20th February

Today was pretty cool and cloudy and we had arranged to go out with our neighbour Pete when he walked his dogs as he cannot manage both Hector and Dot on his own, normally Gail is here but at the moment she is back in the UK visiting family.  John had Hector who is a big powerful dog but quite sensible and Pete had Dotty Dot who is as she is named, Dotty!  Although very excitable she did actually quieten down but is easily distracted.  

It was lovely walking around the village - some of the old buildings are delightful.  I love this one which has a map of Cyprus between the two sets of doors.  In the front an ancient old almond tree was bravely flowering - a beautiful pink and fragrant blossom set against the old blue doors - magic!  You will see two types of almond tree in blossom, the white produce sweet nuts, the pink produce bitter nuts - we used the bitter nuts to make Amaretto years ago and then used the macerated nuts to make some pretty potent cookies! 

This is a beautifully renovated building which we think is now one dwelling but was probably originally two smaller ones.  Pete says it is his favourite in the village and you can see why - it is simple and unfussy but full of character.  We think it might be a holiday home as we have never actually seen anyone in there which is a shame but someone must come and look after the pots outside.

We walked back via the post office.  Sadly Marina lost her mum last week.  She would have been in her 90s and was quite frail after a fall some time ago.  Bless Marina she used to spend most of her days with both her mum and her mother-in-law so it will be a massive change for her.  I went in to check the post and would have given her a hug had I seen her but the door to the house was closed.  

John and I shot off down to Polis to get the shopping we needed for the week.

It is carnival time on the island - it is a big thing here and is assocated wiht the beginning of the fasting of Easter.  Carnival was called "Apokries" which in Greek means "without meat".  It was celebrated with feasts and traditional games.  In addition, people got dressed in costumes and wore masks in order to scare others, hence the freaky statues which are dotted around the town.  This one is about 15 foot tall and I have absolutely no idea what it represents - it is all part of the mystery of a Cypriot Carnival - not to mention the weirdo lobsters which are on the roundabout - I wonder if they are Easter Lobsters like the Christmas Lobster that was in Love Actually!!!  John thinks he looks a it like Harry Potter.

Anyway I think the celebrations are this coming weekend.  Yesterday Peyia held its carnival.  The towns seem to try and hold them at different times and you will get people who like to go and visit as many as possible.

The refurb of Polis Paps continues and what a difference the new chillers/fridges and freezers are making - the fruit and veg looked a million dollars (and some of it cost about that much at the moment).  The only trouble with the refurb is that we can't find anything!!!  Still we did manage to do our shopping and returned home.

We had a make do and mend supper this evening - I used up the remainder of the filling from the pasty pie to make sort of bubble and squeak and then we had a burger on top with some barbeque sauce and cheese.  It didn't sound great and it didn't look great but it tasted fabulous!!!  This was followed by watching the remainder of The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe which we thought was really interesting.  What a nutter of a bloke John Darwin was.