Bad Wife

Today was my beloved's birthday and I forgot to get him a card, I had in fact remembered his birthday but didn't realise it was in fact today, and he pointed out it is the same day every year!  

So I am bad I tried to make it up to him by offering him coffee and breakfast but when I asked he wasn't hungry and by the time he was I was busy (ops) so he made his own.

We sunned ourselves for a while in the garden before I took him for lunch we went to Chester's as we couldn't get into Malindis' as it was chocka block with Cypriots, for some reason and I still have no idea why today Tuesday, the day after Easter Monday is also a celebratory day in Cyprus so everywhere was very busy, we had our lunch sitting on the terrace at Chester's and very good it was too, my beloved had his favourite Carbonara and I took a Chicken and Apple salad, both dishes very beautifully presented and as always the plates were huge, some of the other dishes that whizzed past on the arms of the waiters were amazing, baby back ribs that would have fed a small nation, towering burgers that could have caused an earthquake had they toppled, French onions piled on steak looking anything but French, the parade was never ending of delightful food being delivered to hungry patrons. After a lovely meal we walked back along to the car and headed back up the mountain to our wee doggie, then the madness began.  My beloved decided today was the day he would go into the pool, he couldn't understand why I said 'no' to his request to join him, even when he had bombed the pool and his head went under, talk about brain freeze, I preferred to take the video and leave the nutter to it, then it was time for him to dry out in the sun, him and Stitch on the sun bed playing 'whose is the daftest'.

Our evening was spent in the company of Michael and his family, we were invited once again to the church and we decide that we should go, so we walked up to the village and the local church, the road was closed and the restaurant had tables and chairs in place set across from one side of the road to the other, the ice cream truck was parked up and doing a roaring trade, and the church courtyard was bright with the lights, chairs were set out around the perimeter of the courtyard and we met Michael and the girls and made our way to a row of seats for the evening.

Pareklissia has around 2000 inhabitants and I would say quite a few of them were at church, as we sat waiting for the entertainment to begin I did keep looking around and up in case that thunderbolt was thrown, but nope we were thunderbolt free and thankfully so, the evening began with dancing children from the local school, piped music and live music was being played and then the traditional dancers began.

• Syrtos: This folk dance, performed by men and women in couples in a circle, is very popular in social gatherings, weddings and religious festivals. It symbolizes the harmony between male and female roles in the Cypriot society.
• Men's Dances ("Kartzilamas"): Men dance in pairs across from each other. These very lively dances demonstrate the virility and agility of the Cypriot men.
• Women's Dances ("Kartzilamas"): Women dance in pairs to demonstrate their humility and grace. The movements of the dances show the Cypriot woman's needle work abilities.
• Datsia: A dance performed in social gatherings and weddings. It demonstrates the agility of the dancer - a man - as well as his skill to balance glasses filled with wine centrifugally turned in a circular sieve.
• Sickle Dance: A dance also performed in social gatherings and weddings by a man. He uses the sickle, which is very sharp, to show off his swiftness in harvesting.
• Antikristos: Men and women gracefully dance together in couples in rows across from each other to express the joy of life and love.
• Sousta: A very lively dance performed by both men and women in a circle to portray the spirit of community. During certain parts of the dance men dance alone and women dance alone, each demonstrating the virtues of their sex appreciated and respected in the Cypriot society - Women show grace and men show strength.

Not knowing what the dances were was quite interesting and my mind decided that the men were peacocks showing off their agility and masculinity whilst the women danced with very small delicate movements, it was almost like a courtship between the two groups. The traditional dancers began their dancing sitting at a table drinking Zivania (the women watched at this point) after sharing a few drinks the men began to take turns with the dancing sometimes alone sometimes in pairs, the gentlemen would sometimes come out and shake hands with the audience, the children running across the floor did not deter the dancers not did it put them off this appeared to be just as it should be, no formality as such but a joyous occasion to be watched, appreciated and all with an air of togetherness. One gentleman used what looked like a shaker in his dance, it had a look of a tambourine but much larger and at one point two glasses were placed on the rim and the shaker was then swung around the dancers head and never once losing the glasses, although the drink did spray a little but I think that was how it was meant to be.

After the dancing finished we headed to the Bistro for supper, at this stage I was very, very hungry and souvlaki was ordered, it really is delicious and when it arrived it was wrapped in pitta which was then wrapped in paper, with lemon quarters on the side.  We had a lovely meal and it's a first for my beloved because he went to church on his birthday, ok we never actually went in the doors but you have to remember we were still worried about that thunderbolt...