First sighting of a Christmas tree in Larnaka

The birthday season, for my immediate family, is now over. We celebrated Richard's last Saturday; five friends came to dinner, and we had an enjoyable evening.

The weather is still warm - about 26-28C during the daytime - and our only gesture towards Autumn, so far, is the thin duvet on our bed. And Richard has switched from shorts to long trousers/jeans. And we did stop using the air conditioning a few weeks ago. I'm still wearing shorts, tee-shirts and sandals and avoiding going out during the main part of the day, but it's a lot more comfortable now that the humidity has gone.

So when I popped out to our local supermarket a few day ago, I was slightly startled to see this as I walked down the street towards it:


I know that Christmas cards appear in the shops in the UK in about August... but I don't remember trees or decorations appearing in Cyprus until at least November. We haven't even had Ochi Day yet.