Stormy Day

It was a bright start to a day which became decidedly stormy sadly.  I was off to my lazy exercise class in Neo Chorio - Neo Chorio means New Village which is somewhat at odds with the sign which welcomes you to the village which proudly announces - Welcome to our 300 year old Village!  Neo Chorio is a very attractive village but with the new by-pass there will be many who simply skirt around the centre on the way to the picnic area at Smygies or walking in the Akamas.

Our exercise class had a definite Christmas Vibe today with Ermolia well into the festive spirit and singing and dancing along to some renditions of popular Christmas classics by what sounded like Pinky and Perky.  We did a lot of arm work today with our poles and it was hard work although Erm does it all without the support of a stick and still manages a dreamy smile on her face.  We are so busy concentrating on bringing our navels to our spines that we forget to breath until prompted!

When I emerged from the class it was raining so the views across the bay were obscured by low cloud but even so the island is still beautiful even when it is raining.  I had driven separately from Sonia because I had arranged to go and visit Sheila now that she is home from hospital and I wanted to nip across to the garden centre and get a gift voucher because Sheila and Klaus both have their birthdays around Christmas Time and the gift voucher can be used in the garden centre and/or the lovely cafe.

The smell of freshly cooked bacon butties was oh so tempting but I was good and didn't stop as I wanted to go shopping after I had seen Sheila.

The garden centre is a riot of colour mainly from the amazing display of poinsettia set against lush green foliage.  I was tempted with one of the fabulous table centrepieces because we are going to use the poinsettia tablecloth which is a bit of a heirloom - we have had it for years.  My plan is to nip into Jumbos later this week and pick up some bits and pieces to dress the table.  I can't believe we had a load of artificial poinsettia flowers and we got rid of them and now I am thinking I should have kept them.

I am pleased to say that Sheila looked a lot better than I was expecting and it was lovely to see both her and Klaus.  The reason for Sheila's unexpected and unwelcome stay in hospital is still a mystery.  Initially she thought she had food poisoning from some dodgy ice-cream but ended up with something much worse but which is still be explained.  Fingers crossed this was just a one-off unfortunate incident.

I raced back to Paps to do our shopping.  One of John's favourite wines was on offer so I picked up several bottles and then felt embarrassed because my GP was in the queue behind me eyeing them up and down.  I don't know if that was because he was interested in the offer or about to question me on my drinking habits!!!

There was a very stormy sky on my way home.  John had already lit the fire when I got in and I quickly rustled up a chicken curry for our tea.  We were warm and cosy and full in no time at all.