And yet, I wondered if I was going to be proven wrong for once. On September 1st, to my surprise, the day which started warm and sunny grew increasingly cloudy by lunch-time. Some visitors who had been in our guest flat for the previous fortnight, sometimes struggling with the hot temperatures, left to fly home. Richard was away in Egypt for work. I was in the house alone... and was convinced I heard thunder rumbling in the distance. I assumed it was on Troodos - even in the summer, there is usually at least a little rain in the mountains in Cyprus - so was quite startled when I heard a few drops of rain outside.
I was even more surprised when, a minute or two later, we had quite a substantial downpour.. for about four minutes. Not enough to do more than settle some of the dust, but the road did look fairly wet by the end of it:
I heard later that in the villages only a few miles away there was as much as an hour of rain, with large puddles left by the end.
After the rain, there was extremely high humidity for an hour or so as it evaporated, and then a light breeze which was almost cool.
Since then, it hasn't been quite as humid as it was during August. And the early mornings feel very pleasantly cool, although daytime shade temperatures are still up to 32C or thereabouts, with unremitting sunshine.
A few days later, when Richard had returned, we attended a very important birthday party. My youngest best friend Helen had her second birthday:
Four days after that, our friend Mick arrived from the UK to stay for a week. Richard took a couple of days off... not to visit any tourist attractions, but so that they could work on King Malu, and instal the outboard motor which had arrived. On Sunday they were delighted to do some sea-trials.
I spent Sunday with our friends - Helen's family. Four of them went to St Helena's Church with me in the morning, then came back here for a couple of hours. We went to lunch at the bilingual house church, then back here for a game of Seafarers of Catan.
Then we ate a cold meal together... and Helen, who had not taken a nap all day, fell asleep with her head on my plate:
Other than that... the Friday night cell group has started again - and is now meeting weekly. We've played several other games with our friends. Last night we (with Mick) were invited to a meal at the home of some friends, and sat out on their penthouse balcony. There were two or three spots of rain, although not enough to force us inside. By 9.30 it was almost beginning to be chilly. Perhaps it was as cool as 24C.
More significantly, it didn't feel humid at all and we managed without any air conditioning at all last night for the first time in some months. I haven't turned it on today at all, even in my study.
So, I hope, the worst of this summer is over. Temperatures of 30C+ are predicted for the next ten days, still, but the nights are a little cooler and the days are less humid.
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