A big shout out goes to our lovely friend Pearl who has finally reached the half-century mark. Who’d have thought it.... 50 today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOVELY LADY!
We woke early, Maice up doing her yoga, me studying my body to see how it was getting on. The soreness, redness and blot chines (here we go, another predictive text.....should be blotchiness!) was waning at last but the legs and arms are still flaring up and still itchy. Dianne was still in slumberland, Mark and Grant were busy dressing themselves in their kilts, ready to head off to the Scotland v Cyprus match in Nicosia and Pearl and Irene, happy to see the back of them due to the high volume of snoring that emanated around their villa during the course of the night were relaxing on their sunbeds, relishing the silence.
We’d given Pearl strict instructions not to prepare breakfast as we at Villa Lilia were on breakfast duty. First we had to source the ingredients so Maice and I headed off to Philippos Supermarket with a list, so we wouldn’t forget what we’d gone for. Okay, there were only four items on the list but our track record isn’t great (Lesvos springs to mind) and we just wanted to go in and come straight out. It took two trips around the supermarket shelves looking for the smoked salmon and en-route we picked up five sugar donuts, which weren’t on the list! Thirty minutes later we emerged with our five items and headed off to see the birthday girl.
Maice, Dianne and I were in charge of breakfast, me doing the scrambled egg and smoked salmon, Dianne laying the table and Maice barking orders to everyone to move the table from the patio to the gazebo.....most out of character for Maice! We enjoyed a lovely leisurely champagne breakfast and then retired to our sunbeds......me being the only one in the shade complete with two ice blocks between my legs! We had a lovely morning relaxing, sunbathing, swimming and chatting. For lunch Maice prepared a sugared-donut birthday cake complete with pink candle. Dianne sent the photo to Mark, just to show him how we girlies were looking after his Princess Pearl.......unfortunately it’s not possible to publish his response due to a) he thought it had been sent from Pearl and b) it was somewhat x-rated!
Having regrouped around the donut cake Pearl suggested taking a taxi to ‘Oniro by the Sea’ to watch the sunset and she wanted a swim in the sea so we headed off to the taxi shop and in no time we had arrived. I’d love to say that it was beautiful, Pearl went into sea and the sunset was gorgeous but when we got there it was closed! Well, what to do now? Luckily taxi-man came to the rescue and drove us to a little place he knew of called Yialos Tavern by the Sea. It was very Shirley Valentine, in fact they even had a Shirley Valentine Cocktail but instead we chose a variety of alcoholic beverages, beers, ciders and of course the obligatory giraffe of wine. It was a lovely place, very remote and we sat and watched the sunset whilst trying to be creative with our selfies! I think Dianne got the hang of it in the end! We were all chilled and happy......even Mark and Grant, who weren’t with us were happy as Scotland were winning......wonders never cease. So all-in-all a lovely afternoon was had by all.
Robert, our taxi-man dropped us home where we spent the next few hours getting ready for Pearls birthday party, with a Glam/Sex in the City theme. We’d booked the Philpida Restaurant again. Ali and Sandra were on their way from Scotland, having landed earlier and Maice and I were gathering the table decorations ready to decorate the table. We were already glammed up when Ali and Sandra arrived, greeting them with a good Villa Lilia welcome which consisted of wine, nibbles and hugs a plenty. Introductions were made as Ali and Sandra hadn’t met Maice before, we had a quick chat and then we three, Maice, Dianne and I that is made our way to the restaurant with the party paraphernalia to decorate the table......Pearl not suspecting a thing. We did an excellent job if we do say so, the whole area looked amazing and very colourful. You could tell the table of nine inside were intrigued as to what was going on.....well, they’d just have to wait until later when we’d all arrived.
Mark and Grant were on their way back from the Scotland – Cyprus match so Pearl and Irene came to us at Villa Lilia and met up with Ali and Sandra. Sandra had organised Pearls present, a lovely necklace by Orkney artist Sheila Fleet to match the ring she already had, which us girlies had contributed to......bless Pearl, she was very overwhelmed and succumbed to sobbing on the sofa. With that we made our way to Philipifa restaurant where she was overwhelmed once again so we sat her down quickly and stuck a glass of Prosecco into her hand. Maice and I then announced what we had in store .......they needed to pick an animal mask and then make a ‘party hat’ to match the animal. We’ve never been so quiet until that is we looked at all our creations and then the cameras and phones came out and the party started in earnest...........our every move being documented by the family of nine!
Mark and Grant finally arrived both in high spirits, and full of ‘spirits’ because Scotland had finally won an international football game (I’m saying nothing!), selected their masks, we ordered and ate our food, the music started and with that we were up out of our seats dancing and singing and having a great time. The family of nine came and joined in, another couple came and joined in......and the whole evening was absolutely f-a-b-u-l-o-u-s darlings!!! Mark had bought a birthday cake and we all sang Happy Birthday, Maice cutting it and me dishing it out to anyone in the restaurant who wanted a piece.
We were dancing till way past midnight........burning up the calories. The couple and the family of nine, love them, thanked us for allowing them to join in with us and said we’d made their evening. It had been a superb night for Pearl......the whole day in fact had been unforgettable. What a great start to your 50th year Pearl.....she certainly won’t forgot this ‘O’ birthday.
And so we made our way to our Villas, Lilia and Atalanta. We’ve two extra bodies in Villa Lilia so anticipating there may be a queue for the loo.....what with us all being ladies over 50! Ah Pearl, welcome to our world!
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