Meeting up with Sheila and Klaus

We started off with a bright morning but a very chilly wind.  I had set aside an hour or so to do a bit of gardening before we went to Polis to meet up with Sheila and Klaus for lunch.

My focus this morning was in two areas.  Firstly John had asked me to clear the pathway that leads to the outside shower because it wont be too long before he starts using it again.  

Right by the shower screen is a rough-ish area which is the home to a whole range of wild poppies - they have started to put in an appearance and will be flowering soon.  There are three or four different sorts ranging in size from minute to those with large blousy blooms.  I leave them long enough to flower and set seed and disperse those seeds before pulling them up and cleaning the shingle.

Over the last couple of years, depending on the growth of the osteospurmum on the right and the gazania on the left, we have moved the path one way or another so as not to have to lose too many flowers.

The second area needing attention is the hedge which hides my glory hole which houses the old Cypriot barbeque, cat cage and gardening buckets - every garden will have one - it is looking a bit leggy and sparse at the moment but will soon fill out and provide the perfect barrier.

Whilst I was doing this John went across to Lakis and Argy's to check all was ok as they are flying out today.  It is going to be a terribly emotional time as they will be attending Kia's funeral on Wednesday.  Her passing came rather unexpectedly although she was 94.  Lakis and Argy had been due to come a couple of weeks' ago but sadly circumstances forced them to delay and as a result Argy did not get her wish to see Kia one last time.  We know they will both be gutted and that their time here is going to be strange without the requirement to go to Prodromi and the home where Kia spent the last couple of years.  We cannot take away any of the pain but we are here to help and support them in whatever way we can.

We had a quick turn round before setting off to Akakiko in Polis.  It is Sheila and Klaus's special place - it is where they went for their birthdays in December and where we left some money so that they could have an extra special time because they are lovely people and they deserved it.

We had been last year when John's Mum and Co came and had a lovely meal.  We realised that the starters were varied and big enough for us to choose a selection and eat like a Japanese meze!  This is what we planned to do today - it was a great idea because we had a brilliant meal consisting of five starters and all felt full!!!

The food is lovely, tasty and colourful and presented nicely.  This was the Prawn Toast Platter and we had Chicken Noodles, Chicken Fried Rice, Popcorn Shrimps and Katsu Chicken with dips and a great catch up with great friends.  I think we shall definitely be doing that again soon.  We were the only ones in there but to be fair we did get there at 12.00 because John had his airport run mid afternoon.

The afternoon was incredibly chilly so when John went off to the airport me and the cats sat in the conservatory to keep warm.  I had explained to Argy when I spoke to her that because I was going to take mum to Limassol tomorrow for her cataract operation I was a bit reticent about going to the airport to mix with the great unwashed and needed to be careful until after the funeral and she fully understood but I did feel I needed to see them this evening and so when John got them back we agreed to a socially distanced quick meet up together - they have a busy time ahead so we knew they would be happy with that.

We hoped that the amazing evening sky as the sun went down was going to herald a nice day tomorrow - I was going to be up early and driving to Limassol and Argy and Lakis are going to Limassol tomorrow afternoon in readiness for Wednesday.  Our meeting was understandably emotional and bless them, even with everything they have been dealing with, they came with gifts and I now have enough Paracetemol and Ibuprofen to open a Chemists.