Things have been very quiet since our visitor went home but we know you have missed hearing from us, so we have just put a few photos on depicting our life here. We've been keeping up our walking and healthy eating [resisting the Cyprus chips doused in olive oil mmmm..... and marching straight past the bakeries with hardly a backward glance]. The old blood pressures have dropped to an acceptable level even if the results on the scales haven't [They call it the Cyprus stone] so the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle is pretty much suiting us. Dave's most upset about the football results lately but still forces me to sit through the matches; I get my own back by making him explore monasteries and ruins and marvel at frescos and wild flowers, I suppose they call it give and take - it seems to work for us.

Easter Sunday

We're off to walk along the beach today if Dave can't get the grand prix on the tele. So I'm sitting here with my fingers crossed whilst he plays with the remote control. I can hear all sorts of Arab channels with singing, praying, cooking and camel racing but no grand prix as yet; oh, and there goes the odd 'mild' swear word.

No grand prix and no walk along the beach; instead, we decided to walk into the village as we had seen a poster for an afternoon of traditional games, music and dancing to be held in the car park at 4pm. We felt this would be a way to support and integrate with the local community and we drooled at the prospect that there would surely be a Cypriot bar-b? Off we went , cheerfully negotiating the half paved roads, inclining just high enough to get the old ticker going, and marvelling at the view, of which we feel we could never tire. We arrived at the car park at 3.45. Chairs were duly set out in front of a stage but there wasn't another soul about. We checked the time and the poster; yes it was definitely 3.45 and it was all due to kick off in 15 minutes. Four more English couples arrived, all with the same cultural ideals as us [so much for integrating with the local community, here we were chatting away in English with a load of English people and, as usual, the conversation soon turned to football]. At 4.45 a Cypriot dancer/singer, whom we recognised from a previous event, arrived in a van to set up the stage and told us the entertainment was to start at 6.30 [This is Cyprus, expect the unexpected]. Dave wasted no time, Liverpool were playing at that very moment and we could watch it in 'The Mill'.

At 6.30 we leant over the railings looking down over the car park. The band was tuning up and lots of Cypriot families had arrived and were filling up the seats. For a moment we felt we would almost be intruding if we went down but the dancer we spoke to earlier looked up at us and shouted 'come on down, there's free food and drink'. I turned to Dave who was.... gone. I looked around and caught sight of a flash of him rapidly descending the steps as though his life depended on it. Before I got to him he was grinning like a Cheshire Cat with two cups of red wine in his hand [The beer was very frothy and he had deduced he wouldn't get a full pint so the red wine seemed the best option]. I must admit the cup or two [or was it three?] of local wine did go down very swiftly and I began to feel a bit light headed. The dreamed of barbeque didn't materialise and the 'free food' was crisps and nuts. [How can Cyprus put on a 'do' without a bar-b?]

I must admit I did get a bit tipsy but we had a great time; there was a lovely atmosphere and we chatted to a lot of nice people, invites to 'call in sometime' were forthcoming, though, surprisingly, no-one gave us their address! Hungry, I had already noticed the restaurants had all closed for the Easter break; but, the local take-away was open so, we did something we haven't done before since we have been here; we went for a takeaway kebab! Well in actual fact, I did; Dave insisted over and over that he didn't want anything so I ordered and paid for mine and walked out of the shop happily chomping away at the dry end of the pitta, anticipating the pork and chicken further in. I checked my phone as I was walking along, there was a text from a friend so I handed the kebab to Dave with an invitation to 'have a bite' whilst I texted her back. As I was so full of wine and the excitement of the evening's events I did send a rather long, disjointed text and, by the time I had finished, Dave handed me back what was left of the kebab, the other dry end full of limp salad.

Sigh!