We go to town...

The inclement weather continued overnight on Tuesday but we had some brief respite in the morning - sadly it did not last.  I had more garden tidying up on the cards - the bougainvillea looked lovely but the wind has hammered it and the coloured bracts are everywhere.  I also had my sights set on getting the two clock vines reduced to a more manageable size.

The small clock vine is easy the large one which stretches right up onto the roof terrace and along is harder to deal with and when I got to the top of the terrace ladder I saw that the drain had been blocked and there was about six inches of water sitting on top of the tiles.  I soon got that cleared up and the water drained away leaving a right old mess and I have resolved that I really should go and check that drain more often.   As I was on a roll I decided to cut the original passion flower back to the stem and anything else that looked like it needed it.

I did as much as I could but I have a bad arm - have had it for months and I am not sure what caused it and why it has not gone away.  I am thinking that it harks back to when I had a car accident and buggered up my left shoulder - I wonder if I now have a bit of arthritis or something and it is pressing on a nerve.  If it doesn't improve in the next week I will have to take a trip back to see Dr Manolis.  Anyway when I had had enough of gardening we jumped in the car because John had received a text message from the guy who is servicing his bike to say it is ready.  We had absolutely no idea how much it was going to cost but John was very happy with his €10 bill!!!

The weather deteriorated again in the afternoon.  We are beginning to get quite fed up with it now - this is so not like October.  Tomorrow we are going off to Paphos to see Mum, to catch up with Andy and Nicky who have had a dreadful week weatherwise so far and hopefully catch Dip and Karen although they are supposed to be coming up on Friday.

We had torrents of rain on Wednesday night and we woke to a grey horrible day - we had thick rolling mists so visibility was not good.  We had planned to leave early to see Mum but she had forgotten she had a chiropodist appointment and as it happened with the weather like it was we would have had to wait for the mist/fog to clear before setting off.

Fortunately although it is grey and wet it isn't cold in the house, in fact in the conservatory it is positively balmy and Boris was making the most of it - cats which are happily relaxed just look so comfortable.  We left him to snooze.  Minnie and Charlie had got me up much earlier for breakfast!  

We set off down for Emba, the weather began to improve as it usually does when you go down to the coast and as a result it was very muggy and humid - I was overdressed and John was definitely overdressed!  We did the jobs that Mum wanted us to do and waited for her to return from the chiropodists and stayed and had a drink with her before setting off for the Mall.  She was ok as she and Lilian were going out for lunch together.

Our route to the Mall takes us down through the Old Town.  So much work has been done there to modernise it - I like a lot of what has been done as there is a mix of old and new - it just needs a few more shops to open and a few more tourists to visit.  Apparently it is buzzing at night - not that we will find that out any time soon!!!

We met up with Andy and Nicky at the foodhall in the Mall.  They are both looking well and rightly so as they spent a month in the summer living on Kho Samui!!!  Nicky has changed job since we last saw her and is now a head teacher in Minehead.  Andy continues to work as an entertainer on ships but having done quite a lot of globe trotting is currently staying more local as they have bought an old Victorian house in Bridgwater for renovation.  They were keen to try and catch a bit of afternoon sunshine so we had a chat and a coffee before saying goodbye.

We managed to catch Dip and Karen in this afternoon so had a quick catch up with them before they come up tomorrow for a meze in the village - we have warned them that cardi's will be required!!!

We had a bit of a shop in Jumbos as you do and I got a new quilted bed cover for our bed (trying to keep John happy as he keeps complaining that he is cold).  I love bedding so was really pleased with this purchase which at €14.99 was a billy bargain.  It is grey and white and fits in with the colour scheme perfectly.