much from our supper we were pleasantly surprised at how tasty it all was and I had managed to produce it from next to nothing in the fridge and freezer.  I really will have to go shopping next week as the cupboard is now most definitely bare!

Over the last few days I have posted some photographs of our friend Louise's beautiful and talented daughter Elizabeth performing ballet at some famous landmarks in London.  Today I post this picture of another friend and his talented son.  On the right in the photograph above the children is our friend Keith (Ely) and his son Lewis.  Keith, wife Claire and Lewis visited Cyprus when we had not long moved over and we went to Limassol to meet up with them.  I reckon that photograph might have been around when the photograph of Ely and Lewis was taken.  Lewis and a friend belong to a group of military children who sing and he and his friend wrote a song which they performed on X-Factor last night and they made it through to the next round.  Congratulations Lewis - you have turned into an exceptional young man and you are a credit to your parents.

Spring Cleaning...

It was with deep joy this morning that we embarked upon an annual job which I really hate - taking the triplex down from the conservatory roof and cleaning it, removing any trapped insets inside the triplex and on top of the triplex, cleaning the underside of the original glass and then putting it all back again.  I am too short to partner John on these tasks but there is only me so I do my best but my best sometimes falls short of John's expectations.  In the future I shall put a divorce lawyer on stand-by!!!!

If that job isn't bad enough there is the cleaning up afterwards which is my job even though I have been involved from the get go.  Today I had a stiff shoulder and a pinched nerve in my bum cheek so I was less than useless.  The triplex sheets are massive - they cover a third of the sloping roof and have to be carefully pulled out and then cleaned in the garden and left to dry on the outside dining table then carefully slid back in a job for which I simply am not tall enough.

We eventually managed to get it done - possibly not as well as John would have liked but it is better.  Somehow we have a cracked pane of glass behind the TV and on the inside so it cannot have been hit by anything like stray shot during the hunting season.  We wonder if it might have been as a result of the various earthquakes that have been happening over the last couple of days or whether there was a fault which over the past 10 years has worsened due to the extreme heat and then the extreme cold.  We don't know but we need to get it replaced along with the two units where there is condensation between the double glazing.  We really could do without this but have contacted Costas to come and have a look and give us a quote when he next comes up to have a swim at Latchi.  He was very reasonable when he replaced the door and window at Mum's - in fact the reflective film was more expensive.

A couple of days ago I put up a picture of Elizabeth Nicolaou who is the daughter of Louise Rance.  Louise Rance catered for our Silver Wedding afternoon tea and Elizabeth came and helped serve - she was a young teenager then and now she is in her final year at the Royal Academy of Dance.  Earlier in the week she featured in the Daily Telegraph and today she is in the Times - how elegant is she? and what a credit she is to her lovely Mum Louise.

This afternoon we had arranged to go out with Nicky and Mark.  We were saying that we actually see less of them now that they are our neighbours than we did when they used to come up from Emba for the weekend!!!  Nicky had suggested going down to Latchi and having a late lunch at Yiallos which was a good call and we had a lovely afternoon but prices have really increased when eating out - portion sizes smaller and prices bigger.  We reckon most places have added a few euros on each meal and on drinks so what used to be a reasonably priced and affordable venue becomes somewhere that we just cannot call into on a whim - we will have to factor it in.  That is what happens when you are on a fixed budget!!!  When we moved out here we knew that we would have to live on the same money for eleven and a half years until John's pension became indexed linked.  Tomorrow we will have completed eleven years so not long to go but any increase we get will be eroded by increased costs of living and the fact that John will no longer be able to chose to be taxed over here which is more favourable than in the UK - that is just our luck!!!

We have been forecast to have more dust in the atmosphere, according to my Coptic Chart the last one of the season is due this weekend and is a sand laden storm.  It looked as though it had arrived this afternoon because it was very hazy with a strange light by the time we came to leave Latchi.  We finished off our afternoon out with an icecream from Porto Latchi and then made our way back home.  John was going to be having a late night because the Mighty Blades have yet another late night game and this one is crucial that they win.  It is their penultimate game of the season and if they win John will be watching Soccer Saturday with a great deal of interest tomorrow to see if other results go in their favour in terms of securing a play off place.

I wont be staying up with him - I have been feeling tired all day.

An admin day for me...

Today was a day of admin for me.  Deep joy!!!  I was going down to Paphos and picking up mum and going to Alpha Bank to sort out internet bank access on her account and taking out some money from the bank.

I was up early and took a spin around the garden and rescued a bee from the swimming pool - putting it on one of the flowers so that it could dry out and live to pollinate another day.

It was busy driving down to Paphos.  I was stuck in a long line of traffic with a very slow moving vehicle at the front.  This is a recipe for disaster as all the boy and old man racers decide to dice with death to overtake and get one vehicle further in front than they were previously.  I saw at least three decide to overtake on a completely blind bend and were lucky enough to make it.

I stopped in Cycleband on the way down.  I was in search of some Old Speckled Hen in cans because apparently OSH is George's favourite tipple and Manchester United are playing tonight so John is going to make sure the TV is set up correctly and give George a couple of cans to make a bit of an evening of it.

Lakis and Argy were out early too - they were off to collect their new car this morning and as I passed the garage that is selling it to them I could see that it had been taken off the forecourt presumably to be made ready for the handover.  In fact I was to pass them later in the morning driving the new car - a very nice Nissan Juke in a lovely racy red colour.  John and I were very impressed with it when we went with them for a test drive.  So much so that we have both decided to revisit the car situation.

Mum and I had a successful trip to the Bank although we were there a long time we managed to get the paperwork sorted for internet banking and we managed to get the money out she wanted even though we had not booked it beforehand.  

We went from the bank to Alpha Mega near the Mall to do a bit of shopping for Sonia as she is currently a bit incapacitated.  I don't mind doing someone else's shopping but that is ok when you know the shop and can recognise the packaging - sadly I can confirm that I knew neither on this occasion so it involved a lot of searching and a did 99%couple of phone calls before I managed to complete 99% of the shopping Sonia required!!!

I took Mum home - she was a bit uncomfortable having had her fourth jab yesterday and her knees are still recovering from her fall last week but I redressed them and put some ointment on her arm and she said she was ok.  I also got the edge on her latest jigsaw sorted but the pieces are pretty small and much the same colour so guess she will struggle.  Anyway she seemed in good spirits when I left and we had managed to put some things into the diary for when my sister comes in a couple of weeks.  I am sure that Mum is struggling with the fact that we aren't meeting up on Sunday as we would do normally but she is going to Lilian's for lunch and then coming up to us on Monday so actually she will be seeing people more often as a result.

So I got back home and was expecting to put my feet up but first off we had a visit from our neighbour Pete who wanted to know about sewerage and septic tanks!  then Nicky came to pick up the meat I had got for her from Shuks, then Jan popped in from next door after having had a trying day with Cypriot men and officialdom and then George popped in as I had got him a shaving brush and then we quickly popped in to see Argy and Lakis to look at their lovely new car.

We had penciled in to have pork stir fry this evening but John forgot to take it out of the freezer - good job I had got some lovely free range chicken breasts from Naz when I called in earlier - I was able to do chicken stir fry rather than pork and it was absolutely fabulous and as the two breasts only cost €3.50 an absolute bargain.

I left John watching footie this evening and retired to bed early - we have earmarked cleaning the remainder of the the Conservatory roof tomorrow morning which is a recipe for a divorce if ever there was one!