Elvis Lives

Sorry that this photograph is out of focus - it was snapped rather hastily at the check-out in Paps.  I am thrilled to report that Elvis is indeed alive and kicking and holidaying in Polis!!!!!  My guess is that he was scanning the shelves for some of that jet black hair dye that the Cypriots are so fond of just to make sure that his DA was looking at its best!!!

No disrespect to the gentleman but he did look ridiculous - I just couldn't get a decent shot of him for you to make up your own minds!  John thought he looked more like Brian Hibbard from the Flying Pickets which got me humming the acapela ba da da dum ba da da dum they do in Only You before breaking into "Looking through a Window above..."

Maybe he is a tribute act?

Anyway that provided quite some amusement whilst we queued to purchase our few bits and pieces which will supplement the fridge surprise offerings I am going to rustle up over the weekend.  Chili con Carne for us tomorrow and a sort of Shepherd's Pie thing for Sunday when Mum is with us.

We were going out for lunch today with our neighbours and trying somewhere I haven't been to since Di had her 60th birthday afternoon tea there.  The Stone Lion in Goudi.  In the past we have not had very memorable meals here but that was when Dori (ex The Water Mill in Steni) had it with his partner Claire.  Claire has remained, she has a new partner who is front of house and very personable.

I chose a Mediterranean Chicken Salad which was huge and colourful and with lightly spiced chicken - sort of Lebanese spices which must be a leftover influence from Dori.  It was delicious and I had a side order of Muhammara which is a walnut and roasted red pepper dip which is absolutely amazing and which I am planning to try and make myself, probably for the evening when Sonia is coming round for supper because I am sure she would like it.  John had spare ribs which he said were lovely whilst the others plumped for Friday Fish and Chips (cod, hand cut chips and mushy peas).  I have to say that the food, ambiance and service are all much better now and we would certainly return - it would be a good place to take The Crew when they come back out next year as it would be a new venue and a menu they could all chose from.

On our return home we decided to go for a bit of a walk because I want to start going regularly with the girls from next week and I haven't been for ages.  I made the mistake of wearing my trainers and one layer of socks and had only got as far as Inea when I realised that I had rubbed a blister on the back of my heels.  

We were at a point where it didn't seem to make a lot of difference which way we walked home as the distance was going to be the same whichever way we chose.  I stopped and turned my socks inside out but that didn't make a huge amount of difference so we took it slow.  I was convinced I had seen a pack of blister plasters when I had cleared out out medical basket the other day so wasn't overly concerned because they work well in healing these things quickly.

You can tell we are in Autumn, the shadows are now very long late afternoon and you have to try and work out how long there will be daylight when you set out.  We go from light to dark really quickly.  It is also considerably cooler than it was last week and we had rain forecast for this evening and again tomorrow.  The garden needs it but I doubt it will be enough to make a lot of difference.

As we walked back into the village we decided to call in and have a drink at Kaponas.  Eleni was complaining that winter had arrived early, hardly winter as the evening temperature was still somewhere in the 20s but much cooler and sitting out of an evening definitely involves thicker clothes nowadays!

We opted for a bottle of red (it being winter) - which Eleni serves in glasses that look more suited to brandy but tastes the same nontheless.  Bless Eleni she brought us a platter of nibbles - olives, cheese, ham, apples and shushuko which we didn't really need having eaten out for lunch but was very nice.  

I managed to limp my way back home - it is only a couple of minutes from the taverna and the red wine was numbing the pain.  I haven't had a drink since Saturday!!!!

It had been a beautiful evening for a walk although the clouds started to bubble up and the forecasters were right that we got some rain - enough to make things dirty but thankfully not until we had got home where I found out that I had been mistaken about the blister plasters which was a bit of a bugger.