Looking forward to the return

The day began with a lazy wander around the garden. Bugger me if there wasn't a different car in the driveway. A small white job that normally lives here must have been loaned to someone and been returned. I felt very grateful not to be paying all the road taxes and insurances, fuel bills, mechanical repairs etc...for this driveway full of cars. And Hey.. where did all the bloody leaves and dust come from? I'd cleaned that driveway within an inch of its life yesterday, and now..."Just give up" I hear Helen say. She could be right.
And there are more, but they're on the road. Back in Melbourne with residents' parking permits all the go, just stopping the car outside the house would be an expensive enterpise for Helen's family

Planes, flights and return to normality are on everyone's mind today. Aunty Mary has done the first pack and discovered the effect that several visits to Festival Shoes has had on her luggage allowance, Ian is being very smug..having bought one pair of shoes, but returning to Oz one pair lighter as he is leaving 2 here for his next visit (700 days or so). Helen and Stella visited a number of neighbours to find one with a set of scales, but there was no luck. There were black mutterings about the woman from the local mixed business. She apparently had a set of scales, but has become very cool since Stella returned her empty CD case and demanded her money back. We left them all moaning on about how heavy the bags are... I guess that will be my fate as well in a couple of days.

I just wanted a bit of time to myself up at Trimiklini, so I got Helen to drop me off so I could wander about by myself. I walked through the car park outside the municpal offices, and down a track that led down a steep decline, to a series of pervolia (garden plots). I took a final few photos of the terracing to remember that mountain-side by. It was a good long walk in the heat. I said hello to people I saw driving past or working in the fields. and on getting thirsty, reached over a fence and plucked a red-ripe pommeganate to eat on the way back to the car. Helen picked me up and took me back to the clan at Aunty Mary's.

The next stop was Aunty Pola's. Helen helps her out by dying her hair for her. There seemed to be no useful role for me so I walked down into the city to get an up-close look of the neighbourhood. I'm sure I must have walked at least a couple of kilometres as I got as far as the huge Limassol Police Station near the water tower. In that short distance, there was a road crash and a truck lost its load of timber. I hear that things are similar in Melbourne, with 2 Melbourne trams careering into the back of other trams they were approaching.
Normal people just ring up and confirm their booking. Helen's friends call out to Helen's neighbour (she works for Emirates). The neighbour wanders over and takes a list of the people travelling, and it's all fixed up some time later. I'm not sure that I have a lot of faith in the Cyprian system, but lets give it a go and see.
It's siesta time, but not before I put away the plate-ful of fried haloumi, eggs and sausage that Helen's brought up to me. This afternoon the plan is to take Danae to the hairdresser and then there is the vague plan of attending "tha bathing of the baby". The baby in question is called Christoforo and the significance of this public act of washing has completly gone sailing over my head.

Opps, change of plan. Helen has just raced off with Danae. Still, it gives me a minute to save an image to the USB stick, and pop down the street to have a glossy printed. I thought it might be a nice way to say thank-you to Iliatha for last night's hospitality.
Love you all. Missing you all. Also missing my old routine...(at least the part that involves family and home). I'll keep you posted. Love, Lily