January 6th 2021

Our virus numbers have gone up this week, so we now have a new restriction added on to everything else, the new restriction is that we aren’t allowed to meet up with anyone from another household, we already had the restriction that we couldn’t meet another household outside so they have now extended it to inside homes as well, I guess they are trying to lower the numbers again.

Friday morning we are expecting another announcement from the president, and the rumours are that we are going back into total lockdown and will only be allowed to leave the house once a day after sending a text and getting permission daily, I guess we will see what happens, but I think everyone is expecting it.

I have no idea what is going on with our weather at the moment as we are still in sunshine,  the weather feels like a typical English summer where its hot, but not too hot to walk which is lovely, this time last December we went into the rainy season on the 23^rd of December so I was expecting the same thing this year, it has been such a lovely surprise for the weather to be doing this, but every day I wake up to blue skies, it’s all very odd, but I do know those rains are going to be coming at some point so we are outside as much as we can be just to make the most of it, I think every week we keep expecting the nice weather to disappear but if anything it has gotten warmer, I am actually started to get quite a good tan, as in our real summer it is too hot to sit in the sun but the weather we have at the moment is really perfect.

I have had lots of gardening days this week which has been tiring but lovely at the same time, Nick dug up the other tree that was dead and thankfully that one was easier and it only took him about an hour, so we planted the Frangipani, and it’s going to be so much happier in the ground, there are quite a few Rosemary shrubs here so I have been doing lots of pruning as they were a bit overgrown, they do look lovely though as they are covered in blue flowers, I also sorted out a jasmine that is growing, it looked like it hadn’t been trained properly so I spent quite a few hours on a ladder trying to sort it out over an archway, it does look better but I think it’s going to need sorting out every few weeks as it grows to train it properly, but I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like in the summer.

I still have lots to do outside so I hope this weather keeps up, we are still in shorts and t shirts which is pretty amazing, I do wish it would last forever, I think it’s going to be a short winter this year thankfully, I am hoping this winter for just a bit of rain now and again lol, we will see.

I did enjoy New Year’s eve this year, not that we could go out, but with having such a big open space overlooking Polis and the villages in the hills we went outside at midnight and saw lots of fireworks which was lovely, all the kids got in touch to say that they hoped 2021 was going to be better for everyone, let’s hope it is, and I even got to talk to my son Jamie again, its only thanks to Ashley really as she calls me now and again which is sweet of her, and then she gets Jamie on the phone, both me and Jamie were both saying that if it wasn’t for Ashley we would just keep to text messages as we both hate talking on the phone, she is a sweet girl and I do hope one day I get to meet her.

I don’t think I have done too much since last week apart from gardening, I have done a bit of Greek, we did go down to Paphos one afternoon as I ran out of vegetables for dinner so that got us out one afternoon which was nice, I also did make 9 containers of my rice mixture one afternoon so that is all in the freezer now.

Last Saturday we decided to have a picnic at the beach which made a nice change, and then we went for a really long walk along the beach, I had been dying to walk for ages but because of having to wear a mask outside I haven’t bothered, but as we were sitting eating our picnic I noticed that the majority of people were walking along the beach without a mask, so that prompted us to go for a lovely long walk along the beach, I really did enjoy it and it was lovely to see people walking and smiling with no masks, so it’s something we will do again and hopefully being by the ocean and having a breeze might help keep us safe, I am more than happy to wear a mask in the grocery stores as I think without one I would worry too much but in the fresh air I really don’t like it.

Our landlord popped up for his rent money on Sunday and bought more presents for us, this time 2 bottles of really good wine and a bag of walnuts, I actually bought some walnuts a few days ago and they were quite expensive so I was really happy to have more, apparently they have a walnut tree which made me laugh as it seems like they have a tree for everything, still it was so lovely of them, I gave them this tiny box of chocolates to say thank you for everything they have given us but it really didn’t seem like enough after they gave us more wine, it was such a small box of chocolates as well lol, so I still need to put my thinking cap as to what I can give to them as it doesn’t give me a good feeling inside for some reason.

We actually caught up with Brian and Tracy yesterday as we hadn’t seen them for a week, so I made us all a lovely lunch, I think their move to the rental place tired them out, but they seem recovered now, so it was nice to have a catch up, I also shared all my walnuts with them as I think they try to eat a few a day, I think I read somewhere that eating five a day was healthy, I think it is better to have walnuts in the shell as years ago I would quite often buy a bag of shelled walnuts for a recipe and I would end up eating the whole bag lol, but having to crack them open makes you limit them for some reason, maybe I am lazy.

January 16^th 2021

Well our weather finally caught up with itself, and we have had some cloud, wind and some rain, it was actually really nice to see even though that sounds weird, I was talking to my daughter Nicola on the phone when the sky went dark and it rained and I started shouting to Nick to look out the window, Nicola really laughed, it felt quite exciting, so I think we are now going through our bit of winter, hopefully we will still have some nice warm days on and off but the rain is brilliant for all the trees and plants so it will make everything come to life again soon, I think after such a long summer I am ready for a bit of winter as then it will make us appreciate the summer again.

At some point last week we got put back in lockdown again, we are having to send a text message and ask permission if we want to leave our house, although we are allowed out twice a day for things like doctors or shopping or exercise, so it could be worse, and also being allowed out twice is fairly good as last March we were only allowed out once, anyway I guess it’s really not a hardship having to send a text,  I have also found out we are allowed to exercise at the beach so that was nice to hear as its only for the next few months that we can walk as then it gets too hot, so hopefully we will have some nice beach walks over the coming weeks, I think most people over here are following the rules thankfully, the worst I have seen was people walking along the beach with no mask which I was happy about lol, I think people following the rules is helping to lower our numbers as they have gone down since lockdown, our restrictions are for three weeks and then they will look at the numbers again and decide whether to keep it going.

Before the restrictions came into effect we decided to do our months grocery shopping last week and it was the worst shopping trip I have every had for some reason, we left the house at 9.30 in the morning and didn’t get home until 2.30 in the afternoon, so five hours which is odd, we knew it would take longer as we now have to drive to Paphos but I have never had a grocery trip take so long, we had to go to three stores but neither of us have any idea of why it took so long, I must admit I don’t like grocery shopping anyway so for me it was one of the worst days I have had in ages, thankfully apart from fresh veg we won’t have to go again for another month thank goodness, of course what didn’t help was the sun was shining and the sky was blue and I just wanted to be pottering in the garden, anyway I will stop moaning now as it’s done for another month but it all just took way to long, I really wish we lived closer to the Paphos shops so we could just order it all online and have it delivered, I am really not lazy but for some reason I always think grocery shopping is just a complete waste of a day.

I have spent a lot of my week not doing as much as normal, I have to say I have quite enjoy being in lockdown, I think I felt like I needed it, so after having a really relaxing week I feel more refreshed as for some reason I was feeling a bit worn out and weary, sometimes I do think I do too much, so I found a lovely job to do which was relaxing, I spent a few days trying to figure out some of the plants in the front flower bed and it has been really interesting, I downloaded an app from the app store onto my phone called Plant Net, and if you take a picture of any plant it will tell you what it is, living over here it has really come in handy as quite often I can’t identify the plants, our first year over here as we would go on walks I would take pictures of different plants and plant Net would tell me what they were which was pretty cool, anyway I remembered this app last week so took pictures of all my plants at the front of the house and what was funny was that most of them are related to food, I do remember asking the landlady what one plant was called and she said they take the berries and cook them in with pork, she didn’t know how to translate the name of the plant into Greek, anyway it turns out that it is a Myrtle tree, which I found really interesting, then there is oregano which of course is a herb and one that I use virtually all the time, then there is Thyme, Sage, lots of Rosemary, so it seems the majority of the plants are all to do with food, which made me laugh, there are a couple of butterfly bushes and a few Rose bushes as well but the rest are for cooking, I guess some of it will come in handy, I actually have all of my herbs around the corner of the house in pots, I mainly just grow Parsley, Mint, Basil, Oregano and Chilli Peppers as I use them a lot, but it’s nice to know what the plants are in the garden.

A few days ago I actually found some curtains online that I liked for the living room, they were on amazon in the UK, so we ordered them, it has taken me two months to find something that I really liked, I am excited to have some curtains on my living room windows as they do look really bare and I think curtains will help it look a bit cosier, I totally can’t wait for them to get here and it’s nice to have something to look forward to.

It is pouring down with rain as I write this and I am really enjoying it, but it means not going out for a walk today, so we have decided to put the music on very loud and clean as it does need it, and it will also keep me warm.

January 24^th 2021

We have had a lovely week this week with more sunshine and blue skies, I think at the beginning of the week we had a bit of  cloud but then it went back to summer weather again, on the cloudy day I managed to get the house cleaned which it needed but I still think I need some more cloudy days, I think it’s because I have all these other things I want to do and if the sun is shining I always seem to be outside, I just don’t seem to be able to help myself.

One of the days last week I found a box with my curtains from our house in the UK,  which I thought I would try in my bedroom, so I gave them a good wash and iron and they look really nice in my bedroom, it took me a few hours to iron them as my iron isn’t working properly, anyway I am pleased with how the curtains look and they really do make a room look warmer and more cozy, I had gotten used to just having blinds when we lived in Tsada but I really don’t think you can beat curtains, anyway it’s another job done and now I can’t wait to get my curtains for the living room, hopefully soon, and then I might try and find some curtains for Nicks room and the other two bedrooms.

I changed my bedroom around last week and took some furniture out as all of the bedrooms are small in this house, and mine felt overcrowded, so it feels better now and I quite like my bedroom as it feels cozy, I also sorted out a cupboard in the kitchen to put all the recycle things as we have found somewhere in the village where you can take them, I have always had a problem with all the recyclable things just sitting on the kitchen counter, so what I did in Tsada was I designated a cupboard especially for them so I wouldn’t have to have a messy counter top, but it’s another job done and the recycling now has its own shelf in a cupboard.

I also finally managed to get to the roses a few days ago, there are three normal rose bushes but there is also a shrub rose which I have never had before, so I had to do some research on how to prune it, I found it quite confusing to be honest so I just ended up trimming it a bit, when I see how it grows then I am sure I will be able to figure out the right way to do it next year, I am looking forward to seeing what colour the roses are though.

I think we have only been out twice in the last week, once we had to go down into Paphos, and yesterday we decided to be really naughty and we met up with Tracy and Brian at the beach for a walk, beings as only two people are allowed to walk together Nick and Brian walked ahead and me and Tracy walked quite a bit away from them, and then we found a few picnic tables and so we sat on one of them keeping a good distance from each other in case anyone complained, anyway we got away with it and had a good catch up, we are hoping next weekend our restrictions might get lifted or eased a little bit, we will see.

It still seems like our number of virus cases a day are coming down which is good, last week my daughter Nicola, and grandchildren Austin and Gabe all got sick, they had cold symptoms with a burning chest so I was a bit worried, but after three days they were all back to normal although each of them have a bit of a cough but they are up and about again thankfully.

I think Nick worries about me catching the virus as I do have a bit of weak chest from smoking, he made me laugh last week as he said if the numbers go up he would lock the gate and not let me out lol, we are ultra-careful when we do have to go to a store, and we have started using our latex gloves that we bought last year, I think at some point we stopped using the gloves but about a month ago I found two boxes of them in the car on the back seat so I thought we may as well use them and it might help keep us safer.

Today is another sunny day so I will spend my day outside, I have some canna lilies to chop down and some plants need watering.

January 28^th 2021

This week we actually had a few really chilly days with no sunshine, just cloud and rain, I remembered that this time last year we had some hail so one afternoon we got all of our outside plants and put them under the porch, as last year a few of plants got their leaves totally destroyed by the hail, so I am not going to make the same mistake again, I think I will leave them under the porch until March, the only problem with leaving them under the porch though is they get no sunshine, and now looking at the weather for the next week it is going to be sunny and warm again with no rain so I kind of wished now I had left them out, I don’t feel as though I can win. 

Our house is pretty cold at the moment so I sit outside as soon as the sun comes out, we are lighting the fire now and again but the room is so big that it only takes the heat up by a few degree’s so on cloudy cold days we have gone into the little TV room we have made for ourselves with an electric heater and its lovely and warm, but it’s pretty chilly when it’s time to cook as the kitchen is freezing lol, I am so glad our winter if you can call it that doesn’t last very long, we only have February to get through and then the house will start warming up again.

We did manage a beach walk at the beginning of last week, we do miss being able to go out for lunch, anyway we made do with a coffee as there is a takeout coffee place on the sea front, it was a lovely sunny day that wasn’t too hot, we don’t walk to far though but I am hoping by the end of the winter that we are walking further, I think we must be a bit unfit lol, I think it is hard over here with the long hot summers and not being able to walk for months on end so I think we need to do more walking while we can.

Our virus number have been going down over the last couple of weeks thankfully, so we are going to have a few restrictions lifted over here as from tomorrow and then a few more restrictions lifted the following week, the hairdressers and barbers and other shops are all opening up again, although the taverna’s and cafe’s etc. are to stay closed, I was impressed when I read that anyone going back to work has to have a compulsory covid test, I did think that was a sensible thing to do to help keep us all safer, and the other good bit of news though is that families from first or second generation can visit each other again from next week.

I did have two really nice days of not doing too much at all last week, as it was cold outside, so I decided to catch up with things on my laptop, I do get a good fair few emails from different health sites and one really good medical doctor who is more into natural things, so it was lovely to catch up on my emails and get it a bit more organized and to catch up on things I have been researching,

We heard a few days ago that our curtains for the living room that we ordered have finally arrived in Cyprus so we are just waiting for them to be delivered now, we can track them online but so far for the last four days they haven’t moved from the nearest city to us, hopefully soon though and I can live in hope lol.

2^nd February 2021

 I noticed just over a week ago that the sun was in a different place in the sky, not so low down and much higher than it was a month ago, for some reason though January just went by so fast and I was shocked last week to find we were in February lol,  last week I noticed an almond tree from my bedroom window in bloom, and over the last week whenever we have gone out they are everywhere and are all in bloom they do look pretty, I can also see that most of my plants have new growth on them, and what I find quite amazing is that my geraniums are still all in bloom.

It was quite funny a few days ago as there is a shrub rose in the garden and I have never grown one or had one before, I have grown lots of different roses over the years but never a shrub rose so it was quite new to me, so the other roses that are here in the garden I knew to chop them down really small but I got confused with the shrub rose so I decided to just trim it just a little bit, only over the last two weeks all of the leaves turned a light yellow and then they turned black, it really did worry me as I thought it had a disease so I got my fungicide spray out as I figured it must be the heat and maybe a bit humid, I went around the whole shrub and snipped the black leaves off to make it look better and then I sprayed it, it all took a few hours to do as it’s not a little plant, and when the landlord came around for his rent I took them both to show them the rose to make sure I was doing things right, and they did laugh and told me that at this time every year the leaves on this rose go black and they drop off as it needs to go to sleep for a few weeks before it puts out new growth, it made them laugh that I patiently snipped off all the dead leaves and spent so much time on it when it was just having a rest, it did make me laugh as well but I was also relieved that it didn’t have a disease lol, so just another learning thing.

The landlords visit for his rent was nice as always, they had just finished working in the fields as its fertilizing time and they also have to prune all the fruit trees, they are really hardworking people, they have lots of fields filled with grapes, oranges, limes, plums, apricots, and olives and they said they had just planted avocado’s and Mango tree’s although it will be four years before they fruit, I asked them what the couple of tree’s are that hang over our garden as I had been thinking about pruning the branches and they said they were plum tree’s so I am so glad I left the branches hanging as I would have been chopping off lots of lovely plums,  this time they brought me some fertilizer for the orange and the lemon tree which we had planted which was sweet of them, and they gave us some kindling for the fire, I brought Vespo into the house to show her my curtains which she liked, I think we have been lucky with our landlords again this time thankfully.

Our weather has been so beautiful this past week that I ended up moving every single plant that I had put under the porch way back out into the sunshine again, it was a horrible job as they are so big and heavy and then I had to think which spots they had come from, it took me a few hours but I am glad I have done it now.  I am starting to think this week that maybe I don’t need to worry about them like I have over the past two winters as this winter seems totally different and it feels like summer, we have only had rain a few times and it has been mostly blue skies and sunshine, and I have spent most of this winter in shorts and t shirts, I hope it carries on like this until March.

Well I thought Nick had blocked up every little hole in the house but last week we had a small lizard that somehow got stuck between Nicks window and the screen, it took a while to get the poor little thing out, and then a few days later when I went to bed I spotted a baby lizard on my bedroom wall, I do love the lizards over here and the babies are so cute but I wasn’t impressed watching this little one run around my bedroom lol, anyway it took some doing but we caught him in the end and put him back in the garden, the following day Nick rechecked all of my windows again but couldn’t find any gaps anywhere and there is nowhere else in my bedroom that they could get in, and I keep my bedroom door closed all the time, then last night I came in my room to go to bed and lo and behold there was another lizard on my bedroom wall and this one wasn’t a baby lol, he wasn’t big but he wasn’t tiny either, I really do love them but definitely not in my bedroom, for some reason whatever bedroom I am in seems to have a problem, Nick still does room checks two or three times a day in all of the rooms to make sure nothing has got in, and he never finds anything so it’s just my bedroom that is the problem as usual, so today we are going to take the screens out of the windows in my room and have another check for gaps as the two lizards I have found have been on the wall right by my front window, I really don’t want to change bedrooms again, hopefully at some point we can get it all figured out, but at least it’s not the other crawly things which I really don’t even want to mention.

We finally had the curtains arrive last Wednesday, they do make the living room look warmer and cosier, it is hard ordering things online as you never know what they are going to look like in real life compared to a picture, and when I opened them I noticed that the grey was darker than in the picture and the blue was lighter, so I was a bit worried, but as soon as I put them up they looked really nice, I couldn’t decide if I wanted grey curtains, cream curtains or blue so in the end I found some striped curtains that are cream grey and a light blue, I think because I had to wait a few months for them I appreciate them more, they do cozy things up a bit more.

Last week it was that time again to go and do a month’s grocery shopping, I was dreading it and it just seemed to come around to fast, it felt like I had only done it a few weeks ago, anyway it was a bit quicker this time, I think we left here at ten in the morning and got home around quarter to two, I am never really happy on grocery shopping days as I really dislike it, I have hinted to Nick that he should do it but he just laughs lol, anyway at least its only once a month thankfully before I have to do it again.

Nick popped up to the post office in our little village a few days ago as since living here we haven’t had any post, so he thought he would pop up to the village and ask them, it is a funny set up as there is a box on the counter with all the mail in it, and when Nick asked if there was any mail for us he was told to look through all the letters in the box lol, anyway he did find some mail so we aren’t sure if they don’t have a postman as the lady in there apparently didn’t speak good English, the mail that Nick found that was ours was dated November which is when we moved in here, so it’s a good job he popped up to find out where the mail was,

Well today we don’t have much going on, we have to re check all of my bedroom windows and I have to water all my pots and Nick is going to clean the car and then we are going for a walk along the seafront this afternoon so it should be a nice day and it is sunny and warm outside again, I did do something silly the other day, I forgot to put sunscreen on and I was sitting in the garden and my neck must have caught the sun, only it caught it a bit odd, so my neck has gone nice and brown but there are spots of white so my neck now looks dirty lol, that will teach me to put my sunscreen on.

14^th February 2021

On Monday our shopping mall opened up, I was so happy as I have needed some slippers for ages as mine fell to pieces, and with all the floors in the house being cold tiles it did make me feel chilly even though I have been wearing socks, but I could feel the cold of the tiles through my socks, it’s crazy really as the patio outside with the sun shining on it is so warm but at this time of the year our cold tiles in the house go really chilly, so when the shopping mall opened on Monday we went down first thing in the morning to beat any crowds, there is only Marks and Spencer’s that I know that sells them so we went there and we both got slippers and they had a sale on which was really good, I also found a couple of nice cardigans it seems like forever since I have had anything new, and my new slippers are lovely and it’s amazing having warm feet again.

While we were at the shopping mall we popped into Holland and Barratt which thankfully is right next to Marks and Spencer’s to get our B12 pills as we ran out a month ago, by then the crowds were starting to pour into the shopping mall so we quickly left, and as we were leaving there were line ups starting to form outside all the shops in the mall, so I think we did well to get there really early and to get out as quickly as possible, I think the whole shopping trip took less than twenty minutes, it was nice to go somewhere different but now we have our slippers we won’t go back there again for quite a while.

We have seen Tracy and Brian twice this week as one of the days i made us lunch, and on Thursday we met up with them again as we had to go back down into Paphos as I had an email saying that my watch straps had finally got delivered to the post office and the same day they also had to go down into Paphos so we decided to meet up and get fish and chips and eat them at Lighthouse beach, so we had another catch up which was nice, we all had to sit on the sand as the owners had put all the chairs away but it was lovely watching the waves and people swimming.

Our virus numbers are going down really slowly but not quick enough, at the moment they still haven’t opened cafe’s and taverna’s over here, but I do wonder with the shopping malls opening up whether our numbers in a couple of weeks might go up, i guess we will see.

I do worry about the taverna’s cafes and restaurants over here and how they are coping with not opening as I don’t think they get paid much from the government over here so probably more businesses will be closing down, we have heard rumours that they might reopen in the middle of March but it’s just a rumour at the moment, and if our numbers do go up from the shopping malls opening then they will stay closed.

I did some research this week and found out what the little lizards are called that have been visiting me in my bedroom at night, they are called Mediterranean Gecko’s, they look sort of like a lizard and they do run around like a lizard but I knew there was something a bit different about them as lizards only come out during the day to bask in the sunshine and these Gecko’s were only in my room at night, also the colour was wrong for a lizard as the ones that keep visiting me in my room are pink and sort of translucent, anyway it was good to finally figure out what they were, apparently they like to live in houses, they like to come out in the evening and they eat flies and spiders etc., I am still not sure I want them in my bedroom though lol.

25^th February 2021

Looking at our ten day weather forecast its mainly full sun and really good temperatures again, but about a week and a half ago we did have rain for two days, which I did quite enjoy as I did other things instead of being outside, it has been such a weird winter this year, and people have said how nice it is to get back to a typical Cypriot winter, so it seems the last two winters that we have had weren’t typical for Cyprus and apparently it seems after five sunny winters they go through one or two rainy winters, which was just in time for us to move over here, I just hope it’s true as this winter hasn’t felt like winter at all but I will wait and see what happens next winter.

I noticed this last week that all of my roses that I chopped down have lots of new growth on them and the shrub rose is totally covered in new growth, I am excited to see what colour the roses are going to be.

I did get one of my jobs sorted out last week which was to get my recipe book out, it was a complete mess, as most of my recipe’s had lots of scribbles on them where I had tried to make the recipe better, and quite a few of the plastic pages were a bit grubby from cooking, so I did lots of re typing of recipe’s and printing out new pages, it’s a job I had been meaning to get to for about a year as it was really disorganized, so now it looks lovely and organized and clean again, I am lucky that each recipe page goes into a plastic cover so I even got around to bleaching the whole book, and I have found a couple of recipes that I had forgotten about so this week I will have a go at one of them, the first one I want to try is lentil and rice burgers, I am sure I tried it about a year ago and I liked them and Nick preferred the shop bought vegetarian burgers, so I thought I would try the recipe again and hopefully Nick will change his mind.

I also managed to get really caught up with my Greek, it always keeps me busy thankfully, I honestly think I would be lost without it, I try to pick my books up every day for about an hour, this week I have been learning the names of body parts like arm, leg, eyes, foot, hand etc., I am not sure why I enjoy learning so much as it is hard work lol, but it keeps my brain busy and I do seem to enjoy it which is the main thing, I sometimes struggle to remember new words so I learned from the beginning to do word association as it helps me to remember.

We have managed to go to the beach for a walk a couple of times and have a takeout coffee which is nice,  still no lunches unfortunately, they make a lovely ginger tea which these days is my favorite, it is lovely down there as there is a harbour with lots of boats so as we are walking we always pick out the boat we would like to buy lol, it is nice to dream, these days there really aren’t many people going for walks down there which is quite nice, it could be because we tend to go on weekdays rather than the weekend, I guess most people are at work, it is also nice without all of the tourists although I think next month they are re-opening airports up again for tourists so things are going to get busy and crowded again which is a shame, but I do think after the year everyone has had people do need holidays.

I did read in the local news though that three people got caught sitting together at the beach and they all got fined three hundred each, so we probably won’t meet Tracy and Brian down at the beach again, it’s crazy that those people can go to each other’s houses and have lunch and sit in a small room together but not out in the fresh air, we are living in crazy times I think. Our infection numbers have gone up over the last few days, I was expecting it to do that with them opening the shopping malls up a few weeks ago, it seems every time things get opened up the numbers go up, it’s a crazy game of locking everyone down and then it starts all over again whenever they open things up again, I hope it starts levelling off soon though so they can open the taverna’s up as I miss sitting at the beach with a drink, when we go for our walk and get our take out coffee there is a wall we sit on but it’s just not the same as sitting on a nice chair to watch the ocean, I think that is the thing that I miss most, not so much the shops but just sitting at the beach.

4^th March 2021

Well this week has been a bit worrying as my sister Cath’s lodger got sick and he was feeling really poorly, and then a few days later Cath got sick, anyway Eliza the lodger went to have a Covid test and his result came back positive so then Cath went to get a test and her result came back positive as well, unfortunately the lodger got really ill after a few days and he collapsed on the stairs, so Cath called an ambulance for him, that was last Sunday and he is still really ill in the hospital, I have been calling Cath every day but she has been too ill to talk to me but she did send me one text message on Wednesday to say she can’t talk on the phone and feels too ill to text, it is a worry as I know her dog will need feeding and letting out and also her two cats will need feeding, I am sure Sharna her daughter will drop things off for Cath at the doorstep but I think Cath is too ill to get out of bed, I have messaged Sharna for any updates, but so far she hasn’t gotten back to me which is also a bit of a worry, I wonder what people are supposed to do in situations like that, I am trying not to worry but it is worrying.

On top of that Cath went to Nicola’s house last Friday evening and Nicola has called me to say she is feeling quite ill, I will keep calling her to see how she gets on and hopefully she hasn’t caught this virus as well, it is all a worry.

There does seem to be a lot of mutations of the virus going around now, weekly I keep hearing about all of the different strains, I guess it was only to be expected as our regular covid cold viruses mutate every winter, it does make me wonder how they will keep up with the different strains of vaccines to make them effective against each strain, our numbers at the moment still seem to be going up since they re-opened the shopping malls, and this week they decided to open the schools and so all of the children are now back in school, I can imagine our numbers will keep going up for the next while, but these days I am happy to stay at home and stay away from all the germs, the only time we really go out is now and again for a walk at the beach or to do the months grocery shopping.

Well talking of grocery shopping, we had to do our monthly grocery shopping yesterday, which I am not going to moan about this time, it was a horrible day though, but I am glad to say it is out of the way for another month and that is all I will say about it lol.

This week I finally got around to planting some seeds, I planted lettuce seed, two types of  chilli peppers, plus mint and basil seeds as they are both lovely mixed in with my bean salad, I also did a couple of flowering plants, one is a little purple plant that I brought last year, it was only a small one for the table outside, I can’t remember what it was called but it bloomed all of last summer up until a few weeks ago, so I collected some of the seed, the other plant is a plant that I lost last summer as I think I overwatered it, it’s called treasure flower and its really lovely, so before it completely died on me I managed to collect some of the seed, it will be interesting to see if either of the flowering plants grow again from the seed, anyway so I think that is all I will grow this year, although I do have to buy some parsley seeds as I love parsley although my old parsley from last year still looks good so I might try giving it a haircut.

I also had an afternoon of changing the outside area around which kept me busy, I am sure I will probably do it again along with all my plants as I love to fiddle lol, at some point soon we have to go and buy some large pots as some of my plants have outgrown their pots.

We finally got to chat with Dan this week which was nice, their hospital is still going well and they are really busy so that was good to hear, at least having a vet hospital means they are an essential service so they haven’t had to close down, it was a lovely catch up though and it always does me good to hear from him, I also spoke to my other son Jamie, they are busy decorating at the moment, he has sent me some pictures and their house is looking lovely, I think it needed decorating with the three dogs as they did a bit of damage over the last year, the joys of puppies I guess.

Well talking of dogs, we have another wandering dog in the area, we started seeing him just after moving in,  Nick convinced me when we first moved here that someone owned him as he had a collar on, but I think as time has passed I can see he has been abandoned and more than likely no one took his collar off, I see him on and off through the day wandering around over the fields and on and off through the night I hear him howling and crying as he goes past our house, mainly at around 3 in the morning, I have managed to get outside the gate when he goes past during the day but he won’t come near me, so in the end a few days ago when I think I realized he was abandoned I put a bowl of water outside the gate and we went out and bought a big bag of dog food,  so I fill the bowl up every day, my aim is gradually over time to move his bowl closer and closer to the gate until I can get him used to me, I have to say he is not a pretty looking dog, but I do feel so sorry for him, anyway I am just doing the best I can do for now and we will see what happens, but at least I know for now he isn’t going hungry or thirsty.

Brian and Tracy came over on Sunday for lunch, it is funny as I have been making them lunches for the last two years lol, but whenever I hint that it would be nice for someone else to make the lunch they make an excuse, I think its laziness to be honest, but after two years I have to say it is starting to irritate me a little bit.

I have been outside most of today trying to learn more Greek words but I have found it too hard to concentrate really, it was nice sitting in the sun though, Nick went over to Brian and Tracy’s to help Brian put the fence up, so I also got lots of peace lol, it’s not often me and Nick have a break from each other so it was quite nice.

10^th March 2021

Well today I heard from my sister Cath which was nice, I have been texting every day but wasn’t getting any replies again, but today she wrote and said she feels the same as last week and no better, she said her head and her eyes hurt her a lot, and her skin is still really sensitive to touch, she has hardly any appetite and just feels really poorly, she said Eliza her lodger is still in the hospital but they can’t find out how he is, that was all she said, it was just a really short text, it is a worry as I would have thought by now her immune system would have kicked in and she would be feeling a bit better with some kind of improvement, so it all could be worse but it also could be better,

Our taverna’s are going to be opening on the 16^th March which will be nice, I think everyone is surprised though as our numbers are not really going down, so I thought they would keep things as they are, but in a way it is good as a lot of them have already gone out of business, now and again I see items for sale from people’s businesses, it is a shame for a lot of people.

We heard last week that as from May 1^st we are letting British tourists back in again and also tourists from other countries, so we will have to be ultra-careful again and stay away from the tourist areas, it’s a shame really as we missed out on all the nice places and beaches last year so it looks like another summer staying away from people, our garden is so lovely though with the pool and the views so I don’t think it will be a real hardship to stay home a bit more.

At this new house we are living in there is a big square metal square structure down the side of the house, similar to what you see at the taverna’s and they are used to grow grapevines over, they look so pretty in the summer with the grapes hanging down, so I mentioned it to our landlord when he came up for his rent, I know he grows lots of grapes and other fruits so I was hoping by mentioning it to him that he might give me some cuttings and that’s exactly what he did, the following day after mentioning it to him he bought me round a cutting of white grapes, a cutting of red grapes and two cuttings of black grapes, so that was pretty exciting, he did tell me it takes three years for them to grow properly and produce grapes but I still wanted to do it as even if we aren’t here in three years it will still look beautiful and it’s also something I have never grown before, so I have them all planted now,

I have been having a few days here and there on my own over the last few weeks which has been quite nice as Nick has been going over quite a lot to help Brian put his fence up, I think this week it should be finished, but it is nice to be on my own sometimes, I seem to get more done, and also it gives me more time to study Greek from my book, yesterday he was over there most of the day again so I decided to try something different for dinner, so I made a vegetarian chili only this time I put it in a long square glass dish and put layers of thinly sliced potatoes, tomatoes and courgettes on the top overlaying each thing, and then oven baked it so the potatoes came out crispy, it was really lovely, and also made a change, I have given myself a job of coming up with some new recipes for this year, so at least once every two weeks I have to come up with something new.

I still have my wandering dog, now and again he is joined by two other dogs, we have a big metal gate which is kept locked, mainly to give us privacy, but it means none of them can come onto the property which is good as one day last week I was walking up the road to get rid of the rubbish, as we have communal bins everywhere in Cyprus, and my wandering dog was with a different dog and they were coming down the road towards me, the other dog started to really bark loudly at me, like he was warning me not to keep walking towards him,  normally I am not afraid of any dog but my instinct was to walk back to the house fairly quickly and shut the gate until they had passed by, my normal wandering dog never barks when he sees me but there was something a bit menacing about the other one, anyway we still put a bowl of food out every day with a bowl of water and everyday both bowls are empty, I just hope it’s my wandering dog that gets it lol, I do have a feeling though that I am never going to get anywhere with him like in helping him or trying to make friends with him, but we will see what happens over time.

16^th March 2021

We seem to be going through a bit of cloud over the last few days and tomorrow is forecast some rain for a day or two, I actually put a pair of jeans on earlier as I had to walk up the road to the bin, my jeans this winter have hardly seen the light of day so it felt quite odd putting them on, but looking at the weather I will be wearing them again tomorrow lol.

Last week I actually found a hairdresser in Polis which is our nearest town, my hair really did need a good cut and I always seem to leave it to long between cuts for some reason, I seem to wait until it looks a complete mess, thankfully it didn’t need dying as a few weeks ago I dyed it myself, I think the only time I really need a hairdresser to dye it for me is when its swimming weather, as the chlorine in the pool seems to react really weird with hair dye, I had a greenish tint to my hair one time, and another time my hair came out really dark brown, so anyway I decided to start dying it myself until I start swimming again,

We had a nice afternoon out in Peyia last week, I needed something from one of the grocery shops down there, also there is a really big shop down there which I have been wanting to visit, and we were lucky that the day we went it was really quiet with hardly anyone in there, if I had seen a few people in there I probably wouldn’t have gone in, so I spent an hour just browsing and looking at things, although the only thing I bought was a lighter for the fireplace lol, but I really did enjoy just looking, I think I have been deprived of window shopping this last year.

On Sunday I actually got around to making some bread, making bread is something I had been meaning to do for ages, I used to have a bread maker in Canada and it was really good, but of course it had to be left behind because of the electric voltage being different, so I spent some time last week looking for bread recipe’s and I found four that I wanted to have a go at making, so I thought I would try doing one a week to see which came out better, I haven’t been able to find any bread flour so I found these four recipe’s that just used normal flour, anyway my first attempt was called a half and half loaf, it was using half of whole-wheat flour and half of plain, all was well until it was supposed to rise and it didn’t lol, I think it’s because the house is still chilly, although in the end I did find a way of warming the dough up by putting it in the cold oven with an oven tray of hot water beneath it, so it rose just very slightly after that, I was convinced it would be awful with it not rising properly but surprisingly the end result was really lovely and it had a lovely crust on the top, it’s definitely a recipe that I will make again, I am looking forward to making the next one now, and at some point I am going to have a go at making my own starter yeast which should be interesting.

Our wandering dog is still wandering poor thing, last week when we were out we bought a big plastic container so I could keep it filled up with fresh water outside our gate, only after two days someone took it, I was quite surprised that someone would do that but I didn’t give it to much thought, so I found my dogs old bowls and filled one with water and one with food and put those outside the gate, and the following day they had both gone as well, I don’t think they are being taken because the person needs bowls, my gut feeling is that whoever is taking them is doing it because they don’t want us to feed the dog or give it water, anyway after talking to my sister Cath about it she said we should put the dry dog food in the grass outside the gate where we were putting the dog bowls, so instead of the food being in a bowl it would just be on the grass, that way the dog can still eat and if someone is driving by they won’t see the food in the grass, anyway so we have done this over the last two days and the food is gone by the afternoon, now I just need to figure a way of giving the dog some water without someone taking the bowl, as much I think the Cypriot people are lovely I will never understand the way some of them don’t seem to care about animals.

It is lovely having Cath back to her normal chatty self, although I am still not hearing from her as much as usual but she did say she was more tired than normal so that is probably why, I had a text from her yesterday to say that she called up the hospital again to see how Eliza was and he is still on the Covid ward and is on oxygen, poor guy.

Our virus numbers over here are still rising, its only since they opened the shops and shopping malls, and then the schools, and so week by week our numbers have just gotten higher and higher, I think everyone was surprised this week that they have now opened all of the Taverna’s, the Cafe’s and Restaurants, so I guess our numbers will continue to rise.

It’s funny as even though everything has opened up completely over here, I still feel like we are on some kind of lockdown, I think it’s because compared to just over a year ago we have virtually stopped going out, and only go out when it’s really necessary, but I am glad we are staying at home more and until our numbers go down we will just keep doing what we are doing, I have actually sorted myself some crafts out to do which I am looking forward to playing with, I want to have a go at making something which is like a wind chime, but one that doesn’t make a noise, so I would thread the hanging down parts with beads etc. which I will hang down from a piece of old wood, I have some old beads and there is plenty of wood dotted about outside, so I thought it would be a fun thing to do, the other thing I want to do is make a tic tac toe table, and use my painted stones on the top as play pieces, anyway they are just things that I can make that won’t cost anything, I also want to get back into painting stones as it is a very relaxing thing to do and it’s amazing what you can do with them, I think that should be my boring summer taken care of lol.

We have been watching Master Chef over the last few weeks which has also inspired me to try out some different fish recipe’s, whether I will ever get round to them or not is another matter lol, after watching one of the episodes the other day I said to Nick that if I try different fish recipes what would he like to try, his very serious answer was sticky toffee pudding, I think there is no helping some people lol.

20^th March 2021

I am finding it hard to believe that we are already in the middle of March, I don’t know where this winter has gone as its just whizzed by, last week we had some cloudy rainy days and a bit of wind, we knew it was coming though, but it was good to see some rain as through our whole summer there won’t be any rain until next autumn so having a bit of rain was definitely good, thankfully our weather has picked up again now and we are back to sunshine, I do like to feel warm and I have started noticing the temperature in the house is rising so that makes me feel happier, I do hate a chilly house.

On one of our rainy afternoons last week I decided to try a different loaf of bread as it just so happened that we had run out of bread that morning and neither of us fancied going down into Polis to the store, so I said why don’t we make our own, surprisingly enough Nick wanted to have a go at making one as well, so we made the one I did last week as we knew that would turn out well and then we tried one of the other recipe’s I had found which was a hundred per cent wholemeal bread, the one I had made last week came out perfect again and the other one we hadn’t done before had a problem with rising, I think it didn’t get kneaded enough, so that is something we will remember, it was still a good loaf though although it was smaller, I think we will try that one again and knead it for longer next time

My challenge this week is I am going to try pizza dough, as Nick wanted to buy a pizza from the grocery but we couldn’t find one we liked so I said if he wanted one I would make it myself lol, so now I have to have a go and hope it works out, I do remember making one or two pizzas in Canada and I think they came out ok, anyway I will make it in a few days and see what it’s like.

Our numbers for the virus still seem to be rising, it’s funny as I remember last March when we first went into lockdown, our numbers were around 6 or 8 every day, and it makes me laugh now that we found that worrying lol, these days our numbers are around 350 to 450, and one of the days it was nearly five hundred, which might not sound like a lot but with the amount of people we have over here it is too high, also with the hospital’s now putting extra beds in, they are also expecting things to get worse, so we can see things might start getting a bit bad over here, I read a few days ago that the EU has now declared Cyprus a red zone so that also was a bit worrying, so this week we both decided that we will put ourselves on our own little lockdown again. We were looking forward to life going more back to normal with the taverna’s opening up again and it would have been nice getting out a bit more than we have but we think it would be crazy really to think things are normal at the moment with all of the numbers going up and seeing what the hospitals are doing over here with getting all of the extra beds all ready for things to get worse.

26^th March 2021

Well this week we have discovered that we haven’t been feeding our wandering dog at all which is a shame, every day we were putting the food out on the grass outside the gate and every day the food was gone which made me feel better, but this morning we thought it was odd that we hadn’t seen the dog around for a few days but the food was always gone, this morning we found out who was actually eating the food, and believe it or not it was the Magpies, we do have a lot of them around here and they are lovely but it was sad to realize that it wasn’t the dog that had been having the food, today Nick decided to peek through a hole in the gate, so he stood there for a while and about ten or more magpies appeared and within minutes the food was eaten, I am not sure what I can do now so will have to re think everything.

Our week started out lovely and hot and was at 72 degrees and then the following day we did have some wild weather, we had a bit more rain and really wild winds, it was lovely though for a while to sit and look through the windows at all of the clouds flying along, I do love all the big windows we have in this living room, I had heard we were going to have a sand storm, and on Tuesday morning I woke up to most of my windows covered in sand and you could barely see out of them, the whole of the back patio was covered in sand, my glass table was yellow instead of glass, I have never seen so much sand before, the plants were covered and so was the car, poor Nick had just spent a few hours cleaning the pool the day before so was really dismayed to see if looking really murky with sand lol, we still have high winds at the moment so we haven’t managed to get outside to clean it all up, although some of it has blown away but tomorrow we are back to sunshine again so we will be spending our afternoon hosing everything down and cleaning the pool, and sometime next week I will get to the windows so I can see through them again lol.

I don’t think the little Gecko’s like the wild weather as on Tuesday evening I got up to get a drink and there was one sitting outside my bedroom door, it did make me laugh and I decided not to chuck him out but to leave him to wander the house and eat any spiders etc. I think over the last month we have had about three spiders, one wasn’t very nice but the other two were just house spiders, but I have read that Geckos eat them so I said to Nick a while ago that if we get any more Geckos in the house we should just leave them to wander around, anyway I have named him Burt and because they only come out at night there is a chance I will only see him now and again if I get up in the night, every time I have seen them in the house they just wander around on the walls so that also makes it better so I won’t tread on them lol, if someone had told me a few years ago I would be living in a house with geckos running around I don’t think I would have believed them lol.

This week has felt like a better week, and just really more relaxing, Cath is totally back to normal now so we have chatted a few times this week which has been lovely, it seems everyone’s lives in the family seems to be going well, Nicola told me yesterday she has sent off for her provisional driving license as she is going to have driving lessons which was a surprise but I am really pleased for her, she also had Sarah and Connell down for a few days which she enjoyed, and Jamie bought a beautiful new car last week and his girlfriend brought him a hot tub for his birthday, I do need to call Danny this weekend but it is nice when life goes well for everyone as it makes me feel a bit more at peace and more relaxed.

A few days ago I read that most of the taverna’s and café’s haven’t bothered opening up again even though they have been given the go ahead which is sort of a good thing to see other people taking it seriously, although the odd café and taverna have opened just here and there.

Last week our government also said that our hospitals are at ninety six per cent full which isn’t good to hear, apparently there are four hundred beds left in Cyprus and everyone is asking what happens if they fill up, where do all the sick people go, but so far there are no answers, the EU are still classifying Cyprus as a red zone which is also quite worrying.

3^rd April 2021

My granddaughter Sarah and her boyfriend Connell decided last Wednesday to have a drive to my daughter Nicola’s house in Portsmouth, and on their journey down an ambulance hit the side of their car, it really shook them both up, the ambulance didn’t stop as it had its sirens going, luckily for them they had a dash cam on the dashboard which records the road as you are driving, so they were able to show the police etc. what happened, I am so glad they had a dash cam as otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to prove anything, I think it’s something we might look into over here as the Cypriots are really bad drivers, they think it’s normal to drive with one hand hanging out the window with a cigarette, balance their phone and steering wheel with the other hand, and also most of them don’t even put seat belts on the children, they are really bad for ignoring red traffic lights and just go straight through them, it always amazes both me and Nick when we see it, anyway it’s something to think about with what happened to Sarah and Connell.

Our weather this week has been on and off sunny and cloudy and a bit rainy, on one of the sunny days I was silly and got my face burned as I forgot to put cream on, hopefully I will remember from now on, the couple of rainy days we had I quite enjoyed as it gave my face time to recover, I have read we are going to be in the seventies next week, so everything over here is getting hotter, the house is also warming up really well thankfully.

I am really looking forward to swimming again this year, and I am hoping I won’t have to wait until May, in Tsada our pool at this time of the year wasn’t getting a lot of sun, but the pool at this house is mainly in the sun all day so it will be interesting to see if we get to swim earlier this year, at least then I will be getting a good bit of exercise lol, plus it will give us something else to do.

Last week when we had the sand storm and wind I think we were only without the sun for four days but for some reason it felt like at least a month, all of that sand took longer to clean up than we thought it would, I think it took Nick four days to sort the pool out as it really looked murky and had so much sand in it, and when I came to wash the patio down it was a nightmare as somehow a lot of the sand had stuck like glue, I went over all of the outside twice with the hose on full power but I could still see sand, so I had to re do it all again the following day and the tables were the same, somehow the sand just stuck and had to be scrubbed off, we still have all of the windows to do but will get to them next week, I did hose them down with the hose which has helped a little bit, thankfully we don’t get sand storms like that very often lol, although when our landlord popped up at the beginning of the week he said he thinks it’s every March that this happens.

This week I finally got around to making the pizza that Nick wanted, it’s not something we would normally eat but I think Nick just had a craving for it, the dough was so simple to make and didn’t take long and then after thirty minutes I threw the topping on and cooked it and I have honestly never tasted pizza so amazing, I said to Nick we should think about having it every month as it was just so delicious lol, I am sure I made it a few times in Canada and I am sure it was nice but this was just really really good, and definitely something I will look forward to having again, I was quite sparing with the mozzarella cheese so it wasn’t to unhealthy lol.

I still have no idea what happened to that wandering dog, it’s all really odd, after we discovered that it was the Magpies eating the food, the dog then disappeared, and it’s been about two weeks since we have seen her, we still look for her every day as she liked to lie down in a field down the hill, so I am hoping someone else has helped her, we will hang on to the dry dog food though in case something similar happens.

Yesterday was our monthly grocery shopping trip, it’s amazing how quickly it seems to come around, the months just seem to fly by so quickly, we wore our plastic gloves etc. and thankfully it’s done for another month, we will still have to pop to the greengrocers about every ten days, but we are doing the best we can to stay safe as our numbers are still too high and yesterday they actually doubled, but they did do more testing yesterday, I am hoping at some point this summer that the numbers will go down and we can go out for a coffee etc. as I miss sitting at the beach, but I think our summer is going to be like last summer where we mainly stayed at home, I guess we will have to wait and see.

With staying at home more these days I am grateful for having my Greek lessons as it gives me something else to do, of course as the weeks go by the lessons get harder but I am finding if I keep at it then at some point the penny drops and I finally get it lol, I do surprise myself though with how much I can actually say now in Geek, and yesterday in the supermarket I kept hearing and understanding the odd word here and there, it also depends how fast they are talking, so even though its hard I really look forward to my homework to keep my brain busy lol, at the moment I am learning different foods etc. which I am enjoying, I only started the food words two days ago so at the moment I know watermelon, onions and beans, tomatoes, apples and oranges.

I decided a while ago that this time when I do my morning bible reading from the beginning I decided to do it chronologically, as I thought it would make it a bit different, and its working out really well, so as I am reading about David, my readings take me to Psalms and Chronicles which actually makes it all make more sense, as David wrote his songs about what he was going through and they are in Psalms but it makes things make more sense when they are slotted in with David’s story, and as I am reading David’s story then it mixes Chronicles in with it as David’s story is repeated in Chronicles so then you get to read both accounts, anyway this time around it has made things even more interesting.

11^th April 2021

A few days ago Nick decided to put the pool cover on to see if we could get it heated up quicker as the weather is lovely and warm, and it went up five degrees over a couple of days, hopefully just another couple of weeks before it’s at the right temperature, my favourite temperature for me to get in the water is around 25 degrees, but I do remember last April every time it nearly got to the right temperature we would have a cold night and the temperature would drop again, it drove me crazy lol, anyway we will see what happens over the next week.

With the house being warm now, I decided we can go back to some cold dinners which I have missed, so last week before grocery shopping I finally got out our summer menu, I have missed all of my different salads this winter, but with the house going chilly in the winter by the time its dinner time and we are back in the house I only ever seem to want warm dinners, it’s going to be nice changing over to a different menu though, I have already made my bean salad this last week which I have improved on since being over here as I add basil and mint and lemon juice and I don’t put quite so much garlic in it, and last year I made up my own salad with pomegranates and almonds with a  dressing which was honey, olive oil and fresh garlic, I think I was trying to find ways of getting more garlic into my diet without cooking it as when its cooked it destroys most of the benefits of it, anyway so I am looking forward to changing our food more over the next month.

Last week I also got round to making Nick his raisin scones that I had been promising to make for weeks now, I think the last time I went to make them we had no milk, anyway I used a completely different recipe just for a change and they were really nice, I think the new recipe I found added vanilla and also more fruit, anyway Nicks two cravings have now gone and no more treats for a while, or until Nick gets another craving lol which probably won’t be too long.

Last week as I was looking at all of my plants I realized some of them needed bigger pots, thankfully I had some bigger old pots in the shed but I still have two or three plants that need bigger pots, I am itching to go to the garden centre but I will have to wait until our numbers go down before I go and buy them, it was a nice afternoon though getting covered in dirt and getting some of them re-potted.

I am enjoying watching the birds here and I have noticed over the last while that we seem to have a lot of magpies and swallows around, it is really lovely hearing the magpies in the tree’s as they do all this really weird chattering, but it’s a really nice sort of noise, it reminds me of a group of old women in the kitchen when I hear them, there is also another bird that I keep hearing that I have never heard before, I have tried to find out the name of it as it has such a distinct noise but so far I have no clue, last week I downloaded an app on my phone that lets you record the bird noise and it tells you what bird it is, but so far I haven’t been able to capture the noise properly, hopefully one of these days I will, also I haven’t seen the bird yet no matter how many times I wander around when I hear him, I keep peering into the tree’s and I can hear him but just can’t see him, it’s really odd.

I still haven’t managed to get any birds to my bird bath so we moved it to another spot in the garden and I put a few shrubs in pots around it to hopefully encourage them, it’s been in the new spot for nearly a week but so far they haven’t gone near it, but what made me laugh this morning was that a few feet away from the bird bath was a little puddle of water from where I watered some plants, and there was five birds hopping in and out of this very tiny tiny puddle, it made me laugh that right next to the puddle was a perfectly good bird bath that they are ignoring.

We gave ourselves a break from the house and garden on Friday which was nice and we decided to do some exploring, it was just a shortish road trip without getting out of the car as our numbers are still too high, so we had a drive out to a village on the coast called Pomos, the drive itself was beautiful as the road has the ocean to the side of it so it was lovely driving along and watching the waves, it took about twenty five minutes to drive there and then we slowly drove home again, the village itself wasn’t anything special, I was expecting it to be pretty with little houses and restaurants and cafe’s but it was the opposite which was a shame, but we have heard that the government is giving the village a lot of money to make the area more appealing to tourists, I think it was the coast line that was amazing and the actual drive to get there, still it got us out and it was enjoyable.

This morning we decided to start cleaning the windows as after the sandstorm they were looking pretty awful, we were due one more day of rain a few days ago so I decided to hold off on cleaning them just in case, the rain didn’t happen so we decided to just get on and get them cleaned, it did take a long time though, four hours in all, we had to take the bedroom screens out to scrub them as well which is what made it take so long, but it is fabulous now to be able to see out of all the windows properly especially after the sandstorm and all of the winter rain that we had now and again, I think that is us done for rain now and we probably won’t see any more until October as that is what is has been like since being here.

18^th April 2021

This week our virus number have doubled from what they were a couple of weeks ago which is worrying, and now there is a rumor going around at the moment that they are thinking of locking us down again in a few weeks if the numbers don’t go down, but so far it’s just a rumor that a few business owners have heard, so we will see, we have been here before and it is starting to feel like we are on a roundabout going around in circles, they lock us down and the numbers go down, they let everyone out and eventually the numbers rise, so it’s just like a vicious circle that doesn’t stop.

I also heard last week there is now another new strain called the India strain, which seems really bad, apparently that virus has two spikes instead of one,  and India at the moment is overwhelmed with too many cases and are not coping, the report I read was really sad.

Well our weather this past week has gotten hotter, yesterday the temperature actually hit 30 degrees, the weather said we would get to 26, so it was a lot hotter than we thought it was going to be, I am happier in the heat so I have had a really lovely week just pottering in the garden, sometimes I feel like pinching myself that we have landed up in this amazing property, I am so in love with the garden and the views that we have of the ocean and the mountains that sometimes it feels unreal, but I do count my blessings every single day, I don’t think I will ever take it all for granted, especially after what we went through at the other house, with nosy neighbours, noisy neighbours and the building work which is going to go on for another two years, I am just so thankful that we didn’t try to stick it out as what we have landed up with is so peaceful and amazing.

Yesterday when I was sitting outside there was a lizard fairly close to me sitting on the wall, so I sat watching him for a while, I love the lizards over here but when they are basking in the sun they don’t move so they are not the most interesting things to watch, but this lizard suddenly put his tail in the air which I was fascinated with as I had never seen a lizard do that before, I wondered if he was going to attack an insect or jump somewhere, anyway as I was sitting there giving it a lot of thought and wondering what he was just about to do, he did a big poo, it did make me laugh as I thought it was going to be something interesting lol, when this particular lizard is on the wall quite often a bigger one lies down fairly close, so the one that did the poo I have called Poo, and the bigger one I have called Winnie, so we have Winne and Poo instead of Winnie the Poo lol.

I had fun and games with my laundry last week as the landlord and his wife came over to their field which is sort of at the back of our property, they can’t see into our garden which is nice so they never bother us, but this one day they lit a fire as they obviously had things to burn and get rid of, and all was well as the wind was blowing in the opposite direction to our house, but the wind decided to change and this really thick black smoke went blowing all over my laundry which I had just hung out, it was sheets and quilt covers etc., the black smoke went on for ages, so when it was finished I put everything back into the machine and did a rinse cycle with softener, so it all turned out ok and it didn’t bother me too much, but then the following day I washed some towels, and then the day after Nick did some colored’s, and it was only when we noticed that the machine finished too quickly did we realize it was still on the rinse cycle, it was funny but we had to re wash all the towels that I had done the day before and Nick had to re wash all the colored washing, we did see the funny side of it all though.

We finally got around to hanging up my hanging baskets under the porch in the back garden, only the plants were too high for me to reach to deadhead and water them, so Nick found some chain and took the plastic hangers off the pots and replaced them with chain, they look really pretty hanging down and the chain makes them look nicer as well, we are so lucky to have such a lovely big porch area in the back garden and when the heat of the summer comes it is going to be a lovely cool place to sit, I found yesterday was to hot so it was lovely spending some time under the porch in between of doing jobs.

I still haven’t managed to get any birds to come to my birdbath, so we moved it again, I have a feeling that they couldn’t see it, so a few days ago when I was sitting outside I kept seeing this little bird on the railing at the back of the garden, he was there on and off for a few days, so I said to Nick if the bird bath was there he would see it, so it has now been moved next to the railing, the funny thing is the bird didn’t come back lol, I have sprinkled breadcrumbs around the area where it is but so far still no birds, anyway I am hoping one of them will find it at some point, I think it looks nicer where it is as I can see it from the porch so whether they find it or not that is where it is going to stay.

27^th April 2021

It seems we are back into a lockdown again as our numbers are too high, this time they have made it only a two week lockdown, although goodness knows what two weeks will do, the thing that got me feeling a bit low was that the government have said that in two weeks’ time from May 10^th when they open everything again they are putting new rules into place, so to be able to go into any cafe’s or any retail shops, taverna’s etc., we have to go and get a test in the previous 72 hours to show we have tested negative, the queues to get a test have apparently been three hours long or more, as all the workers have been doing this for ages now to be allowed to go to work, so they have to get tested every week and apparently the queues are horrendous, so now if regular people get a test so they can go and visit retail shops or tavernas and outdoor cafe’s it is going to make the line ups even longer.

The only other way you can get out of having a test is to be vaccinated which I won’t do as I still think it’s a bit too early and experimental, so it looks like anyone who won’t do any of the above are banned from being in shops and taverna’s cafe’s etc. even if they sit outside, it did make me feel fed up for a couple of days, thankfully I am over it now and feel more like myself but I really did feel my mood go right down and it took a couple of days to get myself back to normal again.

The government have not said yet whether we will need a test to be able to go into a supermarket from May 10th, they are keeping us waiting for that little bombshell, so we will find out soon, the whole thing as usual makes no sense, as someone posted online earlier what if you run out of milk and just need to run to the corner shop, if they bring that new rule in then you would have to have a test to be able to go into the shop to buy your milk, anyway it’s a game of waiting and seeing what happens I guess.

I did hear that today a group of lawyers are having a meeting to see if they can stop the government doing this, so there is a slight hope it might all be alright.

We have seen a bit more of Brian and Tracy’s over the last week, they convinced us that they are hardly going out either so there is less chance of them picking the virus up which is good, so last week on our last day before lockdown started which was Sunday we all decided to find somewhere out of the way that did lunches so we went to a place on the coast but quite far up and spent the afternoon chatting, it was a lovely afternoon.

Well I don’t think I have been up to much this week although I always seem to be on the go doing something, it’s funny as we realized that the pool was at 27 degrees a few days ago, so it’s definitely swimming time, but we have both been too busy to even think about getting our bathing suits out, hopefully at some point in the week we will finally have some relaxing time.

Nick this last week has been chopping all the grass at the side of the house, he had been trying to get his strimmer working but it keeps cutting out so in the end every day he spent a few hours cutting it with some secateurs, it has taken him days though, but he finally finished yesterday, when the landlord pops up for his rent this month we will ask him if there is a small engine repair shop anywhere so hopefully he won’t have to do this again poor guy. 

Today I finally caught up with all of my weeding, and I have now gotten to a point where all of my plants that had outgrown their pots have now been re potted, so no more dirt and mess all over the place, I thought I had finished over a week ago but it seemed somehow I forgot some of them, I did have to spend another afternoon re- arranging all of my pots again but I think I have them in the right spots for now, when the weather gets even hotter I will have to move my geraniums as they like morning shade in Cyprus but for now everything looks happy and healthy, I still have a couple of  gardening jobs to do but I think I am just going to spend some time in the evening gardening from this week, as the weather has gotten hotter and it’s easier to do things in the evening when it has cooled down.

Nick also finally got around to re doing the draught excluder on the front door as he noticed it had risen a bit and so there was a slight gap under the front door, I think we had found another creepy crawly in the house which made us re check everything, anyway after re doing the bit at the bottom of the front door he then decided to put some powder down on the floor inside the front door and also outside, it’s just for ants and crawly things so we thought it would help deter things from wanting to be in the house, anyway that evening after going to bed I got up to get a glass of water and there was a gecko in the hallway trying to get under the draught excluder and his face was covered in powder poor little thing, so we managed to catch him and put him outside and so at least we now know where things have been coming into the house….two nights later after getting up for a drink there was a baby gecko also trying to get under the front door, thankfully he didn’t have any powder on him and so we evicted him to the garden lol.

Just to make things even funnier, the following day I went into the spare bedroom as that is where we keep the wash basket, and I spotted something under our little portable radiator that we bought a few years ago, so I went over to see what it was and really hoping it wasn’t anything big and crawly….and it was a lizard, when he spotted me he ran up inside the radiator….so I decided to carry the radiator into the garden and I thought if I sit with a cup of tea and watch the radiator and see him run out then I can take the radiator back into the bedroom, anyway so both me and Nick sat on the patio in front of the radiator waiting for him to jump out, we were so quiet and just sat in total silence, and after an hour and ten minutes he was still in there lol, in the end Nick had to go and get his screwdriver and take the back off the radiator and then finally the lizard jumped out and went running off, it was funny.

We are coming up to our Easter over here in the next week and all the shops have been full of Easter eggs, I always get a craving for chocolate when I see them all lol, but I am being good and not buying any, it’s funny to think that  Easter in the UK was weeks ago now, I read this morning that all the churches have been given the go ahead for church services even though we are on a lockdown, so I expect they will be totally packed as the Easter church services at this time of the year are a really big thing over here, even more than Christmas, so I don’t suppose that is going to help our numbers, I think the government told the churches to abide by the rules but they refused and so the government gave in, I am guessing our numbers will be getting even higher now.

10^th May 2021

Our virus numbers over the last week seem like they are finally coming down which is good to hear so hopefully they will carry on getting lower, there are loads of new restrictions that started today but I won’t go on about them as there are quite a lot of them and most of them as usual don’t make any sense which ends up irritating me.

I have been thinking of what I have been up to over the last while and I think it’s mainly just gardening jobs that we have been doing, I did count my plant pots the other day as my sister Cath asked me how many I had and she wanted me to send her a video of them and also the garden, so I did…and I was shocked to find out that I had seventy five plant pots dotted around lol, it did make me laugh.

Our weather as usual is hot, and we did have a really hot spell where the temperature went to around 90 degrees for a few days, I did enjoy it and I am so glad we love the heat as I don’t think a lot of people like it, which is weird that they chose to live somewhere like Cyprus lol, I think a lot of people end up staying in their house which is a shame, it does make us continually count our blessings every day….. the one problem we have had though is that when the real heat came we realized that we weren’t able to open any doors or windows as none of them have screens on them, thankfully the bedrooms do but we haven’t been able to open them as the screen fabric is old and a few have some holes in them, so I haven’t felt comfortable opening any of the windows or doors as we have had to many nasty surprises since living in this house lol, so with the heat here already we called a guy that fits screens into windows and makes a frame for them, he came out about a week and a half ago and gave us a quote which wasn’t too bad to do two screens for the living room doors, then we asked him to make one for the kitchen window, and then he is going to sort out the bedroom windows, he is coming to fit them either next week or the week after, so until then we just have to cope with no doors or windows open which is a bit hard beings as it is really hot, but I do keep trying to let air in the house as twice a day I open the back door and sit in a chair next to it so I can let some air into the house and also make sure nothing else goes wandering in, it has helped a little bit but to be able to open a window or leave a door open in the evening to let some cooler air in would be amazing, the house is really warm even with the fans going, I think we will be really excited the day he comes to fit them, I think he could have sorted it all out sooner for us but last weekend and last week was Easter over here and everything was closed, it’s a shame that we have to pay to screens fitted and I am amazed that all the other tenants haven’t at least sorted a screen out for even just one window, it makes me wonder how they coped with things coming into the house like tarantulas and also there are also snakes that could get in, we did tell the landlord what we were doing and he was fine with it, I think we were hoping he would offer to pay half but he didn’t which is a shame, so it’s more expense, but with not going out to cafe’s and taverna’s and shopping malls all of that helps, also we are in summer now so our electric bills will be really nice and cheap for the next while.

I found something quite amazing last week to do with plants and healing, for some reason over the last few weeks I have had a sore bottom lip, I have never had a cold sore before so I knew it wasn’t one of those thankfully, but my bottom lip had a sore spot on it and the whole thing just felt sore for weeks and really bothered me, so for the first week I just kept putting my face cream on it continually as I thought the oils would help, but even though it made it feel nicer my lip just didn’t get better, the following week I decided to switch to coconut oil to see if that would clear it up but at the end of week two there was no improvement and my lip just felt really sore and dried up, it was odd as I had never had a problem like that before, they never get dry and never get sore, but anyway there was this plant in the garden that bloomed last week so I was researching what the plant was and learning how to get it to spread etc. and while I was researching it there was a section on the medicinal properties which was quite extensive, and funnily enough one of the medicinal properties was sore lips, so I took some of the leaves off the plant and for the whole of that day I kept rubbing it on my lip, and the following morning when I woke up my lip was completely back to normal and the sore spot on my lip had disappeared, it was odd and I honestly didn’t expect it to work that quickly but somehow it did, it was quite miraculous really and made me feel so happy as I was getting fed up of it bothering me, I still don’t know what it was that caused it but I am glad it has gone, the plant was called Sour Fig or Cape Fig, it’s a groundcover plant and its really pretty with pink flowers that open in the morning and close at night, I have been spending an hour here and there digging bits of it up to try and get it to spread a bit more as a lot of it was dead from the last tenant not watering it, I am hoping if I can get it to spread it will cut down on my weeding.

We did get to speak to our son Danny twice last week which was nice, unfortunately a member of staff at the hospital who Danny works closely with caught the Covid virus and tested positive, so everyone had to get a test and they had to close the hospital for a week, even though Danny’s test came back negative, he is having to isolate until May 10^th, I can’t remember now why he has to isolate, aging brain lol…..he did sound fed up when we were chatting and also a bit worried, I think he had a scratchy throat and a stuffed up nose the first time we spoke to him which was a bit worrying, but the second time we spoke to him he was feeling fine thankfully, it was nice having him off from work though and being able to chat to him more.

13^th May 2021

Well I have caught a little germ, and my head feels like it weighs a few tons, and I feel really exhausted, it feels a bit like a head cold, with a bit of an infected chest but I only cough until around lunchtime every day, anyway hopefully not too much longer and I will be on the mend.

I did something really funny a few days ago, one of the days I remembered I had a nasal spray that I had bought not this last winter but the winter before, I am not sure why I thought it would help me but anyway I thought it might make me feel a bit better, so I went into the first aid tin and saw this little spray and so sprayed it into each nostril, and it was only when my nose started to burn inside that I put my glasses on to look properly at the spray…..to find it was something that you spray into your ear that helps to dissolve ear wax….it’s funny now but at the time it did worry me lol, I went running to the bathroom to cup handfuls of water to try to sniff it in and blow it out again….things did smell strange for about ten minutes but then was fine….that will teach me to put my glasses on next time I get something out of the first aid tin, it was a typical me thing to do, it did make me laugh afterwards though lol.

A few days ago I decided to make myself some homemade medicine which I thought might help me get better quicker, it was half a cup of fresh chopped Garlic, half a cup of fresh peeled and chopped Ginger, half a cup of honey and 2 lemons, I put everything into the blender until the mixture was  smooth and then put it in a jar in the fridge, I have been taking a spoonful every time I walk past the fridge and it doesn’t taste too bad with the honey in it, it did seem like a lot of garlic and ginger lol, but I decided to just try it to see what happened, the garlic is like an natural antibiotic and the ginger gets rid of any inflammation in the body, I thought when I am better I will just take a teaspoon a day, I remember last year wanting to eat more fresh garlic so this recipe is awesome, anyway hopefully it will make the nasty little germ go quicker and if I keep taking it after I am better then it will help to keep me healthy and make my immune system stronger.

I did try a new fruit the other day, as when Deometris and Vespo (our landlords) came up to their fruit field at the back of the house a few days ago they bought us up a big bag of these little yellow fruits, I have never seen them before,  he said they were called Loquats, anyway they are really lovely, they taste similar to an apple only they are really soft and juicy which reminds me of a ripened pear, I think we are going to enjoy having landlords that grow their own fruit.

21^st May 2021

I am still having fun and games trying to encourage birds to go to our birdbath,  over the last few weeks, now and again I put some breadcrumbs around the bird bath, and most days the breadcrumbs just blow away in the breeze, we have a lot of birds around, so I think it surprised me really that none of them were interested as with not having rain and the ground being really hard you would think they would be hungry, anyway just now and again I did have one or two birds that nibbled on the breadcrumbs, so after a few weeks of putting the breadcrumbs down, I then took a base from one of my potted plants and filled it with water and left it next to the birdbath on the floor, it was frustrating watching the one of two birds eat the breadcrumbs but ignoring the water right next to them on the floor lol, well after doing this for a few weeks low and behold a few days ago I finally had a bird that flew onto the base of the flower pot and had a drink from it, since then I see possibly one or two a day having a drink, for some reason they don’t notice the birdbath lol, anyway yesterday I was sitting under the porch and I saw a big lizard perching on the edge of the plant pot base having a drink, I have never seen a lizard do that before so it did make me laugh, of course I never have my phone with me to take a picture when I see something like that.

Well talking of birds it seems we have lots of swallows at the moment, apparently we have them until the middle to the end of June, but oh my goodness they really are keeping me entertained as they go swooping over the garden, and sometimes in the evening they fly in and out of the porch area which just amazes me, and yesterday when I was sitting outside in the shade they were swooping down really fast to get a drink from the pool, I just wish I could have caught some of it on my phone, but typically I never seem to have it near me when I need it, I am hoping I can at least catch them on video once before they leave in June as they are amazing to watch.

We did have something really nice happen this week, as Frank the guy who fits window screens finally came around and fitted the two screens in the living room doors, plus one window in the kitchen, and he replaced the screening in two of the bedrooms, and it was amazing finally being able to have a few doors and windows open, the most amazing breeze blew through the house and it took us a few days to get over the excitement of having all this fresh air blowing through all the rooms, as before it was sort of like living in a sealed container with not being able to open any windows or doors, and now everything just feels so lovely and fresh and airy, it’s funny the things we take for granted like opening windows until we can’t, it cost a fair amount to do but it was definitely worth every penny.

30^th May 2021

I have come across some interesting research though into something called NAC, it’s been out for about fifty years and seems really good at boosting the immune system, so I ordered some a few days ago, its isn’t just for the immune system though but for all sorts of different things and its even used in hospitals, anyway I researched it to death and watched so many research video’s from scientists to doctors and it does seem pretty impressive so I thought I should try it, I ordered it from the UK and the post from the UK seems to take about a month so I have a bit of a wait before it gets here.

It was good this week to hear that my grandson Tristan finally got his cysts removed at the hospital, it was just day surgery but I think it knocked him about a bit, they were supposed to remove them last July but I guess because of covid everything got cancelled, the cysts he had were really big all over his neck poor thing, so for the last year and a half he has worn a scarf around his neck, even all through last summer, so as soon as he heals it is going to be so lovely for him to feel normal again.

It seems this is a busy week for my daughter Nicola as after being with Tristan to get his cysts removed she now has to go back to the hospital as Sarah has to have an endoscopy this weekend, her crohn’s has been acting up again and she hasn’t been able to keep food down for a while, but all her tests have come back normal, so I think they need to see if there is a blockage that is stopping her from eating.

Talking of birds on Wednesday I was sitting under the porch in the back garden and I saw a big Magpie land on the side of the proper birdbath and take a drink, I was so shocked as so far they have only been drinking from the little pot base on the floor, I haven’t seen the bird do it since but it gives me hope that maybe it might actually get used in time.

We have been quite amused this week watching this black cat that comes into our garden, he doesn’t come near us but just has a wander around the back and the front, what is amusing though is he has a Magpie following him all the time, when the cat comes so does this one Magpie, when the cat comes into the garden the Magpie flies in and sits on the fence watching him and then when the cat takes a drink of water from the pot base on the floor then as soon as the cat moves then the Magpie takes a drink, then as the cat walks over to the grass, the Magpie follows him on the fence, I think we have seen it happen every day this week and its really funny to watch.

The creepy crawlies in the house are slowly starting to get a bit better, I am happy to say that we don’t get anything big anymore, but every couple of weeks only in my bedroom (typical) I find a smallish black spider, they are just house spiders and not big but I still don’t’ like them, it’s only every few weeks, and we have no idea how they get in, but because I get fed up of seeing them and I do moan on quite a lot about them, so this coming Wednesday we are getting the house sprayed, it costs about fifty five pounds, they spray inside the house and all around the outside of the house, I just wish I had known about it when we first moved in, they guy from the company said the spray lasts for about three months, so we thought we would get it done and see how we go and if I start seeing them again we will get it done again, we only found out about last week as we popped to the vape shop in Peyia and the guy who owns the store was telling us that a few days previously he was sitting in his dining room and he saw something out the corner of his eye, and when he turned around there was a big tarantula that had wandered into his house, he was really shook up about it but he said it’s because he has fields behind his house like we do, he was telling us that about a year ago he got a company to come out and spray his outside patio area with some kind of spray which stops anything crawly coming near the house, he said it lasted for about a year anyway we have them coming out on Wednesday to spray and we will see how long it lasts, so it’s not like we have a big problem anymore but it’s just another precautionary measure just to make sure things stay as they are lol.

I have been reading about the Indian variant that is in the UK, it’s unreal that Boris didn’t close the borders sooner, but instead let thousands of people from India into the country even knowing that they had a new variant which was making people sick or killing them, I read that 42,000 people flew between India and the UK in April,  I just continually shake my head at governments with the things they do and the mostly silly rules they make us do, we still can’t walk outside without a mask over here but we can sit outside a café or taverna without a mask, ….I really don’t mind reasonable rules that make sense but the silly rules that they haven’t given much thought to just irritate me, and now if we want to go to the shopping mall we have to have a covid test and produce a certificate, thankfully it doesn’t affect us really, but it still irritates me, so now we can go to a large supermarket or any of the other shops but not the malls, even that makes no sense, but there are a large group of lawyers in one of the big Cities over here that are taking the government to court because of some of the rules so we will see over the next while what happens.

In Canada they have had vaccination stations set up in Toronto and are offering free ice cream to any of the children over 12 if they get a vaccination without parental consent, it has caused a lot of protests over the last week as all the parents are up in arms about it….I am starting to think the governments are going a bit power crazy to be honest.

On a good note our numbers are now less than a hundred a day so that is good news, and I hope the Indian variant doesn’t keep spreading in the UK, as the numbers were so low, also over here Cyprus has opened its doors to all tourists so it won’t be long before we have the Indian variant over here as well, but I think we just have to keep on being careful, it’s all we can do.

9^th June 2021

Last week we got our months grocery shopping out of the way again, as usual it took forever,, I guess it’s because Paphos is forty minutes away and then we have four different shops to go to, sometimes I wish we hadn’t found some of the cheaper shops lol, but it does make the shopping a bit cheaper, even though I don’t look forward to shopping day I am still enjoying getting it out of the way for the whole month all in one go, but on our second week we still have to go to the greengrocers as nothing lasts long even in the fridge for some reason.

When we got home from shopping there was a bag of peaches, nectarines and apricots hanging on the fence from our landlords which was really sweet of them, and then two days later they gave us even more fruit so we shared them with Brian and Tracy, Vespo who is the wife said that next month its grape season so that’s exciting and I am hoping not to have to buy fruit this summer, did I mention the plum tree’s that overhang our garden, we noticed last week that the naughty magpies were eating the plums so Deogenus told us to pick them, he said they will ripen off the tree, and oh my goodness after three days they went soft and have to be the nicest sweetest plums I have ever tasted, plus we had a lovely time picking them all, we got quite a big bowl full, and with Deogenus saying to expect some from him at the end of this month it made me start researching different ways to use them up, so far I have recipes for plum jam and also chutney, I will have to do more research to see what else I can come up with, they are such hard working people, and are out in the hot sun in their fields from early morning until seven in the evening, I don’t think it’s something I could do, but they did say that they love it, but I guess they have been doing it for years so they are probably used to it.

We had the guys come to spray the house and the garden last week for creepy crawlies, so they sprayed the inside of the house and then the outside, apparently the inside spray lasts for one year, and the outside lasts for around three months, so hopefully we won’t have to do it again until next year as its mainly the inside of the house that we want to keep clear, unfortunately though with all the spraying that they did all of my windows which were lovely and clean had running streaks down them from the spray, so we had to spend one morning re cleaning all the windows inside and out, but at least it’s another thing out the way, and hopefully we won’t see anything in the house now which makes it definitely worth having it done just to have peace of mind,  I think it must be working as I found a dead earwig on my bedroom floor a few days after they had sprayed and then we found four dead earwigs outside the patio doors, also the ants we had which were around the patio have also disappeared, so it seems that it is doing what it’s supposed to do, apparently when they walk over this chemical it kills anything in minutes, so I am really pleased so far. I can never really talk about the weather over here as it is always blue skies and sunshine, the evenings are lovely and cool to sit outside in, and the stars in the evening are just incredible, we couldn’t really sit out in the evening when we lived in Tsada as there was no privacy and if we put the garden lights on then I always felt like the neighbours were at the windows, so it’s lovely living here and sitting under the porch in the evening with all of the lights on, we can see all the lights down at the seafront which also looks pretty, moving to this house was definitely one of our better decisions.

Nick is still fascinated with the views from the garden, I thought the novelty would wear off at some point but I see him continually sitting and looking at the ocean and the mountains, I don’t think the novelty will ever wear off for him, and he must spend at least two hours a day just looking at the views lol.

We have decided this week to start looking for a dishwasher, It’s really weird as this is such a nice size bungalow but our draining board is really tiny, and after dinner we try to stack our dishes after washing them up and now and again they all come crashing down lol, we can’t even find a dish drainer to fit the draining board as it’s so small, and I don’t know how many things we have broken as they all fall into the sink.

We met up with Brian and Tracy on Monday which was nice at a taverna in Steni, it was a nice afternoon, although at some point in the afternoon this couple came in and sat down and they had two German shepherds with them, just like our two shepherds that were sisters, one of them was identical to our Molly who was a bit fatter with longer hair and the other one was identical to Maggie who was skinnier with shorter hair, it was really uncanny that this couple had two and they were just like ours, although I have to say that at first I thought it was lovely, but then I wanted to steal them as they looked identical to our two dogs, the couple were very friendly and they appreciated me making a fuss of their dogs, but then afterwards it just made me miss my dogs even more, so I will try not to go back there as apparently they go there for a drink most days, it was lovely but sad at the same time.

16^th June 2021

We have been having quite a windy time of it over the last week, it’s still nice and hot but very windy, it has sort of been nice as it does seem to take the edge of the heat, so I have been able to do a bit more gardening during the day this last week which has been good.

I can’t remember if I  have rambled about two little passion fruit plants that I started growing from seed when we lived in Tsada last year, I kept them in pots as they were just small, which was good with ending up moving house, they died off over the winter so I thought they were dead but a few months ago they sprang back to life and became quite longish vines, so we dug a couple of holes along the fence last week and as we were twining them around bits of fence we noticed that they had buds on some of the vines which was exciting, so hopefully they will grow into passion fruit,  Deogenus told us that they probably won’t survive here in Droushia so it’s a bit of an experiment, so it will be interesting to see what happens.

I invited Brian and Tracy up last Friday for lunch as I think Tracy was a bit bored, so I got my paints out and also my stones and we sat all afternoon painting which was nice and relaxing, Tracy is painting a house and a baby and I am painting a stone door and a baby, she did seem to enjoy doing it, if Tracy keeps enjoying painting I thought maybe later on in the year I could teach her how to do toll painting which is something I took lessons to learn years ago.

We haven’t been out very much this week, we went to Peyia one of the days to get my vape fluid and pop to the greengrocers, and another day we did go to Latch harbour and we had lunch which was nice, and then we went to the garden center so I could buy two hanging baskets, I already had two hanging baskets but one I killed by overwatering it and the other one is half dead by not watering it enough lol, I am sure these two new ones probably won’t last long, I think it’s the heat that makes you want to water them daily but mine are in part shade so probably don’t need daily watering, I do find watering things over here confusing and our first year over here I watered everything daily and lost a few plants as the roots rotted, so I have learned to only water every three days and some of the smaller pots every two days.

I had to spend an afternoon in the kitchen a few days ago as we don’t seem to be able to find fishcakes anymore in the supermarket, so after waiting a few months to see if they would start stocking them I have now given up and starting making my own again, but they do seem to take a long time to make, anyway it was worth it as I managed to make enough for five dinners so there are lots in the freezer now.

This afternoon I have to make two or three lentil meatloaves, once they are sliced up and frozen it gives us enough for four or five dinners, but that also does take a while to make, I actually don’t mind spending time in the kitchen even though it sounds like I am moaning lol, I think it’s the clearing up I don’t like as I do seem to make a mess lol, hopefully we will be getting our dishwasher soon which will make things easier.

We had Deogenus shout us over the fence a few days ago with a bucket that was filled with apricots, I couldn’t believe how many there were, so I gave some to Tracy and Brian, and put some in a bowl for me and Nick, and then I have put five pounds of apricots at the bottom of the fridge so they keep longer as I want to have a go at making apricot chutney in the next week, I used to make tomato chutney when we had the allotment which was the best chutney I had ever tasted as it was a sweet chilli chutney…..but I read somewhere that apricots and fish go together really well, so I thought if I made a chutney I could use it on our fish….anyway we will see next week whether it turned out ok lol.

Both me and Nick were saying yesterday that its weird how life just feels so busy these days, I was hoping at some point to read a book and just do nothing but there always seems to be a lot to do, I do know cooking from scratch does take a big chunk of our time, and then there is a fair amount of gardening to do, and then bits of going out just make the days seem really busy, hopefully things will slow down soon so we can just chill and do nothing, I think we both feel that we should be relaxing more than we do, hopefully it will come at some point lol.

24^th June 2021

Well another week gone by already, they do seem to go fast, I wonder if the time wouldn’t go by quite so fast if we stopped being busy, it’s something I thought of earlier…I wondered if I slowed down then would time maybe slow down a bit as well lol, I will have to try it one of the days just to see lol.

I am pleased to say that my jam making went really well, and I managed to get eight jars of plum jam, I did enjoy myself, I had never made jam before so it was funny especially as I was waiting for it to get to the setting point which seemed to take quite a while, and it kept splattering everywhere, next time I will use my biggest pan, but it was a fun thing to do and something I will definitely do again, I could have made more jam but I kept eating the plums lol, anyway I was impressed that it worked out well, the recipe said not to add pectin as plums naturally contain it so I was worried that it might not get to the setting point, but it all worked out well, and it tasted lovely, there were some comments under the recipe I followed that said a few people had only used half the sugar, which is what I did to make it a bit healthier and it was still really sweet so I am glad I tried it, I don’t normally eat jam but I treated myself to bread and jam so I could taste it, Nick will probably eat the rest apart from a jar we gave Tracy and Brian and another jar I gave to Deogenus and Vespo, apparently making jam is what Vespo loves to do so Deogenus said he would tell me what he thought of mine next time we see him, so that will be interesting lol.

I was going to give Tracy and Brian two jars but Nick loves the jam to much which made me laugh, but I was impressed with it as it had a lovely plum taste. I then made the Apricot Chutney which I had been dying to make, I only used a pound of apricots for the chutney as I had never made this recipe before and it contained curry powder, onions and lots of ginger and other spices, so it was a worry that I wouldn’t like it and the apricots would be wasted, so I thought to make sure I don’t waste any I would just make a small batch, but I was so impressed with the taste of it when it had finished cooking, it was definitely yummy so I will make more jars of the chutney this week some time as it is lovely, it was easier to make than the jam as I could leave it to simmer which made my life a bit easier as I started it as soon as I finished making the jam, the pound of apricots made just under three jars of chutney so it will be good to have more jars put away in the cupboard, so far I have had it with my home made fishcakes and also on baked fish, and I treated myself to a cheese and apricot chutney sandwich which was amazing lol, I think it might also be nice on veggie burgers.

Deogenus called us over the gate a few days ago with another big bucket filled with apricots and this time also lots of peaches, I was in shock as they have given us so much already, so I gave half to Tracy and Brian and gave them the recipe for the chutney, so we are all going to make the chutney and then eat whatever apricots are left over, I think we must be nearing the end of the apricot season but I decided if they bring us another bucketful then I will make apricot jam which sounds yummy.

Thankfully our wind finally died down, it was weird having such hot heat but really windy days, we are back to nice normal hot days now which I am glad about, as from tomorrow our temperatures are going up higher into the thirties, which is around 90 degrees so lovely and hot, it would be nice to see a bit of rain now and again though, it did get forecast last week for one day but we all laughed about it as we know it won’t happen now until towards the end of the year, I think it’s the only thing about this country that I would change if I could, I would like one day of rain a week just to water everything fully, it’s a shame we can’t have everything.

This week I have started moving my flowering plants into part shade around the porch area as I learnt the hard way in Tsada and virtually killed all of my geraniums and other flowers as I thought they would be ok in the sun like in the UK, but of course we stay in the nineties a lot of the time and unless they are in the ground they just die, as when they get watered the water comes out of the bottom of the pot really hot and it boils the roots as the soil just gets too hot, it’s been a learning experience for me since we have been here,  so I have them scattered around the porch area and at the side of the house which gets a bit more shade, it’s a shame I can’t keep them where they are as they look lovely.

We met up with Brian and Tracy on Wednesday and had a picnic at the beach, the beach in Polis is a bit stony but there are picnic tables under tree’s so it’s nice and shaded, so that is where we spent the afternoon, and we paddled and went stone collecting so we can have more painting days.

At the beginning of last week we found a dishwasher that we really liked, it gets delivered tomorrow morning, so no more dishes crashing into the sink thankfully, it will be nice to have one again as we have been without one since we left Canada, and it will also be nice when we get visitors not to have mounds of washing up.

This last week there has been a baby kitten wandering around, it comes on the edge of our property and  whenever I try to go near it then it runs away, it looks like it’s about eight weeks old,  sometimes I see the mom cat with it, the way it acts when I talk to it or try to approach makes me think it’s never seen a human before as it is terrified of me, which is a shame as I would love a baby kitten lol, anyway I will keep attempting to talk to it and see what happens.

7^th July 2021

My son who lives in British Columbia in Canada has been struggling this past week as they have had a heat wave and their temperatures shot up into the 40’s, they have averaged at about 115 degrees every day, I think they have been finding it hard to cope, and also they don’t have a pool to cool down in, I chat with them every few days on whatsapp and they are all finding it hard to sleep, I don’t think I have ever been in the 40’s wherever I have lived, we are mainly in the thirties here which is quite perfect for me, so I have felt sorry for them, I think they have another few days before they go back to normal temperatures, I can see them buying a pool soon.

I don’t think we have been up to much this week but it has been nice and relaxing, we did meet up with Brian and Tracy yesterday and had lunch out and a catch up, but the rest of last week we mainly spent at home, we have been swimming every day which has been nice, and my gardening these days has to wait until the sun has gone down now, so I have to wait until about 7 in the evening and then I roughly get about an hour and a half before we lose the light to do any deadheading and watering.

We did have a lovely catch up with my son Daniel a few days ago who lives in Nova Scotia, we chatted for a good few hours, I think it does us all good, their vet hospital is doing so well that they are employing another vet as they are really busy, so they now have ten people working for them, and a few weeks ago they bought an eight acre plot of land, they bought it as they are going to build their own hospital with a car park, Dan said the land was zoned residential so they are trying to get it changed to commercial so they can build their hospital, although it could take a year to sort it out, but it is nice to hear they are doing so well and are happy with their life, they also have a new puppy which is adorable and looks like a teddy bear, but while we were chatting the puppy was really keeping Daniel on his toes which was really funny to watch lol.

This past week whenever I have seen the little kitten in our garden the mom has been with it which has been nice to see and stops me from worrying, and every day I have put some food out for them both, it makes me feel better and at least I know they are not hungry, it has been lovely though watching the mom and baby on the grass play with each other, I get a lot of pleasure out of it, Nick is still adamant that he doesn’t want another pet, he just doesn’t want to have to worry about another animal, and these days I do tend to agree with him, it is nice to be free, but still be able to help out any of the wild animals or abandoned animals that we come across, I do think I have been lucky having all the animals I have had in the past, so I don’t mind that I am now without a proper pet, I am making do with the wildlife I have around me lol, I do have names for three of my lizards that roam around the back garden, the three big ones are called Winnie, Poo and Shutter, and then there is the resident Magpie that I give breadcrumbs to every other day, I called him Pie which is short for Magpie lol, Pie seems to think that our garden belongs to him as he goes running around all over it, he does make me laugh, and now I have a mommy cat and a baby which I haven’t named yet, but I will at some point, I won’t go near them as they do seem very skittish,  but I do get a lot of fun out of watching them all.

My sister Cath in the UK seems to be doing better these days, she has been really busy for the last few months sorting her garden out and laying some concrete slabs, she sent me some pictures a few days ago and her garden looks beautiful and it looks like a landscaper has done it for her, she has done well, also over the last few months she has also been slowly going through her house and decorating it bit by bit, it is lovely when life seems to be going so well for everyone.

Deogenus and Vespo popped over a few days ago and gave us loads of peaches and grapes, they said apricot season is over now and for the next while its peaches and grapes lol, so that was lovely, this is the first summer that I have not had to buy any fruit at all, they also gave us two jars of apricot jam that Vespo had made, it doesn’t seem as thick as the jam we are used to but it still tastes lovely, and then they gave us a jar of something really strange, they said they pick walnuts before they have grown their shell, they call them green walnuts and they put them into jars and add different things, they said it is quite a complicated thing to do and takes a lot of time, anyway I tried one a few days ago and it was lovely, it was very sweet and you could see it was a walnut sort of, it’s really hard to explain but it was nice and different.

Yesterday they popped by and brought us up four fig trees, they are only small but it will be nice in a few years to have some figs, we are going to put two of them along the side of the property and the other two are going to go where the other two dead trees are that the last tenant didn’t water, we were going to buy two lime tree’s to put there at some point, so now we don’t’ have to buy them and I do love fresh figs for breakfast and just to eat, it’s a shame we have to wait a few years for them to grow though….so now Nick has to dig up the two dead tree’s so we can plant two of the fig trees, which is a hard thing to do as I watched him dig one up a few months ago and it took him about four days just trying to do it every evening, hopefully he will start digging them up next week before the real heat of the summer finds us.

My shorts since we have been over here have slowly fallen to pieces one by one, but we are not allowed into the big shopping mall to go clothes shopping, so I have been making do with what I have, but apart from about four pairs the rest of them have holes and tears in them where the sun has just rotted the material, even my bathing costume has lost its elastic again, I was hoping that at some point they would change the rules over here but our numbers have started rising again as its tourist season so I think it’s going to be a while before we are allowed back into the big shops again.

Today I was going to make some lentil burgers but it seems I don’t have all the ingredients so I am going to make a mango and walnut salad for dinner instead, and apart from sitting with my Greek book and a bit of swimming that is the extent of my day so a bit boring but definitely relaxing lol.

13^th July 2021

Our Covid 19 numbers at the moment are the highest that they have been since it all started, and a few days ago our  government put out a statement saying that to be able to sit outside of a taverna or café we need to have something called a safe pass, to show we have been tested or vaccinated, so I guess we are back to staying at home again which is a shame as I do like to go out now and again, at least for now we are allowed in the grocery stores so it could be worse, and we are lucky to have such a nice garden and pool so it definitely all could be worse,  I think I find it irritating more than anything else.

We went for lunch at Paphos harbour as from tomorrow if we want to go to a taverna we either have to pay to have a test or have a safe pass to show vaccination status, we didn’t know then that it would be the last time for a while with now having to have this special pass, so it’s a good job we went when we did.

On Saturday Brian and Tracy came for lunch, I did hint about being invited over to their place but this time the excuse was that there is no shade, which is odd as they have beautiful tree’s in their garden and also patio umbrellas, they did say they prefer coming to us so I guess I just have to let it go.

Last week I had to spend one of my mornings using up the last of the apricots, so I made five jars of apricot chutney, for some reason I thought it was a simple recipe, as when I made it before it just seemed to be easy, but this time with grating all the ginger and all the other things I had to do, it seemed to take me all morning, I think I must have been feeling more energetic the first time I made it lol, anyway I am thankful that apricot season has finished and now I don’t have to make anything else, the good thing is that now we are in grape season, Vespo gave us a big bag of grapes last week and thankfully there really isn’t anything I can make out of grapes lol, so we will just enjoy them and eat them, I was surprised a few days ago when I went to eat some grapes that most of them had gone and there were just a few left, it did make me laugh as the amount Vespo gave us was such a lot, I gave Brian and Tracy some but there was still a lot in our fruit bowl, Nick said he took a handful every time he walked past the bowl, so next time we get some I will have to make sure I eat some before mr greedy gets them all lol.

Nick has spent most of his evenings this last week digging up the two dead trees, I have felt sorry for him as the evenings are still really warm and he did look tired every time he had a go at digging them up, but thankfully they are done and he has dug four holes so tonight is tree planting, I think I mentioned that Deogenus and Vespo gave us four baby fig trees, I am looking forward to them growing and having figs, but I do know they are really messy tree’s as they drop the figs all over the floor, it will be interesting to see what happens.

We should have gone and done our months grocery shopping a few days ago but the thought of having to go all the way down into Paphos and go to at least three shops just really made me not want to go, it seems to take the whole day away and roughly takes about five hours with the journey there and back and then wandering around three big shops, so we decided to go to our nearest supermarket last week in Polis to see what that was like, I think last time we tried it they had no fish, or vegetarian sausages etc. Before we went grocery shopping we had to stop off at the post office to post something, and what a nightmare it was, they only allow two people in at a time, and when I joined the line-up there was already two people inside and two people outside, the problem was that it was 35 degrees outside, which is nearly 95 Fahrenheit and of course it was full sun and not a bit of shade to be seen anywhere, after twenty minutes I started to feel really nauseas just standing still with the sun beating down on me, Nick was waiting in the car with the air conditioning on and I got quite irritated that he didn’t come over after twenty minutes to swap places with me, so I called him over as the car was close by and he stood in the line while I sat in the car, it took another twenty minutes of Nick standing outside and then he was allowed in and then when he was inside it was another 15 minutes before he got served….all we wanted was a stamp to post an envelope, but the whole thing took nearly an hour, I don’t know how they expect people to wait outside in that sort of heat as it’s not good for anyone, I think I will definitely dread going there again.

18^th July 2021

Last night at around four in the morning I woke up to discover a huge huge spider/tarantula wandering around my bedroom, it did give me a fright, thankfully after waking Nick up he caught it fairly quickly but I am having trouble sleeping in my bedroom at the moment, so I am sleeping in the spare room until I feel comfortable going back in there again, this last week I have found it has really messed up my sleep, I am hoping it doesn’t take me to long to get over though  as I do like my bedroom as it gets a breeze through the windows, the joys of living in Cyprus lol.

21^st July 2021

We did have some surprising news about the supermarkets in the last few days, apparently we now need to be vaccinated or we have to pay to have a covid test to be able to do any grocery shopping, so the day before it went into effect we went and did enough grocery shopping to last until the end of the month, they said at the end of the month it will go back to normal, but I am not sure at this point that I believe anything that any of the governments have to say so we will wait and see. (I am editing to add that yes they lied and it is now the middle of January 2022 and we still have to pay to have a test to be able to go into a supermarket).

So apart from grocery shopping it has been quite nice staying at home, I have found time to paint lots of stones, I did a little pink baby last week on a stone which is quite cute, and this week I have been doing lady birds and bees, it is a very relaxing hobby to have when its to hot to do very much..

Last week Nick fitted our two ceiling fans in our outside porch, we really wanted them in the living room like we had them in Tsada, but at this house we have a really high ceiling which is a funny shape so the fans wouldn’t fit,  so we decided to put them under the outside porch to give us a breeze, I really do love this big porch we have, it’s like having another living room only its outside, we definitely use it more than our living room as its mostly cooler than being in the house, it did take Nick quite a while to fit the fans as he had to run the electric cables from a light, but it was such a good idea as quite often in the evening the breeze drops, so it has been lovely sitting outside in the evening with the fans on.

The past couple of weeks now and again we lie on the sunbeds at night with all of the outside lights switched off, and the amount of stars in the sky is incredible, I remember we used to do this when we lived in Canada, one of the evenings last week was funny as there were a lot of bats that were flying over us and I was convinced they were going to land on me, thankfully they didn’t but they seemed to be flying quite low lol.

Deogenus and Vespo popped up a few days ago to give us a carrier bag filled with grapes, they have literally filled the bottom of my fridge lol, I did read that in the fridge they last for two weeks so I am sure we will eat them before then, it was an incredible amount to give us though and I am glad I can’t think of anything to make with them, so it will just be nice to eat them.

I am enjoying all of this hot weather, although I have to admit I do prefer the shade, I think the sun over here in the summer is too intense to sit in, and its mostly the tourists that you see walking around in it, we have been lucky that most days we seem to get a breeze in our garden thankfully, it is nice to be able to swim and then lie on a sunbed for a while to dry off but then mostly I spend my days under the porch in the shade.

My mommy and baby cat are doing well, they still don’t come near us which is fine as I have always been a bit wary of cats, I think it comes from being attacked in Canada all those years ago, but we do get a lot of fun out of watching them as they come to play on the grass after their dinner every evening, I think the mom is only a young cat herself and they play together so sweetly, even Nick is enjoying watching them, last week I found two small plastic balls, I thought the kitten would enjoy playing with them, it took her a few days of staring at them and walking round and round them but finally she touched one and it moved which scared her to death and then she started to play football with it, she was so funny playing football with her two front paws, she seems to be really good at it and goes flying all around the patio, Nick said she should play in one of the big teams lol.

Today we actually seem to have a bit of cloud which is probably the most exciting thing to have happened in ages lol, I honestly can’t remember the last time I even saw a cloud, so we are hoping the clouds hang around for a bit so we can catch up on some gardening jobs which would be a nice treat as I am finding by the time evening comes and everything cools down I am tired, anyway I am hoping they stay even if it’s just for an hour it would be amazing.

28^th July 2021

This week has been such a quiet week, but I have to say it has been lovely and very relaxing, it has just seemed like I have had more time for myself, so I finally got painting stones out of my system, I painted so many stones lol that I now have put my paints away for a bit and am back concentrating on my Greek in the afternoons, I did enjoy painting though in between having a swim as it gave me something to do while sitting in the shade, but I was letting my Greek slide and it started to bother me, it’s easy to let things go especially when they are difficult, so for the next couple of weeks I am going to do lots of Greek revision as I haven’t picked my Greek book up in three weeks.

I do enjoy having the odd week like this and being lazy, but I don’t think we have much of a choice really as it is too hot to do much during the day apart from swim or sit under the porch, I also did start a really good book a few days ago by a historical writer, it’s all about a queen but it starts the story from when she was eleven, it’s really good though so I do manage a few pages most days.

I did have to have one busy morning as I had to spend some time in the kitchen making some lentil rice burgers, I had made them over a year ago and really liked them, but last summer I found some veggie burgers at the supermarket which were really nice and so I got lazy and started buying them instead of making them, but since we have changed our supermarket to one closer to home in Polis I find the vegetable burgers are really expensive, so the last time we went grocery shopping I made sure to get all the ingredients and I finally got around to making them myself, it is hard making things from scratch with the weather being so hot, but I had no choice, we both really liked them though and of course it’s a lot cheaper than buying them ready made, plus we know what is in them, it’s a recipe I will definitely keep making as they freeze really well, and I have enough in the freezer for five dinners which will keep us going for a while as we only have them now and again.

I heard this week that my sons dog, (Jamie’s dog) has been in the wars again and ripped its ear open, it was his German Shepherd poor little thing, I also felt sorry for Jamie being back at the vets office again as they do charge such a lot of money don’t they.

The wildfires in British Columbia where Jamie lives is still going on, he was saying when he comes out of his house it is smoky still, but he has sent me some pictures of the blood red moon that they have, I couldn’t believe how red it looked, he said it’s because of the fires they are having, but I have never seen anything like it before, the pictures were incredible but the fires themselves are sad with the damage that they do.

We had some fires a few weeks ago because of the heat, they totally destroyed two whole villages, it was really sad seeing people’s houses destroyed and forests gone.

My sister Caths dog Luna is also in the wars as well, as a few weeks ago while Cath was out walking her dog, somehow Luna slipped over and hurt her leg, the vet said to let her rest her leg for a week or two, but after two weeks Luna was still no better and kept limping so in the end the vet x rayed her leg and found that the ligaments around the bone aren’t attached properly it does sound nasty, so they have told Cath to try and get Luna to rest for the next eight weeks and if she isn’t any better that Luna will need an operation which is going to cost between two and three thousand pounds or the only other option is to for Luna to be put down, so of course Cath has been a bit up and down but trying to stay positive poor thing.

My granddaughter Sarah and her boyfriend Connell move back to Portsmouth in the next couple of weeks, they have found a nice apartment on the road leading to the beach which is a really nice area, and it’s not to far from Portsmouth university which is where Connell is going in September, they were living in Plymouth which is where Connell has spent the last goodness knows how many years studying Biology as he wanted to become a biology teacher, he passed all of his exams and went into teaching last year, only shortly afterwards he discovered that as much as he loved biology he didn’t enjoy teaching it, it was such a shame, but anyway he is going back to university again this coming September but this time he is going to get his masters in marine biology and then he will get a job working in that field and not teaching, I think they are going to have a lovely life together as in that field you get to travel all over the world.  I think my daughter Nicola is really happy that they are moving closer.

It still doesn’t look like we will get any visitors again this year which is a shame, our numbers are still too high and with all the testing that you have to have it makes the cost of a holiday more expensive, so I can’t see it changing for this year, It would be lovely for us to have some visitors especially now we have four bedrooms and it is so pretty where we are living, so I will just have to hope for next year now, on a positive note  though I keep telling myself how exhausting it is when you do have visitors so that helps me feel a bit better lol, but really I would prefer to have my family visiting as it’s been a long two years since I have seen them.

We had a nice surprise yesterday, as 250 pounds got deposited into our bank account, and we eventually found out it was from our grandson Austin, apparently he got some back pay that he was owed and he wanted us to have some of it for being so good to all of them over the years, it was such a surprise and not something I would have expected from any of my grandchildren even though I think they are all pretty amazing, but most kids only think about what they are going to buy with any money they get, so it was a surprise that he do would think of us, anyway it was a lovely thing for him to do and we called him up and thanked him.

August 2021

It seems quite strange really that we are already in August, even though our summer goes on forever and it feels like we have been in summer for a long time the months still seem to be going too fast.

August is our hottest month here in Cyprus, and a lot of British people fly back to the UK to visit family and get away from the heat, I personally love all the heat thankfully, I think swimming and sitting in the shade is a lovely way to pass the days, I have to admit that some of the nights are a bit difficult to sleep but with a fan directly blowing on you it’s do able and we rarely ever have the air conditioning on in our bedrooms.

A few days ago we had a lovely afternoon drive, we drove along the coast to Pomos village, the drive is so lovely, we have been there before so this time we decided to drive a bit further as that is something we haven’t done, the drive was lovely as you can see the ocean and all the different coloured blue’s, not long after driving past Pomos we saw a beach with black sand which was unusual and then spent a good hour trying to find a way to drive down to it, which we eventually did, it was a lovely beach with not many people there so at some point we will go back again and take a picnic with us, the beach was sandy but I have a feeling that going into the water there are probably stones, so beach shoes would be needed which we don’t have at the moment, but still we will go back and try this beach out, there wasn’t very many people on it all which was nice and definitely makes going back appealing.

We had to go down to Peyia a few days later as I needed to go to the vape shop, so as its very close to one of the best beaches around which is Coral Bay we decided to have a proper beach day and take our books and lunch and umbrella, it is so beautiful at this particular beach as its all sandy and the ocean looks so blue, and we got to play in the waves mostly all day as it was really too hot to sit on the beach, jumping in the waves is really good fun and does make me laugh a lot, it was nice going out though and we are allowed on beaches so that is something we will do now and again, we were really glad to get home and get into the shower though to get all the sand off us, I do really dislike sand as it sticks like glue, but it was a fun day and that I hope we will do again in a few weeks.

This week I have been tackling the archway that has jasmine growing over it, which was a complete muddled mess, I think I started playing around with it a couple of months ago, but then I just kept forgetting to get back to it, it doesn’t help that it’s too hot in the day to do anything in the sun so I have to wait until the sun has set to do any gardening, so by the time dinner is done I only get about an hour and a half to water and do any jobs outside, we lose the sun early in the summer over here and I think it’s dark by eight thirty, anyway so I have finally got it under control and it looks a lot better.

The weather has really heated up over here and it now feels too hot to be in the sun for more than a few minutes, you can literally feel the sun burning your skin, for the longest time now we haven’t been able to walk outside barefooted as the patio heats up in the sun and burns your feet which feels really uncomfortable, so we definitely wear flip flops as soon as we step outside the door,  it was funny thinking back to our beach day a few days earlier as no one could walk on the sand as it was just too hot, so watching people come out of the ocean and trying to make it back to their towel without burning their feet was quite funny, we also had the same problem lol.

August 4^th 2021

The weather seems to be close to 40 degrees most days, sleeping last night was hard even with the fans on, it just felt like there was no air in the room, it seems the only thing to do at the moment is swim and sit under the porch in the shade to keep cool, this last few weeks I have noticed that everything in the house is hot, yesterday I went to get a plate out of the cupboard and the plate was hot, I wondered if Nick had emptied the dishwasher but he hadn’t, so the heat seems to have even gone into the cupboards, last night I went to pour myself a gin and tonic out and the bottle of gin was hot which was really strange, I don’t remember this happening when we lived in Tsada, so it must be warmer here in Droushia.

Yesterday we had to pop out to get some bread, it was interesting to see what stores in Polis had the notice on the door asking for a safe pass before entering, it seems a lot of the bigger corner shops are letting people in which was good to see, also I managed to go into the large bakery and no one asked for a safe pass, unfortunately they had no spinach pie but at least I know we can go in there again next time we are down there.

August 19^th 2021

It’s been a busy couple of weeks as our grandson Gabe wanted to come over for a visit to see us and also to see Cyprus as he hadn’t been before.  It was our first visitor since moving to Droushia and for some reason I think we thought we were organized lol, but both spare rooms needed to be completely re organized as somehow they had gotten filled with different things from around the house, then just to make matters worse I also decided to switch bedrooms to one at the back of the house, so it was a whole day of a huge muddle, and then I had to re-sort all of the closets out as our junk had filled just about all of them

We then realized that we didn’t have blinds or curtains for the two spare rooms, eventually we found some but it did take most of the afternoon to find the sizes we wanted.. We then had another day of grocery shopping and went to Paphos as they have more of a selection, only with the journey and travelling to four shops it takes hours. Then the day before he arrived of course was giving everything a good clean, it seems like it was a really busy hectic week, still at least we do have the two spares room sorted out now and looking nice, apart from the blinds we need for the other room

So Gabe arrived on Tuesday, and he loves Cyprus, he loves the house, the pool and the views, but unfortunately we discovered he doesn’t do well in the heat, also what hasn’t helped is that on his first day here he badly burned his chest, I don’t’ think he realized how intense the sun is over here, so for a whole week he has been sitting under the porch in the shade with bits of swimming thrown in.

We eventually took Gabe on a boat trip from Latchi to the Blue Lagoon, as usual it was all so beautiful and after getting off the boat we went out for dinner, but poor Gabe started to feel unwell at some point over dinner, apart from when he was swimming at the Blue Lagoon he really wasn’t in the sun too much, but he does seem to wilt in the heat, so we left the taverna early and got him home, and after a cool shower he took himself off to bed to recover, I do feel so sad for him that he isn’t coping well in the heat, he is due to fly back to the UK next Tuesday so he only has about six days left here, I think for Gabe they are going to be a long six days lol, but I will do my best to keep him out of the sun and shaded.

After Gabe being here for eleven days we did take him to Coral Bay, we let Gabe have the beach umbrella and he had a couple of swims, I don’t think it was his best day though as it was still really hot, but at least he can say he has been to Coral Bay now and had a swim. We figured out that going out in the evening was the best thing for Gabe as the sun is literally just too much for him, so we went to Fytos for dinner one evening and then we found a different taverna that we hadn’t been to before just outside of Kathikas, so we went out again in the evening as it was cooler and had a meze which was good fun.

Sept 12^th 2021

Gabe our grandson stayed with us until the end of August and then went back to the UK, it was a lovely visit and hopefully he will come again but when the weather is cooler, he is having a few problems though from things he has been through this past year so I hope I might have helped him in some way.

We have had a ginger cat on our property for the last month, he chases the other two cats and I think he is a bit aggressive, although I honestly don’t know to much about cats so we decided to take him to the cat sanctuary, whenever Nick stood up Tom used to go behind him and bite Nicks legs, it was never a hard bite and he never broke the skin but with me being scared of him and then this biting starting, so it all just became too much, anyway so we spoke to the cat sanctuary and they told us all about what they do there, they said he would have a good life there as they are given a bed and food and are free to come and go after being neutered, de wormed etc. at the vets, which they do for free as its run by a charity, so we picked up one of their cages and after a few days we managed to coax Tom into the cage, Nick then took him down to the vets office….only of course it didn’t quite go to plan as when Nick was in the vets office Tom decided to push on the top of the cage lid which made the lid come open, Nick then tried pushing the lid down only Tom was adamant he was getting out and he did succeed, he jumped onto Nick….he ripped his t shirt to shreds, deeply scratched both of Nicks arms, somehow landed on Nicks head and scratched all of the top of his head before running into one of the offices…..Nick was in such a state, I only saw him when he got home and his t shirt was shredded and he was covered in blood, the vet bandaged his arms thankfully and he got given antibiotics and cream for all of his scratches which also included his chest, the poor guy he was such a mess, it seems there is always something going on and life is never as peaceful as it should be, anyway Nicks scratches eventually got better but he was quite a mess for a week or two.

This past week and a half has been fairly relaxing, the weather did cool down though in the evenings over this past week, and I am now finding that I need a cardigan if I sit outside in the evening, which we still do now and again and play cards.

We found out our young feral cat is a male, so that was good to discover, at some point we need to get him and his mom spayed but after all the problems we had with the stray we called Tom we keep putting it off, I think we need a few more weeks of peace before we think about sorting it out.

This week I changed bedrooms yet again as I woke up to a spider on my bed, not a big one thankfully so I have now moved into the bedroom that only has one window, I am hoping this bedroom won’t have any surprises, I think it’s the only room in the house that so far has been free of nasty surprises.

23^rd September 2021

A day or two after Gabe went home I found out that someone Nicola went to school with had died, it was all really sad and he was only 44, so I offered to make a memorial slide show as the whole family were just too upset to really do anything, anyway the whole thing took three or four days to make, my finished slideshow though was pretty amazing to be honest, but it was sad to have to do something like that and also really tiring having to do it just after Gabe had left but it did make me feel better that I was able to do something to contribute.

I can’t remember if I have written about our naming the feral cat and her baby, we called the mom cat Plato and the baby we called Smudgy, they are both doing well and are still with us and I think they are relieved that Tom has left as they were scared of him chasing them, so it’s just them now, and it’s better for me as they don’t want to be stroked or petted loll.

Since all of our ups and downs life has finally started to settle down a bit more thankfully, we have started going out for some walks at the ocean, we actually found a bakery we are allowed in without paying for a test, so we get an orange juice and wander around Latchi, even just sitting on the beach is nice and gives us a break from the house.

October 2021

This past week I have decided to start making more soups just for a change, so my first one has been squash soup as that’s all I had the ingredients for but I am excited to start making different ones after we have been shopping.

It’s been interesting watching the cats over the last few weeks as the mom cat Plato has been hissing at baby smudgy over the last while, they used to play together every evening when the sun had gone down which we really enjoyed watching but it’s mostly all stopped now and if Smudgy tries to play with her she mainly just hisses and shows her teeth at him, I did research it, and found out that Smudgy is now supposed to be independent and able to hunt on his own so it’s her way of telling him this, and also according to what I have researched Plato the mom cat is now going to mate again so she needs Smudgy to be independent, sometimes Plato disappears for a few days so I do think everything I have read is probably right and she is trying to mate again, and all of my research was a bit worrying as the last thing we need is kittens lol, I also read that Smudgy being male will start spaying around the property, so after talking to Nick about it we went down to the cat charity place to talk to them about getting the two of them fixed, they said they fix all of the feral cats for free but we had to catch them in a cage and get them down to their clinic, they let us borrow two cages and so we have spent every evening for the last thirteen days sitting on the floor of the patio putting treats into the cages so they would get used to the cages, we decided not to rush it as with Plato the mom cat if we don’t get her the first time I don’t think she would ever go near the cage again, she is a really smart cat lol, so that is what we have spent our evenings doing, and it’s been hard work and a bit stressful, so far we can get Plato in the cage to take the treat but she is so quick in jumping back out again so we haven’t managed to catch her yet, I think it is going to take longer than we thought so we will just keep at it, we actually bought some chicken last week to entice her but she grabs the chicken and jumps out of the cage with lightning speed….anyway one of the days we will catch her, but until then our nice relaxing evenings seem to have disappeared.

A while ago our virus numbers were really quite high for such a small island but slowly over the last few months the numbers are dropping which is good to see, we still have to wear masks to step outside the house and get tested to go into a supermarket but it does seem to be working.

This last week we popped out for haircuts and found a really good hairdresser she did a good job with both of our hair, so we will definitely go back again, she also offered to dye my hair for me for twenty five euro’s which is roughly twenty pounds, so when we have caught up with things it’s something I will think about as I always seem to miss bits here and there when I dye it myself.  It felt like a treat to be going out as we don’t go out much these days, we didn’t even make it to the beach this week with our orange juice that we buy on the way down, I think with my Greek lessons and the cats it has kept us busy, also this week in the garden I had to do some weeding and fertilizing but it has kept me busy and the garden is looking lovely.

This week we finally stopped using the swimming pool, as the temperature of the water is dropping slowly, the days are still nice and hot but the evenings have gone cooler which is what has cooled the water down, but it’s nice now to do other things instead of swimming, hopefully soon I can start my little vegetable plot to see what happens, I need to buy some seeds but to go into the garden centre I have to pay for a test so I am waiting until I go grocery shopping as then it will save money, it’s going to be a fun experiment I think as long as I keep it small.

12^th October 2021

This last week was grocery shopping week, so we went into Paphos to get our groceries for the month, I think we were out for six hours, so by the time we had gotten home and put everything away it was the day gone, anyway at least it’s done again for another month, apart from in two weeks I will need more vegetables, although at some point I am still hoping to be able to grow our own vegetables and while we were out I did find some lettuce and spinach seeds so it’s a start, we do have to dig over this small bit of garden though so hopefully we can do that in the next couple of weeks, it’s a shame that the one thing I won’t be able to grow in the summer months is lettuce as it doesn’t like to go above twenty degree’s, so I will grow it over the winter although I never really fancy salad in the winter, but I am looking forward to trying to grow some other things, and it will also save us some money as we seem to spend a lot of money on vegetables every two weeks.  While we were out grocery shopping we bumped into the woman from the cat charity shop who lent us the cat cages to catch the cats in, and I told her we were having problems catching Plato as she was so nervy and wary, so she suggested we go to the clinic and she said if we put a deposit down they would lend us a proper cat trap which is bigger and when the cat steps on a certain part of the cage the door slams shut behind automatically, so that is what we did, the clinic wanted 150 euro’s deposit for us to borrow it, but when you take it back they return your money, so we got the proper cat cage last Monday and we finally caught Plato on Friday so it took another five days of setting it up and filling it with chicken etc., anyway it finally happened and she got caught poor baby, unfortunately though it was four o clock Friday by the time we got to the vets as its nearly an hour’s drive, they informed us they don’t do surgery over the weekend so she would have to wait until Monday for her surgery, that did worry me a bit as I hadn’t planned on her being locked in a cage for so long, but at that point there was nothing we could do about it….. they said we could pick her up on Tuesday, poor Plato I did feel bad but we had no idea that they didn’t do surgery at the weekend or that four o clock Friday would be too late as they are open until seven every night…..anyway we caught Smudgy on the Sunday and took him down to the vets, and they both had their surgeries yesterday which was Monday and we can pick them both up today (Tuesday).I am sure they will stay away from us for a while and totally hate us lol, but they will have better lives and will also live longer now.

We did cover both cages with large towels when we caught them as a few weeks ago I watched a few video’s on cat catching and I saw one video where they caught the cat in a cage but didn’t cover it and the cat continually kept banging itself on the cage trying to get out, it was a horrible video but I am still glad I watched it so I could learn the most humane way of doing it, both cats settled down a few minutes of trying to find a way out so the towel definitely helped to keep them calm, and feel safer.

We did do one nice thing last week, as we needed a safe pass to go grocery shopping and it then lasts for three days, so we went out for lunch one of the afternoons to a taverna on the beach, it felt nice to be able to sit outside somewhere and not have to sit on a bench or on the beach, I am starting to think life will never go back to the way it was though.

We still keep an eye on the numbers in the UK and they still seem to high which is worrying, Its funny as over here there are too many restrictions and in the UK there are virtually none at all,  I am not quite sure which one I would prefer if given a choice, as ours seems too strict and in the UK they are not strict at all, I actually don’t like either lol.

I made my lentil and pea soup yesterday and it was lovely and had a nice taste to it, I have a big pot of it in the fridge and have frozen the rest into containers, I was impressed with it though and it’s definitely a soup I will make again.

We also found in one of the corner shops a bag of oranges for a couple of euros so we bought them and juiced them, it was lovely having orange juice on and off throughout the day with lots of ice, but now we have to wait until December, January before they get really cheap.

Today we don’t have to much planned as we have to wait for the vets to call us so we can go and pick the cats up, I can imagine they are going to be so relieved to be free again and not stuck in a cage, but it does feel good that it’s another stress over and done with, I have a feeling we might not see Plato for a few days, but I am hoping Smudgy might come around a bit sooner.

25^th October 2021

It was so amazing getting the cats back home again, both of them ran away at lightning speed when we first opened the cages on the grass, it was good that they didn’t look back to see if it was us that was their captor lol, as when they got caught and taken to the vets neither of us spoke at any time as we thought it was important to try not to associate our talking or voices with capturing them and of course the traps were covered in large towels, I guess we were hoping they wouldn’t know it was us….anyway Smudgy came back that evening but he wouldn’t eat anything and he was out of sorts for a good few days, and Plato disappeared for four days and then she turned up for food and a drink, we were lucky to get them back again as I have read other peoples story’s online where some of the cats didn’t come back again after getting trapped, anyway it’s all over and done with now, and they both have one of their ears clipped showing they have been fixed which is nice so no one will ever try and trap them, and I have to say I am starting to finally feel relaxed for the first time in ages, it has just seemed like one thing after another so to feel this relaxed really feels lovely.

Our weather is still nice and hot mostly, although we did have rain overnight a week ago which I enjoyed listening to at about four in the morning, it was so loud it woke me up, but I could imagine how amazing it was for all the tree’s that haven’t had water for months and it also meant we didn’t have to water for a few days, I don’t think we will see any more for a while though until our winter starts.

Our evenings over the last week have really cooled down so we have stopped sitting outside at night now, but it is nice to start catching up on some of our tv programs as we got really behind with everything, and we have enjoyed making the most of all the warm summer evenings while we had them, it has been a long time since we have sat in the house as we have been outside from when we get up in the morning until bedtime, this summer has been incredible especially with all the privacy we get here.

We actually had a walk at the beach last Wednesday and the Wednesday before, we were really lucky that both of those days we had some bits of cloud which I have to say was lovely to see and it made our walk really enjoyable, we stopped to buy an orange juice from a café at the beach as we are still not allowed at tavernas without paying for a pass, and the woman told us to sit at one of the tables by the water, so I told her we would but we didn’t have a safe pass, but she said it was ok and that no one at Polis beach was checking, so that was really lovely for both of us, so we sat for a while watching people hiring fairly small speed boats which was fun and watching them driving them for the first time, it’s something we want to do when we ever have any spare money as I think it would be a lovely fun thing to do for an afternoon, most of the people drive the boats to the blue lagoon which is a lovely place to go.

My Greek lessons started up again a few weeks ago, it was lovely having a break from it over the summer, although I did try to practice and revise quite a lot,  it is nice now to be on year two which I feel quite pleased about as a lot of people give in after a few months, the class I was in had so many people when it first started, and when we went back a few weeks ago we were down to four people in our class from about 25, so our teacher has joined us up with an earlier class of twenty, I was shocked at how many people dropped out, I am still sort of enjoying it though even though it’s really hard and drives me quite crazy, I guess it gives me a hobby and I try to do some homework most days.

We did have a nice gardening day one of the days, we have sort of let things slide over the last while as there hasn’t been enough time and the weather has been so hot, so we decided to make Fridays our official gardening day, so I planted some lettuce and some rocket seeds, re-potted my geraniums, which are looking lovely again, they all stop flowering in August with the weather being ultra-hot but then they bloom again at the end of September as the real heat of summer starts to cool down a bit so they look amazing at the moment, I then spent the rest of the day just catching up on things in the front garden, I think it will take us a good few weeks to get on top of everything, plus we still have to dig over our little vegetable plot at some point so I can plant my spinach seeds, I really need to go and find more seeds but I think I will have to wait until November when I have another test and get a pass to go into the garden centre.

I actually finished reading the bible again this last week, this time of reading it I did it chronologically which was interesting as it’s amazing how the books of the bible aren’t in the right order, I think this will be the third time I have finished it, so this time of course I started over again but I have got myself a lovely large notepad so I can do more research into some of the things that interest me, I kept meaning to do it last time but then kept forgetting so that is making my bible reading even more enjoyable, I have already filled quite a few pages but it also might help me to remember things.

I did have some good news yesterday, Hazel and Roger, my cousin and her hubby have booked a holiday in Pathos in November, so we are planning on meeting up a few times which should be fun and I am sure I will invite them over and make us lunch one of the days, but it will be lovely to see them both again, it is nice to have something to look forward to.

11^th November 2021

I spent last week trying to quit my e cigarette, unfortunately I didn’t get past day six, it doesn’t even sound like a long time but for me it felt more like a year lol.

I’m not sure exactly why I fancied having a go at quitting, I think age might have something to do with it, although vaping doesn’t seem to affect my health and I never cough, but I do notice that you don’t see many women smoking over here, so I think that might be one reason, also I seem to actually be without any stress at the moment which is unusual lol so I thought it would be a good time to give it a go to see if I could do it.

The main reason I gave in on day six was the conversation I had with Nick, I think what quitting does to me worries him as when I do stop vaping my heart rate drops really low, I think my body has gotten used to the stimulant that nicotine is, my heart rate is normally around 66 beats per minute which is a good normal heart rate, but when I quit vaping my heart rate drops to around 50, which is really not good and makes me feel tired all the time, when I gave up vaping in the UK a few years ago even after a year my heart rate never went back to normal and I used to drink energy drinks to keep myself going every day, so apart from feeling miserable irritable and tired for the last week, I think I would have kept going with day six but Nick actually talked me into vaping again which I did find funny, but he said if last time when I quit even after a year I was still falling asleep all over the place and my heart rate never went back to normal he thinks I should keep vaping now and again and ignore this getting older and wanting to quit….he also thought if I had carried on not vaping then I should have gone to the doctors and talked to her about my heart rate and possible got put on pills to make it go faster which isn’t something I would want to do….so I guess after writing it out I can see the reason I wanted to quit and the main reason I didn’t go past day six, I’m not sure if I will try again, I think for now I am just glad to be feeling more like myself again and I am enjoying having my concentration back and having some energy again, my bible reading and Greek homework suffered as I could only do about five minutes of each every day, so I have lots to catch up on now lol.

I was tempted to change bedrooms again last week as one evening when I got up in the night to go to the loo, as I sat down a big gecko was sitting on the wall opposite the loo lol, he did give me a start as he had such big eyes that were looking straight at me lol, we thought we had blocked up all the holes etc. where things could get in, but this particular gecko was just by the sink so after we caught him and put him outside we decided to check under the sink and found out that around the bottom of the sinks were gaps which you can only see when you are lying on the floor in the bathroom so that’s how come we missed them, so Nick spent a few days putting sealant around all the sinks in the bathrooms, and then we decided to tape over all the air conditioner units which are in all of the rooms as we don’t use them, so hopefully that has put a stop to them now, I actually find them really cute and wouldn’t mind them wandering around the house but it makes me think that if they can get in then other things possibly could as well, so it was important that we found where they were coming in,…anyway hopefully that will be the end of them now.

Last week we had a cloudy day which was unusual and also nice lol, so I made Broccoli and Pea soup, and then enjoyed making it so much that after a coffee break I then made another soup that had carrot, sweet potato and lentils, they were both really nice and it kept me busy for ages, I decided to freeze them into small containers so it would be easier just to grab one now and again, so I have lots of frozen soup to last for a while.

Talking of food I was having a moan to someone the other day about there not being any fishcakes for sale over here for ages, anyway someone told me to try a shop in Peyia that sells fish etc. and also fishcakes, so we found the shop and bought the fishcakes, the English woman who owns the shop said they were made by a chef in Cyprus and were really good….anyway they were the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted, the breadcrumbs were bright orange, the fish was minced….oh yuk, I went without dinner that night as I couldn’t eat them as they were so awful, the inside of the fishcake was also brown…..so I have now gone back to making them myself and freezing them, so I spent one morning last week in the kitchen and I made 16, but my goodness they take ages to make, I guess its nice to know what’s in them,….but it’s a shame I am now back to making them again,  I think I might double my recipe next time and make 32 as they are really time consuming to make.

When we have another cloudy day I have two new vegetarian recipes to try, but I am waiting for rain or cloud before I have another kitchen day, it is hard work being vegetarian and having to make everything from scratch and also coming up with new ideas, I quite often think it would be so much easier to throw some pork chops under the grill lol.

Last week our washing machine decided to die on us and it was unfixable as it was an English machine and the repair man couldn’t get the parts, so we had to go out and buy another one, and even though we could have done without the expense I have to admit that this new washing machine is so much better.

It’s funny how things go in three’s though, as yesterday in one of the bathrooms there was a leak, it took ages to figure out where the puddles of water were coming from, so our landlord is sending a plumber out this morning to change the valve, apparently it’s something to do with the toilet, but it’s odd as no one uses that bathroom, anyway shortly after the water leak the door handle fell off one of the kitchen cupboards which made me laugh, so hopefully that is the end of things breaking this month lol.

Thankfully we won’t have to buy any fruit this month as our landlord popped up a few days ago and brought us a carrier bag filled with small oranges and another carrier bag filled with pomegranates, it was a surprise as I didn’t know they had orange or pomegranate tree’s, we have started having a pomegranate every afternoon which has been really lovely, I find them to expensive to buy lots of them so this has felt like a real treat, and when the landlord popped up yesterday to check out the leak in the bathroom he said he will bring us more…..I am starting to think they have a tree for every kind of fruit lol, it is lovely of them to be so generous and I don’t have to buy fruit for a while.

We didn’t manage to do any nice walks over the last week, I think me giving up my e cigarette messed our week up, so no cleaning got done and no nice trips for a drink and a walk at the beach, hopefully things will go more back to normal now.

Its this coming Monday that Hazel and Roger come over for their two week holiday so we are really looking forward to some nice days out and catching up, I hope we don’t have to wait to long before we see them as I am sure they will want to chill and unwind when they first arrive.

23^rd November 2021

I actually caught up with my son Daniel last weekend which was nice, we face timed so it then feels like a proper visit lol, and this time he actually called us which really made a change, they are house hunting at the moment as they want to buy a house on a lake, it does sound lovely,  their hospital is doing well and they have taken on another vet as they are really busy, I think he said they have fifteen staff at the moment, but they are taking more weekends off now which was good to hear as they were working continually, I guess with a new business the first couple of years are the hardest, but its nice to see them slowing down a bit now and taking some time for themselves I also caught up with my other son Jamie this week, he is really sick with a virus and so is Ashley his partner so they are having a rough time of it poor things, BC has been having a lot of flooding and he was telling me that the shops have been running out of food as with all the rain it has caused mud slides and blocked roads, so that was a bit worrying, their weather this year has been really odd for some reason as their summer had exceedingly high temperatures and now they are having all this flooding, anyway hopefully the roads will get sorted out this week and then deliveries will go back to normal.

We met up with Hazel and Roger last week at the harbour, it was so lovely to see the pair of them, they are both keeping well and we had a lovely lunch with them catching up on news.  Then yesterday they came up to our house for lunch, which thankfully turned out well, I had a lovely surprise as they bought me a bottle of Baileys which I don’t get very often so I actually treated myself to a drink in the afternoon, it was lovely to spend time with them both. We are meeting up with them again on Friday for lunch before they go back to the UK on Sunday so I am looking forward to that.

The hunters are still out in force at the moment, we have hunting days every Wednesday and Sunday throughout different times of the year, sometimes the hunters sound so close to our property it makes me worried to even go in the garden as we quite often find the shells all over our garden, the gunshots are so loud it sounds like they are actually in our garden, even Gabe hated it on Sundays when he was here in August, and he was shocked that they use real guns, there aren’t many wild animals left over here because of the hunters so they mainly shoot birds now which is sad, so on hunting days I try to stay in the house as I would hate to see the birds dropping from the sky.

30^th November 2021

Well our visits with Hazel and Roger came to an end as they had to go home on Sunday, I was sorry to see them go as we have had a lot of laughs with them over the last two weeks, and they said they had a lovely holiday, our last trip out with them before they left was for lunch at the Muse, it is my favorite place to go and has lovely views over Paphos, so it was a nice treat to go somewhere so lovely,  they are coming back at the end of May to rent something for around a month which will be lovely,

Even though our days are still sunny and hot outside, our house now and again has started to get cooler so I put shorts on to spend the day outside and then pajamas, and hot water bottle in the evening lol, I remember last winter we started lighting the fire at four o clock to take the chill off but so far we haven’t done that, I think the house yesterday was at 19 degrees so it’s still not too bad, I did also put my electric blanket on my bed last week in case I need it, I remember when we first moved over to Cyprus I did find it confusing that outside was lovely and warm and inside was colder, I have to say I still find it odd lol.

We did pop to the shopping mall one of the days last week as my slippers were in bits, with not having carpets on any of the floors over here everyone has to have slippers as the floors in the winter are cold in the houses, so we went to Marks and Spencer’s and luckily for me I found a lovely pair that are warm with proper soles on the bottom.

Nick had something crazy happen the other day, he likes to listen to music as he goes to sleep so he puts headphones in, anyway a few days ago he asked me to look in his ear as he could feel something in one of them….and there was a plastic part of his headphones stuck right down in his ear, I wanted to take him to the hospital as it looked so deep in his ear but of course he wouldn’t let me and wanted me to try and get it out with tweezers, I was terrified I was going to push it further in, anyway after ages and with shaking hands I did eventually manage to get underneath it and push it up out of his ear, the tweezers wouldn’t grab it so I had to go beneath it, it felt so traumatic though lol, and now he is banned from wearing his headphones in bed, I don’t know why he did it anyway as he has his bedroom door closed so I wouldn’t hear his music anyway….silly man.

13^th December 2021

We did have one really windy day last week, but we knew it was coming so we got everything outside under cover so things wouldn’t blow away, and it was really windy we had to go to the vape shop that day so we parked on a hill that overlooked the beach so we could sit and watch the waves for a while as the ocean was really stirred up, there were lots of other people doing the same thing and taking videos, although I never think the videos do it justice, but it broke the day up, the day was still really warm even though it was windy, and the following day it took forever to clean up as the garden and pool was covered in leaves and all sorts of bits and pieces.

We also had a bit of rain on and off last week, but thankfully we are still having really warm days, I do enjoy this time of year as I get to sit in the sunshine as its not to hot, the house has gone chillier though so at four o clock we are now lighting a fire for a few hours, it does look pretty with the fire going and makes me feel warmer.

This month when we paid our rent they gave us a really big carrier bag full of oranges, we are definitely in orange season now as when we are out driving all the tree’s are covered, it looks really pretty to see them all hanging on the trees, there are so many oranges it will take a long time to get through them, they have filled up my veg drawer at the bottom of the fridge  and also a couple of bowls, they are the small easy to peel oranges, so I am managing to eat four a day at the moment, hopefully they will last a while in the fridge.

I have to write about a new drink I discovered, well its not new but new to me lol, I came down with a nasty cough just over a week ago and my chest felt really sore, on the third day of feeling a bit rough I remembered reading something last year about olive tree’s and their leaves, apparently the leaves contain a chemical called Oleuropein, which is antiviral, thankfully I had kept the article and it said that making a tea out of olive leaves was good for viral infections, so I decided to give it a go as we just happen to have an olive tree outside, it was really easy as I just picked a few leaves, washed and chopped them up and seeped them in a cup of hot water for ten minutes, I did add some honey to sweeten it, and I was surprised how nice it tasted, it was a bit like green tree, my chest got better after drinking it on and off for two days which was good, so it is something I will do again if I get a bit of a cough, apparently it was used a few thousand years ago for coughs and fevers and other ailments, it always amazes me that our medicines are all around us.

Apart from shopping which I dislike a lot it has been a nice week and I have managed to catch up on all of my homework, now I am in year two there is a lot more homework to do so its good to have the time to do it, this week we are learning future words and past words, like I drive, and I drove, I will cook and I have cooked, its all pretty interesting even though its difficult and I am sure it must be good for my brain continually trying to remember things,

Caths dog Luna is doing better these days, she has a slight limp but she is walking fairly good, two different vets had said that she needed surgery to walk again so I started a go fund me page for her to see if we could raise the money, I think we got up to around five hundred, but this week Cath had said she was so pleased with how Luna was doing she thought we should cancel the go fund me and let everyone have their money back, its also a good time for people to have their money back just before the holidays, it is a relief that Luna is doing better as it was a worry, I think one of the vets she went to see actually said Luna needed to be put to sleep if she couldn’t have the surgery, it just goes to show they don’t know everything.

Well I have spent my morning cooking up mushrooms as I am making meatless meatballs, they take forever to make but they are so lovely and tasty, this time I am making them into patties for burgers which I haven’t tried before so that should be interesting to see what they are like.

27^th December 2021

We did have a lovely face time call from Danny and Emily over the holiday , it had been a month or so since our last facetime so it was nice to catch up, at one point Danny showed me their Christmas tree which I have to admit was really beautiful, he took us over on his iPad closer to the tree and showed us an ornament that they had made for their tree, on the ornament It says     ‘Our little present is due to be unwrapped June 2022’.

I was in total shock as they have always said there would be no babies for them, apparently they decided in October that it was something they wanted to do and within one month Emily was pregnant, it has to be the best news I have heard in a long time as I always did feel that they were missing out on something incredible, so as you can see from the little pink booties hanging from the ornament it is a little girl, I am still so amazed by it all to be honest and it is going to take me a while to get over the shock of it all as its the last thing I would have expected from them lol.

It is a good time for them to have a baby with the hospital virtually running itself now, they took on another two staff members so I think they now have 16 or 17 employees, they said they will take it step by step as to whether Emily goes part time or if the pair of them want to split working and taking it in turns to look after the baby or whether to get a full time nanny, its good they are keeping themselves open as of course they have no idea what life is going to be like with a little one…..they are going to have so much fun aren’t they and I am so happy they are going to experience it all, its is definitely one of the best things in life.

What was funny though was a few hours later on our family chat Robyn my step granddaughter posted a video showing her giving a present to my son Jamie and it was a baby outfit lol, so it seems Robyn is also pregnant…..Robyn classes Jamie as her dad as he has brought her up, so Jamie is about to be a grandad lol, anyway so it seems we have two babies to look forward to next year, we will find out next week when Robyn’s baby is due.

I did nearly make mince pies yesterday, I normally wait until January but Nick remembered we had two jars of mince meat in the cupboard lol and had a craving, although when I say we made them yesterday they haven’t actually been made yet, as I came across this recipe for mince pies made with rough puff pastry, so yesterday we started making the pastry and had to leave it in the fridge for an hour, then we folded it again and left it for another hour and then at some point we repeated all the steps and back in the fridge it went, and then the recipe said the pastry was better left over night in the fridge, so we decided to leave it overnight and make them today, it is going to be interesting to see what they turn out like and whether they are better than normal mince pies, the picture of them looked lovely, but we shall see, I find it interesting trying something different….after looking it all up I discovered that puff pastry is different from rough puff pastry, so next time I want to make something with puff pastry in a recipe to see what the difference is.

Hazel and Roger have kept in touch since they have gone home which has been nice, and a few days ago she sent me pictures of a villa that they are thinking of booking, I was really surprised to see that it was literally two minutes from our house in Droushia, so if they book it they will be in walking distance from us which will be nice, she said they have decided to come over for a holiday and over time will stay in different villas so they can check out the different areas to see if moving over here would be something that they want to do, which is a sensible way to do things, it would be lovely to have them move over here although they would be crazy not to though as it is a beautiful place to live and we do have so much sunshine which is what I think they want.

Nicola is also coming over in April or May which is brilliant news as the last time she was here was July 2019 which was two and a half years ago, I do like having something to look forward to and plan for even though its ages away.

We have been for a couple of nice beach walks over the last couple of weeks,  thankfully the weather people keep getting the weather wrong as they keep saying rain but its mainly a mix of sun and a few clouds which is nice for walking, Christmas day we had full sun and spent all day in the garden as it was warmer outside than inside lol, and this morning we have blue skies again so we have planned to cook the mince pies and then go out for a walk at the beach, we are hoping some places are open and they might let us sit and have a coffee outside, so we will go and find out.

(Editing to add) Apparently we are still not allowed to sit outside, our rules state even with a negative test if we are unvaccinated then tavernas, restaurants and cafes are off limits for us, we are lucky though that there is one taverna along the sea front that lets us sit in the corner and have a coffee….I am starting to think life will never be normal again

Its strange to think that soon it will be 2022, this past year has gone by so quickly, I think its the fastest year yet, and its weird to think we have been here over three years now, when we have been here for five years we can apply for permanent residence so we only have two more years before we do that, I guess the next time I write it will be 2022.

The Beginning of another year.

9^th January 2020

Well Nick is finally on the mend thankfully, he hardly ever gets sick and this virus really did knock him for six, so my week has mainly consisted of running around looking after Nick and trying to get him to eat and drink which was hard work as for three days he couldn’t even eat, he just lay under two duvet covers shivering and shaking, and then unfortunately for me just as Nick was getting better I came down with a cold, it was nothing like Nicks germ though, it just felt like a normal cold germ, my chest was a bit of a sore and my voice sounds very hoarse, hopefully I can knock it on the head soon as I am not a good patient lol.

At the moment we only have a couple of lettuces left so I am going to start some more seeds in the next week or two, my chilli peppers are still doing well, I did bring the chillies in the house while we had all the hail as it would have destroyed them, as it is my poor geraniums are shredded although I think they will be come back again, they are just missing a lot of leaves, but they are still in bloom although there aren’t many blooms left after the hail lol, since I bought them last spring they have not stopped blooming, so it seems like it is a good plant to have living over here.

17^th January 2020

Well it’s been a boring week with having this cold, it decided to infect my sinus’s so I  had a lot of trouble sleeping which probably didn’t help, over the last few days I can see an improvement though so I think I am getting there slowly, so another few days and I think I will be healthy again, In a way though I think it worked out well, Nick was poorly and needed looking after and as soon as he started feeling better I went down with a germ lol, so it seems we took it in turns, it was definitely two completely different things though, I think Nicks was a virus and mine was a sinus cold.

I managed to go to the hairdressers on Wednesday, I had to force myself to go as I was still feeling under the weather a bit, but my hair had gotten fairly long and my roots were about three inches long so I was looking a bit of a mess, anyway it is all nicely chopped to my shoulders again and I have no roots, I do enjoy the hairdressers dying my hair as it never comes out yellow looking, so I feel quite lucky to be able to go and get it done every now and again.

I also managed to go grocery shopping the following day as we hadn’t been for three weeks and we were running out of everything, I did find that hard going though as it took ages and my head felt heavy, anyway at least that is done for the next two weeks thankfully.

This morning we couldn’t get any hot water, the element went and it was something to do with something on the roof, anyway Nick contacted our landlord who sent someone out within half an hour and the guy fixed it really quickly, I think from when Nick called the landlord it was all done in forty five minutes.

24^th January 2020

The weather this week has been incredible, it has been hot and sunny most of the week, although as soon as the sun goes down it turns really cold, but I am loving the warm sunny days as it feels like we are back in summer, of course the house is still cold.

This week we spent three days in the garden as a lot of things needed chopping, and some things got quite wrecked from the few days of hail that we had a while ago, so there was lots to sort out, I also had to chop all the roses down which took quite a while. I was surprised when I went to plant my lettuce seedlings that the old lettuces that we picked and had eaten had all started re growing again, so I didn’t have to plant more seeds so that was one job I didn’t have to do, I actually didn’t know that they regrew as when we had the allotment I wouldn’t chop the lettuces off I would pull them up, anyway this was a really nice surprise as they are already a good size.

I think the only other thing we have done this week was today I finally had a bean day, which I had planned to do weeks and weeks ago, but with Nick getting sick and then me it just kept getting postponed, it has taken most of the day as it normally does, but they are now all bagged up and in the freezer which felt good that I finally got them cooked and sorted.

31^st January 2020

We have had a funny week this week with our weather, some days were sunny and hot, then we have had some days with part sun and cloud, and now and again a rainy day, and when it rains over here it really rains lol, I have had to move some of my larger potted plants under the car port to protect them from the rain as it comes down so torrential and it wasn’t doing the plants any good, I think on a few of them their leaves are quite battered, I should have moved them before now but I forgot, I will definitely remember next January, it is an odd winter though and one day it can be hot and sunny and the next day torrential rain and a bit chilly, and then it goes back to being hot and sunny,  I think our main months for winter over here seem to be January and February, so hopefully only another month of on and off weather, and then it will be interesting to see how warm March and April are.

Our sun isn’t setting until seventeen minutes past five now which is nice, having that extra bit of daylight makes such a difference.

It’s been lovely getting out again for walks this week, we went to Latchi harbour which is a really good walk along the seafront and thankfully right at the end is a café on the beach, and then by the time we walked back to Latchi Beach I was ready for another sit down, we also did another walk one of the days when it was warm which was Lighthouse beach to Paphos harbour, it is such a lovely walk and it’s nice to stop at the harbour for a drink before going back to lighthouse beach, it seems I only like long walks where a cup of tea is involved, the one good thing is that you don’t find scones at any of the cafe’s which was always my downfall on the Isle of Wight lol.

The building work that was started last spring by our house is still going on, it’s just two houses that they are building but I would have thought by now they would have been finished, I think it’s because they aren’t made of brick, but they are solid concrete, I think Nick has enjoyed watching them being built though, but they start work most mornings at seven which wakes me up, so it has seemed like a long time to me from last spring to now and they still have so much left to do so it’s going to be a few more months before they are finished., now and again they take a day off and sometimes on a Sunday, so about once a week they don’t wake me up, I will be glad when they are finished though and we are back to peace and quiet.

Today it is quite a windy day but we do have blue skies and lots of sunshine, but I don’t like walking in the wind so today I want to make more soup to freeze, a quiche, and a beetroot tart, I really enjoy playing in the kitchen now and again. I also want to have a go at making bread in the next couple of weeks, but I would like to try it by hand and not machine as I don’t think I have ever tried it by hand, but it sounds quite satisfying and not something I have ever done.

6^th February 2020

Well we finally caught up with Tracy and Brian last Sunday, we went to lighthouse beach and had lunch and a walk to the harbour and back which was nice, its always a fun afternoon when we all meet up together.

Our weather isn’t to good this week I started the week in shorts and t shirt at the beach and the weather was beautiful, but the rest of the week I have needed jeans and a jacket as we have had rain and cloud, it is really nice being able to go for walks when we want to though, as last summer we just couldn’t walk anywhere, so there is a part of me that is enjoying the winter over here, and the odd sunny days do help to keep you going, on today’s walk the rain didn’t wait for us to get home so we got quite wet lol, and it has rained on and off all day, so it was nice to get home and stay home for the rest of the day, I am hoping we get more sunny days next week.

This week on and off I have been working hard on all of my plants, I have been making myself a book, which lists each plant and how to look after them, so I have typed out one page for each plant, but it has taken me hours to research each one individually, I have printed them out now and put them into a binder, I do like being organized, and this year it will be nice to know what to do with each plant and to know how much sun, fertiliser etc. that they need, I  think last year I just didn’t feel as though I had the time to sort them all out properly so I was continually moving plants and now and again wondering why some of them weren’t doing so well, so doing this has made me feel better and hopefully my plants will be better this year, I have also had to move some of my plants into the house from outside as apparently they don’t like chilly temperatures so it’s a good job I got around to making my plant book as our evenings can be chilly.

As I was having a wander around the garden this week I was surprised to see that my Petunias in a pot outside the back door are still alive, I find that very odd as it does get really chilly when the sun goes down and at the moment they are in a pot in the shade, I did cut them back in December so I just expected them to die, but for some reason they are still alive, I might move them into the sun this weekend to see if they start growing more which I think would surprise me lol.

I also noticed this week while out walking that there are a lot of marigolds growing in people’s gardens around the village and they are really quite tall, I did buy some in the spring but mine died as they got mold, I think I accidently watered them overhead instead of in the soil so with the humidity it just caused mold, but anyway I will have another go this year as they seem like they are a perennial over here, I find growing things over here is a continual learning thing.

We have had some lovely walks around the village this week, and the one day a little goat came dashing up to us, it was so funny that he came over to say hello, he was so little and cute with big floppy ears, it’s funny the way they run as they seem a bit like lambs and they sort of bounce along lol.

My knees are feeling much better this week, last week they still felt quite bad even though I was taking the turmeric and black pepper capsules, I think I took them for about two to three weeks but I really didn’t feel much difference, so then I remembered what I used to do to get my knee’s better which was sesame seeds, only when I tried them in November that didn’t work on my knee’s either which I found odd as that has always worked, anyway so I came up with a plan of trying the two remedies together which is the sesame seeds twice a day plus the turmeric, and after two days I could feel a big difference and I actually walked up the stairs on Wednesday with no pain which felt really good,  and today I bounded up the stairs which felt quite amazing after struggling since November, it made me feel so happy to be back to normal again, so I will keep the two remedies up for another few weeks and then see how things are, it’s funny that you don’t notice how many steps or hills there are around until your knee’s hurt and then suddenly it seems there are steps everywhere lol, but for now I can walk up them which is pretty amazing.

13^th February 2020

Well only about two more weeks and we will virtually be in March so not long to go really, our winter in Cyprus is supposed to be January and February, and we have had lots of cloud rain and wind so I am looking forward to March and things heating up a bit more, although I have read that next week the temperatures are going to be nice and we are having sunshine, also the overnight temperatures are starting to rise which is good, this week there has been a bit of a breeze that has a chill to it, so we have mainly kept our walks to the village as the little country lanes have tree’s so its warmer to walk than down at the coast and the tree’s block any breeze that is going on, but as soon as the temperatures go up a bit more and the chill in the breeze has gone we will start having some beach walks.

Yesterday just as we were going out the door to go for a walk it started to drizzle with rain, so we decided to do a bit of exploring in the car instead which was fun, we went to Mosogi, and then Mesa Chorio, and then got lost in a place called Armou, it was all fun until we got onto a really thin narrow road with awful bends and we were quite high up, the drop at the side of the road was really awful, and in some places there were no metal barriers, I did actually sort of yell and nearly scream now and again as I thought we were going to drop down the huge drop, if I hadn’t been so scared I would have taken a video lol, it was pretty terrifying, anyway we did eventually find our way home and I was so glad to get back inside with a cup of tea.

19^th February 2020

Our weather at the moment is mixed, and reading back from my blog from last February it was the same, some days are full sun and I put my shorts on and other days seem to be part sun and cloud and you need a thin sweater and jeans, but I am enjoying both kind of days, it is just nice being able to get out and walk as when the weather gets hotter then walking is totally out of the question for months, we have had some nice days out so far that includes lots of walking, we had a lovely afternoon out at Latchi one of the days, it takes about twenty minutes by car to get there, but the walk from Latchi to Polis along the beach is a really nice long walk, it was a nice feeling having aching legs when we got home, we also made a nice afternoon out of going grocery shopping last week as we went to the harbour for lunch and a walk before shopping and doing groceries, I really do dislike grocery shopping so anything that makes it feel better is worth it lol, I am still thankful that I only have to go twice a month.

We also did some exploring down in Peyia, there are some lovely cliff walks and the views across the water are really stunning, and we did a different walk another day at the harbour and walked in the opposite direction where the hotels are and we found a really nice walk along the seafront and a couple of extra little sandy beaches which we didn’t know were there, so it has felt like a busy week, but I know as soon as the real summer starts then we will be at home and in the pool to keep cool and won’t be going out so much, so I feel as though I have to do all of my going out now.

Nick caught a slight germ two days ago, he just has a bit of a sore throat and a tickly cough and just a slight cold, he wasn’t feeling ill with it but we decided to have a couple days at home so he could chill a bit more, sometimes it is nice to stay home, and it did give me chance to get caught up on things as I did have a lot of chopping to do with plants as we had more hail which shredded a lot of leaves, and yesterday I also managed to make more fishcakes, 2 lentil meatloaf’s and fourteen containers of rice mixture, so I have quite enjoyed being at home.

I saw my first almond blossom last week so everyone says we are in spring which is nice, there is a village somewhere over here that has a festival sometime in February as the village has a lot of almond trees, apparently its really beautiful to go and see,  I just keep forgetting to find out where the village is lol, hopefully its next week and we haven’t missed it.

26^th Feb 2020

Thankfully we didn’t get the rain last weekend but we did the day before on the Friday, it was torrential and went on all morning with a few claps of thunder and one bit of lightening, but the weekend was nice and sunny, we treated ourselves to lunch at the harbour which was a nice treat and then we went for a walk, it was still a jeans and thin sweater sort of day though.

Since then I have been playing in the garden as I had a trip to the garden centre and found a plant I had been looking for which was really cheap, I have to figure out what it’s called but it’s not a pretty plant and quite spiky, but all the people in the village seem to have this plant and so I know it will do well up here in the hills, I did also find a big bag of perlite which I had been looking for to mix with the soil in my plant pots, so I now have to re pot most of my plants to mix some perlite in with them and put some gravel at the bottom of the pots, I think because during the summer the plants need watering all of the time it is easy to rot the roots and for some reason it was something I just forgot to do, I did lose two plants last year and I am sure that is what the problem was, I am sure my plants will be happier this year now I am giving more thought to them.

I do enjoy playing in the dirt so I have enjoyed the last few days making a huge mess, it does make me laugh though as I get dirt and gravel all over the patio and Nick continually comes along and sweeps up after me, I do tell him to wait until I’ve finished but he can’t seem to help himself lol, last summer he would go out every Friday morning and blow all the leaves off the gardens, and my job on a Friday afternoon was to go around and trim and cut off all the dead roses and also pull off all the dead oleander flowers, he would never say anything but then he would dash around cleaning up again, I quite often told him to wait until I had made the mess and then get the leaf blower out but he just couldn’t wait, he is funny but I just leave him to his strangeness lol.

We also had to give the fruit tree’s a trim this week which was a bit daunting as we had never trimmed fruit tree’s before but they do look better, The weather though has been incredible with blue skies and sunshine, and the nice thing is that I seem to be in shorts most days, I have read that Thursday and Saturday we are having cloud but the temperatures are still good but on those days I think it will be jeans and t shirt again.

The building work is still going on a few doors down, I live in hope that they are trying to get it finished before the real hot sun arrives, so maybe we will have a nice quiet summer, I don’t think its the machinery noise that is the bother, its more that the Cypriot people don’t know how to talk to each other, they shout and they are quite loud, and that is what the builders do now and again, I remember when we first moved over here I thought everyone was continually arguing with each other, but it’s just their way, they are noisy and loud lol, it is odd, so I think it’s actually the builders themselves that are a bit noisy when they are chatting and shouting to each other rather than their machinery, they are strange people lol, they did give me a day off on Sunday and today there is no one there either so both days I have managed to sleep in a bit more which has been nice.

Well it is another lovely day but there are a few clouds floating around but they look like they might float away as they have got less and less since I started writing this, I am hoping anyway lol, today I am back in the garden re potting all of my plants to make them healthier and to add the perlite and gravel.

March 2^nd 2020

We met up with my niece Tracy and Brian at the weekend to go to the carnival which Tracy was really looking forward to, so it was lovely spending the afternoon with them, the carnival last year was incredible as it was themed and called Africa, I had some amazing videos of it all, so we hoped it would be as good this year, and Tracy was so excited, but we were all disappointed as there wasn’t a theme at all, the only nice thing was we had booked a restaurant that overlooked the carnival and the ocean so we sat and had a lovely afternoon chatting.

This week the weather has been lovely and the house is starting to warm up, I have been using my factor 50 sun cream last week and this week, as I refuse to get burnt this year at all, and I also carry a small one in my bag as I kept getting caught out last year.

We had some good news this week we popped into the swimming pool store to ask how much the pool covers were with a roller, and they are half the price than what we had been told, so Nick is ordering it tomorrow, hopefully that will help get the pool temperature up quicker, I think we had to wait until the middle of May last year for it to get warm so we are hoping that we will be swimming in April, we will see, also having the pool cover will cut the water bill down as we continually have to keep topping the pool up with water, as with the sunshine the water evaporates, so we are hoping the pool cover will sort of pay for itself with the water bill being lower this year.

This week we also went and bought another lemon tree which we are going to keep in a pot, and two Fiscus trees, the trees are to go at the back of the pool as we are still trying to get a bit of privacy from the house at the back, having these bigger trees in pots is helping a bit more and I feel a bit more able to go out the back as in certain areas of the garden we can’t see the windows, unfortunately we went for the cheapest pots so they are all the same colour so now I am researching how to spray paint plant pots which should be a fun thing to do at some point.

We had our kite flying day this week, it’s called Green Monday, and its where everyone has a day off from work and they go out to beaches and the countryside to fly kites, and flying the kites are supposed to release all of the negative emotions that they have had, this time last year we went to the sea front and watched all the children flying kites and it was a lovely day out, this year we decided to buy a kite and fly our own lol, I have to admit it was so much fun trying to fly them and try to not have them come crashing down, I don’t think I have ever played with a kite before, anyway it was so enjoyable that next year we will do it again. I think we are getting dafter as we get older.

March 1^st2020

My week this last week probably sounds boring but I have really enjoyed it as I have mainly spent my days in the garden again, I still had some plants to re pot, and I also decided to have a go at making plants from my plants, so I am trying some Oleander bushes, I think I cut about 9 small branches, I have also propagated eight Schefferia plants, then out of my chrysanthemums I have split the bulbs into three pots as they were overcrowded, and then when I chopped my Dracaena plant I re planted the canes to see if I could get them to grow as apparently they do grow from just canes, I will see lol.

I also started some seeds, tomato’s, more lettuces before it gets too hot, and two different kinds of Zinnia’s…I also had some passion fruits that Tracy gave me last week so I cleaned one of them out and planted the seeds as I would love a passion flower plant, I think the fruit is my all-time favourite, it will be interesting to see if I can get the seeds to grow.

All of my baby geraniums are also doing well as I did a bit of chopping and planting with them a while ago to make more, thankfully they are nice and easy, and the yucca plant that I chopped have now all got new roots so I now have five new Yucca plants,  it was good fun and now I am searching for jobs to do in the garden.

I actually did think of a nice garden job last week, I want to have a go at spray painting my plant pots as I seem to have a lot of the same colour which is that terracotta colour, and plants do look best when they are mixed, so at some point this week that is going to be my next job if I can find the right kind of paint.

The weather here is starting to get hotter although in the next week I can see we are going to have a couple of days of cloud, but hopefully it will still be warm, today we are going to get the garden umbrellas out and see if we can re organize the back garden area and put the sunbeds back outside, we have been storing them under the carport so they wouldn’t get damaged by hail etc.

With all the sunshine we have been having, we have been leaving the front door open all day and we have got the living room temperature up a bit more, although now and again I am making myself a hot water bottle in the evening as when the sun goes down the temperature feels a bit chilly, I find if my hands are warm then I am warm so I sit with my hands on the water bottle I do love my hot water bottle lol and I am so glad I bought it with me.

8^th March 2020

We finally got the pool cover last week and Nick spent the last two days fitting it, it was a bit of a bigger job than we realized, but thankfully it is now all done and it seems to be working as the water was 11 or 12 degrees when we fitted the cover  and two days later it was at 14 degrees, I think we are going to be so glad we bought it, so now we just have to wait for the temperature of the water to go up, we could have had it fitted by the store that we got it from but it would have cost more so Nick said he would do it himself, still it’s another thing out of the way.

This last week I also had to get all of the windows cleaned as some of them they were totally disgusting from rain and dust which is probably from the builders, we have one wall in the living room which is nearly all windows so I always get Nick to do outside while I do inside to make it easier, it is nice to be able to see out of them now though, it’s amazing the difference it makes.

March 16^th2020      The start of our lockdown

Because of the Corona virus it was a surprise last night when we heard that all of the cafe’s over here in Cyprus have had to shut down and not open their doors as from 6am this morning, along with all taverna’s, restaurants, hair salons etc., the only places allowed to be open are supermarkets, petrol stations and banks, they have closed virtually everything today, the banks are only allowing one person in at a time so there are huge line ups everywhere, and the supermarkets are only allowing a few people in at a time and that is after you have put on a pair of plastic gloves.

It feels like the world has gone upside down although I have to say I will miss popping out to the taverna in our village for a coffee, and I do wonder how all of these small businesses will cope as they still have to pay rent but can’t make any money.

Today we have a mixed cloudy day, with more cloud than sunshine although it does peek through now and again, but it’s a good day to finish the cleaning that I started yesterday, I find I always want to be in the garden if the sun is shining, I have been thinking of jobs to do whilst being stuck at home and there are loads of them so I am going to make myself a list, for me it’s also a good time to spend more time in the kitchen trying out some new recipes, I thought at some point if boredom sets in I would get my piano organ out as I still haven’t had it out since moving over here so I am looking forward to messing around with it, and I also thankfully have my Greek words to learn.

March 20^th 2020

Everyone in Cyprus got a text yesterday telling us to start limiting our movements from now on, so I guess that means not to go out unless it’s absolutely needed, so that was a surprise, but I have no problem in isolating myself as I don’t want to get sick with this virus.

The government have also set up a fairly large group that will go around checking that there are no restaurants or cafes open, also taverna’s and hairdresser shops etc., as apparently one or two have stayed open, so this group has the power to close them down and report it to the police so they will get fined, it’s a good idea really as Nick mentioned he saw a café open yesterday when he was out at the grocery shop.

March 22^nd 2020

This morning I heard Cyprus now has 91 confirmed cases of Coronavirus at the moment, which isn’t too bad, there has only been one death so far, and the person had really bad underlying health issues, still sad though.

Our grocery stores are still fully stocked which I think is really helping so no one is panic buying and if we wanted to we could do our grocery shopping early in the morning beings as we are classed as vulnerable being over 60 lol, for some reason that still makes me laugh as I don’t feel old.

There was one thing I thought of a few days ago, I can’t go to the hairdressers as they have all closed down and are not allowed to go to people’s houses, it’s so typical as I was due to go to get my hair dyed and also it needs chopping again, and also Nicks hair is getting long, I did tell Nick by the end of all of this he might have to have his hair in a ponytail lol, there are a few people on the Cyprus forum that are moaning about the same thing which makes me feel better lol, I guess at the end of all this there are going to be a lot of older people over here with long hair.

March 24^th 2020

Our Prime Minister in Cyprus has said that if we want to have a bit of exercise it can’t be more than two people together and we are restricted to the area around our residence, so we can’t go for a walk anywhere anymore, we also have to carry ID or our passport with us., to be honest it really isn’t going to bother me to much as I have so many jobs to do in the house and also in the garden so I think all of that will keep me busy for a while.

We had to pop out to the grocery store today so on our way home I got Nick to stop at the garden center as all the plants are outside and it looked like there were hardly any people there, I think I counted two people, it was odd seeing everything so quiet, what was really odd was when I was at the counter asking the assistant about fertilizer, she told both me and Nick to stand apart from each other, Nick said oh its ok we are together and married, but she said no you have to stand apart, it was all really strange, so when we went outside looking at the plants Nick wasn’t allowed to be near me and we had to keep a good distance from each other, it is the first time this has happened and it was all really strange, I think the woman in the shop must have gotten confused with the guidelines, but anyway I think I was glad to get home to be honest, the supermarkets aren’t imposing those kinds of rules if you are together so it didn’t make any sense at all, anyway I did get the fertilizer I needed and I picked up a couple of African daisies that I was going to get next month so it was a nice day apart from the strange woman in the garden center lol.

Our weather at the moment is on and off sun and cloud, although this morning I found it hard to even sit in the sun for more than ten minutes, the house is slowly warming up but it’s still not quite warm enough for me yet, I thinks it keeps going between 14 and 17 degree’s so we are out in the garden during the day and in the evening I sit with a hot water bottle on my lap which keeps me nice and warm, I don’t think it helped that last week we had lower temperatures than normal so the house is taking longer to heat up, but hopefully now we are getting some warmer days that should make the temperature in the house start to rise a bit more.

March 25^th 2020

Well we had a surprise yesterday, it seems that we now need to print a form off to state the reason we are leaving the house, even if it is to pick up groceries or go to the pharmacy, they said if if we don’t have a printer then we have to use a messaging center to let them know the reason why we would like to go out, either to get groceries or go to the pharmacy etc., and then we are limited to a certain amount of time, even if we have a dog and need to take the dog out then a form needs to be filled in, or the person has to send a message saying they are walking their dog and then they have to wait for a message back giving approval, people are not allowed to walk around their neighborhood but keep to just outside their own residence.

I am pleased to see though that on the forums no one is moaning about it all and everyone thinks it needed to be done to keep people at home, I think last weekend we had the same problem that Briton did in that people were going to parks and to the beaches in some places, so hopefully all of this will keep us healthy and safe.

When we went back down to the vape store yesterday morning as it was shutting for the next while,  I started to see line ups outside of a few supermarkets, not all of them though just the odd one here and there, it is the first time I have seen this over here, it could be that they are just letting a certain number of people in now, but it was a surprise, I know they have been doing it in pharmacies as Nick went down to pick his prescription up last week and only one person was allowed in at a time, at the vape shop he was serving people outside which I thought was a good idea.

So it seems life has completely changed now, and I am sure when I have caught up on jobs, that I will miss having walks around our village, I love seeing the hills and all the countryside so even though I am not missing it now I think by next week I will be dying for a proper walk, I think having the garden is helping me at the moment as there is always something that needs doing, but if I didn’t have a garden I would be going stir crazy.

There is one good thing so far for me that has come out of this, and that is that all construction workers are not allowed to work, so the building work a few doors away has now stopped and oh my goodness it is so quiet and peaceful, I think I was starting to get used to the noise, but when it all stopped yesterday the peace is so amazing that you really notice it, and the birds seem louder which is really lovely.

March 28^th 2020

Well the weather people at the moment seem to have got it right this weekend, this morning we have part sun and cloud and at lunchtime we are getting full cloud and some wind and the same for tomorrow, which is a shame as I would have liked another day playing in the dirt.

I did have a scare yesterday morning, I was sitting outside with my cup of tea and in the tree’s at the front of the house which is where I was sitting, I heard this clicking noise and saw something sort of glide from one tree to the next tree, it looked quite big, anyway it carried on with the clicking noise again and it flew to the side of the house, well I couldn’t resist going to see what it was as it seemed quite big, I was holding my gardening book in my hand for protection lol, anyway as I walked around the side of the house I heard the clicking noise again and it flew straight towards me….oh my goodness I did scream my head off, I think I must have woken the whole neighborhood up lol, my gardening book went flying out into the road and Nick came flying down the stairs thinking something was killing me, I still don’t know what it was though, but for the rest of the day I insisted that Nick stay right beside me lol.

Because it was sunny yesterday I did manage to stay in the garden all day and I made the biggest mess ever, I was just putting some plants into bigger pots that had got too big for its pot, it was quite lovely playing on the patio in the dirt, Nick did his usual thing and kept dashing around with the broom which made me laugh,  he is funny….Nick asked me did I think we could ever go for more than a few days without me making a huge mess lol, I think the answer to that is no as I will always think of something to do in the dirt.

Nick decided to walk around the outside of the house to count my pots, and I have 67 of them at the moment, it did make me laugh, don’t imagine for a second that they are all filled with beautiful flowering plants, as one has mint, another has parsley, some of them are smaller pots, a lot of them aren’t flowering plants, the 67 doesn’t include my seedlings that I am going to put into pots in the next week, I did find it funny though when he came and told me.

March 30^th 2020

Our weather hasn’t been listening to me at all these days as I have been asking for sunshine and all we have had is cloud, and yesterday the wind picked up and it had a chill to it, still it got the beds changed and the rooms polished, and lot of other jobs done, today it is cloudy but it seems mild outside and I can see the sun is trying to peek through now and again so hopefully it is nice out there although I haven’t been outside yet, but it would be nice to have some garden time this afternoon, I can always find something to do out there.

Saturday morning we had our landlord arrive next door, he phoned instead of popping over and asked Nick if he could top his swimming pool up now and again and also water his grass once a week as his automatic water sprinkler isn’t working properly, its’ only a small bit of grass, so of course Nick said yes, he said he wouldn’t be able to get permission to come up again for a while as its not essential travel, so we probably won’t be seeing them for a while.

With all of this coronavirus going on It is good at the moment to take things one day at a time, as if we think too much ahead it won’t do us any good and I keep hearing bits and pieces about it lasting longer, so now I don’t think about it and who knows we could be pleasantly surprised. I think to start with I was reading and watching about the coronavirus quite a lot, but I think it can’t be healthy mentally to keep watching or reading about it,  I glance at the news on my laptop first thing in the morning and now and again I check again once during the day, but I think looking after our mental health is important and it would be so easy these days to start getting a low mood, so it’s good to not get to involved in every single little thing that is happening, all the kids are still staying in touch so at least I don’t have to look at all their news as well.

They are thinking over here of tightening the restrictions up even more than they have, I have no idea of what else they could do to us all,  we are definitely living in strange times, I think it’s mainly because they are catching people who are out and about with no forms or not having the approval by text, on Friday they found a 29 and a 42 year old outside with no approval so they both got fined four hundred each, when I think about it I just find it unreal really that this is our life now.

I am hoping today to pot up all of my little seedlings as they are outgrowing the trays at the moment, they are just Zinnia’s, more lettuces, and some tomato’s, although with the weather picking up next week there is a chance the lettuces won’t grow to full size as they don’t like the heat, and also I have heard it is hard to grow tomato’s over here but that makes no sense to me as I used to grow them in the greenhouse and that used to get really hot, anyway I guess it’s just trial and error with growing things over here, my lettuces over the winter were amazing though and it’s something I will do every winter now, the one good thing though is I haven’t seen one slug yet lol, but I do come across the odd snail here and there but not many thankfully.

Our confirmed cases of the virus yesterday were 230 cases and our deaths were at 7.

1^st April 2020

Today over here is a holiday, so everything is closed down, so at some point I am going to send a text to get approval and I am going out for a walk, I was going to do it yesterday but my goodness the winds we had were so strong that they blew the patio furniture across the patio and one of the plants landed up on top of the pool cover lol, I heard they had it even worse down in Paphos, it was nice to sit in the sun if you could find a sheltered spot as it was such a sunny day, and just outside our front door it is a bit more sheltered but even that made you feel a bit wind-blown, then last night throughout the night on and off we had torrential rain, I don’t know what is going on with our weather at the moment but this time last year the weather was beautiful, and for a while now we have had a lot of cloud and hail, rain and wind with the odd nice day here and there, today seems to be not to bad and there is sunshine with cloud so as long as the cloud doesn’t cover the whole sky it might be a better day, I do hope it all picks up again soon.

This morning when I was looking out of the bedroom window I spotted a bird on the neighbours solar panel, he would flutter to the top of the panel and then he would slide down, he was funny,  he really kept me entertained while I was sitting in bed drinking my morning cup of tea, it was quite strange really, I think it was the amount of time he was doing it for that amazed me, I watched him for about an hour, but when Nick got up and I told him about it he went to have a look and it was surprising to see that the bird was still doing it and he really had gotten better at it, now and again he had another couple of birds come and join in, he did make me laugh though, I thought even the birds in Cyprus are bored lol.

My grandson Tristan got laid off from his building job that he had which was a shame, but he has found a new hobby which is engraving, he must be really creative as he is really really good at it, I think he did an old man’s face with a beard on a piece of wood, and I was totally surprised that he had this creative side that no one knew, it looked like he had been engraving for years, I am sure he could do something with this new found hobby.

2^nd April 2020

Well today we have another 58 cases and one more death, they are saying that a lot of people around the cities are ignoring the rules, yesterday evening the police and military caught 153 people out in the evening when our curfew is supposed to be 9pm, I don’t suppose the people that get caught will do it again as the fines are quite a lot, but I have heard that today they are bringing in t

During the day I hear that the police are out everywhere down in Paphos stopping and checking to make sure everyone has approval to leave the house, and everyone on the forums who are British have all said they have been stopped on the way to get groceries, thankfully though they all have approval so were fine, it makes me wonder if its more the younger ones that are trying to go out more than once a day without approval, as if you try and get approval for a second time during the day then your text is rejected.

I still haven’t gotten to all of my jobs, this house is fairly big so there seems to be more to do, and now and again I get into lazy mode lol, and I even put the TV on in the afternoon now and again, it’s not something I am used to doing so I feel like I am being treated when I make myself a cup of tea and sit there lol, I think I will be lucky if I get all of my jobs done before all of this is over, I have a list and as fast as I cross things off I think of new jobs to do so keep adding them on lol, the job I added on this morning was to clean all of the grout in between the tiles on the floors which I think will take a few weeks if I ever get round to starting it, I think amongst doing all of our jobs we have to think of fun things to do as well otherwise just doing jobs will be boring

The walk we had down the country lanes yesterday worked out really well, I think to start with though it did make us both worry a little bit as we both read a few days ago that we aren’t allowed more than 200 metres from our house, so it’s not something we were allowed to do, but I thought if we didn’t meet anyone on the way then I couldn’t see what harm it would do, and our village is in the middle of nowhere, anyway as we walked down the road that leads to the lane there are two houses before you get to the lane, and typically there was a man looking at us out of the window, we both thought he could call the police on us as we were not near to our house, but then we figured it would take the police a while to get up into the hills to our village so it probably wouldn’t be worth their while as we would be at home by the time they got up here lol,  anyway after we had walked down the lanes and got back to the main street which leads to our house we saw a Cypriot man and woman walking along in track suits who don’t live in any of the houses close by, so that really made us feel better, I think not seeing anyone out and about makes you feel awful for leaving the house lol, but it was really lovely being out in the countryside and having some proper exercise, I don’t think its something I will do every day as of course it did take us more than 200 metres from our house lol, I think the walk was around 40 minutes and included a few little hills so it felt really energizing, so maybe we will just chance it every couple of days.

Today we are going down into Paphos to get a couple of things,  we only need some pitta bread and some balsamic vinegar for my salads as we have everything we need in the freezer and cupboards, I thought while I was in the supermarket I would get some hair dye, I don’t think we will go down into Paphos to the supermarkets again though, as with there being so many new cases today I have read they are all mainly from Paphos, so we will stay away after today and stay in the hills where we feel safer, it is a good excuse to get some hair dye though as my dark roots now look pretty bad and when I went to put my hair up the other day because of the wind it made my roots look even worse.

4^th April 2020

Our trip out on Thursday was good, we went to the supermarket in Paphos and got the few things that we needed, and of course I grabbed my hair dye while we were in there, it is the first time I have had to line up outside of a store, but even though it’s a big supermarket they were letting so many out and then so many in, so we had to stand outside for ten minutes, I do like it that you have to wear gloves though, I have to say I wasn’t comfortable in the store and as much as I was looking forward to just going somewhere different, when I was in there I just wanted to leave, I think knowing that quite a lot more cases are popping up in Paphos at the moment it makes me think it’s not a good idea to be down there, so we grabbed what we needed and we won’t go back again until the worst of this is over.

I nearly forgot to mention that we got stopped by the police on the way home from going to the supermarket, they just wanted to see our text that said we were approved to go out, but it was something different to happen and the police guy was very nice and polite.

Today the weather for the whole of Cyprus is a lovely sunny morning but at one o clock the whole island is cloud covered again, but the temperatures are going to be warm so it’s not too bad and at least there is no rain and wind which everyone was getting fed up of, so this morning I actually might put some shorts on until the cloud finds us.

We had another lovely face time call with Daniel yesterday afternoon, it is always nice to see his face, they are managing to keep the veterinary hospital open but have split themselves up into two groups and the two groups work different days, so if one group gets sick the other group can keep things running, it sounds like they know what they are doing and of course are wearing masks and taking all the right precautions, anyway it was a lovely long catch up which was lovely, and it’s nice to know they are keeping well and healthy.

Well I spent the rest of my afternoon yesterday giving the fireplace a good scrub, and we gave the ceiling fans a good wash, this morning I am spending in the garden while the sun is shining as I have to re-pot the new little plants that I bought and plant my basil seeds

6^th April 2020

Last week the world health organization changed their mind on face masks and are saying that it is best to cover your nose and mouth when going to the stores, and our government has now asked that if we can it is best to use a mask when we have to get groceries, it’s not mandatory though, I think we are well and truly stocked up now though and will only have to go every few weeks to the little green grocers around the corner for fresh veg or fruit.

I read something really cool yesterday, it was from a guy called Terry Waite who got kidnapped years ago, he went through quite a rough time and was held for a few years in really awful conditions, anyway he wrote

‘Change your Mind-set – You are not stuck at home – You are safe at home’.

I think when I read that it puts it more in perspective as at least we are at home in comfortable conditions.

Someone else in the week wrote ‘All day long now I hear birds singing’ which I thought was quite lovely.

I think my favourite thing to do at the moment when I sit down is watching the birds, I still have my little homemade birdbath and now and again I give them some toast which they go crazy for, I am careful not to do it all the time as its important for the birds to try and find their own food if they can, but I still love watching them lining up to have their morning bath

The weather was lovely on Saturday and it was nice to spend the day outside, I had a few pots to sort out with plants, and I had to sort out my Aloe Vera and chop it down, but for now all of my pots of plants are finally happy, now I just have to start pruning some of the oleander bushes which I will do soon, and I think I can start catching up on more jobs in the house now most of the outside is sorted out.

Yesterday Sunday we had wild weather again and really high winds, I heard it was really bad down in Paphos as its closer to the ocean and they also got a lot of dust in the air, I was hoping for a sunny day but it was to cloudy again, today though the sun is out but the weather man is saying part sun and part cloud I just hope we get more sunshine than we have been getting lately.

Well I finally got my hair dyed and it feels so much better, it has come out a sort of ashy darker blond but it still looks better than it did thankfully, I will be glad to go back to the hairdressers though as she gets the colour blond exactly right, Nick noticed this morning that my hair was a bit too long so I have now put it up in a ponytail out of the way.

Yesterday, they were showing videos of so many people out in parks in London, sunbathing and having picnics, and no one was keeping a proper distance, it was just like nothing was going on and everything was back to normal, I just hope no one gets sick, on the video’s that I saw there wasn’t a police person in sight, but I am sure if they had been in the park giving out fines they would have all gone back to their houses.

It’s a shame that all of those people that are out and about aren’t listening to what the scientists and virologists are saying, the new report that I read a few days ago was that the droplets from the virus are so fine a bit like an aerosol mist so they are now saying that if you walk past someone who is even just talking the virus can still be spread as it’s a bit like a fine mist that you don’t see, so when those people are out and about passing other people that are talking this viral mist can just be breathed in, it’s a shame that the government isn’t telling everyone this as it might just make people think a bit more.

We had the naughty builders come back a few days ago, it was a shame as the peace was lovely, they aren’t allowed to be doing any kind of building or construction work at the moment so I was surprised when they woke me up a few mornings ago, so I am getting up nice and early again lol as they start banging just before seven, but the way I am looking at it is that by them carrying on they will get finished quicker, I actually do enjoy getting up earlier in the summer and I tend to go to bed earlier, in the winter I seem to do the opposite, but in the summer I want my day to last as long as possible.

8^th April 2020

Our weather is still not doing much, we have fairly good temperatures at the moment but over the last while it’s been the chill in the wind and also to many clouds, and when the sun goes in, then the breeze has made it just feel chilly, so it’s still cardigan weather, they have said for the next three days to expect afternoon rain, and it’s going to be part cloud and sun, I am really not sure what is going on with our weather as last year through March and  April I seemed to continually be getting burnt and this year it is a bit chilly, but there is good news for us thankfully soon…… as from Saturday we have full sun and the temperatures are going to get lovely and hot, so I am hoping that then it will just be nice weather that gets hotter and hotter, I think it will help pass the time when the pool warms up and we can swim every day, it will just be something else to do, and I am hoping that having the pool cover speeds it up a bit more.

Well even being on lockdown I have to say I still haven’t really missed going out as I have had so much to do, all the cleaning has been caught up on thankfully I do still want to sort the spare room out as I have wrecked it by plonking things in there so it’s very messy but the rest of the house looks pretty good now so I think I am caught up on housework, and I have spent the past month or two sorting out flower pots and plants, so I think I am just about caught up on all of that as well, although I always seem to have seedlings on the go so that is never ending, I still don’t know if the zinnia’s I planted are lettuces lol, it will make me laugh if they are.

Now and again I get Nick to play daft games with me, our favorite game this week is, I put some music on and Nick has to guess the title and who its by, he always gets more right than me but it’s nice listening to some oldies music which gives us something else to do.

The one job that I don’t like doing every spring is taking all the cushions off the chairs and couch and getting them all washed, the cushions have feathers in them, so as you take the covers off the cushions the feathers float around everywhere and it can take a while to get them all with the vacuum, but it’s another job done and because the weather was so windy they dried really quickly, the chairs and couch look lovely and fresh again, I guess with this lockdown everyone is probably having a spring clean but beings as its spring it’s a good time to do it.

10^th April 2020

It seems like such a long time ago now since I left the house to go anywhere, I keep having this urge to wander the village and stop for a coffee or go and see the ocean or sit on a beach, I think it is going to feel like a holiday when this lockdown is over and I expect all the shops and beaches and cafe’s will be packed, all the things we take for granted will suddenly feel amazing, it still feels a bit odd when I think about it, to think that we aren’t allowed to do any of those things, no one saw this coming and if someone had told us ages ago that this would be our life none of us would have believed it.

So even though with all of this awful weather we have had I have managed to keep a bit busy, I have been spending more time on my bible reading, a bit more time on my learning Greek and a few days ago I started walking in my bedroom to a YouTube video, this lady is really good and its nothing strenuous at all but at least it feels like I am going for a walk, she does a one mile walk and a two mile and three mile etc., and so I can chose whichever one I want, at the moment I am just doing the one mile walk as I think I am unfit but it’s better than no walk at all I guess.

We went to make some fruit scones a few days ago and because we don’t make them often we forgot that you need milk to make them, it was annoying, milk is not something we ever buy, Nick offered to go to the greengrocers to get some but I thought it best to wait until we need vegetables and fruit and then can get them at the same time, we are trying our hardest not to go out unless it’s really necessary, but then yesterday I came across a recipe for fruit scones that used Greek yogurt instead of milk, and I just happened to have quite a lot of plain Greek yogurt in the fridge and one of the pots was just about to go out of date, so I tried the recipe and they were lovely, they didn’t taste as dry as normal fruit scones and they didn’t seem to need any butter on them,  I am probably going to put more pounds on now and get even more unfit lol.

They are testing a lot of people over here at the moment, they are randomly calling people on their phone to go and get a test done, I have heard that they do the test while you are in your car so at least that stops people being in a waiting room together, I think they are doing so many people district by district, so not everyone but at least they are trying, their main worry is the people that have it but don’t show symptoms.

14^th April 2020

Thankfully our weather finally picked up and all the clouds left us by Friday lunchtime, it was such a relief as I needed some outside time, before the sun came out on Friday I decided to give myself a spa morning as I haven’t done anything like that for ages, the reason I actually came up with a spa morning was a week ago I had to take some leaves off my Aloe Vera plant as some of the leaves had gotten wrecked with hail that we had a while ago, the plant had had  little babies, so I just took off all the older leaves, anyway I decided to keep all the leaves I had taken off with the idea that at some point I might use them on my skin, as aloe is full of vitamins, so I got all of the gel out Friday morning and smothered myself in it, and then smothered my hair in it lol, I did look a funny sight but thankfully no one could see me in the bathroom, then I left it on for an hour and listened to some really relaxing piano music in my bedroom and then I showered it all off, I have to say my skin and hair felt really nice afterwards so it must have some lovely benefits, I then gave myself a manicure and a pedicure and painted my toe nails, it did all feel quite relaxing and it was nice to do something good for myself, sometimes we rush around so much we just don’t get time for all the little things, I would prefer not to have a lockdown but now and again there are a few positives, not many lol but a few.

It has been lovely having the sun come back, and it has been relaxing sitting outside, Nick had to get the brollies out as I do find it hard to sit in full sun, I think I can manage about ten minutes, but it’s lovely in the shade and it is nice to feel warm again, I spent my weekend either sitting and relaxing or playing with plants, I can always find something to do when it comes to gardening, so I tidied up all my geraniums, they are all in full bloom and look really pretty, around the village there are some enormous geraniums, mine won’t ever get that big as they are in pots though.

The little petunia that I had in a pot last year has now got buds all over it, I find it odd that it didn’t die in the winter, but both of my pots of periwinkle have both died which is a shame, I guess it maybe depends on where they are positioned through the winter.

(Note to self – the periwinkle that was dug into the ground started to come back on the 15^th May)

I think my favorite time of day at the moment is evenings for some reason, I do love getting my pajama’s on, pouring a drink and just chilling and being entertained by good drama’s it just feels very relaxing…I find sitting in the garden I can only do for about fifteen minutes and then it seems I always think of something to do, I seem to have a problem sitting still lol, so evenings for me are lovely as I literally don’t move, thinking about it I should sort myself some books out and try reading outside as that would make me sit still for a while lol. When the pool gets warm enough to swim in, that is when I find I can sit more as the weather is too hot to do much else, so then it just becomes swimming and sitting, although that is pretty lovely lol.

Yesterday I seemed to have spent a lot of my afternoon in the kitchen, as I soaked and cooked up lots of chickpeas about two days ago, so I had to turn them into falafels, they are yummy, and just really made out of chickpeas, diced onions and sesame seeds with lots of different herbs to spice them up,  they are lovely either as patties to put in pitta bread, or I sometimes make them into little balls and oven bake them until they are crispy, they are also nice with rice and prawns, anyway I have lots and lots of them in the freezer now and it kept me busy although I did want to be outside in the sunshine.

I was saying to my daughter Nicola the other day on the phone it was a shame she wasn’t over here on holiday with the kids when the lockdown began as we all would have had a lovely summer together lol, she has been really good and she calls most days and keeps me entertained, it all helps, Jamie and Ashley chat to all of us most days, we only hear from Dan about once every few weeks as they are really busy, but at least we are hearing from him which is nice, and our friends Linda and Graham are staying in touch, Linda is such a lovely person and she has been busy doing all of the old people’s shopping in her area, I just hope she manages to stay well while all of this is going on.

16^th April 2020

Even though we are pretty well stocked up with groceries It dawned on me a few days ago that we were going to run out of a couple of things that they don’t have at the local greengrocers, it’s just a couple of things we had run out of., so  I spent a few days thinking should we just go without those few things or should one of us chance going to the big supermarket in Paphos as that is the only place we can get the couple of things we had run out of, so then we chatted about it for a couple of days, honestly you would think it was war time lol, anyway after a few days of discussing it we decided that one of us should chance it, o then we had to have the debate on which one of us should go into the store, in the end after quite a while it was decided that Nick was going to wear the face mask as we still only have the one and he would go on his own, I think the debate went on for a while as Nick is sixty seven this year which in my mind puts him at risk, but he kept telling me that I shouldn’t go as I seem to have a weak chest, anyway what should have been something really easy was quite funny that we talked about it for days lol.

Emma my niece has been telling us that if we had to go out to the shops then to take our clothes off as soon as we get home and put them in the washing machine and have a shower, so Nick did that as soon as he got back, and I spent the next hour cleaning all the things he had bought with hand sanitizer, I am glad to say that we won’t have to go out again for another seven weeks as the cupboards are still full and the freezer is full, although every few weeks we will pop to the local green grocers to get fresh fruit and veg, I would never have believed that we would be going through something like this even if someone had told me, and it is a bit like being at war only with an invisible enemy.

I found out last night that our tiny little village has had three people that have tested positive for the virus, I did find that surprising as some of the bigger villages have maybe one or two and others villages have none, so it seems even if you live in the hills far away from a big population of people there are still infectious people not far from you, the three people must have gone to the hospital feeling ill as they are not testing us in Tsada. Nick saw when he was in the supermarket that the isles that have non-essential items on them, things like cups and tea towels and kettles and barbeque items, also all the stationary isles have also been completely taped off, I think all of that is taking things a bit far, as children need stationary to keep busy, and it would be annoying if someone’s kettle were to break., they have said it’s because the big shops that sell those items are now losing money as they are closed, so they have taped the isles off with those items to make things fairer, it’s really all a bit silly I think and making life a bit harder for the people that need those kind of things, and both me and Nick have said that things like that we would tend to buy from the supermarket anyway as they tend to be cheaper than in the big stores, it feels like the world is slowly going crazy.

From what I have seen over the last week different countries seem to start their exit plan by opening a few of the smaller stores and allowing small gatherings, yesterday I was reading about Austria who have just done this, but an interview with one of the shop owners said his shop was completely empty as everyone was still too afraid to go out and be around other people, anyway I think that is what they will do over here at some point in May and they will be watching to see what happens, I think if the rate of infections go up then they will do another lock down,  so I think they will let us all out and then more than likely lock us all down again, to be honest though if they do lift our restrictions in May I don’t think I would feel safe going into the shops, so even if they lift our lockdown I think until the infection rate has gone down we will still mainly stay at home, but will definitely go for some really long walks though, I think by the sounds of it we are going to be having a summer at home this year.

We still watch the BBC news every night after dinner, I have given up watching the people from the government answering questions, as they seem to avoid answering and just say lots of meaningless words, I found myself sitting and talking to the TV telling them to answer the questions which they were avoiding and getting really irritated, so now we just watch the regular news, which is really quite awful really hearing about the numbers of deaths, and the health workers that are dying because of lack of proper protective equipment, and then the care workers and people in care are really struggling, I never look forward to watching the news but I feel I need to do it just once a day, and then I pour myself a glass of wine which helps a bit.

It’s certainly going to be a strange summer for us all, and I do feel so sorry for all of the businesses that are going to go broke with all of this happening, all of the hotels over here are getting some help from the government, but at some point the government is going to run out of money, and if they start letting people back into Cyprus for holidays then we are going to get more infections again.

18^th April 2020

At the moment my grandson Gabe is working in care homes in the UK, he travels from one home to another and is helping to look after disabled people, I am finding it very worrying, they have given him a mask, but the infection rate is quite high in those kind of places, I guess at some point I have to try not to worry although it is hard.

My other grandson Austin got into trouble a few days ago, he went to the little local co-op around the corner from their house,  and as he walked down one of the isles there was a man already in the isle, and Austin said this guy started really shouting at Austin to get away from him, Austin told him he was sorry, but the guy was so angry that he was saying he wanted to take Austin outside the shop and hit him, I think the world is going mad, it did make me feel sad for Austin as he has been struggling a bit with anxiety so this was the last thing the poor kid needed.

This weekend is the Cypriots Easter so I have read the police are going to be out in force checking that they aren’t having family gatherings, I do think there will be a lot of fines given out as I think the Cypriot people are going to find it hard not celebrating it with their families.

It was in the Cyprus news yesterday that a huge load of face masks have arrived in Cyprus so that was good to hear as I was going to get Nick to see if he could order us one each from Amazon, hopefully soon we will be able to buy some from the pharmacy.

21^st April 2020

It is so nice being back in warmer weather, I had forgotten how warm Cyprus gets and now I am so glad for these cold tiled floors in the house as it helps to cool you down when you walk in the house, 

This morning when I was sitting outside I nearly had a lizard crawl up my leg which made me laugh, I must have been sitting really still for him to get so close to my leg as they are nervous little things, and yesterday I saw another one just outside the front door which was open and he was heading in, so I quickly shut the door as they are hard work to get out and they get really scared which I hate, so no more leaving the front door open.

24^th April 2020

The weather has made our pool temperature drop a bit so now we have to wait to swim as even though the water has only gone down two or three degree’ it really does make a difference, so I think it’s going to take another two days of sunshine to get it back to a good temperature again.

Nick actually went out again on Wednesday as he had to pick his medication up from the chemist, I asked to him to check with the woman if they had any masks come in, and she gave him a re-usable one for each of us with a special spray that we have to use to clean it with each time we go out, and then she gave him a bag of disposable one’s that get thrown away after each use, I am not sure we would have got them if he hadn’t asked, but we are pleased to have them and I actually might go to the greengrocers with Nick next time we need something, it seems like a long time since I have been out of the house to go anywhere.

My grandson Tristan has had this huge lump come up on his neck so Nicola took him to the doctors yesterday and the doctor took pictures and sent it to someone at the hospital, and they told the doctor to put him on really strong antibiotics, he has a blood test set up for Tuesday at the hospital and then has a specialist appointment on Wednesday, it was a really huge lump though, and unfortunately Nicola has just send me a picture of Tristan’s neck this morning and it has grown even bigger so she is calling the doctors back, I think my worry is that even if it’s just an infected cyst, if any of that infection goes into his blood stream it could cause sepsis which is quite deadly, anyway she is calling me in a bit so I will know more then.

I read a few days ago that people have to start being careful over here in going out as all of the snakes have woken up with the heat we are having, and apparently because a lot of roads are deserted they have started wandering around a bit more than usual, the report said the vibrations from the cars on the roads normally keep them in the bushes and the fields but because the car vibrations are hardly there at the moment the snakes are just wandering around, there are eight different species of snake over here but only two of them are deadly, although I think that is enough lol, I think the worst one is called the blunt nosed viper, so it makes me sort of glad we aren’t out walking down the country lanes as it could be quite dangerous without the vibrations of the cars on the roads.

My sons (Jamie) girlfriend Ashley is such a lovey person, she sent me a text yesterday thanking me for having such a lovely son, she said that I must have been an incredible mom to have raised someone so amazing, she did go on a bit more, but it was so lovely of her to write that, she has a chat with me most days which is sweet, Jamie bought her a dirt bike a few weeks ago so she sends me the odd video of her practicing,  Jamie has had one for a year or so now and really has fun on it, so I can imagine the adventures they are going to get up to, it is so nice that finally he has met someone that appreciates and loves him, it’s been a long time coming with all that he has to put up with when he was married before, it is lovely when your children are happy.

I was shocked that their new dog Shiloh broke her leg poor little thing, the bigger dog Piper accidently stood on the new dogs leg and it broke, so the dog had to spend three days at the vets after having surgery and having a metal rod put into its leg, the new dog they got a while ago is a beautiful baby German shepherd, they continually send me pictures which is lovely, but for some reason I get this pang every time they post a picture on the family chat, I really do miss having a little German shepherd running around, it doesn’t bother me if it’s any other dog but that breed of dog always gets to me, I guess it just reminds me of my two shepherds.

28^th April 2020

Well we did get the cloudy days and rain that I mentioned last time, it was only three days but they felt like long days lol,  and by the time the sun came back yesterday Monday I was pleased to see it again, they said that Cyprus was going to have low pressure and that it would be with us for a few days so they got it right, I think everyone is happier to see a bit more sunshine again….on one of the cloudy days we decided to bake something, so Nick made raisin scones and I made cheese scones, there really was to many scones lol, but I knew what didn’t get eaten the birds would appreciate, I actually only had two of them and the rest got split between Nick and the birds lol.

Yesterday though we treated ourselves and actually went for a long walk around the country lanes, the sun was shining and it was just perfect with not a soul in sight, the wildflowers are incredible with blues and reds and purple so I am glad I didn’t miss seeing them, and it was nice to see all the fruit starting to come out, little almonds, tiny grapes and baby figs, and it wasn’t too hot which was nice as the weather is going to start really heating up this week so then walking becomes a bit harder unless you do it first thing in the morning, and I am not really a morning person, we can’t walk in the evening as there are no street lamps down the country lanes, so we have decided we will do the country lanes again today as in a few days it might be too hot to walk.

This week I am trying a new recipe out, its Pomegranate salad with almonds and quinoa, I am looking forward to something different, my favourite salad is still avocado mango salad with walnuts and honey lemon dressing, so I thought I would see if I can come up with something that I like even better, also with being stuck at home it’s a perfect time to play around a bit more in the kitchen, last night I made a lovely dressing for my salad that was garlic, honey and white wine vinegar, it really made the salad come alive, although I still do love balsamic vinegar for salads but I have been thinking about different ways of getting more raw garlic in my diet as when you cook it you lose all the benefits, anyway it was nice so it’s something I will have a few times a week.

Next week’s creation is going to be a Thai Chickpea salad with curry peanut dressing, I have actually had that recipe for nearly a year but never got round to trying it, the recipe is really long which has always put me off, but this lockdown has got to be the perfect time to play.

In the next few days we are having some of our restrictions lifted, they are supposed to be announcing it today or tomorrow sometime as the president is giving a speech, none of it will matter to much to us though as I think we will just carry on as we have been and we will wait and see what happens and see if the infections rise again, I don’t think it’s worth taking any chances really as this virus is just to deadly, but I am sure a lot of people will start going to shops and beaches, but we won’t be part of it just yet.

Well it was definitely worth fertilizing the fruit tree’s a while ago, even though it did break all my nails lol, as the pomelo tree has so many buds on it and so does the lemon tree, at the moment we can’t see many buds on either of the orange trees, but hopefully they will come.

2^nd May 2020

Note to self – This month my roses developed mildew – So next year I must start spraying them earlier.

Lockdown is still on-going but things aren’t to bad, I am having some nice chats on face time now and again which helps, Nicola still calls me most days which is nice and Jamie and Ashley are on family chat most days, last night we had a lovely face time call with Danny, I think it had been about two weeks since we last chatted so we talked longer than normal, I think it was close to two in the morning when me and Nick got to bed, I think Dan forgot about the time difference as it was early afternoon where they were lol, but it was lovely to catch up with them, the numbers they have in Nova Scotia are about the same as over here, this morning though even though we both slept in I felt like a zombie when I woke up lol, I am not used to late nights anymore.

Yesterday’s walk was a bit sad as all along the pathway were dead hedgehogs, I do remember seeing a dead one a few days ago but on yesterday’s walk there were so many, and someone had put a piece of cardboard next to them and it said ‘this is so cruel’, so I am guessing that it must be one of the farmers that have poisoned them, it was pretty horrible to see so many of them though, so it wasn’t the best walk.

On Wednesday it was discount day at our local grocers, so we put our gloves and masks on and even though it wasn’t too comfortable I did feel a lot better for having a mask on, I managed to get all the ingredients I need for my new recipes which was good and enough fruit and veg for the next two weeks, it was nice to see everyone was wearing masks and gloves and they do have the shops doors wide open all the time which also makes me feel better, I still remind myself when we have to go out that the virus is like an aerosol and the droplets stay and float in the air for a few hours, it’s pretty frightening really when you think about it.

Well on a brighter note the one thing that I am enjoying is my cups of tea since the lockdown began, as ages ago I bought myself this little glass teapot that has a strainer inside of it, and then ages later I bought some lovely Earl Grey tea that was loose and not in teabags, and I had been meaning to try my little glass teapot out but never got around to it, so a few days ago I remembered about it, and I have to say what a difference in taste, for some reason my tea just tastes nicer, it is a different make of tea so that could be the reason, but its lighter and more refreshing and I really look forward to having a cup of tea now, it also looks pretty when I make it as with the teapot being glass you can see the tea inside so it feels like a pleasurable thing to do, the only drawback is I have to make my own tea now as Nick is terrified of dropping it lol, he is a bit of a clutz, and does have a habit of dropping and breaking things, he won’t even wash it up as he is terrified it will break which is funny, it was only three euro’s so about two pounds fifty but if he did break it with the stores being closed I couldn’t replace it.

I have had a bit of a stressful week as we had a dog turn up in our small dead end street barking, Nick said he has seen him wandering over the back fields over the last few weeks so I think someone had just dropped him off in our village, but somehow he made it to our little road and he loved to bark at night, I am sure he has been keeping the neighbors awake as he has such a loud bark, anyway I started feeding him when I saw him and giving him some water, Nick wasn’t happy as he said I was encouraging him, but I couldn’t leave him hungry or thirsty, anyway that went on for a few days, I think the reason he was barking at night was because he was scared, anyway to cut my story short, I eventually let him sleep in the house and then on Monday we sorted out finding him a place in the shelter, we were really lucky that they had room otherwise I don’t know what we would have done, but I had heard that a lot of dogs had been flown by plane from the shelter in Paphos to the UK a few weeks ago, apparently a lot of people in England, Russia etc adopt them, so after sorting out where we had to take him we were told to take him to the vets first to be de wormed etc., and from the vets he gets sent to the shelter……I have kept the story short but it was the most stressful time, I didn’t write about it last week as I was so stressed about him, so today really is the first day I have felt a bit better about it all, he was such a beautiful dog and followed me around everywhere, it was hard to try not to get attached but I think I must have as it was really upsetting dropping him at the vets office, but anyway they have told us he will get put up for adoption after two weeks, so he will hopefully have a good life and a good home, he is such a good looking dog that I am sure he will get snatched up, I don’t know why I keep calling the dog a he as it turned out at the vets that it was a little girl and she wasn’t that old, poor baby.

Our weather is glorious sunshine and its very hot, I think I am definitely in need of lots of sunshine and swimming, I still haven’t managed to take a book into the garden yet, but I am looking forward to doing some reading, and I have a really good book that I have been dying to get at for ages, it was Emma that gave it to me and its written by a doctor that I have followed for years, he is really good and she knew I followed him so she gave it to me, I tried reading it last summer but just really didn’t find enough time, so that is something I am hoping to get to this week while I am sitting outside.

I was really upset to see my roses have gotten mildew growing on all the leaves, I saw them last week so I grabbed my fungicide and sprayed them but it doesn’t seem like it has done much, today I sprayed them again and will give it another few days to see if they recover but I have a feeling I am going to have to chop them down, it will be awful to do that as they are big and all in bud, anyway I will see what happens, even that stressed me out, I think my nerves must still be on edge from the dog situation, yesterday morning I woke up at six as I could hear a dog barking somewhere in the village and when I sat up to listen to where the barking was coming from my heart was really pounding and I thought oh no not another stray dog, anyway after half an hour the barking stopped and I didn’t hear it again and thankfully this morning I still couldn’t hear it, so it must have been someone’s dog in the village.

Nicola took Tristan to his appointment on Tuesday at the hospital and the poor kid has to have surgery as he has a few of these cysts which are all going to get bigger, and the very large lump he has is still not going down so if he goes out he puts a bandana around his neck, Nicola thinks it will be around July that he has them cut out, apparently they won’t knock him out so he will be awake which I think is better, anyway at least we know he will be sorted out now which is good.

9^th May 2020

Yesterday I went around and deadheaded all of my flowering plants, I do enjoy doing that as I find it relaxing, and then I re sprayed all of my roses with fungicide, I think the white powdery mildew looks a little bit better so for now I won’t chop them down, but it’s a learning thing and next spring I will be on the lookout before it takes hold, I think it’s because we had so many cloudy days and I stopped going out to check things otherwise I would have caught it before all the roses got infected.

On the 21^st of this month the hairdressers and barber shops are allowed to open and even though we both desperately need to go, we are going to wait a while as we both think they are just going to be packed with people, so we will give it a few weeks and hopefully go sometime in June, Nicks hair looks really funny though as he has a kink to his hair so as its getting longer he is getting waves and the odd curl, it makes me laugh especially when he wakes up in the morning and it’s all sticking up lol., mine has now got to long as well but I don’t think it’s as noticeable as Nicks, but I will be glad to have it chopped back to my shoulders again.

Yesterday I had my new ear phones come in the post, they have no wires so that kept me busy for a while as I was learning how to use them, they were only twenty five euro’s but they are incredible, so now I can go onto YouTube on my phone and listen to relaxing music while I am in the garden and leave my phone in the house, also I thought it would be nice listening to my audio bible while I am gardening, all with no wires or phone, they have a really good range so you don’t even have to have your phone next to you, they are so clever with the things that they bring out it totally amazes me, I also thought it would come in handy when I am talking on the phone as I can wander around and cook and clean etc. without holding my phone or even having the phone near me, I wish I had bought some ages ago now.

Today I have to sort out my Yucca plant as it needs re-potting, it is quite huge and I am not sure if me and Nick have the strength to lift it so we have been putting it off for a while now, but we both decided we have to try as the pot it’s in is so small and the poor plant is huge, I think it also might need chopping so it’s going to be a fairly big job but it will keep us busy for a while.

13^th May 2020

On Sunday we listened to Boris Johnson when he made his speech which we both thought was a pretty good speech, but then on Monday in the news I was reading about everyone going to work and it didn’t sound good, it makes me think that the government wants herd immunity again which is what they wanted from the beginning, I honestly can’t imagine how awful I would feel if I were told to catch a train or a bus if it were too far to cycle or walk or didn’t have a car to get to work, there must be a lot of frightened people out there with high anxiety levels I would think, I totally think it’s too soon and that things should be left as they are for another month or at least until we see the figures going down, it doesn’t seem to be about safety anymore but just about getting everything back to normal, and of course the deaths are going to rise, we still watch the BBC news every night just so we know what’s going on in the UK but I always pour myself a drink first these days.

On Sunday in the news over here there were pictures of Lighthouse Beach all the way to Pathos Harbour and it was packed with people going for walks, I honestly couldn’t believe it to be honest, the Cyprus government wasn’t to happy so I am hoping they will do something to stop it being so overcrowded, I did hear the next day that they did give out some fines, but it’s like everyone just thinks life has gone back to normal now, no one had masks on and they were too close to other people walking, I am sure it must have done them good mentally but I don’t think it’s worth taking a chance.

We did both surprise ourselves with re potting the Yucca plant that I said we were going to do, the hardest bit was trying to get it out of the small pot, and of course trying to lift it up was a nightmare, I think it took us about an hour so not to bad really and at least it’s another job done, I also re potted my tomato plants and my little passion fruit seedlings, and also a cordyline, I re-sprayed all of my roses again, so I think I am caught up on everything for now.

Yesterday I decided to use up leftovers for my salad so it had avocado, pomegranate seeds, toasted almonds, mango, and then just the usual salad ingredients, I have to say though that it was lovely with everything mixed together lol, I do love to add sweetness to a salad as it just goes so well, I found a packet of almonds in the cupboard that I wanted to use but they had their skin on so I learned how to de skin an almond lol, I guess lockdown has its uses as I would never had the time to mess around before as we always seemed to be out, anyway after skinning the almonds I popped them into the oven for five minutes to toast them, oh my goodness they were so good on my salad.

One of the things on my list of things to do while we are at home is to make sour dough bread with my own yeast starter, I looked it up a few weeks ago and it looked a bit worrying with making the starter yourself as you leave it to ferment on the counter for a while, I think I am worrying about poisoning us lol, anyway at some point it’s something I would really like to have a go at if I can find the courage to do it, I think it’s a bit like when I first started soaking and cooking my own beans, for the first few times I was worried I would kill us all especially with the dried kidney beans, now it’s just second nature to sort them all out, so hopefully I will find the courage to do a starter yeast at some point.

Our weather has really heated up now and it is hot, so I mainly sit under a brolly now, although when I get out of the pool I can sit in the sun for about twenty minutes, so hopefully at some point I will get a bit of a tan lol, looking at the weather though it is going to get even hotter this week and is going up to 95 degrees, I don’t remember it getting that hot here in Tsada last summer as we are in the hills quite high up so we tend to be cooler, I know Paphos got over 90 degrees on and off all through the summer and I disliked going down there as over 90 is just too hot and it can make you feel nauseous, but maybe with our breeze up here it won’t be too bad, hopefully with all the fans and the pool we will cope but I have to say I am not looking forward to it and I am hoping it only lasts for a week and then goes back to normal weather again..

We actually managed to catch up yesterday with Tracy and Brian, it was nice to see them on face-time, they are both so brown and looking really healthy, and still really happy which is lovely to see, I think we were chatting for an hour but it went so quickly and felt like twenty minutes, but it was like having a visit so I think it probably did us all good.

19^th May 2020         Watermelons and Cherries

Today I would like to go for a walk along the beach with no shoes and paddle in the water and stop for a sit down and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice from lighthouse beach café and watch the waves lol, we are still not allowed to go to beaches, but even if we could I don’t think I would go, as soon as the beaches open they will be filled with people, but it’s nice to dream now and again.

Last week over here they did send the older children back to school as our numbers for infected people are fairly low, but already they have four new cases with the school children, it does make me wonder how many those four have now infected.

I have been reading about how the UK want to open the schools for the younger children, I would have thought they might have waited until the numbers have come right down, I don’t think I would send my children to school while the infection rate is so high, I can only see the infection rate going higher and also with a lot of workers going back to work none of it sounds good, I hope I am wrong and that the numbers of deaths starts going down.

I haven’t had a go at the sourdough starter yet, I think I forgot lol, so I have put the recipe on the fridge in the kitchen and will have a go next week, I remember being curious ages ago about how they would have made bread without being able to go to the store to buy dried yeast, from the few recipe’s I have looked up and the one I have on my fridge it’s just flour and water that you leave on the counter and every now and again you add a bit more flour and water and it just ferments and turns into yeast, I do find it quite fascinating which is why I want to have a go.

I am having a bit more time to read now which is nice, although I came across this book that I tried reading last summer which I only managed to read half of, so I picked it up again a few days ago so I could finish it, and I was so disappointed with the ending, it was awful, I thought of all the effort I put into getting it finished and all of those hours last summer reading it, and then I got to the end, and they got the ending wrong, I am sure for the author they got it right for them but for me it was just really wrong, I was so annoyed with it that I threw it in the bin as I would hate anyone else to read it, Nick thinks I am quite mad lol.

The weather here this week is a bit crazy, we have been having temperatures around 37 degrees, it has been so hot, and in Tsada we normally average around 27 or 28 degrees with a lovely breeze, but we are in a heat wave until the end of the week, I think to start with it was quite exciting, but when the house temperature started to rise to 28 it got really warm and we had trouble cooling the house down, even the tiles on the floors in the house don’t feel cool, sleeping has been hard going and last night the temperature in my bedroom was 32 degrees, even in the evening there doesn’t seem to be a cooling breeze, I have been having two fans on in my bedroom for a few days now.

The heat when you are outside makes you feel really weary with no energy, thankfully having the pool really helps so it is refreshing getting in and out, but within five minutes of being out of the water we just need to get back in again, I think we will both be glad when this week is over and we go back to more normal temperatures.

This morning I remembered to close the downstairs blinds as from about half six there is a bit of sun coming in through the living room windows, so hopefully that will help a bit, and I am learning to close my bedroom window during the day to keep the warm air Pathos gets this kind of heat all through the summer with high levels of humidity but for us in Tsada I think it’s unusual thankfully lol, even the breeze is hot breeze, I have read that on Friday the weather is going back to normal temperatures.

The house building is still on-going although they seem to be going a bit faster and there are more men working on the two houses now, but a few days ago we saw lots of machinery at the plot of land next to our next door neighbors house, so it seems like they are starting to build another house at the end of our row as well, I guess it was bound to happen, there is enough space where our group of six houses are to build another five houses, so two are now nearly finished, and the one plot of spare land at the end of our row it looks like they might be starting, and opposite our house is another spare piece of land which is enough to build another two or three houses, so it would be good if they could get on and build opposite our house and get them all done at the same time but I don’t think they will, so it looks like another noisy summer, Nick has really enjoyed watching the two houses being built as they are made out of solid thick concrete so he found it really interesting watching to see how they have done everything, every day Nick would give me a running commentary on it all which I found funny as it is so boring lol.

I was reading in the news the other day about the hairdressers and barbers opening up again over here next week and they were saying that they are all now completely booked up for the next month to two months, so even if we both wanted to go I doubt if we could get an appointment, they have been told they have to wear masks and gloves and all customers are only allowed in if they wear masks and gloves, but I think the worrying thing is that they have been told not to have their air conditioning on as apparently it circulates the virus in the air, so I can’t imagine how hot it is going to be in all the hairdressers and barber shops, I think I might just keep my hair long and tie it up for now as it just sounds easier lol, I have told Nick to pop to the old Cypriot guy in the village to get his hair cut when he opens as he is never busy, Nick always comes out of there looking like a convict as the guy doesn’t talk any English so when Nick says not to short he doesn’t understand lol, I think its on the 21^st May that they are allowed to open up.

Last week I spotted my first watermelon, so that was around the 13^th May, unfortunately it wasn’t ripe, it was one I bought from our little green grocer, so the following week around the 19^th May I bought a large one from the green grocers at the bottom of our hill, over here the water melons are enormous so just one watermelon can last us both for a week.

22^nd May 2020

Well things over here have now changed because as from last Wednesday we don’t have to ask permission by text message to go out anymore, not that we go out much anyway any more, but we both did get excited not to have to do it when we do have to go out, it feels like a bit of freedom even though we are still staying home, I think if we lived around the corner from the beach we might have just popped down early or in the evening for a walk, but we are a twenty minutes to half hour drive to the nearest beach, so we probably won’t go, more than likely a lot of people will be thinking the same thing, but at least we have the pool so that will help, maybe as time goes by and if the infection rate doesn’t go up then we will probably later on during the summer go down and have a paddle or sit on the beach, but for now it is nice to know that if we ever get really bored and feel a bit house bound at least we know we can if we want to.

Our trip to the big grocery store in Pathos last week didn’t take too long, although wearing a mask is still a bit uncomfortable, while we were out we popped into the pharmacy to get Nicks medication and we got two boxes of gloves each as we are having problems when we do have to go into a grocery store as the plastic gloves in the entrance that they give away for free are always too small for me and Nick so half of our hand is always hanging out lol, so at the pharmacy we found some proper plastic disposable gloves that are a thicker plastic and they had them in a larger size, so we are feeling a bit more organized for the next time we have to venture out.

With the shopping we bought it should be enough for a month, Nick said he wanted to start doing it monthly instead of every couple of months, we were also going to our green grocers in the village once every two weeks, but it just isn’t working as my lettuces don’t last and neither does a lot of my fruit with the warm weather, so we are going to have to go once a week to the village grocers, but hopefully we will be fine with masks and gloves.

We have had to take the cover off our pool and put it away for now as the water was just getting to hot and the temperature of the water was in the nineties, and even though we kept adding cold water we couldn’t get the temperature cool enough, I would rather have it warm than cold but we are trying to get to an in-between temperature so it feels refreshing but not cold a few days ago we had the water temperature at 29 which is 84 Fahrenheit and  that to me was perfect, so hopefully we can keep it to that now without it going any hotter.

The watermelons are so huge over here and so sweet, every morning I chop a quarter of one into bite size pieces and put it in a big bowl in the fridge so I can eat it throughout the day as it’s so refreshing when I feel hot, I found out this morning that the watermelons in our grocery shops are actually grown in Cyprus, in a place called Famagusta, the cherries are also out although I remember last year I got an upset stomach from eating them so I didn’t buy any this week, apparently they are hard to digest with some people, although I have never had a problem before, but anyway it’s not worth taking a chance so I decided not to buy any lol.

Today we have a lovely cooling breeze and the temperature has dropped to 22, which is really nice and not too hot, I am sure we will both sleep better tonight.

May 24^th 2020

We are still lucky that our numbers of infected people are low over here but we are still getting new cases every day, yesterday there was another four cases and daily it is always between one and four, in my mind you only have to be around one person to get infected, two of the people who tested positive were from restaurants, it was the staff that worked there that were being tested, so it’s all still on-going.

A few days ago Nick went to the barbers to get his hair cut, he went to the guy in the village as our village is very quiet with not many people, Nick said there was no one else in his little shop and the door was open, plus the guy wore a mask, I have to say Nick does look better with his hair cut and the guy in the village did do a good job and this time he doesn’t look like he’s just come out of prison lol.

When the nicer weather started over here and it was warm enough to go swimming we both got our swimming stuff out and I discovered that the elastic in my bathing costume had lost all of its elastic, I had no choice but to keep wearing it, but when I am swimming the top of my costume goes down so when I get out of the pool I am basically topless lol, so I have made do with it and just keep pulling at it, and keep trying to remember to put it over bits of me as I am getting out of the pool lol, Nick is having the same problem with his swimming shorts as when he is swimming his shorts come down as they have lost their elastic as well, the shops here opened a few weeks ago but we keep putting off going swimsuit shopping, but I think at the moment we have gotten to a point where we need to go to a shop lol, so one of the days we are going to venture out, there is one department store that is open at the moment that sells costumes so that is the only one we will try and hopefully we will find something, we both only bought our swim wear last year, I think I got mine in July, but I do remember talking to this one lady while I was lining up waiting to try it on, she had loads of costumes and said she buys two or three a year as the chlorine in the water just rots the elastic, I remember being so careful with my new one last year to rinse it out after swimming but it still lost its elastic, it is a shame as I really did like my bathing costume, so maybe I need to do the same and buy more than one this year, anyway at some point we will venture out with masks and gloves on.

28^th may 2020

Well we had wind/gales for two days over the weekend and it was really bad all over Cyprus, our weather is really odd these days and not the same as last year, a week or so ago we had a nice hot spell and then went straight into gales and huge gusts of winds, we had chairs blowing into the pool and other things blowing over next doors wall lol, on the Monday when it had finished everything outside needed sweeping as there was dirt and sand and bits of tree’s, and Nick had to spend a couple of hours cleaning the pool as it had so much sand in it, thankfully we are back to just normal sunny weather now and the wind has gone, I hope it stays like this and the weird weather stays away.

2^nd June 2020

When we woke up yesterday and came downstairs we were surprised to see the front door was open, whoever was the last one in the house the evening before obviously hadn’t clicked the door to make sure it was shut, I think what was just as worrying as being burgled was wondering what creatures might have wandered into the house overnight lol, I think its mainly snakes and tarantulas that we were worried about, so we had to move chairs and move cushions and look behind furniture just to make sure, in the end the only thing we found was a cricket sitting on the table, phew I think we were lucky, for some reason we are both quite bad with the front door as we quite often wake up in the morning to find the keys still in the door, I think we have done this about half a dozen times now, we put the keys in the door when we are doing some gardening out the front so we can just get in and out of the house without leaving the front door wide open to let flies etc in, and now and again we just forget to get the keys out at the end of the day, it’s a good job we live in a sleepy little village lol.

It was sad last week to hear that Dan and Emily lost their dog Harley, she was a golden retriever and such a beautiful dog, she did live a good age though as she was 16, I think having a vet for a mom must have helped prolong her life, I did feel sad for them though as it’s a horrible thing to go through, they still have the other retriever though and she is younger so I think that will help them get through it.

6^th June 2020

On Thursday we decided to try and sort out the tree’s at the front of the house and try to get them a bit more under control, there are four tree’s and they are all in flower and are really spectacular but we could see that they needed pruning, so after about ten minutes of doing tiny little bits of chopping here and there our landlords gardeners turned up, and he asked what we were doing, we said we actually weren’t sure what we were doing lol but the flowers on the trees were dragging the branches down, so he said for us to leave them and he would sort them out when he was finished doing next door, and my goodness he really went to town on them, he got a huge chainsaw out of his truck and took a good quarter off all of the tree’s lol, I have to say I was quite shocked as we just doing little tiny bits that probably wouldn’t have made any difference at all lol, we did lose a lot of flowers but they look so much better and I bet the trees are happier now, it took him ages to cut them so we offered to give him something afterwards and he refused, he said that I gave them watermelon and water a few times and that we were nice people lol, the Cypriot people are really quite lovely.

12^th June 2020

It’s been another busy week here, I think I had gotten lazy on lockdown so now to get back into going out I am finding it tiring but in a good way and it’s also pretty amazing, we went to the beach at Coral Bay on Monday with Brian and Tracy, when we got down to the beach we were all shocked to find that a lot of the beautiful sandy beach had gotten washed away, it’s hard to explain, but what was a huge section of beach is now quite a thin piece of beach, it’s still sandy but just a lot smaller, I hope the council will sort it out at some point as with all the tourists due to arrive it is going to make distancing quite difficult for them I think, we found a corner to sit but then after a while about thirty people from the same family, I think they were Indian, anyway they turned up and were a bit too close to us, at the moment the rule is no more than ten people can get together, so it was surprising that they didn’t care and there were a lot of them, they then all decided to start playing football right in front of where we were sitting and the ball just missed my head a few times, we did get to go in the water, but for some reason the water wasn’t as warm as this time last year, which I think is because we have had a funny month or two with our weather, so it was a nice day but I think the people next to us sort of ruined it a bit.

This week we went to Jumbo’s as it had been ages since we have been to any shops,, we bought lots of bits that we needed for the house, just silly things like an egg beater, and a pastry brush etc., it was so lovely being able to wander and look, I didn’t think I had missed shopping until I went into Jumbo’s lol, while we were in the mall I popped into Marks and Spencer’s and got myself two bathing costumes so hopefully they will last the summer now, we went to Lighthouse beach afterwards for lunch which was lovely.

This coming Monday I actually have a hair appointment, Nick told last week that I am starting to resemble a shaggy dog, he did make me laugh but when I looked in the mirror I had to agree with him, it didn’t help that I had been gardening and was covered in dirt and my hair was everywhere lol, but I am really looking forward to going and getting some weight off my head, I think it is going to feel amazing, it is crazy how long it has gotten and I am sure it will feel lovely to have it shorter especially in the heat, I can’t wait for Monday to come around.

Well today has been another lovely day, I swam and sat outside reading my book for the most of the afternoon, so it has felt like a nice relaxing day, we had the landlord pop up to his house next door so we spent a while chatting with them, they were only up here for the day though as they have things going on in Limassol where their other house is, they are such lovely people though, we both feel lucky to have them as a landlord and a neighbor.

18^th June 2020

I have enjoyed my time out so much over the past few weeks, meeting up with Brian and Tracy and just having a chat and a good laugh and not being at home, I am definitely going to miss it, it’s this coming weekend that they start letting certain countries in without any testing, so that’s our going out all finished with until we see that the numbers aren’t going to go up,, I think our last day out is this weekend, although we are both going to see if we can find little places to go where the tourists don’t go to, so I am hoping we can go out now and again if we do feel a bit fed up, we just need to stay away from mainly the tourist places,

On Saturday we had to go back to the shopping mall in Pathos to change something I had bought, I did manage to find a pair of shorts in the sale which was good, and on the way home we decided to go to this village close to our village that we hadn’t been to before, it was really quaint, there were no shops but a few little Cypriot coffee shops and a taverna, so we stopped for lunch, it was a really nice day out, I think we are both thinking that this weekend we will back on our own little personal lockdown so we keep making the most of going out.

Yesterday we met up with Brian and Tracy and went to Adonis waterfall, it was in a botanical garden which we were all looking forward to seeing and having a walk around, but the weather didn’t cooperate as it was nearly ninety degrees and too hot to walk and not a cloud to be seen, so we saw the waterfall and spent the afternoon in the shade sitting outside a taverna on the beach which we hadn’t been to before, lunch was lovely and it was lovely catching up with them and watching the waves, the ocean over here is so blue, I find it quite breath taking every time I see it.

25^th June 2020

Well we are back at home again on our little lockdown, I have read that a lot of people over here are doing the same thing as us and staying home just to see if our numbers go up now that the airports have opened to some countries, it has been nice being at zero for the last while and feeling a bit safer, one of the things that has concerned me is that Germany was on the list for coming into our country without any testing being done as their virus rate was so low, only in the last few days they have had a second wave of the virus and their numbers have gone up again in their country, but they are still being allowed into Cyprus with no testing at all which is worrying, so that makes me glad that we are staying at home.

Last Saturday we had our last day out with Tracy and Brian, we had a nice lunch at a new place that overlooked the ocean, I know I go on about it but the blue of the ocean over here really hits me no matter how many times I see it, I honestly have never seen it so blue before anywhere, we then went to Lemba Beach for a while, it was nice to go somewhere different, and the beach was lovely and sandy although the waves were a bit crazy, it was a spur of the moment thing really so we had no towels or costumes and no brolly to sit under so it was a bit too hot to just sit on the sand, but it was a nice afternoon, the majority of the people on the beach were Greek, and we think that because the beach is a bit out of the way and sort of hidden that not many tourists will know about it, so it might be a nice place to meet up now and again when we get fed up of the house, as long as we don’t see any tourists we will be fine lol.

This week we spent a day cleaning the house as we had let things slide a bit over the last few weeks, then we had to re clean all of the windows as the amount of dust on them from the builders was really awful, I do like living in a clean house with clean windows lol, today I am catching up on laundry but everything is drying really quickly as it’s so hot outside, we are going to be around ninety degrees for the next while so I think apart from some jobs outside I am going to spend a fair amount of time in the pool and reading my book.

A few weeks ago I was so excited to see that the figs are out in the greengrocers which made me really happy as I am going to try having figs with my pomegranate salad, so I bought quite a few as I really love them, I got the idea of putting them in a salad as ages ago I saw it on a menu somewhere so I have been dying to have a go to see what it’s like, yesterday I chopped one up and put it in my Greek yogurt and it was beautiful,  I do love figs, we do have one fig tree on the street around the corner but I think the village ladies must get to it before me as I only ever manage to get the odd couple of figs now and again lol.

2^nd July 2020

I have to say I am really enjoying our little lockdown at the moment, I did enjoy our going out time but it is nice when life slows down a bit more, I seem to have gotten into a routine of mainly doing the same things daily and life does feel nice and relaxing, I do think we all tend to run around too much.

I find the days are still going quite fast even though we are staying at home, some of my mornings are spent in the kitchen as some of our dinners take a fair amount of work so I find it easier to prepare as much as I can in the morning so it frees my afternoon up, everything does seem to take a long time when you are trying to eat healthily and also being vegetarian.re.

Because our virus numbers are still ok we have decided to meet up with Tracy and Brian tomorrow and go for lunch at a village taverna that is out of the way and not in a tourist area, it will be nice to see them and have a catch up and hopefully they have been staying careful.

We had our landlord Sozos and Anna come up last weekend, they came and knocked at the door when they arrived to give us lots of figs that they got from their cousins garden as the cousins have fig trees, so as you can imagine I was so happy I am totally in love with figs, then the following day they shouted me over the wall to give me some plums as they had some cousins visit in the evening and they have plum trees, they are both such really nice people, the following day I gave Anna some of my face cream that I had just made, it was the only thing I could think of to give her, they are always stopping at the bakery and giving us little Cypriot pastries and other things which is sweet, when Anna the wife gave me the plums she said Cypriot people like to give to people that they like very much, it did make me laugh, what also made us laugh was when the builders started work on the Saturday morning at seven o clock in the morning which is their normal start time, Sozos went mad at them and told them it was too early, so they stopped work and went home and on the Sunday they all took the day off, it was really funny, and also really peaceful which was lovely as they don’t often take a day off, it makes me wish Sozos was here all the time lol, but they had to get home to Limassol on Sunday evening although they said they will be up next weekend so maybe he will make the builders take another weekend off lol.

We are trying hard not to let the building noise get to us to much really as we can see an end in sight, and because we know we are staying in this house it is actually making the area look nicer rather than two big pieces of waste ground, so in the end hopefully it will all be ok, I do hope they carry on with the third house though and don’t leave it until next year as with not having visitors we would both rather they got on and finished it even if it takes all summer as then next summer it will be peaceful.

As usual the weather is boiling hot and totally amazing, it is the main reason we moved over here so I will never moan about the sunshine or heat lol, walking is out of the question which I do miss as I do like walking, but when I need exercise these days I go for a swim, it is impossible to do any gardening when the sun is out as within minutes it is to hot and you over heat, so I have to wait until bits of the garden are in shade before I can weed or look after the plants, I am really pleased with my tomato plants though, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to grow them with our temperatures being so high, but they are looking really good and healthy and they are full of little cherry tomatoes, I have been keeping them at the side of the house so they get morning sun and afternoon shade which seems to suit them, as I think the intense sun we seem to get all day would be to much for them, I think its something I will grow every year now and next year I plan to grow bigger tomato’s as I want to make the sweet and spicy chutney that I made a few years ago.

8^th July 2020

We went out for lunch today to Letymbou, its only a really small village and is about five minutes away from us, so definitely no tourists and only a few local people thankfully, we had a lovely lunch and the prices were really cheap, the only problem we had was that even though we were in the shade the heat was really quite bad, I think this village is more down in the valley and I am so glad we don’t live there as there was not one bit of breeze, I think in the end we were glad to leave as it was just to hot even under a brolly.

Well our weather has gotten even hotter than the last time I wrote, I think we are around 90 degrees,  it is still lovely though, I am so thankful we don’t get humidity up here as that makes things an awful lot worse, most days we get a breeze which feels amazing when you get out of the pool, this week staying at home has been nice again, it gives me lots of time to play with my plants and swim and I am enjoying reading again, I found another really good book, so life is very relaxing, although I have been doing a bit of extra gardening  as last weekend when Sozos our landlord came up for the weekend he was praising my roses and he said feel free to chop mine lol, so I offered to sort them out for him, although I have to say they really were a complete mess and he has sixteen rose bushes, I only thought he had about eight, that will teach me to be nice, so this week in the evening I have been popping over and spending about an hour when it has cooled down a bit.

16^th July 2020

Well time is still going a bit too fast for me, even on days when we stay home, so I have come to the conclusion life has just sped up whether I am busy or not, it definitely has to be an age thing I think. I finally finished sorting out Sozos’s roses last week and they look so much better, so now I will only have to go and deadhead and spray now and again, so they aren’t going to take up to much time, Sozos never mentioned how nice they looked when he came up for the weekend but I had already said to Nick that he wouldn’t say anything lol, he might be waiting to see if I mess them up, but anyway I will keep on doing them for him as I got a lot of pleasure out of it all, he did make me laugh last weekend as he knows I am studying Greek and he said that from now on I have to speak to him in Greek, so I told him I will probably start hiding around the garden when I see him coming lol, they are nice people.

We had a lovely afternoon when Brian and Tracy came up for lunch last Thursday, I made my new recipe of Thai chickpea curried salad and they ate everything which was good to see, it is a long process so I only tend to make it once every three weeks, it was a nice afternoon.

We went down to the harbour one of the days this week as we had to pop out to the bank to get our rent money out so we thought while we were close to the harbour it would be interesting to see how busy it was, and I was quite surprised to see that it was virtually empty, it was strange to see it so quiet as its normally really busy and filled with tourists, there are lots of outside restaurants and cafes and they were all empty, so we went to our favorite one and sat for a while having a coffee and watching the boats and the water, unfortunately though it was too hot even though we were in the shade so we only stayed for about half an hour and by then Nicks shirt was soaking wet, it was nice going back down there again though but I said to Nick that we probably won’t go again until fall/autumn as the heat is just too much down there, but it was enjoyable and just made a change, it is lovely that we are still virtually free of the virus so we are popping out now and again and not staying home so much and we will just keep an eye daily on the numbers.

22^nd July 2020

On Friday we had a nice afternoon out as we had to pop to a shop close to the harbour, we both forgot to take water with us so we had a look for somewhere to have a drink and we found a place that actually had a sea breeze with lots of shade, and it was so close to the water that you could look down and see all the fish swimming, we have been there before but we had forgotten about it, its a nice place to be cool and be close to the water so its somewhere we will go again next time we are down that way, I thought going to the harbour was out of the question now with all the heat so its good we have found a new place to go.

In the evenings we have started to wander down to the taverna a few times a week when the sun has gone down, it’s a lovely walk through the village and its lovely and cool when the temperature has gone down, I think its the only walk I am getting, I find I can only have two drinks though when we are out and even two feels a bit too much, I think it’s because alcohol is so cheap over here that they just seem to pour whatever amount of spirit into a glass that they want and they don’t do any measuring at all, I remember last summer when Nicola and Sarah were here and we walked to the taverna some evenings and if I ever had three drinks I would come home quite tipsy lol, so I have learned now never to have more than two drinks if we are out in the evening and if we want to stay longer I have a coke, the two girls that work there always chat lots and they come in handy in helping me with my Greek words, and we even met a lovely Russian woman one of the evenings who wants me to go over for coffee although I probably won’t but she was sweet.

This week I decided to go to the doctors to get my blood tested and get all of my levels checked, it’s something I did in the UK either once a year or every two years, just to make sure I wasn’t low in iron or something, I think it has been about two years or even three since I have had the last blood test,  and I do worry a bit as I don’t drink milk, hardly eat cheese or butter etic, so I wonder about my calcium levels and other vitamins and whether I am getting enough of everything, anyway they took lots of blood and when I got home all of the results were online which was pretty amazing, it was interesting to see that she tested my liver, kidneys, thyroid, cholesterol, iron, calcium, magnesium, then a whole blood count which is platelets etc. but it was all really perfect, even my B12 level was amazing, also my triglycerides were perfect, I think that one is all to do with fat in the blood, on the pieces of paper it gives a high number and a low number, and I scored a middle range of everything which I am so happy with.

The only result that isn’t in yet is the Vitamin D test, but that test had to be sent off so I should get the results in a few days, I asked the doctor for this test as Nicola is always thinking that my bones are soft, so hopefully this will also come back perfect, it was pretty amazing to read it all online and to see how healthy I am and also that I don’t need to take any vitamins, so my eating healthy does seem to be paying off thankfully and I seem to be getting enough of all the right things which was really lovely to hear.

5th August 2020

We met up with Tracy and Brian on Tuesday at a taverna not far from us, so there was a lovely breeze for most of the afternoon, I have told them I will do lunch for us all again in the next few days.

Last weekend we started getting flights from the UK,  and I have heard a lot more are on the way, so me and Nick have now stopped going out completely again, we are on our own little lockdown, the outbreak we had in Limassol over here is still on-going so I don’t think its a good time to be roaming around, and a few days ago we all got told it was mandatory to wear masks in stores now and busy places as our virus numbers are going up, I think the masks are a good thing but it won’t affect us as that’s what we were doing anyway.

I am getting used to our little lockdowns though and with it being so warm out its lovely to sit under a brolly or swim in the pool, and I wait until certain parts of the garden are in shade before I do any gardening, so for now I am enjoying staying at home again.

Linda and Graham wanted us to go away for the weekend with them in the next week or two, but they wanted to go to a tourist place called Aya Napa, I am quite surprised they wanted to go but I think with a lot of people they think they are perfectly safe, so we have told them we are on our own little lockdown again, I also think it’s far to hot to be roaming around in the sun so staying in the hills is still my favorite thing to do at the moment, and if we do get bored we can wander up to the taverna now and again in the evening. Last weekend when Sozos and Anna came up from next door he told us he was going to put up a privacy fence between us and next door, so that was a surprise. we do have a wall between us but it’s not high enough really, I think he got the idea from the new houses that are being built as that is what they have on top of the dividing wall and it looks pretty good.

Anna our landlady brought us some fruit while they were up for the weekend, only it was prickly pear fruit, they had peeled it for us and made it cold but I really don’t like it very much, I find the seeds are just too big, but I did show my appreciation and ate some in front of them and made all of the right noises lol, and then the following day she called me over the wall as she had made her grandchildren chocolate pancakes so she made some for me and Nick as well, she is so lovely I think I am going to keep her lol.

I actually had an evening to myself a few days ago, as there was a big football match on which Nick couldn’t get on the tv, so he went over to the little bar in the village, I call that taverna the hole in the wall as that’s what it seems like it is, only he has a TV on the wall outside showing all of the football matches, so Nick was quite happy to go on his own and drink beer and watch the football lol, and I had a nice quiet evening,  I think I spent most of my evening outside dead heading but the sun had gone in and it was really lovely.

We had a lovely face time call with our son Danny yesterday, he went away for a few days with Emily it was just a mini break so he called us while he was on his mini holiday, I think it had been about a month since we last spoke to him so we were due for a catch up, they are still doing so well with their hospital which was lovely to hear and Danny had bought himself a brand new truck, which was pretty impressive, I took them on a tour of the garden and the pool as I am trying to encourage them to come for a visit one of these years lol, it was a good catch-up anyway.

7^th August 2020

I was so pleased with my hair appointment that I had last week, she cut it to the perfect length, and she added more ash to the dye, so I came out happy, it was a much better experience than when I went last time so I will stay with her now as after last time I was unsure, it feels lovely to have shorter hair again especially with all of this lovely sunshine and warmth, she told me that next time I go back she is going to put highlights in my hair, it did make me laugh as she wasn’t asking me she was telling me, I took Nick with me this time as he hasn’t found anyone to cut his hair the way he likes and he came out happy as she spent a lot of time with him talking about his hair so at least now he has someone to go to, Nick was watching her mixing the hair dye for my hair and he was fascinated by how she was doing it, just a bit of this and a bit of that from a lot of different bottles and not following any specific directions, he said she must really know what she is doing, but I also do think she is pretty clever as a few times a year she travels to other countries and takes part in famous hair shows, and some of her hair designs are really clever

This past week hasn’t been to good really, as we seem to have some new people in one of the house that have just been built, it looks like they are in their mid twenties and so far in four days they have had two parties, they start in the afternoon with loud horrible music and lots and lots of people, the loud music starts at around three in the afternoon and goes on until between 9 and 10 in the evening, then they turn the music right down but the laughing and screaming and shouting goes on until midnight and beyond…… the first time it happened we put it down to them maybe having a moving in party and even though it was really noisy we were happy for them, but then three days later they did it all over again, so now we are waiting to see when the next party will be, the second party was so loud that I had to sleep in the spare bedroom to get away from all the noise., anyway between the noise and my neighbour who is very nosy, it hasn’t felt like a good week.

Just to top off my stressful week, I took the last two figs out of the fridge to eat yesterday morning, so after eating one of them I then took a big bite out of the second one and just as I was about to finish it off I spotted maggots……oh my, I was so grossed out that I had probably eaten some, and they are not good things to eat as it means I also could have eaten fly larvae and they can cause all sorts of problems inside of you, anyway so far I am ok so hopefully I will be fine, a lovely way to end my week though lol.

14^th August 2020

Well thankfully it seems the party house at the end of the row of houses has gone quiet, this week we saw mops and buckets outside and I guessed that they had gone, it seems they were only here for ten days on holiday, although they must live somewhere in Cyprus as they had Cypriot cars and seemed to know lots of people in the area, we do remember the builder saying that the house was finished and someone was going to try it out for a few days, so we think they rented it out to someone they knew that wanted a holiday in the hills, so thankfully life is back to being lovely and quiet again, although if they are using it as a holiday rental who knows what might happen next ….I don’t know why I say we are back to being quiet as we still have the builders lol.

I am trying to think of what I have been up to this week, I did finally get round to chopping down all of my cherry tomato plants, I think I had to many and they were making a huge mess at the side of the house, so a few days ago I cut them all down which was a shame but I do prefer tidy to messy, I think I only started growing them for something to do when we were on lockdown so I don’t think its something I will do again, they are just so cheap to buy that it makes it not worth all the mess, we have had so many tomato’s off them and I still have loads on the window ledge outside which should go red soon,  I have found a lovely simple recipe though which turned out amazing, you put cherry tomatoes into an  ovenproof dish whole, slice up some small squares of bread, then add some dry oregano, some fresh mint, salt and pepper, pour over a little olive oil and crumble some feta cheese over the top, and then you oven bake it, it is definitely something I will do again and I thought it might go lovely with some Sea bream or sea bass,  and of course tomatoes are more healthy when they have been cooked, it was so yummy and just a bit different.

One of the days last week took ourselves on another adventure through all the hills and drove through lots of small villages that we hadn’t been through, the villages are really cute, there is never anything in any of the villages though, no cute shops or places to stop to really have a good look around, just little stone houses, but it is nice to get to know the different area’s and the scenery is always breath taking, we did go up some more very dangerous hills that had no barriers on the side which always terrifies me and I make Nick drive really really slow lol, we did find Evertou Dam which was really breath taking and the water was so blue, I posted a picture on Instagram but it didn’t do it justice as it was more stunning in real life, we went to the taverna right by the dam, what an amazing view it has, we must remember to take visitors as it is so beautiful, it was a good day out and slowly we are discovering more bits of Cyprus.

We did have a nice evening out a few days ago as we went for dinner at Chris’s bar in our village, he makes the best Sea Bream I have ever had, it’s lovely sitting in the village square in the evening as everything has cooled down and the little church is all lit up and all the children come out to play around the church and all the grown-ups keep an eye on them, it was our anniversary this week so we decided that the meal we had was our anniversary dinner even though it was two days before, we are slowly getting to know some of the locals so they say hello to us an d we get lots of smiles, a lot of them don’t speak English so that’s kind of nice as well as I like acquaintances rather than friends.

We found some really nice candle holders at the beginning of the week that were in grey, I actually wanted them for myself lol, but I thought they would make a lovely present for Tracy and Brian, I thought they would look pretty on their outside tables, I managed to find them some pretend candles that were battery operated as candles in this heat would melt lol, so we met up with them on Wednesday at lighthouse beach as we had to give them the big floaty unicorn that we have for the pool as they are getting visitors soon and this will save them buying any floaties for the pool, we had a nice couple of hours with them though, and they were pleased that we took the unicorn down and they loved the candle holders which was good.

Nick went down to the airport last night as Tracy has her son and family arriving from the UK, their car only seated five so Nick went down to help transfer the visitors, today I have seen pictures on Instagram so it seems like they are all having lots of fun, they are going to have the most amazing time over here as it is so lovely, I think we will all enjoy seeing all of their pictures that hopefully they will keep posting.

19^th August 2020

Well it has felt like a bit of a bad week, unfortunately the people in the new house playing loud music came back again, I had hoped they were on a short holiday or something similar as I saw mops and buckets outside the house and for a couple of days it seemed like no one was there, but they just must have hired cleaners to do cleaning for them as after two days they came back and all of the music started up again and it was the same people, I can’t imagine how all of the other neighbors are coping, the music normally starts at around three or four in the afternoon, they do turn the music down when it gets late but the screaming and shouting with them jumping in and out of the swimming pool goes on well after midnight, it is a shame that things change,

Over the last few week we have started to look online at houses for rent in the hills that aren’t too close to other houses, I think we are both just fed up of no privacy in our garden and done with people living by people who drive us mad lol, our lease for this house was for two years which is thankfully up in the middle of October, so we have contacted some agents and hopefully they will find us something a bit more private but still up in the hills, we had one agent get back to us with a house and a pool so we are going to look at that one in the next week and hopefully they will come up with a few more, but at least this time we know what we are looking for and its definitely not going to be to close to other houses.

We are lucky that all of our plants have been put into pots and not planted into the ground, I think I have three plants that I actually planted but I will only dig one of them up and that is my agapanthus as its blue and really beautiful but the other two I will leave and replace them as they are in the most perfect spot and get just the right amount of shade and sun., but thankfully all of the others are in pots so can come with us, although I think we might need a moving van just for plants.

We went for lunch one of the days to the brewery which is not far from us, they had a live singer which was nice, and one evening we went to the taverna in our village for a couple of drinks, we actually met some lovely English people who want us to join their dart team, they apparently do all sorts of things together and they seem like a nice bunch of people, so we will give it some thought, both times we went out we had such a lovely time.

Today i invited all of Tracy’s visitors for lunch to help them out, we did have a lovely time and it was so nice to see them, I enjoyed feeding them some of my weird salads which they really did seem to like, Nick even cooked some meat on the BBQ which I think he found hard as its not something we are used to anymore, but the whole afternoon was lovely, we are hoping to see them on Friday as they are going to have a beach day so unless we have some houses to go and see then we will go and have a nice afternoon with them all which will probably do us good as well.

24^th August 2020

We did manage to see Matthew and family the day before they left as we met them at the beach in the afternoon on the Friday, I spent most of my afternoon making sandcastles with the two girls which was fun as they are so cute,  it was a nice couple of hours so I am glad we went, although the sand does drive me crazy as it just seems to stick like glue and I am continually thinking of getting home and under the shower to get it all off me.

The party house on the corner is still confusing as the last lot of people just kept coming back every few days but last weekend it was different people but they all do have Cypriot cars, I have tried to find the house on any holiday websites to see if they are letting it out to holiday makers but there is nothing in Tsada, over the last few day though there hasn’t been any music but it just sounds like a normal family are staying there which has been nice, so no music has been blaring out and it has been peaceful.

It has been frustrating trying to find somewhere else to live as we spend hours looking online but the agents over here don’t keep their web sites up to date so when we call them up to ask about a house that says is available it turns out it is rented out, so I think it is going to take longer than we realized to find something else, for some reason I just assumed there would be lots of houses for rent, anyway after calling different agents we do actually have two houses to go and view this week, one is a house in Droushia which is a four bedroomed bungalow, it becomes available in January,  so that is something to think about and that is quite a private place we have been told but we will wait and see, I think it would be nice to be able to wait until January as then it is giving our landlord Sozos lots of notice, the other house is similar to this one although it looks like it is built above their garage which looks odd and would probably involve going up and down steps to the pool and garden, it’s not far from where we are at the moment, I think it’s the next village, and we are going to see that one in the morning.

I have found out over the last week that a lot of properties that do become available are furnished for some reason and the landlords refuse to take the furniture out, I think a few of the houses we wanted to see have furniture, I find it odd but it seems a lot of people move over here with no furniture, anyway it would be nice if this week we actually found something we liked and were excited about.

We did have a lovely day on Saturday as we stayed at home and decided to do nothing, so no gardening or cooking, no laundry and no cleaning, so we just swam and sat all day, it was really relaxing, I think it was needed as my stress levels haven’t been to good lately with either nosy neighbor’s or noisy neighbor’s.

Sunday evening we always go to the taverna in the village as it’s a lovely walk and the people are really friendly so we always find someone to have a chat with, the British people turned up from last week and still want us to join their darts team on Friday, we still can’t decide if we want to be a part of it, but it kind of appeals to me a little bit as it’s not like having a one on one friendship but sort of like just having a group of acquaintances that you meet up with now and again so it could be a good thing.

One funny thing though did happen while we were out, one of the girls bought Nick out this drink that was called Putin, it was in a little plastic sealed container and one of the guys said to Nick not to drink it as it was really strong, Nick opened it and smelled it and it smelled a bit like paint stripper lol so I told Nick not to drink it, anyway Nick being Nick downed it in one, and it was about half an hour later I noticed that he was slurring his words, it was funny as I have hardly ever seen Nick have to much to drink, no one else noticed though and when it was time to come home I really had to hang onto him as he was walking all over the place, it was hilarious and I laughed all the way home lol, I don’t think he will drink Putin again.

29^th August 2020

It has felt like a busy week last week with looking at houses, we saw a beautiful bungalow in Kamares but the people who looked at it twenty minutes before us decided to take it, we still got to have a peek inside and it was beautiful with archways and a glass conservatory that overlooked the garden and pool, so I didn’t blame them for taking it on the spot lol, we saw another bungalow in Latchi that was quite isolated and only two houses in the road, that was also nice and there were sea views and also mountain views, but the wind was really bad and as soon as we got out of the car my hair smacked me in the face, we also went to see a house in Gillou which was a stone house, it was lovely but the living room was to small even though it had five bedrooms, then after all of that we saw a bungalow in Droushia and we fell in love with it, so we have decided that we are going to take it, we asked for a three year lease which they agreed, it will be nice living in a bungalow with no stairs, I think we are both looking forward to that, it was nice to see that there were no neighbor’s that can see onto our property and nothing can be built at the back as its part way up a hill and has a big drop at the back so that is one good thing, I can’t imagine being able to sit in the garden and read a book or even to sit anywhere around the garden without someone bothering me so I am looking forward to privacy which we haven’t had here, there is a house next door but you can’t see it and it’s on a lower level, apparently it’s the landlords brother. When you go into the garden at this bungalow there is the patio and pool and then a fence and then there are views of the ocean and views of mountains that you can see in the distance which is pretty amazing, it’s all pretty far away but it is nice that it has good views, it has four bedrooms and each bedroom has its own bathroom which is also pretty cool, the living room is very big and the kitchen is on the small size but not unmanageable, the retired couple that are in the bungalow at the moment are going back to the UK and they want to move between the end of November and the beginning of January, so we might have to wait a few months but at least we can give proper notice to our landlord and it will give us lots of time to sort different things out, and for me there is a light at what has seemed like a dark tunnel recently lol, we are meeting up with the landlord of the house and the agent on Tuesday to sign the contract, and then we will find out a more definite date which will give me something to focus on.

I finally got around one of the days to chasing up a different blood test that I had done a while ago, I had to pay privately for it and so my results weren’t posted online, it was a vitamin D test, Nicola had driven me crazy over the years about it as I was always breaking my toes etc, my sternum when we were in a car accident, my tail bone, my wrist, and when we moved over here I had two big dents in my skull on the top of my head which is where I put my glasses so I don’t lose them lol, the dents in my skull really freaked Nicola out when she was over here last year lol and she kept telling me that it proved my bones were to soft or brittle, but after living over here for just over a year the dents in my head went away and so I guessed that my bones were good and I was getting enough vitamin d from all the sunshine, anyway in the end I paid to have a test done, it was really cheap so it was worth it to prove to Nicola that I was finally ok lol, and my results came back as 73, I think the normal  good range is between 40 to 60…..so 73 is pretty impressive for someone my age, also last week while we were having a clean Nick moved one of the big ornaments and laid it down on the floor and I walked straight into it, the pain in one of my toes was really bad but I could tell I hadn’t broken it, but by that night the whole toe went black with bruising….I said to Nick then that my bones must be really strong as normally I would only have to kick something and a toe would break lol, seeing a black toe with no break at all was a good sign even though it hurt for a few days lol.

September 9^th 2020

We have had such a lovely hot week this week, well it is always hot lol but this week it has been around 95 degrees and now and again a bit more, it does stop you going out to do anything as it is just to hot, so when the weather gets like this it is just nice to stay at home in lots of shade and just swim on and off when we get to warm, so then it is really lovely, we keep the fans going and keep to the shade and the pool, thankfully we love it when it is mega hot like this as long as we are in the shade and close to water and I have to admit I do like enjoy being at home although after saying that we have had to go out now and again this week, once was to meet up with the agent and the new landlord to sign the contract and give him a deposit, so all of that is now done, we have a moving date of 15^th November which gives us the whole of September and October and a bit of November to sort things out, so it definitely won’t be a rushed move which might be nice.

The new village we are moving to is not as high as this village, at the moment we are roughly 630 meters above sea level which is nice and high and the reason why we get a breeze, and the new village is just above 300 meters above sea level so it is still in the hills but not so high up, and I have been looking at the weather for the next few weeks and it seems the temperature at the new village is always one degree lower than here, although the humidity is a bit higher but still not as high as it is in Paphos thankfully, so I am hoping it’s sort of in between.

The day we signed the new contract we decided to drive out in the hills to our new village to have a look around as we haven’t seen that village for some reason, the bungalow we are moving to is about four minutes away from the village by car but it is uphill so we won’t ever be walking there, the village itself is nicer than this village which was a nice surprise, it has cobbled streets and little cafe’s and taverna’s so lots of character and I think we are going to enjoy living there, it is a shame we won’t be able to walk to the village, but then again the weather over here is so hot I wouldn’t want to walk anyway, I think it is going to be a good move for us, we had lunch at one of the taverna’s in the village in a stone walled garden which was quite lovely.

It is good that we decided to make a move from this house as this week we have had two people move into the new houses that they have finished building, they are still working on the third house, both families that moved in have young children so of course beings as they have swimming pools there is a lot of noise going on by the children lol, I actually do like little children but I think we are ready to get away from noisy people, also the builders and now the little children, it will be nice to have some peace and some privacy.

September 11^th 2020

I think we have had a fairly quiet week really, we have a few days at home and then we tend to go out, I think after two or three days at home I am ready to see the outside world again, we have seen Tracy and Brian once last Saturday and again yesterday Thursday, last Saturday we all decided to visit the little village we will be moving to, it is only a small village, with two taverna’s and two cafe’s and one little shop, I think there was something like a corner shop for bread and milk, the village is not as big as I thought but it is very traditional with stone buildings which looks really nice, we stopped for lunch at a taverna which was lovely, it was very Cypriot, I will have to take a picture next time as it was really nice, another day we went to Polis, I wanted to check out the vape shop and Nick needed to go to the bank, this will be our closest town when we move so we thought we would have a wander around, but by the time we had been to the vape shop and the bank the temperature rose to over ninety degree’s so it was too hot to go wandering around, so we went to the café on the beach which had lots of shade and a cool breeze and then we met Tracy and Brian for lunch at a village called Steni which was nice and not to hot as it was in the hills, so we chatted all afternoon and had a good catch-up which was lovely.

Our weather is still so hot, but still so amazing, someone mentioned to me a few days ago that they would like to go for a walk, I just burst out laughing lol, I think it was last November when I started walking but then the house started to go cooler which was a shame, I think sometimes it would be nice to have walking weather but if given a choice I would pick the heat any time as I just love being hot, and swimming is a good form of exercise but I do remember last year when we got to walking weather I was glad of it for a while as it just made a nice change, I think I prefer swimming to walking these days though as it means the weather is hot, we have had some nice days this week when we have stayed home just being in the shade outside, and in and out of the pool all day, it does feel really relaxing,

We still haven’t told our landlord about moving out in November as he didn’t come up last weekend, it would have been nice to have got it out of the way rather than it hanging over us and having the dread of telling them, so now it will be this weekend when they come up that we will tell them, Nick said if he doesn’t come up again this weekend he will phone him and tell him as he doesn’t want to leave it another week, I guess once he knows we are leaving they will put the house up for rent and we will start having people come around to view it.

Well today we are staying home which is nice, the only thing I have left to do today is to sort out my gardening cupboard, I have pots with some dead plants in so they need sorting out and scrubbing,  and my cupboard outside where I keep all my gardening pots and bits and pieces is a complete mess so it all needs a good clean out, then I am going to do nothing all day but sit in the shade and swim now and again,, it’s also Nicks turn to cook so I will enjoy being a bit lazy today.

September 17^th 2020

Well we finally told Sozos that we were leaving, I say we, but Nick went and told him last Saturday morning, and he was ok about it, very sad but thankfully all is well, they only came up to their house for the day so I didn’t get a chance to see them which I was glad about lol, I think it might be a bit weird next time I see Anna but we will get through it lol, I think we are just both glad it’s done and over with and now we just have to get through the next two months.

We had a bit pf a surprise last week, as opposite the front of our house is a waste ground, and the builders have started clearing it, when Nick went over to see what they had been doing he said it has been marked out for a foundation of a house and swimming pool, it came as quite as shock really as no one had mentioned more building going on, the builders spent the last few days levelling the ground which has been really noisy and they have dug out the swimming pool, so it looks like they are going to start building in front of our house, we were told ages ago that at some point that the land in front of our house was going to be split into two plots so two houses were to be built at some point in the future, but it was implied that it would be years before they actually built there, oh my goodness I am so glad we are leaving, I don’t think I could cope with another two years of building and dust and noise, and then on top of that to be overlooked at the front as well as the back, so it seems we are making the move at the right time, it’s funny sometimes how things work out for the best, I remember my favorite saying from a few years ago ‘nothing stays the same’, and its true as I thought we were going to stay in this house for a long time.

There has been so much dust flying around over the past while, my phone a few days ago got left in my bedroom and the window was open, and when I went up to get it I couldn’t believe how much dust was over my phone which isn’t good, so we have had to shut all the windows upstairs now, we have also had to stop doing laundry unless it’s a Sunday when there is no building work going on which is crazy and Nick is getting fed up of cleaning the car, I guess the dust is now coming from the front of the house where they are busy with machines, even my poor plants are covered in it, I think we need it to be November already.

I have actually done one thing towards our move this week, I think I mentioned last week I was hoping to get to my outside gardening cupboard and give it a good sort out, I did think it would only take one afternoon, but in the end it took me three afternoons, I had some plants that needed re potting and plants that had died and plants I didn’t want, and a couple of plants that needed digging up to be put into pots, and all of my empty pots needed scrubbing with soap and water, so I made a huge mess down the side of the house for three afternoons, it was just muddy with dirt and where I had been washing pots it all just turned into a bit of a mud bath lol, I think it drove Nick mad, but everything is all spic and span and re organized, and all my empty pots are clean, hopefully the re potted plants are happy and thankfully the cupboard is clean, I am glad I didn’t realize it was going to take three afternoons of mess and dirt as I probably wouldn’t have wanted to do it.

We met up with Tracy and Brian on Monday for lunch at a beach place which was really lovely and not filled with tourists, it is amazing how much we talk and never seem to run out of things to say, they are popping up tomorrow so I am going to make a prawn and watermelon salad with feta cheese.

I did have a nice afternoon in the kitchen one of the days as I needed to re stock the freezer with containers of my rice mixture, so while it was all cooking I made a Thai chickpea salad which always takes a while to make but it kept me busy while waiting for rice and pea’s and onions to cook, I do like having the rice mix already in the freezer as it makes life easier, I have also been playing around with making a lentil salad, I do love lentils and they are so healthy and cheap, I made one weeks ago but it wasn’t quite right so I have altered it to fit all the things I like, and it turned out not to bad, I still think it needs tweaking though, Nick won’t eat it lol, I think he looks at it and thinks it’s not very filling but it has good amounts of protein and is filled with iron, but he is a guy so I totally get it.

The passion fruit wine that i made has been going well, only I do think with all the heat that we have, that the fermentation process happened to quickly and I think the yeast got eaten up a bit too fast, so I did some research and we have taken all of the sediment out of the wine, we left it for a couple of days just to make sure it had stopped fermenting as I don’t want any exploding bottles lol, and now it is all in bottles, apparently you can drink it straight away, I think from start to finish it takes about a month, although I did ours a bit quicker because of the heat, I think making kombucha a few years ago helped me as it is sort of the same process so I knew when the activity stopped that the yeast had gone to quick, I think if I hadn’t bottled it when I did it would have turned to vinegar, anyway it does taste quite nice although I have no idea about the alcohol content so one night we will have to sit and finish a bottle between us to see if there any effects lol, we landed up with six bottles so I will give Tracy and Brian three bottles tomorrow as I don’t think they got round to making any themselves.

September 29^th 2020

These days all we talk about is moving, and it is now only six weeks and three days until moving day so it is getting closer thankfully, last week we called two different removal companies to come out to check our furniture and to give us quotes on a moving price, it feels good to have that sorted out and booked, we have decided to move two days earlier so it’s now November 13^th on the Friday we will leave, I really can’t wait as the nosy neighbors, the building work, the noise and dust is all getting me down, but we are on a countdown and every day we sit and tell each other how many days are left until we can leave, I never thought we would be this desperate to move.

We had a very noisy stressful evening last weekend as our landlord Sozos and his wife came up for the weekend, and one of the builders had parked his truck in the wrong place, it really wasn’t a problem for anyone, but Sozos asked the builder to move his truck and the builder said he would move it when he was finished loading it, which wasn’t good enough for Sozos, I think he must be quite an important man as he expects everyone to do as they are told, anyway Sozos really started shouting at this builder who then started shouting back, I came out of the house to see who was killing who, poor Anna was pulling Sozos away but it all just went on and on for ages, at certain points I was about to call the police as it really looked like someone was going to hit someone, for some reason it really upset my head and I didn’t sleep well that night, the rest of the weekend was ok though but I did notice Anna avoiding me in the garden the next day so that was a bit sad, and later on in the evening they drove past us and waved but didn’t stop, whereas they normally would have stopped, Nick tells me I shouldn’t let it bother me but it sort of does, I guess it all must be because we are leaving, who knows.

I went and got my hair done yesterday as it was getting to long, and she has done such a nice job with the colour as she is using more ash and I really like it, I am not sure at this point whether it will be to far to travel to get my hair done when we move so something to think about, I have to say what was really cool was that while I was in the hairdressers Nick took the grocery list and went and did the months shopping at Alpha Mega, it saved him sitting around and waiting for me and as a bonus I got to miss the grocery shopping which I totally hate doing, so it was brilliant and I might do it again lol.

It has felt pretty busy over the last few days with getting my hair done and also today we have had to stay at home to do some cleaning as it all got missed last week, at the weekend we also had to dig up the five big oleander plants at the back of the garden that we planted to stop the neighbors looking into our garden, we were attempting to get some privacy, unfortunately it never did work lol, it took ages to dig them up and get them into pots, and by the time we had finished there was dirt and mud everywhere, I think it took us most of the afternoon to clean it all up and wash everything down as of course we walked the dirt around everywhere, but still it’s another job done and hopefully the plants won’t die, I have them in the shade so they can stay there for a few days until they have gotten over the shock of being dug up.

While we were washing everything down we came across a tarantula sitting on the wall outside, it was only a baby but even so it was quite big and hairy, but you could tell it was a baby, I wouldn’t like to see mommy or daddy lol.

We have started noticing that the sun is going more over the front of the house now which puts our garden in shade in the afternoon at some point and the pool is now at 28 degrees instead of 33, so very slowly even though the weather is still hot I can see it all changing very slightly, I think it’s because the evenings aren’t so hot and now there is to much shade on the pool, so it seems we don’t have too much longer before we have to stop swimming which I will miss, hopefully another week or two, but we have started going for a walk after the sun has gone down which is nice, we don’t go too far but it is nice to walk around the village at night and the air is lovely and cool, at some point we have to go and tell everyone at the village taverna that we are moving.

October 6^th 2020

We had a nice evening out with Brian and Tracy on Friday night, we all decided to go out for dinner and then go to the pub, we don’t normally get together in the evening as everyone likes to have a drink and then there is the problem of drink driving, I think a lot of people over here drink and drive as there isn’t a big police presence, we hardly ever see any police anywhere as I think they stick to all the big cities, so I always think it is good to stay off the roads at night, anyway so Nick just had one drink while we all had to many lol, it was nice of him to do that, we probably won’t do it again for a long time though but it was a fun evening.

Well our weather is still really hot and we are back in the 30’s again, so close to 90 degrees and some days a bit hotter, I can feel the evenings have gone a bit cooler though, and now and again I  need a cardigan with my shorts to sit outside after the sun has gone down, but I definitely can’t moan as I love the hot days, as long as I don’t fancy a walk as its still too hot, but walking in the evening is lovely.

I spent all afternoon on Saturday emptying my kitchen cupboards out and giving them all a good clean, it was a shame I had to put everything back and couldn’t pack anything yet, but I thought it would just make things easier closer to the time, I did manage to get rid of some things and it did feel good to clean out my junk drawer, it is nice to feel a bit more organized, I have written a list of all the things I need to accomplish over the next five weeks so bit by bit I will go through them all and get all the jobs done, hopefully it might make the time go a bit faster.

I see the numbers for the virus in the UK are still on the rise which is worrying, Jamie got sick last week with flu symptoms and his work sent him for a virus test, I was a bit worried for a few days but he got the results yesterday and he was negative thankfully, we all just need to be extra careful this winter when we go out, and maybe by next spring we will be through the worst of it, and who knows it could be like the Spanish flu and just disappear, that would be lovely lol.

Our pool temperature has dropped this week as even though the weather during the day is very hot our back garden is mainly in the shade now as the sun is more over the front of the house, I think yesterday the water temperature was at 25, so without the sun the pool water isn’t staying warm, I have really missed going for a swim over the past week, so I guess that is it until next May which seems like a long way away.

Yesterday we went to the taverna in the village for a drink in the afternoon so Nick could get his hair cut as its next door to the taverna, I wanted to tell Joanna that we were moving next month, but she already knew, I had forgotten that my hairdresser is her niece, still it was nice to have a catch up with her.

October 13^th 2020

Well another week has gone and now we only have just over four and a half weeks left here, thankfully it is still going nice and quick, but I think trying to stay busy is helping, every time we stay at home we do jobs off the moving list that I wrote out, last week we completely sorted out the spare room, it did take a long time as that is where all the junk gets put, Nick took the spare beds down and we completely emptied and scrubbed the closets, and got rid of more junk, I love getting rid of things, in the evening when we go for our walk or pop to the taverna in the village for a drink, we leave the things we don’t want any more next to the big bin in the village and on our way home everything is always gone which is pretty cool knowing that someone else might want our junk lol.

We also finally got to the patio with the white vinegar and spent an afternoon scrubbing all the marks that some of the pots leave, I find the ceramic pots are the worst for leaving orange marks, but it comes off quite easily with a scourer and vinegar, we might have to do it again the week of leaving but it is another job done.

The other job we both did was our bedrooms, so our closets and drawers are now really organized and clean, it’s something we should have done in the spring probably, I am sure all of the nice weather doesn’t help as we never seem to want to be in the house. Our hot weather is still with us thankfully, although we did get a couple of hours yesterday with some cloud, it was really nice to see cloud as it’s been a long time, it’s also been a long time since we have seen any rain, it must have been March or April, I know when we get our first rainfall after such a long time it does feel exciting, we are hoping to get some this month or next month.

My flowers are all still doing well, the roses have just all bloomed again and they look amazing, Sozos told me last year that this month is called the second summer as the roses bloom again, I am still doing Sozos’s garden, since sorting it all out at the beginning I think it only takes me about 40 minutes on a Thursday evening to make it all look nice, I have enjoyed doing it for him.

We have had a couple of nice days out, we went to the harbour one afternoon for lunch, it is pretty down there, the afternoon that we went there was a breeze so we were able to walk for about twenty minutes which made a nice change and lunch and a short walk we were quite bad before going home as we stopped for an ice cream which is something I haven’t had in a long time, so it was a nice treat.

We have had two really bad fires in our area over the past couple of weeks, as we drive up the hill to our house there are trees and bushes and its quite a big wild area, unfortunately the two fires were quite bad, they think it was the weather and the heat that did it, so now it is all scorched and black and looks pretty bad, I think it took a while for them to put the fire out with helicopters carrying the big bags of water, both times we got really awful smoke over the village and ashes were landing at the front and back of the house, everything got covered in white powder,  anyway so I had to spend Sunday afternoon washing everything down which took forever, it was nice to see everything look nice and clean again and I have heard we are going to be still hot this week but a few degrees cooler so hopefully there won’t be any more fires going on.

October 22^nd 2020

We have managed to get away from the house now and again and away from all of the organizing we have been doing which has been a nice break, one of the days we went to Sea U café for a drink  which is on the beach, it is a lovely place to sit and watch the water so we spent most of our afternoon there, the view of the ocean is perfect and I love watching the waves, we also caught up with Brian and Tracy and went out for lunch with them one afternoon, I can’t remember where we went now but it was another lovely afternoon.

Our virus numbers went really high last week and one of the days we were at just over eighty positive cases in one day, which is a lot for our small island, and then just as we were thinking that our numbers would go down, they then went up to just over a hundred, and then within a couple of days we were at just over 200 positive cases for the day, even going back to last March when we were on lockdown our numbers only got to between fifty and eighty I think,  everyone over here was quite shocked.

Nick had good fun this week selling the calor gas fires that we bought when we first moved over here, there were three of them, after he posted them online, by the following day they were all gone, we sold two of them for forty euro’s each and one for twenty, so we got a hundred which we were pleased with, the one couple that came to buy a fire ended up staying for a couple of hours and having a glass of wine with us as they were so nice, they are moving to Tsada in December, I enjoyed telling them how much they were going to love living in this little village, moving is a lovely adventure, anyway I am so happy that the fires have gone now and we don’t have to drag them along with us.

This week we got stuck without a car for two days as it needed to go in for a service and for its MOT, I think it was the brakes that had to be replaced, so at least that is another thing out of the way, over here the car only has to have an mot every two years instead of every year which is good, it was a bit of a pain being without a car for two days but at least it’s done now.

This week I got the little cleaner out and spent an afternoon scrubbing the couch and chairs, we did clean them in the spring but it’s amazing how dirty they have gotten this year, I think it’s where we are continually covered in dust outside from the builders so we end up walking it in and then we put our feet up on the couch or chairs, I don’t think I have ever seen them as dirty as they were and it took hours to get them clean again, but at least they are done now and look a lot better, I seriously can’t wait to get away from all of this dust and dirt as it is driving me quite nutty, my poor plants outside are covered in thick dust as well and as fast as I wash it off the plants it all comes back again, roll on moving day lol.

I did feel sorry for Nick a few days ago as he spent his afternoon washing and vacuuming the car, and after he had finished it was lovely and shiny, and within two minutes a huge truck came around the corner and tipped all this dirt out in front of the house and as we stood watching… ..all this dust just rose in the air and landed on the car lol, it was funny to see Nicks face poor guy.

October 31^st 2020

Well another week has now gone so not this coming Friday but the following Friday is moving day, so just two weeks now, everything is still the same here very noisy and really dusty, we had the concrete lorries here a few days ago and I had to close the windows and doors in the end as the noise was so loud, it’s funny to think it’s going to be like a war zone for another two years, it does make me feel sorry for the people who move into this house. We had two showings on Wednesday evening, and we were asked if we could be at home to give good comments about the house and the area, I wasn’t looking forward to it just in case they asked about the noise and the privacy, but anyway it all turned out well and I decided to take the people on the tour of the house myself as I have to admit I am good at it, and it turned out well as the first couple that came to view the house said they would take it, so that is over and done with thankfully so we actually started packing yesterday and Nick has taken everything off the walls and is happily filling in holes, he seems to enjoy it for some strange reason lol, so far I have just packed most of the kitchen up of things we won’t use in the next two weeks, but I am surprised that it took me all day yesterday to do it, but I did kind of enjoy myself as it now feels like we are moving.

We spent the whole of last weekend working in the garden which was nice but hard work, we trimmed all the oleander bushes at the back by about two feet, it took us most of Saturday but it does look really lovely and tidy, we had let it get overgrown and tall hoping to get privacy at the back, but nothing really worked and I think it ended up looking a mess so I am glad it’s done now, then on Sunday I gave all my shrubs and trees that I have in pots a good chopping as the removal men when they came around to give us a quote a while ago asked if we could make them smaller to make them more manageable, so they have all had a good haircut and are really trimmed down quite a lot, it was a messy weekend with chopping everything but thankfully it’s another job done and everything looks lovely and tidy.

This is the time of year I start to crave oranges for some reason, and this is the one time of year that in Cyprus it is really hard to find any, it’s because they grow their own and don’t import hardly any as they have no need to, the oranges here start being ready at the end of November, and then over December and January they all start turning orange, that is when you can buy a whole carrier bag for a euro and everyone juices them as there are to many oranges everywhere, I remember when we first arrived over here two years ago at the end of September and there wasn’t an orange to be found anywhere and I didn’t understand why, well of course I started craving them last week and of course none of the shops have any, someone told us a few days ago that Alpha Mega had some in so I asked Nick to pick some up as he had to go into Paphos, he said the only oranges that they had in stock came from South Africa and they were one euro each, I was shocked, Nick bought me five, and it was good I wasn’t with him as I would have talked him out of it, I would never pay one euro for an orange lol, its crazy really as in a few more weeks they will be all over the streets and in the roads, and we will be driving over them down in Paphos and everyone will have to many again, and it will be really cheap for a whole carrier bag full, the oranges that ripen over the winter here last right up until the beginning of September so just for Oct and Nov they are hard to find and really expensive, and that is of course when I want to eat oranges.

Our new restrictions that came out at the end of last week, they have now said we have to wear a mask whenever we are outside, I think what really annoyed me was I had planned a walk for last Saturday, I had read that we were going to have some cloud just for the one afternoon so I said to Nick we should go to Latchi as that is a lovely long walk, and then the day before our walk they bought in the new restrictions, they haven’t been to clear on things though as I read that if you are exercising then you don’t have to wear a mask, but if you are walking your dog you do have to wear a mask, they said if you are walking past a taverna you have to wear a mask but if you are sitting in or outside a taverna then you don’t have to wear one, anyway it feels like everything has just gone a bit crazy again and I don’t like it when things don’t make sense, so I said to Nick I am not going to even try having a long walk at Latchi as we could get fined, I think they said its 300 each if you get caught outside with no mask on, so we will just have our short walk around the village in the evening, although even the taverna’s have been told they have to be closed early now, it makes me glad we have lots of jobs to do at home as I wouldn’t go out walking at the moment I think wearing a mask for a long time is really unhealthy and I still think it’s stupid that we have to wear one when we are out in the fresh air, it makes you wonder what they are going to do to us next.

November 9^th 2020

Well another week has gone by and we now only have 4 days to go until we move, all in all I think it has gone by fairly quickly really, last week was another one of those weeks with my neighbour wanting to see what we are doing, and the builders have been extra noisy, I am so fed up of the dust that continually covers everything, even after I have swept all of the outside areas our feet are continually dirty, but only four days to go so I am sure we can manage that lol, but having a moan does make me feel better, I honestly can’t imagine what privacy feels like, and also not to be walking through dirt and dust and hearing continual drilling or banging, I think we are going to be so happy on Friday.

Last Monday we had to meet the new landlord at the house in Droushia, and also had to go with him to the electricity board to have the electric put into our name, it was lovely going back to the house as apart from the pictures that I found online I couldn’t remember how the bedrooms were situated in the house, and I couldn’t remember the bathrooms and loads of other different things, it was quite a surprise really as what I thought was the front of the house when you go through the gate is not the front but the side of the house, the outside space is a bit bigger than it looks in the pictures which is good, and this time I got to see a few of the garden beds, although some of the plants had died as the last tenants didn’t water anything, there were a few negatives though which was the last tenant took all of the curtains so there are none and also there are no blinds, although the bedrooms do have shutters on them, then we discovered that the living room sliding doors have no screens on them so that is something we will have to sort out, I think they are quite expensive as a frame has to be made for the door, we will need the doors open when it gets hot outside, and the thought of a tarantula or snake coming into the house wouldn’t be good, I don’t know how the last tenants coped with no screens, but anyway we will get it sorted out before next spring, I won’t go on about all the little things that bothered me as I would write a whole page lol, I think the main thing that bothered me was they are not going to re paint the inside of the house and the walls are a bit of a mess and also look a bit grubby, the woman asked me if I wanted all the holes in the walls filled in from the last tenants pictures, I was so shocked lol so I said of yes of course we want them filled in, Nick has just spent the last week filling all the holes in with our house in Tsada and making the walls look nice so he doesn’t want to move somewhere and fill in other peoples holes,  I think they were hoping not to have to do it, but after all of my moans and groans I do really like the new place, I love the undercover porch and I love the outside space with the views, the privacy is amazing, I just hope there are no hidden surprises after we move in.

We had some rain and a big storm this week it was lovely seeing rain again as I think it was last March or April the last time we saw any, when it rains over here it really does rain though and its always so loud, I remember last January I think it woke me up every night to the point where I got annoyed with it lol, it’s so typical though that we are having some cloud this week on and off, so now and again we could have a walk if we wanted to, but because of wearing a mask outside I just can’t do it, I think once we move we might try and find a walk where there are no people, but at the moment in our area there is always someone around, if this carries on I will save up and buy a treadmill lol, just kidding.

November 16^th 2020

Thankfully our move is now over and done with and oh my goodness it was tiring, I think I have decided I am done moving lol, the week before our move didn’t help though as we had such a bad storm, I have to admit the lightening did put on such an amazing show and it was really awesome to watch but by lunchtime we lost power, we just assumed that it wouldn’t take to long for the power to come back on, but around five in the evening it got dark and there was still no electricity, the candles of course were all packed, we both had different jobs that we needed to do for our move but we had no choice but to just sit in the dark and wait which was frustrating, at some point in the evening this Cypriot woman came and knocked at our door and gave us some candles, she just lives around the corner and she always chats to me when she sees me in the village but she can’t speak a word of English so I never know what she is saying so we try and communicate by hand signals lol, anyway it was sweet of her and having her candles really helped us, we had to wait until the following morning to get the electricity back on, apparently it knocked out eight other villages as well as ours, thankfully this new bungalow has some emergency lights in the living area on the ceiling, I don’t think they are really bright but they will help if we lose power, we do seem to lose power a fair amount over here with the storms we get at this time of year.

The following morning after the storm we had a nice surprise as we saw Sozos next door, he had heard about the power outage in the different villages so he drove up to rescue his food from the freezer and to take it back to Limassol, we had bought them a little present to say thank you to both of them so it was lovely to see him again and give him the present, he said they had been looking for us over the past few weeks so they could say goodbye properly, I am guessing we were just in the house being busy, anyway he said next spring it would be nice if they could come over and see us and stay in touch, I was so pleased, and he said if ever we are going through Tsada to give him a call and go over for coffee, it did make me feel so much happier as they are a lovely couple.

I think the day before we moved was another bad day as we were doing a final clean and packing last minute things, and making sure everything was spotless, but for some reason the day just seemed to go on forever, we finally got finished at some point in the evening, I think that’s when I decided I didn’t want to ever move again lol.

So the move is done and over with which feels good, unfortunately after Nick had put my bed up and I had got all my furniture arranged and also hung all my clothes up etc. it looked really nice but then the following day I decided I wanted to switch rooms lol, so then Nick also decided to switch rooms and take the room that I was leaving, so we had to completely re do both bedrooms lol, so I don’t think any of that helped, also with the living and dining area being so big it did take ages to figure out where to put everything whereas that is normally a quick thing to figure out, but we wanted to be able to see a bit of the outside space from the living area but then if we put our couch and chairs around the fireplace then we were having our back to the outside and the big windows, anyway it took hours but we finally sort of got there in the end, it is a huge room, the furniture does help to break it up a bit but it is still a big room.

I didn’t realize that the landlords brother, whose house is just below ours has roosters and chickens, it’s nice to look over the railing and watch them, they also have a few cats and a dog, I do envy them having so many animals, Nick is still quite adamant that he doesn’t want any which is a shame, thankfully the roosters don’t wake us up and the dog very rarely barks so we are lucky that it has all turned out so well, it’s such a beautiful private and quiet spot, I think we count our blessings every day to have found this property..

Our second evening in the house we had a tarantula in the hallway, I honestly couldn’t believe it and neither could Nick, we had seen the odd dead one in the swimming pool but they were mainly medium sized babies, but this was our first big one and I think we were both in total shock for a while that we actually had one in the house, when we spotted it on the wall we went and poured ourselves a stiff drink out so we could figure out what to do, it was honestly too big to kill and to be honest they are so big it’s not like killing a spider but an animal lol……anyway I told Nick to go into the shed and get the pool net as it has a long handle on it and a biggish net, so then Nick knocked him off the wall into the net and ran outside with him lol, we think it must have gotten in with having all the doors open on moving day so we have been ultra-careful since then not to even leave a door open for more than a few seconds as we go in and out, I have to say that I didn’t sleep very well that night and every time I woke up I spent a good ten minutes looking around the room, so it was good that the next day we decided to switch the bedrooms around as it meant each bedroom got completely emptied so it also gave us peace of mind that there weren’t any more nasty surprises in the house lol, we will definitely put screens on the patio doors next spring.

We have two alarms in the garden beds at this house, the landlord said it was an alarm that keeps away snakes, rats and mice, I thought it was pretty cool at the time, he did say if we ever saw a snake not to go near it as it could be a poisonous one, I think it was only afterwards that I sat and thought about it all and thought they have obviously had a problem with either snakes, rats or mice for them to have two alarms in the garden beds, I guess we will have to wait and see but it did make me worry for a while lol.

I have really been enjoying sitting in the sunshine now and again as at our old place at this time of year we only got the sun at the front of the house so we would try and sit out there, but there was always builders walking up and down in front of the house and it was sods law that the Greek teachers next door would always pull up outside their house as soon as we sat out there and then I would feel like a nosy nora lol, so now to pop outside the back with my cup of tea and sit in sunshine is just amazing, I do like being warm lol, our weather is still mainly hot sunny days with the odd day of rain and storms thrown in, but I can feel the temperature in the house starting to drop, I now have to put my pyjama’s on to keep my legs warm in the evening and I sit with a throw over me, so far I haven’t gotten the hot water bottle out, but I know it’s coming.

My one problem over the last few days has been where to position my plants without blocking the lovely view, so it has been quite tiring moving them into different positions and groupings as some of them are really heavy, but I just kept at it and every time I stopped for a cup of tea with Nicks help we moved a couple, and thankfully late this afternoon I managed to figure it all out, so each plant is in a good spot and looks nice, I think it has been the hardest thing to do so far, it is a nice feeling being finished and organized, everything is put away and we even have pictures on the walls, so now we can just start relaxing a bit more and enjoying living here….with no dust….no noisy builders and total privacy…..I remember years ago when we used to move we would have everything organized on the first day and we would hang pictures on the second day, I think we must be getting old as this move has taken us three days to get fully organized, anyway I am glad it’s now all done.

November 23^rd 2020

Well I can’t believe we have been living in this house for over a week now, it seems time is still going a bit too fast, we have mainly spent our week doing all of the little bits that we hadn’t got around to doing, like hanging some things outside and also finding spots for different garden items like all of my empty pots etc., it has been a nice plodding sort of week though but it has still felt a bit busy.

We did have an awful lot of laundry by the time we moved so that kept us busy for a couple of days, it’s funny that our washing machine is outside in the shed, I didn’t like the thought of it being in the shed but there isn’t a spot in the kitchen that it could go and the landlord said that there was a hook up for the machine out there, I must admit it did bother me when I thought about going into a shed where there could be any kind of creepy crawlies, but so far everything has been ok when we have gone out there, it is odd though and I do prefer my machine in the kitchen, although there was another house that we saw a while ago that also had the same kind of thing with the washing machine being in the shed so maybe it’s what some people do over here, I will be fine until I see something I don’t like and then it will be Nicks job to take the laundry to the machine.

We also had to do our months grocery shopping this week, it was interesting going to a different supermarket, now we have moved to Droushia our main town now is about ten minutes away and is called Polis, there is only the one big supermarket there so we decided to try it out, so we spent the morning writing the shopping list as our grocery shopping is for the whole month and then we went to find the supermarket, I think we got half way around the supermarket before we both said there was no way we could do our shopping there, it is a lovely supermarket but they had no cod or haddock they had no fish cakes, they did have vegetarian sausages but they were double the price, we decided that we will have to go back down into Paphos every month and do our shopping down there, so the following day we went all the way down into Paphos and re did our shopping at the two different shops, it’s probably about 40 or 45 minutes’ drive from where we live now so it all seemed to take a long time, but thankfully it is only once a month and not every week, it’s a shame as I was hoping to just shop locally with not a lot of driving.

One of the mornings we did go down into Polis to see the ocean, we found a Costa coffee on the seafront which was a take away so we got a drink and found a bench by the water, it was lovely sitting and chilling, we had the urge to go for a walk but we have to walk with a mask on or we could be fined if caught, maybe we will try it one of the days if we ever get bored, we have walked along that seafront before and it’s a good forty minute walk along the seafront to a camp ground and café which is on the beach, it’s a lovely place to sit and have coffee, I am hoping over this winter if they let us outside without a mask we should be able to get some lovely walks in, I am sure though that the campground café closes over the winter which is a shame so we will have to take our own drinks with us if we ever get to have a walk.

Our weather has been mixed again we are getting some lovely hot sunny days and then we have the odd cloudy stormy day with rain,  on the cloudy days I have now started filling my hot water bottle up to keep me warm, and this week when I change my bed I will put my electric blanket back on again, it is lovely though on the warm sunny days to sit outside, the sun isn’t quite as hot so I can sit for longer in the sun, it’s also lovely not having to worry about neighbours, I still can’t believe there is no banging noises or drilling noises going on and no dust, I am sure I will start taking it all for granted soon but for now I sit outside and I still can’t believe that I have privacy and some peace lol, it is also lovely seeing all of my plants not covered in thick dust, I think the rain a few days ago finally got it all off, I am sure they are happier as well. sometimes when I sit outside I have a hard time coming back in the house as the patio and the view is just amazing, my favourite thing to do at the moment is to watch the birds in the sky, especially when there are hawks flying or a group of twenty or so birds all flying around over the hills, it is just fascinating to watch them swooping up and down, I keep meaning to see if I can capture it on video but I am sure it wouldn’t do it justice, anyway it’s definitely a cool thing to watch, and I am feeling so much more relaxed than I was in Tsada, yesterday afternoon I spent my whole afternoon sitting outside in the sun doing my Greek homework which is something I could never do at the other place so that felt really amazing.

This week I finally got my bird bath delivered, but we need to find something to plug up the hole inside as I think it’s meant to have a fountain, I think maybe a cork would do, which of course I don’t have so I will figure something out over the next week, I am looking forward to seeing lots of birds in the garden at some point.

We had Brian and Tracy come up for lunch last week, its a shame its all a bit one sided as I make them so many nice lunches but they always seem to have an excuse as to why they need to come over here, it would be lovely for someone to make me lunch for a change lol, I think they love the view up here as much as we do, and little Molly the dog had great fun racing around everywhere, even she seemed happier, Tracy said my living room still reminds her of a church.

There have been so many fires going on in the hills, and we have had lots of helicopters with bags of water flying over, Nick has really enjoyed sitting outside watching it all going on, one of the days there were five fairly big fires that we could see from the garden, I think Nick has a new hobby lol.

Today we have had a few clouds but thankfully some sun as well, I haven’t done too much today, just a bit of chopping on some plants and some of them needed watering which turned into quite a bit of fun as I used the landlords hose but it didn’t have an end on it, so when I turned the water on I had to go to the tap to turn it off, it was all ok until I decided to put the hose down as I needed to get something as then the hose turned into a snake and kept rising into the air spraying water everywhere, of course it mainly only did it when I tried to get near it to grab it, but I was in hysterics laughing as everything just got drenched including me lol, in the end Nick heard the commotion and came out and grabbed it, he has now put our hose on and put the landlords hose away.

November 28^th 2020

Because we did our shopping on the 21^st November this month it means that on the 21^st December we will need to do it again, so I have said to Nick we should pick up a few extra dinners in the next week to tide us over until Christmas is over as I really don’t want to be around any of the shops the week before Christmas,, it would be a mad thing to do, but I am glad I have thought of it.

Nick was saying a while ago that he fancied some lamb, so I actually made a lamb casserole in the slow cooker a few days ago,, it’s been a long time since I have cooked meat, but I have to say we did enjoy it, I only had a few pieces of meat and it’s not something I would eat regularly as I need to look after my kidneys, but it did taste nice, I have also found a lovely recipe for something called lamb tagine which is lamb cooked with apricots and I think chick peas, so the next time Nick gets a craving for lamb I might give that recipe a go.

I read something really interesting a few days ago, I was reading about bread and how hundreds of years ago they used to weigh the bread before selling it and the price was taken from the price of wheat that was grown, it was such a good read, and then there was a video of how to make bread from potatoes as a lot of people years ago couldn’t afford to make regular bread as the wheat was expensive, I find it really interesting learning about the different foods and ways of cooking things compared to now.

This week the house has dropped another degree so it’s a tiny bit chillier than last week, I think the living area is now at 16 degrees at the moment and last week it was at 17 degrees, I think 17 degrees is about 62 degrees Fahrenheit which is fairly chilly, I did put my electric blanket on my bed this week, it is so cosy and sends me to sleep really quickly, thankfully it has a timer on it so it switches itself off, I think it has to be my favorite item in the winter as I do hate feeling cold, thankfully we are still getting lots of sunshine so as usual for this time of year it is warmer outside than it is inside, although I think I saw that next week we have a whole five days of rain and cloud, I am hoping that it will change at some point as now and again they get it wrong.

We actually got round to having a cleaning day at the beginning of the week as we hadn’t found the time to do much cleaning since moving in, so we waited until we were having a full cloud day and it was actually lovely to clean as it kept us nice and warm, I also think when you clean it makes the house feel more like your own so it was good to do, so everything got scrubbed and polished and the floors got steamed, and Nick went around with his step ladder getting rid of all the ceiling cobwebs lol, all of the bathrooms are tiled so it took a long time to scrub all of them and make them look nice and shiny, but it feels more like home now which is nice and all traces of other people have been erased lol.

Just after we moved in to the house the landlord dropped off a big bag of plums and oranges for us, they are a lovely couple, they had already given us wine and some homemade marmalade and some quince in a jar that we still haven’t tasted yet, next to this house they have some orchards for plums and oranges but they were telling us that they have fields of grapes as well, so it is going to be nice being kept in fruit lol, the driveway for their plum and orange orchard is next to our driveway so we will probably see them now and again when they come up to sort out the tree’s and also they said they pop up on the first of every month to collect the rent, they do seem like really nice people.

This week we found that there are two fruit tree’s at the side of the house, a poor lemon tree which the last tenant obviously didn’t water and also I think an orange tree which also looks a bit half dead, they are both reviving a bit now as we had rain last week, but I will keep my eye on them and look after them now, I had a nice afternoon weeding one afternoon and discovered lots of almonds all over the floor, and low and behold there is an almond tree that I didn’t know about, so I managed to get a good dishful of them, I quite enjoyed discovering it hidden away.

The other thing I discovered this week was that when I am sitting outside in the afternoon I hear the goats being herded, it is lovely to hear as they all have bells around their necks, so I hear all this dinging of little bells, although actually I think it’s more of a clunking sort of bell noise lol,  and I hear the goat herder talking to them in Greek, we found one spot in the garden where we can see them crossing the road and being herded into the fields.

Over the last while I have been doing my bible reading in the morning on Moses, and I thought it was funny the other day when I read about one of the laws that was all about mould in houses, you either had to splash the house with blood or basically knock it down, there was actually more to it, but I did sit there thinking I am so glad we don’t have to do things like that anymore, especially as Cypriot houses always seem to get a bit a mould over the winter.

The other thing that keeps me busy is trying to learn the Greek language, I think I found it too hard to do over the last while with the move going on so it was nice to start doing it all again last week, I do think I will be at it for a few years though as it is difficult, but I have got back into the routine of studying and learning a few times a week, I keep thinking one day I will be able to understand the Cypriot people when I hear them talk lol, I do think I have another two to three years though, but I have read of so many people giving up and then regretting it so that makes me keep going, most Greek people learn English at school but the older people didn’t have that opportunity so they can only speak Greek with little bits of English so it makes it difficult to talk to them, I am still hoping one day I can talk to them and understand them.

One thing this week that has been a real bother is I keep finding the odd spider in my bedroom, its typical that it has to be my bedroom, they are regular house spiders though and not anything to big, but they seem to be appearing daily in my room, so we have spent our morning today cleaning window tracks and blocking up little holes in the window tracks in every single room to see if that helps, otherwise I will be changing rooms again in the next week, there is literally nowhere else they could be coming in so I really hope that sorts the problem out, I am roughly seeing one a day somewhere in my room, and this morning I woke up at 7am to see one sitting on the floor next to my bed lol, I was not impressed and woke Nick up who also wasn’t impressed lol, anyway after scrubbing and washing window tracks I then got the hose out and went around all of the outside windows giving them all a good blow out so hopefully I won’t see anymore, it’s weird how they just seem to like my room though, although after saying that while Nick was blocking up little drainage holes with tape in the window tracks in his room he had the window open and he saw something brown run under the track onto the inside, he came and got me and told me what had happened so we got some bleach spray and sprayed the upper window track….and oh my goodness this big brown spider dropped onto the floor in Nicks bedroom, we both screamed, but he was a big one lol,  thankfully not a tarantula, but big enough to make us both scream, Nick managed to get him thankfully, I don’t know what is going on with this house though and spiders, when the last tenant left it was only empty for two weeks so it wasn’t empty long, anyway we are hoping that maybe we have got on top of it all now…I really do hope so lol.

Our restrictions are also changing next week, we still have to wear face masks outside which I was disappointed with, so still no nice long walks which is such a shame, but our taverna’s and coffee shops and bigger shops will be opening up again on Tuesday, we still can’t walk with more than one other person though, personally I think it’s all a bit mad, a lot of people are saying that none of it makes sense, but we have no choice but to follow along with it or we will get a fine.

December 7^th 2020

This week has felt fairly busy though with little bits and pieces, one afternoon I decided to reorganize all of my food cupboards and then reorganized the two small freezers, I thought I had everything in the right place but now it feels better, the other job I did last week was sort out the outside of the kitchen cupboards, they are a lovely oak wood but they were really dull looking and a couple of the lower cupboards in the corner were splattered with bits of paint so I spent one afternoon getting all the paint off them and then gave them a good polish and I was so surprised at how lovely they look now, for some reason the back door was also paint splattered so I managed to also get rid of those as well without damaging the door, I still need to do the outside of the door but everything is getting there slowly although whenever I think I am finished I seem to think of something else that needs doing.

Our landlord and his wife came up last Monday as it was rent day so we met them at the gate and I asked them if they wanted a coffee and I really expected them to say no, but they surprised me and said yes, anyway I took them through the house and the garden and they were really pleased with how everything looks I guess they must get worried about  people renting their property, so it was nice that they were so happy with us, you could actually see it in their faces which I thought was funny lol, it was a lovely visit and they sat outside with us for about an hour and a half which was surprising but also tiring, they said I can plant my lemon tree and my frangipani at the side of the house, and also said I could plant my passion fruit vine, and they seemed pleased with some of the weeding I have done already, they were really sweet and brought us a container of fresh olive oil as they have an olive grove and press all of their own olives, they also told us not to wait for the almonds to fall from the tree but to get the ladder out and pick them from the tree as otherwise the almonds rot on the ground, so after they left Nick got up into the tree on his ladder and we picked them all and now we have lots of them which is nice, we did split them between us and Brian and Tracy, and also shared our olive oil with them.

Before they left, they took us to a bit of their back field next to our house and told us we could have three wheelbarrows full of wood for the fireplace, then they even helped us pick it up to put in the wheelbarrow lol, they are really lovely sweet people, when I said to them that I had nothing to give them they said to give them love, it was such a sweet thing to say, although I think all of the Greek people here are the same, just totally generous and lovely, I told them next time I saw them in the back field I would make them coffee I am going to have to remember to keep some milk in the fridge now as neither me or Nick take milk.

I have totally forgotten the lady’s name but she spent ages telling me how she cures her olives as apparently you can’t just eat them straight off the tree but they have to go through a curing process, there is an olive tree in the garden and I had meant to look it up as I thought you could just pick the olives and eat them or put them in salad, so it was really interesting learning about what it is you do with them, she also spent ages telling me how she makes her plum jam which she gave us last time, I have a feeling they are going to be continually bringing us treats, the Greek people always seem to want to give which is nice but there comes a point where I have to think of something to do back for them otherwise it bothers me, anyway it was totally interesting talking to them and we all seem to get on really well which is good, I do think we have been really lucky with our landlords so far.

We have had some really lovely hot days this week and in between we have had the odd rainy day, but so far the warm days thankfully are more than the rainy days, I quite enjoy the odd rainy day though as then I can stay in and do other things, as otherwise if the sun is shining I always want to be busy outside, I did manage to plant my passion fruit vine, I really do adore passion fruit mixed with Greek yogurt so hopefully in a year or two we might get some fruit.

I researched the lemon and orange tree that the other tenant didn’t water as it has a bit of growth on it so I was hoping it would be ok, but from what I read when I looked it up it will only come back as a shrub and never produce fruit, so I talked to the landlord about it and he said the same, that it is no good and has to be dug up, so Nick has been attempting to dig them both up but it seems the roots have gone too far down so he is struggling to get it out of the ground, I will have to research what it is we can do, we have to figure something out as that is where we want to plant our lemon tree and frangipani.

Our virus numbers at the moment are around three hundred a day, so still too high for the size of the island, I still miss being able to go out for a walk, I know I could with a mask on but I think I would rather wait until that rule is lifted which hopefully it will be at some point, for now though I can think of all sorts of things to do at home that will keep me busy so I am not letting going for a walk get to me to much at the moment.

We spent the afternoon in Paphos last Friday searching for a TV stand, we always normally have our tv on the wall but in this house we will need a proper stand as two of the walls in the living room are huge windows, after quite a while of searching we did eventually find one we liked and it gets delivered this week so thankfully that is sorted out.

I am happy to say that finally we seem to have got on top of the spider situation in the house, after blocking up every gap we could find we still kept seeing the odd small spider and the odd ant, but we then discovered a small gap under the front door which is where we think they were coming in, so when we were in Paphos last Friday we bought something to block up the gap, it’s a bit like a draft excluder only its thick rubber and Nick attached it to the bottom of the front door so nothing can push through it at all, it also might help make the house a bit warmer, it does make me wonder how the other tenants managed with all the nasty unwanted guests that seem to wander in lol but since putting the rubber thing on the bottom of the door we haven’t even seen an ant, and we were even seeing those most days, so hopefully that is it now and everything that lives outside can stay outside.

I actually got to speak to Jamie and Ashley this week, Ashley has been having some family problems and for some reason wanted to talk to me about it all, anyway at some point Jamie came on the phone which was so nice, I quite often chat to Jamie by text but I don’t get to actually talk to him too often as he doesn’t like being on the phone to chat, so it was a nice treat to hear his voice and have a proper chat, maybe he might actually start getting used to it.

December 15^th  2020

This week we have our new restrictions as unfortunately our numbers went up from around three hundred a day to just over four hundred, so shopping malls are now closed again although regular shops are open, but we are back to cafe’s, pubs etc. all closed again, the government said they will re look at everything again on the 31^st December, I was disappointed as I do like to go out for coffee and sit outside, and it’s always nice meeting up with Brian and Tracy at a taverna for a catch up when the weather is nice, I do wonder if life will ever go back to normal again.

Where we are living in Droushia we have this weird road just at the bottom of our hill, there is a taverna there called Gravity Road diner, and the road by the taverna is really strange and produces an optical illusion which makes going downhill to feel as though you are going uphill, you have to stop the car at a certain spot by the taverna and take it out of gear to get the effect, and apparently if you were to put a ball on the road it would appear to be rolling uphill instead of downhill, also if you spill water on the road it looks like it is running uphill, we actually haven’t tried it yet, but from our back garden we can see the road and now and again we see people stop their car and see them playing around in the road for age, it was funny as when we moved in here we kept wondering why people were stopping in the road down the hill and then we realized it was because of the optical illusion the road has, one of the days we will have to go and play as well.

We had the TV unit delivered a few days ago and it took Nick the afternoon to put it together as it came flat packed, we still can’t put the TV on the unit though as Nick has had to order some kind of stand for the TV so it can stand on the unit, apparently our TV did come with something to stabilize it but Nick got rid of it years ago as we have always had our tv on the wall, anyway so the TV is still balanced on a garden chair in the living room until the bracket and stabilizing legs come, but the unit looks nice, it would have been better really to have had the TV on the wall but then we would have been sat with our backs to the windows so we had no choice but to go with a TV unit, Nick ordered the leg things last week for the TV but we have since heard that no post is going in or out of Cyprus which is a shame, I guess it’s because most of the flights have stopped, so this morning I asked Nick if he could make something to stabilize the TV on the unit, so he is going to wait another week to see if the parcel comes up as dispatched and then if not he will attempt to make something, it does look funny with the TV on a garden chair though, then at some point I still have to find some curtains that I like for the living room as the windows are just bare and it will make it look cozier, we thankfully do have total privacy at the back of the house where the living room windows are so I don’t have to rush into buying the first curtains I see, I have been looking online since we moved but so far nothing really takes my fancy so I will just continue to keep looking, I hope I find something soon though as I think it might cozy things up a bit more.

I thought last week we had sorted out our unwelcome guests (spiders) but we had two more, one was smallish but the other was medium which really didn’t make me happy, so we went back to the hardware shop and got another piece of rubber for the front door to go on the outside, Nick had done the bottom of the front door on the inside so now he has put one on the outside, Nick said that there was a tiny gap but he thought nothing would get through it, anyway so since then everything has been fine so we are hoping that now it really is all sorted out, I think if I see more of them it will be worrying as we have blocked up every little hole in the entire house now, I did say to Nick that if more come in then I want to live in an apartment on the 80^th floor lol.

For the last couple of days we have had some bad thunder storms and torrential rain but from tomorrow we are back to sunshine and blue skies again for the next week, so I am looking forward to that, I am always happier when I am warmer so I will be spending as much time as possible outside, today though is cloudy so we decided to make squash soup to keep in individual containers in the freezer and then we made three loaf tins of vegetarian meatloaf which also freeze lovely, we were hoping to make some vegetarian meatballs but we ran out of time which is a shame, so we will have to wait for the next cloudy day.

Even when the weather is warm and sunny outside the house is still chilly at this time of year, so in the house I either have to keep busy or if I want to sit I make a hot water bottle, and then at four o clock we light the fire which is lovely, , I am excited about going back into warmer weather tomorrow though and sitting in the sun, and I have tons of weeding to do, I think it makes the winter more doable when we get a mixture of cloudy rainy days and then sunshine again. I did have a lovely face time with my son Dan a few days ago, they are both busy working in the hospital continually, I guess it’s the joys of having their own business, he seems really happy though anyway it was lovely to catch up with him and to hear everything is going well.

We had a phone call from our old landlord Sozos on Saturday as he said he had a letter that had gone to our old address, so he wanted to know if we would go over and have coffee with them in the afternoon, we actually just wanted him to put it into the post, but it seemed they really wanted to see us which was nice, I said to Nick that we would just stay for an hour but we had such a lovely time that by the time we left we had been there for an hour and forty minutes, they were so happy to see us and made us so welcome, Anna gave us some of her home made biscuits to bring home and some pastries from the bakery, it always seems like the Cypriot people are giving.

The following day on the Sunday, our new landlord was working in his field behind our bungalow and waved at us to meet him at the gate and they gave us more jars of jam, and some strange thing that was made out of oranges, it is odd, they also gave us different jars of olives, one of them had garlic and coriander, I definitely am going to have to buy them something or think of something to make them, although I never know when they are coming up to the fields so then it is harder to think of something to make.

December 22nd 2020

Well I wrote out this huge long paragraph about all the wrongs that has been done to people this year due to this virus, but when I just read it back it was too depressing so I deleted it, I think I have to keep my thoughts more positive and stop thinking about job losses and places closing down along with everything else that this virus has destroyed, although I do wonder if these lockdowns are doing anything, we have been wearing masks in shops and also masks outdoors for ages now and our numbers are still rising, I don’t think a lot of the restrictions anywhere are making any sense anymore, I was talking to my sister Cath a few days ago before the new restrictions came into place about all of the shops in Portsmouth being open and really busy but all the pubs being closed, none of that made any sense, and since then seeing a lot of people from London try to get out before the restrictions came into effect and all the railways stations totally packed with too many people was madness as they were all off to families in different parts of the UK and also to their second homes, so it’s going to spread from London anyway, and then as soon as Boris did his broadcast to say London and other places were going to be closing shops then there were line ups really long outside shops with no distancing, so I am sure none of that has helped with the spread of the virus…..and over here with having to wear a mask as soon as you step outside the front door, all shopping malls closed along with pubs and restaurants….and our numbers are still going up….it does make me wonder what is next as I can’t see anything working.

Well onto something nicer, this week It has been so lovely being back in sunshine and getting some gardening jobs done, Nick has been hacking away at the dead lemon tree and finally managed to get it dug out a few days ago, it did take him days to do, he kept giving up but then he kept on going back to it as I think in the end it was frustrating him so he wouldn’t be beaten by it lol, still at least that one is done now, he only has one more tree to do which isn’t so big so hopefully it will be easier for him, we planted our lemon tree in the hole that the old tree came out of so hopefully next winter we will have lots of lemons, in the other spot when he gets round to digging that one out we are going to plant the frangipani, it is such a beautiful tree and the flowers are amazing so I think it will be happier in the ground rather than a pot.

I have been amazed at all the weeds that have been coming up on the driveway over the last couple of weeks, it seemed the whole driveway had a green tinge to it where tiny little weeds by the thousands were starting to pop up, so one of the days we found a hardware store in Polis which is our nearest town now and I found some actual weed killer, I really don’t like using things like that but I really didn’t have a choice, I think the driveway needs more gravel on it but it’s not something we want to pay for so I will just have to keep on top of it with spraying every time the weeds pop up.

The rest of the week has been fairly busy, I did have a bean morning one of the days where I cooked up lots of  different types of beans, it did take the whole morning but they are all bagged up and in the freezer all ready for casseroles and chillies when we need them, and this morning I actually got around to making my mushroom meatballs so they are now all in the freezer, they are a nightmare to make and if I didn’t love them so much I would be happy never to make them again as they literally do take hours to make, but the taste is so lovely so now and again I have to make them as I love them so much, now I just have to get around to making the mince pie’s that I promised Nick I would make two weeks ago lol.

I also had to go to the hairdressers at the end of last week as typically I had left it to long again, I think the move probably didn’t help, it was lovely getting my hair all chopped off again and not having dark roots, this time she changed the colour that I normally have to a more ashy colour, in fact I think it looks a bit more grey than I would like, I am sure when it has settled down a bit I will be happier with it, for some reason I always feel like I need two weeks to grow into my hair, it’s weird.

In between spraying weeds and also weeding in the flower beds, I have also had a lovely couple of lazy afternoons where I just sat around on the sunbed learning more Greek, it was nice not to be busy and to be doing something I enjoyed doing, and I thought I should make the most of the sunshine while we still have it, as I am sure we will be going into the rainy season soon, well talking of rain we just had some and it was quite torrential, typically we had not long hung the washing out, thankfully it has stopped now and the sun is trying to come out, looking at the weather forecast it seems we have sunshine until New Year’s day, that is all it goes up to so it seems we have a bit longer before we go into the rainy part of the year thankfully.

We had some wood delivered a few days ago so we now have to see how long it will last us, we are only lighting the fire from about four in the afternoon and then at eight o clock we let it die down as its still throwing out heat, so only four hours a day, I do love having a fire in the evening though but the amount of dust that it creates is unreal, I always seem to be dusting these days, this fireplace is an open fire which doesn’t help, the fire we had in Tsada was a woodstove with a glass door on it which I think kept the dust down more than here, but I guess a bit of dust is worth it to have a fire and be warm.

We had Tracy and Brian pop up on Monday for lunch as I had made some squash soup, I had found a recipe online for Cypriot squash soup, it was different to the recipe that I normally make as they added cumin, fresh ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper and some chilli flakes so I decided to try it, and it really had a big kick to it, I do like spicy food, Tracy and Brian seemed to like it and asked for the recipe so it must have been good.

I remembered this morning that when we had talked to the new and old landlord they both said at this time of the year a lot of Cypriots make a concoction of fresh grated ginger and fresh lemon juice which they keep in a covered container in the fridge and every morning they take a tablespoon and put it in a cup with hot water, they add a bit of honey and drink it every day, I thought what a good idea so it’s something I intend to start doing this week as long as I remember.

I am missing the odd shopping trip these days and wandering around the shops, hopefully one day we will be able to do it all again, I do hope so as my slippers are full of holes lol, Tracy saw them the other day and she was horrified lol, it did make me laugh, but we can’t even buy anything online as our post has been suspended for weeks now until after the holiday, it’s a shame as Nick had ordered the part for the TV so it could stand on the TV unit but apparently it hasn’t even been dispatched yet and he ordered it weeks ago now, he said if it’s not here by the middle of January he would have a go at making something himself and if it looks ok he will cancel the order, it would be lovely to not have the TV sitting on a garden chair.

Last night when it had gone dark we got to see Jupiter and Saturn align, we could only really see if with the binoculars but it was interesting to see them getting closer together, after about fifteen minutes they disappeared so we guessed that a cloud must have come along but it was interesting to just see it happen.

December 28^th 2020

We have spent the few days over Christmas changing all of the bedrooms around again, as believe it or not I was still getting spiders in my bedroom most nights, Nick kept going round and around all the windows and doors filling any hole he could find, but the spiders just kept on coming, thankfully they are just medium or small size house spiders apart from one really biggish ugly one the other day that just appeared on my bedroom ceiling, anyway so in the end I had no choice but to give up and I decided to switch to a bedroom at the front of the house as I got to a point where I didn’t want to go in my room at all, so last Thursday we spent the whole afternoon making a huge mess and moving my bedroom again, and then the following day on the Friday Nick decided that he wanted to switch his bedroom as well and then half way through moving his furniture we also decided to move the spare room that we had done into a different room, so then we had to move the single beds from the spare room and re organize that room as well, we were in a right muddle, and the living room was muddled with furniture, but it kept us busy and warm for a couple of days, I think every room that we changed has made each room look nicer so I am pleased with how all the rooms are looking. The funny thing is though that the room I moved out of that kept having spiders in has not seen one single spider since I moved out of there, Nick goes in there 4 to 6 times a day and does a thorough check in corners and under beds etc. but he hasn’t managed to find anything in there since I moved out, it is all very odd but I have been told by Nick and by my sister Cath not to overthink it lol……it’s just one of those odd things I guess.

I read in the news earlier today that ten people in Cyprus got fined on boxing day as they had a picnic in the woods, our rules states that ten people are allowed to gather in a house together at the same time, but if you are outside then no more than two people can be together, it made no sense at all that the same ten people could eat together inside one of their houses but not sit together in the fresh air having a picnic, I think a lot of the rules don’t make any sense and I think they just make them up as they go along without giving a lot of thought to them.

I was asked in the week if when it becomes available would I be having the vaccine, and I have to say I won’t as I still remember the swine flu vaccine in 2009, that vaccine was also rushed out and a lot of people are still suffering from the effects of it, I watched some documentaries years ago on the damage that it caused a lot of people and it was really awful to see how so many lives had been ruined, I think some of them are still fighting in court to try and get compensation, and I see this vaccine also being a bit rushed without the proper studies being done and it brings back memories of the swine flu vaccine and what I saw that one do, so for me I think this vaccine is also a bit rushed so we both decided ages ago that if they brought a covid vaccine out we wouldn’t have it, also covid has mutated which of course is what viruses tend to do, which makes me think the new vaccine won’t work, as if you think about it every year they bring out a flu vaccine, they can never use the same vaccine the following winter as the flu virus always mutates, so if the flu vaccine always has to be changed every winter because the flu mutates, then with this covid virus mutating how can they have the right vaccine that they brought out a few months ago, that probably doesn’t make much sense lol, I guess it has to come down to personal opinion, I am hoping that by eating the right foods and keeping a healthy immune system then we might be ok, let’s hope so anyway lol

Well I guess this is the end of 2020, I wonder what 2021 will have in store for us.