We were hoping to fall asleep immediately, like we had the night before, but it wasn’t to be. Maice overheated and needed the air-con on to cool down. I was hoping we weren’t in for another episode like the one on the plane but thankfully she cooled down and fell asleep. I on the other hand just couldn’t get to sleep, my body was mega itchy despite the chilled towels and when Maice put the air-con on I was that cold I was shivering even when I’d pulled a quilt from the wardrobe and put it over me. In the end I took my pillow and bedding downstairs to the leather sofas and tried to sleep. Well that didn’t work either so I started walking round the furniture muttering to myself under my breath until I’d made myself dizzy and had to lie down. The towels, now frozen to add more impact were wrapped around my legs but that didn’t seem to work either. My whole body seemed to be on fire, it was a truly horrible experience. I must have fallen asleep eventually as Maice said she’d come down to check on me and I was fast asleep on the smallest of the two sofas.
All too soon it was time to get up, Maice starting the day with her yoga and me by having a ‘pretend’ body scratch. I can’t believe how focused I’ve been on not scratching, just patting to relieve the itchiness. Once we’d all showered and dressed in relay we sauntered down the road to the ‘breakfast’ villa, doing our laughing yoga all the way......Maice’s idea, as I’m sure you all knew. I haven’t been able to partake in any normal yoga since my affliction as my skin is so tight its quite painful but hope to return to it as soon as normality returns to the body!
Pearl and Mark did us proud and breakfast was another fine affair eating al-fresco on the terrace. The nosy neighbour opposite even popped his head above the hedge and made some remark about the noise. He’s a residential ex-pat who obviously doesn’t like it that his Russian neighbour ‘holiday lets’ the villa.....well, you just don’t know what type of clientele will turn up!
It was a gloriously hot day, not what had been forecast at all. We were expecting rain and storms which is why we’d opted to take the bus into Paphos and look around the harbour and the old town. Having changed from my sun-dress (I could feel my skin starting to react to the sun) into what can only be described as a nuns habit (my long grey strappy dress and Maice’s long quarter sleeve white linen top on top), we set off to the bus stop to begin our ‘7 go to Paphos’ adventure. €1.50 per person it was for a twenty minute bus journey down to the harbour.....now that’s what you call a bargain. Arriving at the bus station we regrouped on the promenade for an update. So, what did everyone want to do? Harbour? Old Town! Coffee? We decided that if we split up we would meet up at the ‘SeaYou’ beach bar, renowned for its sunsets and which isn’t too far from where we’re staying. Wandering through the harbour we lost our first two, Grant and Irene to a cafe where they’d been spotted by some friends of theirs, yes tis a small world. And then there were five! Maice and I were in desperate need of caffeine to a) wake us up and b) in the hope it would make us a bit more comprehensible, we were still having problems understanding what we were both saying, so we headed off along the promenade in search of a cafe with comfy chairs. And then there were three. We left Dianne hooked up with Pearl and Mark who were, we presumed heading off up to the Old Town.
Maice and I found this little cafe overlooking the sea which was lovely, shame we couldn’t say the same for our frappes. We’d asked for ‘not strong’ but there was so little coffee in it it was just like drinking frothy milk with ice-cubes. It was, to be honest, quite revoltig. Afterwards we set off along the promenade, not really knowing where or what we were doing and regrouped at the bus station. There was a twenty five minute wait for the bus up to the old town, it would take thirty minutes to walk, it was now almost two and we were all regrouping at ‘SeaYou’ in two hours. What a dilemma. We wandered along the back streets and next thing we know we found ourselves going up the escalator to the second floor in Sainsbury’s! Now how did we get here? We pottered around, bought a few provisions and then another regroup was necessary. To be honest, our recent regroupings haven’t been that successful as we were still none the wiser what we were going to do. We wondered if the others were faring any better in Paphos. We know Grant and Irene would by now have enjoyed a few scoops of the local alcoholic beverage, Pearl, Dianne and Mark were probably eating lunch somewhere and here we were wandering the streets of paphos, quite clueless. This is most definitely not like us two, so in true Maice and Angela style, we boarded the bus to ‘SeaYou’ and before we knew it a bottle of wine had appeared at the table and we were soon relaxing with a glass of wine, sitting beside the sea. Ah yes, this is more like it!
We were well chilled when the others arrived ninety minutes later and they ordered cocktails and beers and all was well with our merry group of seven. Pearl, Dianne and Mark had apparently taken the open top hop-on-hop-off bus around Paphos and ended up having lunch at the harbour and as we guessed Grant and Irene had spent the afternoon drinking with friends. At last we were all together again, here to celebrate this lovely sunset on this, Pearls birthday eve.....now what could be better…. but all too soon the sunset was over and when the wind turned cold we knew it was time to leave. We made the decision to walk home, only we got the bus instead, well Maice, Di and I did, the others missed it by seconds and ended up walking after all!
Tonight it was Greek night at our local taverna, Philipida and, for the record, our third night there out of the four nights we’ve been in resort. As you can tell, we like it here. We were seated inside this time but just next to the bi-folding doors in case we wanted to open them for more space. Outside there was a storm raging somewhere because lightning lit up the night sky.....as Mark said to Pearl ‘och I had words with ‘him above’ to make a display on your birthday eve and he’s answered me’ ......oh Mark, how corny can you get!
We all took pity for the couple on the next table to us after Maice pounced on them saying ‘we’re going to be up dancing all night and you can join in with us if you wish’.......honestly, the look of horror on their faces was priceless particularly, it turns out they didn’t speak English and the thought of mixing with us probably filled them with horror. They left shortly after their brief encounter with ‘The Maice’!
I’d taken two blue ice bocks with me to apply to my legs to keep them cool and just as well I did because during the course of the evening they found themselves not just cooling my legs but ended up down both Pearl and Maice’s bosums as they were both experiencing hot flushes! You see what happens when the group of seven are all in their 50’s.....you have to contend with issues like this! As usual, copious amounts of alcoholic beverages were consumed .......giraffes of red and white wine were free-flowing and then at 9.30pm came the two for one cocktails. We were singing and dancing to the Greek guy playing and singing with his guitar, we got our neighbouring tables up Greek dancing and just dancing in general and oh we had a wail of a time. At midnight we sang Auld Lang Syne, not that we knew all the words, to mark the passing of Pearls forty ninth year, three hundred and sixty five days and WELCOMED her to the 50’s club......Pearl, you’re going to love it!, Mark then made an impassioned speech to Pearl and then we all did the same and I have to say, there were tears......honestly, what are we like! More dancing was definitely required. We rolled home in very high spirits at 12.30am. What a great night we’ve had. I have to say, Josef and team in the restaurant really did look after us, and that’s why we we keep going back. Hey guess what, we’re going back tomorrow night to celebrate Pearls actual birthday.....and there’ll be nine of us as Pearls friends Ali and Sandra will be joining us. So, looking forward to what tomorrow has in store for us........
MMADPIG xx