Party in the Park, Forces Style

So after the power outage on Friday and having to go to bed with no air con, but with the switch on so if the electricity did spring to life at least I wouldn't resemble a dried out prune in the morning, and it did spring so I was quite refreshed kind of. Well it was 10.30 by the time I surfaced so I should have been refreshed....

The only reason I woke was that Stitch must have nudged his crate and the metal door rattled, poor thing I thought to myself he must be bursting, but no he ran around the garden checked out his Kingdom for cats came back in the house and pestered me for breakfast, that's some bladder control for such a little hound.  Once he was fed and watered he went off and watered the garden, which would be fine if he wasn't turning the grass yellow! I had missed a call from the Dark Lord so thought it best to call him back, my phone seems to be pleasing itself just now which means sometimes I can call out and sometimes I can't and sometimes it appears that when people call me my phone is off! most peculiar, so anyway I call the Dark Lord and received a nice invitation for a night out with his family I just had to prepare nibbles and what ever I fancied to drink as it was to be a Party in the Park.

I lay in the garden for a while, tried to take Stitch for a walk around the block, he got ten feet from the house and refused to budge I can't say I blame him it was roasting, and the heat from the road must have been scorching his very low slung underbelly as well as his paws.  I finished laying in the sun and sorted out my nibbles for the evening all very healthy too, carrot stick, cucumber and peppers with a bag of pistachio and almonds, nice and simple, I made a water bottle into iced coffee and I was set, I just need to shower, although why I bothered I am really not sure.

I arrived at the Dark Lords at a little before 4pm they were still getting ready which allowed me time to head to the supermarket where I picked up a naughty little treat in case the nibbles didn't do it for me, I headed back and we all bundled in the jeep and heading for Episkopi, we arrived and were guided to a parking spot and then it was all hands on deck, well except Jamie who is to cool to carry, and we set up our picnic area just left of the stage, as I said why I bothered to shower is beyond me, I was dripping from head to toe, the sun was to our right and I'm sure I must look like a Harlequin as I forgot to rotate, but at least my face wasn't the colour of beetroot (unlike the Dark Lord) the first group to sing were announced and and the boys with the big hats marched them in, then it was over to the kids, and then another and another band, some were made up of personnel from the surrounding bases, and other were flown in from the Uk, the music was great and the atmosphere was all very posh sitting on the grass with your picnics, umbrellas popping up to shade the babies or the adults depending on who needed it, there were a few rowdies but that will always happen when there is sun, alcohol and music. The children danced the adults followed and the sun went down way too slowly for a couple of very red skinned individuals, my favourite groups were 

1. I don't remember their name as I was in the ladies when they were introduced, but they were fantastic. Just googled and their names are Senis and Owen

2. Blues Brothers oh I do love the Blues Brothers and these two boys call the Blues Brothers Paphos were great, every song had me singing into my iced coffee - well it would be rude to drown out such good singing.

3. Take That 2 now they were flown in from the UK and it was so funny listening to the Gary Barlow character accent and all, I always thought Gary Barlow talked way to slow and listening to an impersonator doing it just exaggerated the torture, but they were a fantastic group of lads, and put on a magnificent show, how funny young Charlie asked why they were dancing 'like that', us oldies had to inform her that the original Take That danced that way, she was SHOCKED hahaha, love kids, hate getting old......

EEJIT First Class

So since last I wrote Stitch and I have been painting the town red, we have visited all the best places and drank all the best coffee, we've Starbucked and Malled and even managed two trips to Pets World shame they didn't have anything to our taste, although they did offer a replacement supply of sensitive (not for big dogs) food but we decided after conferring it would be best all round to purchase elsewhere, well it would be alright for Stitch but I would be on the receiving end of anything nasty he just has to squat a while.

Yesterday saw us come up way to close and personal to a vicious moggie who frightened the bejesus out of both of us, luckily for Stitch the harness worked a treat and he was whipped out of the path of the hissing, spitting and thumping feline, not our fault she was under the car we were walking past the mangy creature.

Later in the evening just before the sun started to hide itself for the night, tucked up behind some mountain or other we went out for a walk which turned into a bit of a run, 5 hill runs later (obviously we walked back down) and we were done, literally.  Stitch was pecking and I was sweating and then two young girls popped around the corner and asked directions, what a sight I must have looked with my orange shirt and beetroot face, Stitch on the other hand looked no different apart from the fact he couldn't keep his tongue in his mouth.

Today (Thursday we headed off to Limassol as I was needing juice for my contacts, by the time we arrived at the mall and found a shady place to park the car the sun was hot enough to sear the paws off my poor pupdog so I decided it wouldn't be a great time to walk him, windows down and I shot into the mall to the only store in Limassol the sells lazy juice, all that rubbing of lenses on one side and then the other bores me to tears so I always buy the lazy juice, no rub solution it's the greatest, made especially for lazy people like me.

Later in the day we headed to Starbucks and ordered water, iced americano and two bags of ground coffee to go, then Stitch and I headed out towards Moni to a little road I had decided would make a nice walk, now I wasn't wrong but the 31 degree heat was a little torturous, but we made it all the way to the sea where Stitch cooled his paws before we trekked all the way back to the car, by the time I got there the waistband of my shorts could be rung out and my very pretty hairstyle I had so carefully arranged this morning was out like a powderpuff, once again apart from the tongue hanging over the side of his mouth Stitch looked no different.

We headed home after water was guzzled and then it was time for supper, pork fillet again marinaded in coconut oil, lemon and garlic, completely forgetting that when you put liquid coconut in the fridge it sets so when I retrieved it I was convinced my fridge was set to high and my pork had frozen....It wasn't and boy did it taste lush, shame about the plumes of smoke all over the house, even with every door in the house open, think it will get roasted next time, there were dogs from the next village sitting outside my patio with expectants looks on their faces..

So after an hour of FaceTime with my beloved I decided to take Stitch for a walk around 9.40pm, organised as usual I had the poop bag, and the lead it was just a bloody shame I left the house keys in the door, ON THE INSIDE. Arggggggggg I checked all the main floor windows, I checked the basement and then I walked up the road towards the neighbours climbed onto the walk and walked down towards my house just to get on the second level not easy as it was quite dark and I was dragging a very reluctant Stitch who was missing out on his normal walk and being forced to walk the wall with me, well we couldn't walk the neighbours garden there may be snakes in the grass, nope none of the windows were open, back along the wall we went and had to go knock on the neighbours door and ask if our landlord had left a spare key with them, unfortunately the answer was no but they did have a garage fob for the electric up and over thing, this didn't help as I lock the door from house to garage from the inside.  

Thankfully Marios made a few calls and managed to find me a locksmith who would come out in 30 mins, so Stella (Marios' wife) and I sat around with our two dogs and chatted until the lovely gentleman from Adamides Locksmiths arrived and with his two inch flexible sheet of plastic got me back into my house, 60 euros later and trust me it took me longer to count my euros than it did for him to get the door open but I wasn't caring sleeping in the garden wasn't really doing it for me and still wouldn't have gotten me in the house tomorrow, best 60 euros I have ever spent. 

Tourettes

Stitch and I woke especially early yesterday as we had to deliver the jeep to the other end of Limassol, once I had fed a bleary eyed Stitch we jumped in the car and headed down the motorway.  We arrived at our destination handed over the keys and was asked what needing doing?? I was asked to bring the car in and ask for Marios my presumption (wrongly) was that Marios would know why I was there....

I rattled off a phone number said goodbye and Stitch and I began our trek towards the old port, we weaved through the streets taking cover from what ever we could, the temperature was hot and the humidity high but we carried on, we eventually arrived at Columbia plaza and rested a while whilst drinking coffee and water, the rest prepared us for the next leg of our journey again trying to keep in the shade we walked from the old town to the Crowne Plaza, we walked around the back of the Crowne and were lucky enough to find Alex working at Lime bar so we stopped for a chat and caught up on each others goings on, then it was time for Stitch and I to head off again.

So we had walked four miles by the time we arrived at the Crowne Plaza, which doesn't seem much compared to some of my nutty friends and their passions for distance running, but my little hound only has short legs as do I so I decided to wait for a bus.  The bus arrived the driver wagged his finger and shook his head, obviously no dogs allowed then.  How are you supposed to get anywhere if you can't use public transport.  So I had no other choice than to flag down a taxi knowing full well this was going to cost me an arm and a leg.  My taxi arrived and could see I was carrying Stitch but let us in his car, he explained in broken english something about an 850 euro fine and 3 points, I wasn't sure if that was the bus for taking a dog, or a taxi but I was not getting back out again, and anyway Stitch was prostrate in the footwell. Initially I thought nothing of my driver until I saw his hand shoot off the steering wheel, we were chatting and then he kept clearing his throat, and then there was more twitching, not wanting to be rude I ignored the movements and we carried on chatting, all the time I was thinking what condition would make a person move in such a way and allow them a license to drive, "Tourettes" I had managed to get probably the only taxi driver in Limassol to take me and my doggie home and he has Tourettes, luckily the car was automatic so changing gear wasn't an issue, but on occasions when the left hand sprang off the steering wheel we did slip a little across the road, and going up the mountain hill was a little worrying as there are many nasty bends and both hands are needed on the wheel, but I have to say what a lovely man, we chatted about children and he was telling me about his 3 year old daughter who is a hooligan, and that he was born in Limassol, I told him about our gang and the time passed very quickly which was just as well because the petrol light was on red when I got in, can you imagine getting a twitch whilst trying to pump petrol into your car...........................

We arrived home and then it was time for me to head back out again and do some grocery shopping, the cupboards are bare and fruit supply non existent so Debenhams bound I headed back into the sun with my little car leaving Stitch in the house as he could do with a rest. Before arriving at my destination I had a little stop off at the organic store not because I want organic veggies, but I have been trying to find coconut oil for weeks now and it was my last resort and hooray success I found a jar of raw coconut oil so now I will be using that instead of olive oil and I may even put it in my hair just for the hell of it, apparently it has many uses.

Stitch and I had an evening in front of the Tv, not terrestrial but the computer plugged into the Tv, we watch True Detective and I am completely hooked so much so that I am now onto episode 5, well Stitch loves it so we keep watching it.

Dogs and Kids

Have you ever noticed those of you that have both, children and dogs I mean, that dealing with one is very similar to dealing with the other, it appears to me an endless round of 'don't touch', 'don't do', 'leave it', it only occurred to me today when Stitch was trying to stick his nose into something most horrid, that our kids and our canines are either sniffing, rolling over or covered in muck, now obviously any child covered in poo eeeewwww that has got to be an accidental mishap and not always their own, where as a canine if left to his own devices will quite happily roll around all day in something foul smelling.  When praising good manners during training it is also very similar to when praising a child for good manners, the more you praise the more you hope the manners improve.

Stitch came in with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth today it was only on closer inspection I realised it was in fact a dried out worm hanging from his lips, really I should have lit it for him, but seeing as this hound has a delicate stomach at the best of times I decided to relieve him of it double quick.

I remember times when the kids would come in the house, or god forbid the enclosed space of the car and your nose would curl and it would take a moment to register what the smell was and then it was a mad grab at trainers and shoes to check the soles, I never could stand having to clean them and where possible would throw said footwear into the washer, Stitch on the other hand wears his paws 24/7 and will not relinquish them which means he is quite happy to trundle through whatever happens to be in his path, it never bothers him, well it can't because I have never seen him puking in a bush whilst holding his paws up for inspection.....

Another similar trait is 'muuuum', you know they want you, they know they want you, but do they have to shout through the house to get you, oh how I remember it, although I have to say as a parent I think we probably taught them how to do it, I remember many a time standing at the bottom of the stairs calling one or other of the children.  Now Stitch although he doesn't shout through the house will indeed make his presence known usually by standing by my legs and looking at me, and if that doesn't work, he will make a noise that is a cross between a bored yawn and a moan, it must work as he always gets my attention, at least with a child you can drown them out with the radio, but with Stitch I would trip over him getting to the switch.....

My rather dull day has led to rather a long blog about nothing, well to be honest the most exciting thing I have seen today was the cigarette hanging from Stitch's mouth, oh and the fruitcakes on the road when I was trying to find a garage this afternoon, I was only trying to find it to save me the time tomorrow which as it turned out was quite a damned good idea because 54 Spyrou Kyprianou is not actually where is was supposed to be, and is in fact where it ought to be, but not in fact where I wanted it to be..... Needless to say now I know where it is the journey with the jeep back to the garage will be a lot quicker tomorrow, although the journey home on foot will be very long and very slow, think a taxi might be in order.  

PHOTOGRAPHY NOTES

(make sure subject is not on hot pavement, and sun not in eyes)

Homeward Bound

I was awake by six and would have been at the hospital by 7am but for the hound who decided it would take forever before he felt the need to relieve himself, I couldn't take him with me as leaving him in the car was not an option, I did consider an enema but thought better of it..... by 8.45am I arrived at the hospital.  The doctor had been and the Little King was discharged now to pay the bill, actually the damage for an overnighter in a luxury one bed with fridge was not as much as I had prepared myself for and as I was in no mood to hang around for the insurance to pay up in front we paid and left.

The Little King was still puffy around the eyes and he had a touch of a headache, probably due to the lack of sleep, we all know about the hospital routine, you just drop off to sleep and they come and check your statistics, I could have told them he was ginger they only had to ask....We headed home and Stitch was very excited to see him again, the only thing to do when you have an extended unexpected holiday is to sun yourself, so the Little King and I creamed up, both using factor 20 and lay out reading our books, my pearlescent boy was determined to have something golden and glowing from his holiday, he managed tinged and freckled and was happy with that.

Friday

So the bags were packed again and everything double checked the lovely insurance company have managed to get a flight home today that will entail a stopover in Gatwick but allow the Little King to be home in time for his Eric Clapton concert tomorrow, we headed to Paphos with one boarding pass and had it on good authority that the second one could be collected at Gatwick, check in at Paphos was a breeze and once we said our goodbyes and I watched him walk though departures I had nothing better to do than head home to Stitch who has spent most of the day on my lap obviously missing his buddy.

Once the Little Kings flight arrived in Gatwick we were messaging back and forth having never travelled between terminals before I was coaching him and sitting stressing about his well being as he has developed some issues with his eyes possibly from his medication.  He was more worried about getting the bottle of whisky he had purchased at Paphos through customs for his second flight, kids..

I'm going to miss that child of mine, it's been great fun having him over, tiring the last few days, and entertaining not just because he went from from ginger to pufferfish in a mater or minutes, but because every day was different and seeing things through your children's eyes is a great way of learning, your never to old to learn, but why is it so exhausting.

Kiwi's Not For Boys!!!!

Well the Little King's last day didn't turn out quite the way we expected, nor has it actually turned out to be his last day!

We woke early as we decided that we would finish the last of the case packing just before we left the house, we would then spend the day in Paphos until it was time for check-in around 3pm give or take, so I was up first and organised the hound, then made breakfast which was the usual smoothy, the Little King emerged from the basement not long after I had put his breakfast in the fridge and preceded to drink it, then it was time to get sun cream on and head out the door, just as we were leaving Little King said 'my eyes are itchy', and we decided he must have gotten sun cream in them and so we got into the car and headed to Limassol for a pair of Samba's for my beloved and then head off to Paphos.

Funny how life has a habit of changing your plans when you least expect them to be changed, just before we hit the roundabout not ten minutes from the house Little King's eyes began to stream, followed very quickly by his nose, luckily for him I had tissue in my bag (Stitch's clean up ones) so I handed them over (yes they were clean), but the fluid kept coming, we made a quick dash to the pharmacy for antihistamines and tissues and headed to the Samba shop, I ran in purchased a pair of 8's and headed back to the car, by which time Little King's right eye had started to resemble a water balloon and his left one was starting to lose the shape of the eye lid, we made the decision to head straight to the hospital which happened to be on the road we were travelling (thank god).  We parked the car right at the doors of casualty and headed in, the nurse took one look at my beautiful swollen child who now had lost the bridge of his nose and whisked him through to a bed and called the doctor, I filled out casualty forms whilst he was given the necessary drugs through an IV tube in the back of his wrist as they couldn't get a vein in his arm, I had to go out to make a phone call to the insurance company and by the time I got back a rash had crept up his shoulders and neck and the throat was starting to close, one injection in the backside required, oh and an icepack to the face, my poor child was beginning to resemble a pin cushion, an overinflated one. The Doctor then came through and told us there was a problem!  I can't even begin to tell you what went through my mind but the problem was that there would be no way he could travel from Cyprus to the UK spending 5 hours on a plane in the condition he was in and he would have to stay in hospital for the next 24 hours, the poor lad then informed the Doc and Nurses that he has tickets to see Eric Clapton on Saturday to which one replied 'I will take your place and send you a video'........

After filling in the necessary paperwork with the cashier and handing over a 500 euro deposit (not sure which limb that entitles me to) we were taken upstairs to a double room to await our single room being vacated by it's current occupant and obviously get scrubbed.  My poor child now is in a quandary he needs to pee, he is hooked up to the IV which is attached to his bed, he can hardly move his wrist which means I have to unhook his IV hand it to him and unbutton his flies, thankfully he could manage everything else himself, well except the buttoning back up again.

My poor Stitchy boy who had travelled with us to the hospital had been collected by the Dark Lord thankfully as I had visions of a BBQ'd hound, even with the windows cracked he would have been tortured it must have been nearly 30 degrees today, so Stitch went off to Kolossi with an old buddy and I was able to concentrate on my swollen child.

Lunch arrived and it was chicken soup, well actually it was a leg of chicken with a bread roll and a bowl of liquid stock, you had to make it into chicken soup yourself, he passed but for supper it was Big Mac meal to go and he woofed the lot.

We have no idea what caused the reaction BUT the one thing we had that was different today was kiwi in our smoothy, now the Little King informed me that a year ago he took some kind of funky reaction to a banana, face swellings and all but never bothered to go to the GP (Men!), I have avoided banana's all week which really isn't a problem for me as I can't stand the things, but having been on google which as we all know is the font of all things truthful it appears there is a connection between banana, kiwi and of all things avocado, all of these things have been off the shopping list for a young student whose main interests have been studying with copious amounts of alcohol thrown in to ease the furrowed brow......and according to the doctor in casualty you can take an allergic reaction to anything at anytime.

I had collected Stitch before I collected the Big Mac and deposited him back at home collected a few things to entertain us in the hospital and headed back, Little King and I played Mancala for a while then had a FaceTime with my beloved who ended up chatting with the crazy nurse who informed him he should come back to Cyprus instead of Saudi, then it was a doctors visit again and we were informed the Little King was stabilised but to remain on the IV and would be discharged first thing in the morning phew. We had a call with Lou Lou who although very concerned could not get the image of Hitch out of her head, or the fact that he was off his face on Benadryl.

HITCH, aka Will Smith

Eventually I headed home around 9pm and let Stitch out for a run around before taking him on a walk round the roads, the poor thing has been from pillar to post today and still loves me as currently he is curled up on my lap. I was offered the put you up bed at the hospital but with my back and a hound at home thought it wise to decline, and my trouper of a son informed me 'Mum I will manage on my own'................................

REALLY!!!!!

Once the Little King arose it was time for some trainer shopping, off we went into Limassol looking for a compromise which was between looking good and being good.  The first shop didn't have the correct size of the pair that ticks all the boxes so it was along to another shop and after a fair old search because the box marked 10 actually contained a size 10.5 we were in possession of a new pair of adidas trainers, (where did my son get his feet from?) then it was time to head for a for bits and pieces before heading up the road for home made cup-a-soup and a soak in the garden. Oh I forgot to mention the Samba's having found a pair in a store I now have to go back down into Limassol for a pair of 8's for my beloved!!!

Homemade Chicken cupasoup

We soaked up the rays, well actually I soaked and snoozed as I was trying to save my last chapter for bedtime and was laying face down, the are only two things possible when face down on the sun bed one is to read and the other is to sleep, so I snoozed.

We decided for our last night we would head to Chesters, so we put Stitch in the car and heading down to the beach, we ordered our meals and chatted over the distant rumble of the TV's and the football, Chesters started to fill up quite quickly towards the end of our meals and after we finished our dishes of Argentinian beef fajitas and Argentinian Fillet (only the best) we headed to the beach with Stitch and gave him a run, throwing the ball for him to chase into the sea and along the sand. As we were just passing Malindi's a restaurant we frequent often some silly woman announced as she walked past 'Dogs not allowed here' I replied 'Thank you kind woman' and continued on my way, I wonder if she would mentioned that to the German Shepherd dog I saw last week or even the patrons of the Malindi that had their dogs under the tables when we began our walk pffft. We headed up the hill again and our evening was spent with the Little King sorting out all manner of sites for me for when I'm home alone and fancy a film, and then we watched a film called 'Grand Budapest Hotel' a delightful film set in an era of delightful manners and a very naughty but legendary concierge named Gustava.

Trinkets for Tourists

Once the Little King rolled out of bed and after I had walked the hound it was time for some more of those nasty exercises, you know the ones that give you a hot flush that lasts the duration of your pain and causes your body to expel fluid faster than you can wipe the drips, yep it was HIIT time again, even before the fist round my limbs were bitching, thighs shaking and arms trembling but I ploughed through and only because Prodigy was blaring in the background, I once remember a friend telling me that she had been in the gym with someone who's music was so slow and blasting out throughout her workout that she was quite melancholy by the time she was finished, me I like thumping to get the blood pumping. We finished without falling and stretched to within an inch of our short limbs, obviously mine were the shortest, and then it was shower and shop time. 

The tourist area towards the old port was where we headed, we took our lunch in LaBoca  to get the energy levels up as they were flagging in the heat and before our trinket dash, just one street and all presents and sunglasses to boot were purchased we were on a roll, the only thing to do was head to Debenhams for some supplies and then back up the road to our sun loungers as we kept hearing them calling our names above the hum of the pedestrians and traffic.

Once home we settled down on our sun beds and  toasted our bodies, the Little King is still trying for the golden look but still only managing purlescent with a touch of freckles, we read our respective books and lay in the sun until it disappeared by which time the stomachs were empty and beginning to complain so supper was made and then it was time to sit down for movie night, 'Philomena' a story of a young Irish girl, pregnant, abandoned and left in an Abbey for unwed mothers, a really good movie portrayal of the plight of young mothers and their babies that were adopted to mainly American step parents. Of course as always there is an awful lot of artistic license to the film, but none the less a powerful adaptation of a harrowing but common events in the Catholic churches history.

It's Electrified

So yesterday was a real scorcher we decided that the best thing to do was sun ourselves in the morning and visit Kourion in the afternoon, so we organised our sun beds for maximum exposure and books at the ready 3,2,1, relaxxxxxxx, we read our books until the sweat interfered with our vision and that's when we knew it was time to roll over, unfortunately the Jodi Picoult book I am currently reading has a very familiar plot which is a tad irritating but I am persevering with it, well until I decided empathically that I have actually read it before that is.

Lunch was a chicken kebab marinaded in coconut milk and chinese spices, the Little King had his lunch in pitta bread, I decided on salad and very good they were too. Then it was time to shower up and take the hound to Kourion Archeological site for a little culture 'he do like a bit of culture', last time we tried this kind of culture was when by lovely brother and his wife were over at Christmas and not one of us thought much of it at the time, but as I recall we were very, very hungover. So we packed ourselves into the car and headed out to the site, it was breezy when we arrived which probably was a god send as the sun at 3pm was still gonna rip the skin from your eyelids.

We had a great walk with the dog around all the different areas on Mount Kourion which is where the ancient city-kingdom of Kourion was sited and is dated back as far as the Argives in the 13th century BC, we walked through Achilles House, the Gladitor house, the public baths with their cold, warm and hot water pools, all ruins of course but the architecture that is left in place is really quite impressive when you think how old the site is, we walked across bridges over mosaics depicting fighting gladiators and birds and a mosaics from the 4th century AD whose inscriptions depict the name of the owner at that time Eustolios. We walked around the amphitheatre which is currently hosting a Shakespearian Julius Caesar play, now that would be something to behold sitting overlooking the Kourion bay with the sun going down whilst sipping on a bottle of bubbly, because lets face it Shakespeare needs you to lubricate your ears....

After our walk we headed for Kourion beach and we sat watching the freaky people running into the waves which only ever seemed to go up to their chests, although the woman with the thong could have done with going a little deeper than mid thigh me thinks eewwww, I'm sure passed the red markers would have been better for that thong. We had supper at the Blue Beach cafe watching and chatting, talking about religion and wars and the craziness of the world.

Our evening was spent watching Django, now I have never seen this film before but apart from the blood and guts which is usual with Tarantino I really enjoyed it, and the Little King loves most things Tarantino makes so we have a lovely evening on the sofa chilling with Django.

Stitch had a bit of an episode whilst I was hooking up the computer to the TV, the Little King was on the sofa I was fiddling with leads and all of a sudden I heard a zzzzt noise, Stitch came running over sticking his head on my lap and generally being awkward whilst my back was turned, the Little King turned around to me and said 'I think he just electrocuted himself', apparently he had licked my Mac lead which happened to be plugged into the socket, I had visions of turning round and seeing a skeleton image.......

Don't think he will lick that again......

Sex and Bingo

So yesterday we had breakfast and organised ourselves out the door just after 10.30 we were Troodos bound, having missed the correct turn off probably because I was chatting we looped back and headed up the mountains taking in the sights as we went, we travelled through the wine route noting all the different wines I personally have tasted, passing the Waterfalls cafe which I'm convinced doesn't have a waterfall (google would know) and upwards to the Mt Olympus visitor centre where we parked and walked through the forest to the Troodos square. We decided on a little light lunch before heading to the top of the mountain so we found and cafe and sat outside with Stitch under the table as usual.

After lunch we walked partway up the mountain giving Stitch a leg stretch then headed back to the car to discover roads on a side of the mountain I had not been on before, we found what looked like a Military base and in the forest there were lots of chalets dotted around with little roads leading to them, from this side of the mountain we could see Limassol, the salt lake, Akroteri and the sea, on our way down we stopped for photos of the views and our favourite picture of the day the fountain flowing red, now wouldn't that be nice to lay under in the sunshine and lap up if you could guarantee it was wine.

We arrived home and the Little King sunned his pearlescent body whilst I uploaded the photos we had taken, then it was time for supper. The Little King finished off some fajitas and I made a rather nice chicken dish with chilly, coconut milk and chinese spices only to be told 'I think I would like that', haha snooze you lose.

We sat outside for part of the evening, having discovered that we share the same Nikkon we have been chatting about different techniques and I have been learning quite a lot from Little King, he on the other had has also learnt a few tricks from his Mumma, we eventually moved inside and continued messing around with the camera.  Why is it everything is connected with numbers the Aperture is number related, the Shutter speed is number related, eventually we decided it was best I write everything down to try and make sense of the numbers, always have and always will have problems with numbers, did I tell you I don't play BINGO!!!!.......

A shot from Little King of the garden reflection in the pool

Snow White

Friday was spent at poolside as it was a lovely hot day and the Little King wants to go from Snow White to Barry White, personally I don't think that is going to happen, being blue skinned I think it is more likely he will be Pearl White!

We decided that we had better do some exercise, myself because I wanted to test my back and keep the Little King company, and the Little King because he wants to get fitter, so I devised a HIIT plan and we strutted our stuff around the house for 20mins, round 2 was almost complete before the Little King was moaning, it was the wall sit that did it but we pushed on and then we were done, time to stretch and the Little King chilled in the pool, me I just took a shower and threw on my bikini.

We spent a relaxed day reading in the sun, the dog chilling under the sun beds, late on in the afternoon the Little King decided to take a swim so he gingerly (no pun intended) walked down the steps and swam back and forth with Stitch on the pool side counting his laps, and chasing the splashes, as he came to the steps (Little King not the dog) Stitch decided to launch himself into the pool and swam around quite the thing as if it was an everyday occurrence, unfortunately I was reading and missed the entry but I did give a 10/10 for the swimming.

We decided to eat out at the Old Port in Limassol and found a lovely restaurant which used to be the Keep house of the Limassol Castle, we both ordered the Fillet steak, Angus of course and it was delicious we spent our time chatting about old school friends and family catching up on all the news from Banff and beyond.

eating bubbles

Amathus Ruins

Wow so I woke around 7.30am Stitch had his walk before it became too warm, and then it was time for my breakfast and the long wait for the Little King to surface, I think it was around 11.45 before he shuffled up the stairs so when I cooked his breakfast of bacon and eggs I decided to join him for lunch, then it was a quick swim for him and a cheer up call for myself to a hospitalised friend stuck in Darenth Valley hospital.

After breakfast-lunch we headed off into town as having had a we while in the sun whilst I went to the bank the Little King had managed to make the sun disappear, unfortunately it was replaced by a thunderstorm, if he keeps this up he will be sent packing tootsweet. So we headed down the seafront and I gave him the tourist tour of the shoreline, we stopped off at the local ruins and had a walk around snapping pictures as we went, then we headed along the shoreline again until we came to my favourite Starbucks and only because some frappingmochingchinko drink is his must have now drink we decided to stop off for a while before heading down to Debenhams for a little shopping.  I loaded my basket will lovely treats including pistachio ice-cream (not for me) and the Little King picked up some tasty treats for his friends back home, Keo and Zivania a traditional Cypriot drink.

When we arrived home the Little King sunned himself in the garden in the last of the afternoon rays whilst I set about organising my fridge (OCD really kicking in), then one more swim and it was time for supper, fajitas were made a first for me as I have never cooked them before, and for myself I made a lovely garlic chicken salad with sour cream paleo style, which the Little King said is the best sour cream he has ever tasted.

We spent our evening chatting it's actually quite nice not having TV it forces you to talk to one another, just think how much you could be missing with that TV on. Stitch had a couple of business trips, I am now under the impression he thinks if he squeezes his bum cheeks together as he walks he will get extended walks throughout the evening, tomorrow I am going to try a new approach to getting his business done, I just have to decide what it is.

Zivania

Zivania is produced from pomace, the residue of grapes that were pressed during the winemaking process mixed with high-quality dry wines, all produced from the local grape varieties of Cyprus. Zivania is exclusively produced by the distillation of the two indigenous varieties, namely Mavro and Xynisteri. Zivania may also be produced by other, either local or imported varieties, but the variety used must be distinctively indicated on the label, for example as Zivania Cabernet or Zivania Maratheftiko.

The grapes must be unblemished, neither crushed, rotten or overripe, and they must contain relatively high acidity. The process adopted for the fermentation is the one which is used for red wine making, irrespective of the grape varieties, without the addition of SO2 as a preservative. That means that the whole grape mass is fermented, as it emerges after crushing the grapes.

The bouquet of zivania is ensured by the volatile compounds which are transferred from the grape residue during distillation. The pomace/wine mixture is distilled in special distillation apparatus which was traditionally named ‘lambikos’, an ancient Greek word that was paraphrased by the Arabs. Traditional distillation, as known by villagers, has today given way to modern technology and zivania is produced in large distillation tanks made from stainless steel where the wine is mixed with the grape mass (zivana) and heated up in steam. All approved zivania producers have in-house chemical labs for analysing the final product before this reaches the market, checking that methanol levels are within the specified limits.

Since 2004, Zivania has been protected under EU regulations as a product unique to Cyprus and as such cannot be produced in any other country or marketed under that name.

Zivania is characterized by its typical taste and aroma. It is colorless and it has a pleasant alcoholic content with light aroma of raisins. The typical alcohol content is 45% by volume. It is a pure drink that contains no sugars and has no acidity.

Shenanigans

So it was a day for finishing off the house ready for my new visitor, beds done, house organised, food in the cupboards, well some food as we will have to see whats what when my visitor arrives, but everyone loves bacon and egg so therefore I have food in the house.

By 9am it was unbelievably hot, just sitting in the garden with my coffee watching Stitch sniff out the local felines was enough to send me looking for factor 'oh my god!', and when I tried to get Stitch out for a quick walk he was none too impressed let me tell you, gonna have to remember and cream his nose with factor 'oh my god' too, not sure how we will get around hot feet though.

Eventually we left the house around 3.30pm, now since my beloved has left I have parked the jeep on the drive at the front and my car (because I'm not insured to drive his) it is parked in the garage at basement level, my beloved asked me why and I reminded him that every time we got in the jeep it was like an oven so now I park in the shade and the cool, so anyway setting off yesterday I put Stitch in the car and turned the engine on then suddenly realising that this maybe wasn't a good idea with the garage door down, suicide is not my intention and dogicide wasn't either so I quickly hit the remote and opened the door all the time holding my breath for fear of ingesting too much fumes.. luckily Stitch was in the car with the doors shut so he was a little better off than myself.

We set off for Paphos airport and once there Stitch had a pee trip around the car park which lead to him limping, once I figured out which foot it was I found a nasty looking thorn in his paw and removed it, he walked off as if nothing had happened, but would he go back on the grass again and who can blame him.

40 minutes from landing to walking through the doors and there he was my baby boy, I was so delighted to see him, but not half as delighted as Stitch was having been left in the car, I did have all the windows opened.  So introductions were made, and Stitch promptly settled himself on the Little Kings lap for the rest of the journey, only bothering to move when his supper was fed to him from a bag, you would have thought he was a horse the way his nose dived in, and then we were home, bags dumped and off we went again, Stitch was given a run down by the beach with his ball and then the Little King and I had our supper at Malindi's watching the tinkling of the lights out to sea before heading back up the road for a night time swim for the boys, Stitch only had a swim because he can't corner worth a damn, when running around the pool whilst I was watering the only bit of garden that isn't on the irrigation system, I have no idea how he did it all I heard was splash and there he was clambering out the pool having hit the hose, obviously thinking he could walk on water....then he was put in his favourite pink boat and pushed around the pool for a while, me I decided it was best to stay dry and leave the water shenanigans to the loons.

Elimination - Its a process

So yesterday Stitch and I went for a walk around the village first thing in the morning, and even though it was around 8.30am by the time I woke, fed and watered him, the sun was blazing and already turning us into tongue lopping sweaty beasts, but thankfully the concrete was not so hot as to cause any damage.  We strolled past the chained up sentries barking and a hollering sneering as we walked, well it isn't our fault they are chained to walls or boats or railings, they obviously have been very bad sentries or they wouldn't be tied to their posts.... We arrived home and then Stitch was bedded whilst I took myself into town.  

Trust me to decide to shop when all the shops bar Debenhams were closed, must have been a bank holiday or something, so now I will have to go shopping again tomorrow, it's such a chore being me. So I made the best of it and shopped in Debenhams, now usually when I shop there I have to re-mortgage a small dog, or sell an unnecessary child but that is just for clothes, but their food department is quite good for prices, well only really in comparison with the Russian supermarket down near our house that it, I had to promise my beloved would never drink again to get the money together for the limes I purchased their last week, I know it is expensive to purchase simple things in Russia (apparently) but do they have to bring their prices with them when they set up shop elsewhere. To be fair it isn't really a supermarket more an express mart but with very big bottles of wine, I'm sure that's the only reason we go back, oh and it's close by and we are lazy.

Back to Debenhams, vegetables and lotions, potions and washing soap were thrown gaily into my basket forgetting that I then had to carry them to the car, luckily I still had some water at the house or I would have been trailing my arms like a gorilla.

Back up to the house I went and Stitch was very glad to see me, we spent the afternoon sunning ourselves and reading, I did the reading Stitch was reading leaves of grass, snout down back and forth, I have finally figured out why he does this, and why he kind of rolls his neck over the grass too WORMS, yuk let me tell you they don't digest well....

Most people are dominant either one side or the other, with me it's right side, with Stitch it is front right, back right and left front, the amount of times I have been snickering to myself as he topples over because he had his sides muddled, I myself much prefer when he just squats at least I know he won't fall over, but last night on our first business trip I was up the hill, down the hill, he did have a leg lift which resulted in a sit because he fell off his legs again, paying attention when in a precarious position is not his forte, especially when it's dark and there are so many scary noises.........then it was off again to the corner and back, the second walk was up the hill, round to the shop, back through the stadium and to no avail, the third walk I left him off the lead so he chased a cat and still never pooped, I could do no more than put him to bed with a finger wagging telling him it was his own fault if he had to cross his legs all night. 

Memories

Be careful what you wish for

The passport with it's new Saudi visa arrived on Thursday so plans were afoot to get my beloved out of Country and into the desert, this turned out to be difficult for some reason, until that is I found a flight and he emailed it across to the money people.  Our evening was spent in the company of the Dark Lord at the local Indian Restaurant, have I said we like a bit of spice.  My beloved did his usual 'make mine hotter please', and then spent his meal huffing and puffing till every last morsel was finished, I on the other hand took a couple of delightful dishes and suffered not.

Friday and we had lots to sort out, and a case to pack for two months, this took most of the day and some of the evening for my beloved that is as he is soooo fussy, I left him too it, now it didn't take all of the day and some of the night, just some of the day and a little of the night, with many coffee breaks and pitstops along the way. One pitstop was spent in the second hand book store, where we both purchased heaps of books at ridiculously low prices, the great thing is you get discount when you take them back, so in reality my books cost nothing and my beloved's five or six were around 20euro for the lot, now I would have put the euro sign in there but I can't find it on my mac and truly I can't be bothered to look for it.

Friday night was spent in a new restaurant for us, Zen room which is part of the Chester's uptown chain down on the front, a touch expensive but absolutely worth every penny spent, the food was mouthwatering, the presentation was like starbursts in my eyeballs and the service was absolutely 100% spot on, the Wakame soup was almost thrown down my neck mainly due to the fact that it was last eaten in Israel and is one of my most favourite dishes to eat when doing Japanese, Soft shelled crabs with salsa tickled my beloved's tastebuds and sent him into rapture, but the best was yet to come, we decided to order from the Zen menu and each dish was named after a flower, I chose the Lotus flower which was a dish of chicken and king prawns, with rice and sautéed vegetables, my beloved chose Snow Willow which was a dish of lobster tails and Argentinian beef, both our dishes arrived and obviously photos had to be taken, then it was time to savour our dishes, my first chopstick full was the sautéed vegetables, I thought I had died and gone to heaven the crunch of the vegetables the taste on my tongue the half hour it took me to get a carrot on the chopstick, it was pure seduction on a stick. Once I dragged my chopsticks away from the veg it was onto the chicken and prawns, wow is all I can say, I'm glad we saved this restaurant temptation until my beloved's last night because it was truly something to remember.  Oh yeah I was forgetting because I was remembering the vegetables zinging on my tastebuds - my beloved's meal was equally as impressive and his Argentinian beet fillet rolled over my tongue and sent me into fillet overdrive, it's been a while since we had good beef here and that Argentinian stuff was the way to go.

Saturday arrived and we went back to pick the truck up before my beloved tucked in the last of his shirts all neatly stacked (you would think he was a professional), then it was time to head off for Larnaca airport and wave goodbye to each other for the next couple of months. Oh did I mention we had to cancel Souvla (hooray), what a shame, the necessary people were informed (hooray) and that was the end of that, it's just a shame my beloved had to go away to get it cancelled. It's not that we don't like Souvla you understand, it's just that we also like peace and quiet sometimes and some of our Cypriot friends have no understanding of that WHATSOEVER!

Stitch and I said our goodbyes to our beloved and headed home, Stitch to lay on his sun bed and myself I laid on my own and read my book baking in the sun whilst my beloved jetted off to pastures new.

Sunday was spent once again sunning myself and reading my book I am loving the new author I found thanks to Maor, and am now reading my way through her works, oh and I have one other author called Saskia Sarginson who's book called Twins will be my next read so as not to get fed up with Jodi Picoult. 

I have started eating healthily now my beloved has left, the man is a nightmare with snacks, and has to be fed every couple of hours, it's actually quite nice to only eat three times a day and so now I'm eating Paleo which entails no dairy, no grains, no DRINK, no legumes but plenty of veg, and meats and fruit within limits, I expect to be wafer thin by the time I see him again(yeah right).

Poor Stitch was bathed ready for our special visitor this Wednesday, well he needs to make a good impression doesn't he! The only way I could keep him in the sink was to smear cheese along the sink edge to keep him amused whilst I lathered him up and then poured the water from the basins all over him, and might I say he smells rather lush.....

Waaaaaay look what I found €

Posion

Between turning down offers of Souvla to invites to meals it's been a busy old time, dodging here and there trying to think of one excuse after another,  how antisocial we are becoming! (mostly me) but hey it must be a Cypriot thing that when they see you they take one look at you and decide you either need coffee, souvla or beer, this wouldn't be a bad thing if it didn't happen at least twice a day, I really am looking forward to moving to Saudi at least we can knock off the beer invites....We currently have one outstanding invite for Souvla which we were not quick enough with our thinking to have an excuse, fortunately or unfortunately depending on how you look at it my beloved's passport with his new visa is in transit which could mean he may very well not be here and Souvla will get cancelled anyway.

Stitch has been getting his late night walks because of the rising temps, the trouble is he doesn't like the dark much and it appears that walking the village at night it not the best of ideas as every dog and his dog is in the gardens and yards, making for a very nervous Stitch because trust me they are not quiet hounds oh no, not by any stretch of the imagination could you think about going to sleep in that neighbourhood without earplugs, so glad we live just on the outskirts of the village and the distance obviously deadens the sound of baying beasts.

Three days now I have been trying to upgrade my VPN, and every time I have thought ok lets do this something has come up, popped into my head or pushed the thought down into the recesses of my little brain leaving me with a feeling of something I should be doing but having no idea what it is, I almost got it organised yesterday at lunch until I remembered I was on an open wifi and that really wouldn't be a good idea with banking details, so last night I sat down for around two hours or more with a couple of coffee stops (my own not invites) and got it sorted, the thing is I became spooked initially when trying to set up a recurring payment as it was through another account I had never heard of, now I'm sure my internet guru's out there would have said 'oh yeah I've heard of them', but not me, so I had visions of some malicious Russian stealing all my millions using his viscousness within my lovely mac, hiding in the background scamming money from my numerous offshore funds!(this is what happens when you read the news) So I decided nope I am going to set up a standing order with my bank, this entailed mailing the company asking the necessary details required for the bank, and waiting on a reply (no wonder there were coffee stops), I then had to wait for the bank to call me, once they had sent me some code or other and I then had to tell them the code, THEY SENT IT TO MEEEEEE surely they don't need me to tell them. I have decided I am going back to using cash, no longer will I be transferring, exchanging or even laundering any more monopoly money it's hard work and a waste of my ever so precious time, after all I could be eating more Souvla.

My Beautiful boy Stitch was getting poison training again today, I love it when he gets it right and I have to give him a treat, it's so funny to see him take a wide berth of something he knows he is not allowed because the 'leave it' command has been given (but he really wants it), but what's even more amusing is when I think why the hell is he not sitting when I tell him only to turn round and find my beloved in a sit with his tongue hanging out......