6th February

The weather was pants today, cold and wet and wintry and we had to nip down to Paphos because John had bought a track-suit thingy for slobbing around the house and hadn't tried it on which irritates me no end so although he knows that sizing here is on the small size he still thinks he is the slinky hipped man of his youth which was a long time ago - if he ever was slinky hipped!  He was lucky that he could swap the goods and get the right size and today he actually did try it on.  I think I would have had a big old hissy fit if he had not done.

We weren't out long - it was too cold and miserable so as soon as we got home we lit the gas fire for which Charlie was very grateful.  Thankfully all the cats seem to be well on the road to recovery although neither Charlie nor Minnie have got their voices back - maybe we should be grateful for small mercies.

I made some soup today so that we can have something warm to eat whenever we want something.  It was a sort of carrot and orange with some spices and the remainder of the tahini which was loafing in the fridge.  I am a bit unsure about it personally but John thought it was good and tasty.

We didn't think we had much on this week but Clare has been in contact and wanted to go eat at Kaponas but Eleni is still recovering from her knee operation.  It has taken her a long time - the operation was before Christmas I think and her recuperation has been slow.  She is hoping to be open again soon but as yet doesn't have a date.  We have suggested that we meet Clare at Fitos as an alternative as we are running out of places locally that will be open and warm.  John is going in there tomorrow with the cycling boys to have a sandwich and a chin wag mid ride - or at least that is the plan if the weather is ok.  Apparently we have Storm Barbara to contend with later in the week.

On the subject of the weather there have been some terrible earthquakes in Turkey/Syria - with now over 1,000 deaths reported and rising and aftershocks have been felt here on the island.

It got progressively more stormy as the afternoon went on.  Lots of hail which does a lot of damage particularly as we had such a mild January that plants had begun to put on new growth.  At least I am more familiar now with plants that look like they have lost their leaves and perished but which are actually just resting or in shock and will eventually return.

We had a beef stir fry earmarked for tonight's supper.  We are trying to be good with our weekly menu and using up things which are loafing about.  John took the meat out at the weekend because we couldn't really identify exactly what it was - we knew it was beef but didn't know if it was steak or something else.  By the texture and flavour it was most definitely steak and fillet steak at that.  It was a lovely tasty and warming meal.  I thought there would be some left for my lunch tomorrow when John is out but I was mistaken.  John went for seconds - he doesn't do that very often!6th Fe