Special helper/Rain day.

The Huge honour for Kyle at his nursery, is to be 'Special Helper'.  I guess all the kids feel the same way, but he really puffs with pride when he gets to wear that sticky badge and tell me, "I was Special Helper today daddy"!  He got to be 'SH' last Thursday on his birthday, but of course didn't mind being bestowed the honour again today!

 

Another special occasion today, was may have been a one-off, OR the start of the rainy season.  From mid-afternoon the heavens opened and it bucketed down like we had so far not yet seen on this island!  It was very refreshing and where there is normally a road outside our house a river ran for a couple of hours.

I was very pleased that Elena thought to take these few photos to mark the occasion!  I'm sure that English people think we are mad, but we are so excited and impressed by rain out here.

Of course, we're hoping it's not like this every day from now on, but it has certainly freshened the air up a little bit and I suppose it must have helped the water situation, even if only a little bit!  We are certainly noticing the temperature gradually falling slightly now, almost daily and I, for one am getting to feel the cold in bed at night and find I'm ready for a quilt over me.  Soon we will have come one full circle and it'll be time to light a fire in the evening.  Kyle will be happy then!

Polis.

Today we took a little trip up north to Polis, just to check the area out.

Polis is reckoned to be one of the most authentic Cypriot towns, but lately has been slipping under the  tide of the tourist industry.

You certainly can see the effects of creeping tourism, but it is still very picturesque and it is possible, certainly at this time of the year to give the tourists the slip if you really try.

We stopped just east of Latchi harbour and had a little swim, but it's not particularly child friendly for non-swimmer little ones, since the beach is quite steep and stony.

It's OK for adults, but a little  tricky for youngsters.  Hence, Elena and I had a little swim and Kyle a paddle, then a play on the sand, before moving on.

Next we drove west to the Baths of Aphrodite, where we had a fairly unremarkable lunch, before making our way along the track beside the coast.  It's a little bumpy and Elena is not a fan of being shaken about in a car, so we pulled in at a suitable little cove.  It was disappointing how much litter and general rubbish was to be found laying around up there.  Such a shame people cannot show a little more respect for their surroundings.  This spoiled it for us a little bit and I decided I did not want to go for a snorkel amidst floating carrier bags, cigarette ends etc, so we just had a bit of a look around and then headed for home.  On the way back we called in at the village of Neo Chorio for a drink and then hit the trail back home.  All in all a good recce and we'll definitely go back for another look sometime.  In particular, I think we could have done considerably better eating in one of the cafés at the side of the Latchi harbour.  All part of the learning curve for our next visit!

Snorkelling

We decided to go along to Cape Gatta, where a friend had told us we could walk on the jetty and feed the fish.  Indeed you can and the temptation to get in a do a little bit of video was just too much to resist.  Here are our efforts:

Snorkelling at Cape Gatta. from Raveydv on Vimeo.

On two wheels at last!

On Thursday afternoon I had a driving job, I had to run some people to Larnaka airport, but after I'd returned we went down to Happy Valley with Kyle and his bike, minus the stabiliser wheels. For some reason, he decided he just wanted them gone and so we took him onto the grass area there at first.  He got it instantaneously and then insisted that he wanted to ride on the car park, because it would be easier.  He must have just known he was ready, because he took to it immediately and, apart from needing a little help at first to get started, he just sped off and didn't want to stop.  It was about as much as we could do to coax him off the bike and back into the car to go home.  this is a picture of him taken today in the Ermes car park, still keen as ever to show off his skills.  It's lovely to watch them develop!

Lonely coffee pot.

I was forced to have a coffee today without my partner in caffeine (Andrea - AKA Teta Adka).  I made a brave face of it, but the cafetiere looked pretty sad and Elenka very supportively joined me for a brew.  Ah well, suppose there'll be next year, or possibly later this year if Pete comes to visit (sigh!).

Visitors.

Aunty Andrea and Michal came to visit, so we have been enjoying playing tour guide.  We didn't seem to get an awful lot further than the beaches, but we managed to visit a few of those.  They seemed to be fairly impressed with Curium beach and so spent a bit of time there, then Elena and Kyle showed them around the ruins.  When I got some time off work we ventured west to Coral Bay and took a little stroll around Paphos, stopping off for some photos at Aphrodite's Rock.  We also had a look around Limassol and the local area.

Strangely, when they first arrived it was rather cloudy.  Having not really encountered clouds since we first got here back in February, we were a bit shocked at this, but we need not have worried, because everything returned to the normal 30 something degree heat and clear blue skies in no time.

So, we finally travelled further afield, to Nisi Beach, Agia Napa, which turned out to be Andrea's favourite and finally got to visit the Water Park at Fassouri too.

The weather and the beaches proved to be too much of a lure unfortunately, but here's to the next visit and hopefully getting A & M to Nicosia and up to the beautiful north of the island, as well as maybe up to the Akamas peninsular.  Now it's just a few hours before our visitors have to return home to Slovakia, where apparently the temperature will be in the low 30s too, so at least they won't immediately feel cold upon their return.  It's been nice having family to stay and it'll be sad to see them go, but we'll look forward to next time!