Tuesday and Wednesday

Since Richard had worked on Good Friday (and some of Easter Saturday) he decided to take Tuesday off as well as Easter Monday. He asked if my sister and her family wanted to go anywhere that he could drive them, and they suggested Nicosia. They thought they might go over the border to the North, and also see some of the tourist shops in the 'old city'.

Tim went with them, but I stayed at home to have a peaceful morning by myself. They didn't have a particularly successful time: firstly, the old city seems to have replaced all the nice touristy shops with modern boutiques and technology stores. Secondly, although they found Ledra Street, where the barrier with the North was taken down a month previously, it's not yet open for public access. This is partly due to unresolved political differences; rumour has it that there may also be unexploded landmines in the vicinity, but I've no idea if that's actually true.

So they walked some way, looking for the place where it has been possible to walk over the border for a while, but didn't find it. Still, they did find a nice park where the children were able to climb and go down slides, and it was good to see somewhere different. And they found a cafe to have a sandwich lunch.

On their way back they hit a thunderstorm, with torrential rain and even some hail. This storm hit Larnaka about midday - the forecast had promised us some rain, and while the details weren't correct, we certainly got some. The thunder got so close I had to switch my computer off. So it was a good thing our guests didn't go to the beach in the morning, as they would have got drenched....

Once they were back, and changed into warmer clothes, we talked, the children watched a bit of 'Shrek' on DVD, Tim and his cousin played a couple of duets on the piano... and we read books.

On Wednesday the sun shone in the morning, so they walked to the beach - it's about a mile away. I did suggest they might take our old car, which is insured for any driver (between the ages of 25 and 70) but they thought they'd like a walk. I went with them, as I had to go to the Post Office anyway, and showed them a few key places. They stayed an hour and a half, or so, but by about 12.30 it often gets windy and chillier, so they came home for lunch. In the afternoon, they walked to the Salt Lake Park with Tim, played in the play area, and also played some french cricket.

It's the ideal time of year to visit, really. Daytime temperatures are about 20-24C, and although it's still the Easter holiday period, there aren't too many tourists around.

Having the guest flat is ideal, as they can get up when they want to, do their own thing as far as breakfast goes, do any laundry that they want, and put the children to bed whenever seems appropriate. They brought their old 'baby alarm' with them, so they can leave one of the children downstairs asleep and hear immediately from our part of the house if there's any problem.