A Thursday down in Paphos

I am very proud of my poinsettias.  Both gifts from my sister.  The large red one was from the Christmas before last, the white one from last Christmas.  They are both still going strong towards the end of April!  I keep them in the dining room out of direct sunlight and in the cool.  When they do eventually lose their leaves, as I am sure they will, I will cut them back and put them outside and hopefully they will come back again like the red one did.  I don't give them any special care save for making sure that they don't fully dry out.

When I left to go down to Mum's today the weather in Droushia was reasonably bright but as I drove down the hill it worsened.  This was just outside Kathikas and it was like a scene from Gorillas in the Mist and it just got worse in fact the weather deteriorated island-wide so it was hardly daylight and chilly.  I had actually managed to get a hair appointment today so was going to Mum's early so that I could spend time with her before going to Lumi's for 2.30pm.  I had made Mum some pate a couple of weeks ago and so we had agreed to have that with some toast for lunch so I stopped at the fruit seller on the Coral Bay junction and got some fresh local strawberries to have afterwards.  

These weekday visit have a familiar pattern as I take Mum around Paphos to do her shopping and then we either have lunch out or back at hers.  Today she wanted to go to Paps, Lidl, Sklavenitis and the Bank.  It gives me the opportunity to go to shops I don't normally use.  I have to say I am quite liking Sklavenitis for quite a few things and it is normally easy to park there.  

The Bank was a bit of a challenge as the ATM was on a go-slow - so much so that I actually went inside and asked one of the members of staff to come and take a look.  She agreed that it was but probably that it was just 'tired after being used to excess over Easter'.  I was glad that it was me hanging around waiting for the money to appear and not Mum.

So I spent about four hours with Mum before I had to leave to get a long overdue hair cut.  In the front garden where Mum lives there is the most beautiful rose which looks like the petals have been splashed with paint.  Interestingly it has taken on this colouring over a number of years as it was not originally like that.  Mum seemed to be in better spirits today than when we went down on Sunday - apparently her back was really playing her up.  I wish she would say as I cannot always guess what is troubling her.

Lumi gave me a good old 'Summer' haircut for which I was grateful as I prefer my hair short, short.  I managed to quickly call into the Chinese shop so I could top up on ingredients which I use all the time.  It is much cheaper to go to the big shop on the dual carriageway down from Debenhams Roundabout.

Traffic was awful on the way home - Police were doing spot checks so everything was crawling along the Mesoghi Avenue.