Wednesday 16th August

Well the 'Hot tub' man did arrive - eventually almost two hours after his scheduled time, however he made up for it with an hour instruction session on how to check the ph and bromine levels, set temperatures, use the jets etc. As the sun is so warm we left the top off for the day ready to try in the evening.

A trip into Larnaca to get the printing done at last and a visit to Starbucks to play on their internet. A walk along the front and on to the small pier. Really do like it. The beach was not as busy as Ayia Napa.

Dinner out for the evening at a beach bar in Meneou where we sat chatting to a young Cypriot guy who left Cyprus at age of 8 to live in London and had returned recently and then home for our first 'dip' in the hot tub under the stars with a glass of 'bubbly' to go with it. Heaven.

Tuesday 16th August

Although I am not 'officially retired' and still log-in to the computer a couple of times a day to sort things for the US schools of WCL I am wondering if this is what retirement becomes? You do very similar things each day but it is the order that you do them in that changes. With the lovely weather here it is easy to get into that scenario. 24C is the early morn temp according to my very cheap weather station that I have bought rising to the 34C early afternoon.

So with routines and patterns already set its the early morning bike ride, well not too early setting off a 10 o'clock. This time is fine for me but after a few turns of the wheel Lillian was saying 'Its hot today'. Along the cycle track up to Faros lighthouse and then downhill along the coast towards Meneou. Sometimes we ride only a few meters from the water. Inland across the fields and then back to the coast to get back home in just about an hour. How many calories was that?

Back home time for my first real 'strop' of our time here. I was so angry and was typically me getting angry with things I can't control. The wretched Mesh computer has gone wrong again with the dreaded 'black screen' - its on but the screen is black. I will need to take it back to the UK. This is the third time but of course is now out of guarantee. At over £1000 I am less than pleased and it has proved to be a real bad buy. I am more miffed that as lillian will e by herself for 10 days whilst I am away she will not be able to practice her Greek using the Roseta Stone which needs to operate via CD. I think I will by another one when in the States next week and be done with it.

A shopping trip to Lidl and Carrefour in Larnaca and to get the printing done for home - guess what? The only internet cafe in Larnaca is closed between 13-1600. They like their afternoon siesta here.

Once back its unpack, swim in the pool. Yes 20 lengths again and then fill the hot tub as the guy should arrive in the morning to commission it. Lets hope he really does come and we are sitting in it under the stars tomorrow night We have found this is not always the case here, especially with Quality Group people who say they are coming and never do and as for Cyprus Luxury Furniture. Yes we will deliver by Friday, today is Wednesday and not a word. We will not be recommending them to anyone and once our order is complete I will be saying so on the various Cyprus Ex Pat forums.

A lovely day, except for the computer, finished even worse with Ipswich losing 2-5 at home, their third successive home loss in a week. Its going to be another long painful season.

Monday 15th August

A day of rest as its a National Holiday in Cyprus. Assumption Day - ashamedly I had to look up the complete meaning for the day on Wikipedia. I was right in what I had thought but needed the confirmation.

With it being a holiday we had expected the 'holiday home' Cypriots from Houses 4 and 13 to be here with lots of children in the pool but once again we are 'Home Alone' with nobody else at Perivolia Residences. Note the extra 'i after the r' in Perivolia. It is most confusing as on the same road you can see signs printed with it and without. On maps some have and some do not. So with the swimming pool clear it was length time and we both managed our 20 lengths. 20 lengths sounds a lot but as the pool is 15m long its really not far and with a touch of the wall at each end to turn round its getting slightly easier. Sadly as my weight has only reduced for all of this endeavour by 1.4 Kg I can't be using that many calories ....... perhaps if I drink less beer in the evening. Cold beer and warm climates go so nicely together.

With Emily coming in just a couple of weeks we drove along the coast to Agia Napa to 'check it out'. Emily has a couple of friends who will be there on holiday when she is with us so we are sure she will want to visit. Agia Napa is really a pretty, small village / town with a nice harbour which has a range of boats including the many tourist trip type. A visit to the ghost town of Farmugusta, the Yellow Submarine or a ride on the 'Black Pearl' which is converted into a motorised pirate ship complete with its own Jack Sparrow. Clearly aimed at young people, those we saw disembarking seemed to be having a good time and joining into the 'spirit of things'. By the look of a couple there must have been plenty of 'spirit' available on board.

At Lillian's idea we walked along the sandy beach at the waters edge, the only one's wearing much clothing! It was packed sunbed to sunbed with some great sun tans on show but also some very red and sore bodies that must have belonged to the 'just arrived'. The sea was very clear and many were swimming and playing in the water. We dodged tennis bat games as we walked about 15 minutes each way. Not long but the sand here is yellow / white compared with the grey of Faros beach where we are. This really is a 'young people' place and for all of the time walking the beach we only saw a couple of children. No families. Were we the oldest people on the beach I thought. Must have been close.

A beer by the harbour and drive home via the A3 quick road. Whilst around the harbour Agia Napa retains a 'fishing port' look and feel but the main street leading to the hotels is full of pubs, bars and eating places to which we assume the 'young and fun set' flock at night giving the town its tourist reputation. I don't think we will visit at night but as a trip out it was nice. We stopped the car quickly at Faros beach on the way home for Lillian to collect 7 more flat stones for her path she is making from the pool gate to the back door. 3 steps done and looks like 7 to go. Each step, arranged as a square has 11 stones. All very technical.

Eat out night at the fish taverna we went to last week, although I did not have fish. Pork chop which was huge and very nice. Service is really not very good there with a young local girl of about 18 running the bar and taking food orders. She looks fairly disinterested and disorganised returning to tables with a glass and then going back to collect some sauce or whatever. Still we have plenty of time so its not a problem. Less wind tonight so a very slow walk back home. It is good to enter Perivolia residences and see the pool lit up at night. It changes every 20 minutes or so lighting the surrounds and the water in turn.

Sunday 14th August

Another day of rest LOL. We will have been back here for two weeks come tomorrow. Two weeks – I can’t remember having a two week holiday in the last ten years and I have not been bored for one minute. It is so good to be here in this lovely house doing …….. not a lot. We have worked hard to be here and now it is turning out to be all that we dreamed.

Full English Breakfast from our nearest small café cum tavern cum restaurant approximately 400 yards to walk. The breakfast is excellent but our real reason for going is that they have free internet access so we were able to download the Sunday Times for reading throughout the next week onto the iPad. They are such great things.

Back home I could not resist the sports pages and no matter how many times I read it the result does not change Ipswich 0 Hull City 1. Urrrghh! After lazing around in doors it was time for the same outdoors with some lilo lounging and a few lengths up and down. My completion of 20 yesterday was but a shade of my former self as I gave up today after 14 as I was getting a bit of a pain in my chest. Lillian came out and put me thoroughly to shame with a brisk 30!

A short but brisk bike ride to Kite Beach.The surfers really are amazing and such entertainment when they head for the beach and then jump, swivel their hips and head out to sea again. One guy is a superstar and really plays to the crowd and shows off his skill brilliantly.

I tried to take some pictures but as I only have the camera on the blackberry having dropped our camera in Boston sending the lens flying, they could not capture the moment – but hey Lillian looks nice. She is working on her brown back so she is ahead of the game when Emily arrives on 30^th August. (Hope the sun will still be shining!)

Evening Meal on the patio. Every night the breeze gets up and blows inland from the sea. After the really strong winds of a couple of days ago this was really very pleasant. Red sky at night ............ Sunshine tomorrow?

Saturday 13th August

Even at the weekend my day starts with my my task of making Lillian coffee to help her awaken to the world. LOL No peace for the wicked so they say. After our disturbed sleep from the alarm at House Number 03 coffee was much called for.

Bike ride today following the coastal route past what we refer to as Kite Beach as it is there that the wind and kite surfers gather each evening to perform. It is a lovely route cycling close to the sea, although the track is very bumpy for the backside! I must take a camera for some pictures as it really is worth sharing.

Once back we pottered about before having a skype call with Mum in Clacton. Great invention skype as I could hear loud and clear, although not sharing video because of the high cost of data via the dongle. Glad she is feeling better and sounded OK. A quick trip into the village to go to internet cafe a we need to have some printing done to send a document home about the sale of Emily's Cantebury house. Unfortunately the printer there was not working so it means a trip into Larnaca on Monday.

Afternoon of lazing and swimming in the pool. I managed 20 lengths and then four more after a rest. Real pleased with myself as 4 was as much as I could do only 12 days ago. A walk into the village for what I think will become a tradition for Saturday football viewing. The Cottager pub was quite busy with Wales v England rugby, Liverpool v Sunderalnd and Fulham v Villa games showing on the 3 big screens. Ipswich losing put a damper on things after the great start from last week but we started chatting with a couple Trevor and Rose, about our age who have been in Cyprus 5 years. We left the pub with them and shared table at Pyrgos restaurant to eat, drink and continued chatting. It was a nice evening.

Friday 12th August

Not much happening today except being lazy ...... two visits to the pool (Lengths done - even more than Lillian who spent more time book reading) and a long beach wlak in the evning to collect stones for the garden.

Lillian is doing a great job making a footpath from the pool gate to the back door with flat stones to match the other pathway. She also spent a couple of hours tending the plant and together we weeded and sorted the 'comunual area' which was becoming overgrown. We have time.

It was extremely windy today and the wind broke the string I had fixed to keep the bougainvillea upright. An evening meal on the patio but as it was so windy we went upstairs and watched a video whilst sitting in bed. Sleep by 1030 only to be woken at 0230 by the alarm ringing on House number 3 which is empty. There was no sign of a cause but as it rang for 20 minutes it was some time before we could go back to sleep.

Thursday 11th August

Shock horror - we awoke to a grey sky with 90% cloud cover. This was not in the forecast, however by the time we had coffee and got ourselves organised the clouds had gone and blue skies resumed.

Early morning bike ride lasting an hour with yet another new route. Up to Faros lighthouse and then along the cliff top coastal track to Meneou, inland across the fields to the village and home. A great start to the day.

Today we received our first visitors. Wendy and Martin Dacre who we have visited a number of times on our visits here. Wendy was my secretary when I first went to Dubai and we have been friends ever since. After time in the house and hatting we went for lunch at Santenous, the most popular of the many restaurants in Pervolia. It has a great location on the cross-roads of the village opposite the church. Food was excellent, beer and wine good and we passed three hours in no time at all. Back to the house for tea, more drink and they left to make the journey home following our directions so they could take the coastal road. felt good us directing them as they have been so helpful to us mainly in encouragement that we will love life here.

Swim in the pool - I am getting better and as we were still stuffed from lunch a glass of wine, sit on patio and early bed.

Wednesday 10th August

Another day of blue skies but with it temperatures reaching 42C according to the car 'outside temp' reading. The morning was spent with me on the internet doing some 'work' and Lillian on the phone to Quality Group tackling them with the 'outstanding issues'. We still wait somebody to re-plaster the large whole in the downstairs study / bedroom where the air conditioning unit was moved as we could not open the cupboard where it was positioned. Where are the bins? The letterbox? The bell does not work. When will there be equipment in the gym? What about the access road that needs making up? Lillian is so good with her approach on the phone especially with her bit of Greek compared with me who gets frustrated and then stroppy!

So once sorted we decided to drive to Lefkosia (Nicosia). I love the new car, sitting higher than a normal saloon car it seems to glide along. The gear change is great and although acceleration is a bit sluggish as a 1.6 engine for a big car if you move through the gears quickly with your foot down it goes OK. It was a nice trip but for the second week running we forgot about early closing on a Wednesday. We wandered the streets through the traditional market area and went to the border crossing which had changed from the last time we had visited on our first trip to Cyprus when there was a soldier complete with gun on duty. Today there is just a box where you show passport and then wander through. Something to do in the future. So having left Lefkosia we went to the shopping mall 'Mall of Cyprus' on the outskirts of the town. This was certainly not a mall of the sizes we have become used to in Dubai and Doha. Two floors, very small with a food court where we had our first Cyprus MacDonalds! easy drive back.

If we count wandering the streets of Lefkosia in temps of 42C our first exercise the cool of the pool was our second with lengths completed and a laze on the lilo. We need to get another one as I'm not too good at this sharing lark. Once lilo lounging was finished is was move to the new swing to dry off and watch the sun go down.

We had decided to eat in tonight so as Lillian was preparing dinner all of the power went off. This was the first power cut we had experienced, which are still hitting all of Cyprus following the explosion last month. So by candlelight we sat on the patio, drinking gin and tonic and eating crisps for our evening meal. After star gazing ........ bed. We are very happy with this life style!

Tuesday 9th August

Another bright, sunny day with blue skies started with an hour bike ride with Lillian leading the way through the village, across the fields to the coast road. We really are getting the hang of this and now can ride at a quicker pace. We estimated that we cycled 10Km this morning.

Back at home breakfast, a swim in the pool and a laze on our new garden swing. This is such a hard life.

After a couple of hours WCL work on the internet connecting via an exoensive dongle an afternoon car ride to Zygi with a stop over at Alaminos Bay. Lillian is pictured here. Very secluded with a small bar. The car ride is possibly our favourite that we have found so far.

Back home for another swim (lengths completed) and a movie under the stars, watching 'Sentinel' starring Michael Douglas. Quite a good film.

Monday 8th August

The day of arrivals that make our new house more of a home. New patio set - table and six chairs, a very posy swing for the garden that converts into a sun bed and a 3-2-1 white leather sofa set. We were very disappointed when the 2 seater sofa was damaged on unwrapping and would have to be returned. Imagine this in the UK ....."It will be another two weeks sir" ..... but not here, tele call and back to the wharehouse and withing the hour back with the new. Nice one Kleima.

Looking forward now to the arrival of our 15 boxes from UK, some of which have not been unpacked since they were sent from Qatar to London so it will be 'like Christmas' not knowing what is in the box. It will be good to get the pictures for the walls etc.

The morning was shopping trip into Larnaca with such exciting purchases as a wok, a trowel, showerhead (Lillian doesn't like the one we have) and of course some food and wine.

Afternoon in the pool with lengths duly done although Lillian extended hers which nearly killed me as I have to in my mind complete at least 50% of hers! And an evening walk into the village for a beer and an Indian Meal at 'Coast of India'. It really was very good.