Second week of August in Cyprus

Continuing on from my previous post, which covered the first eight days of August...

Sunday 9th August

When I woke, the humidity wasn't too high. My phone told me that the temperature was around 26 degrees at 6am. I read for a bit, then watered the plants on the front porch. We're theoretically allowed to use hose pipes on plants (though not for anything else). However, I feel it's less wasteful to use a watering can, so that's what I do. I have to fill four cans to give all our plants a reasonable amount of water, and they seem to be surviving, some of them blooming quite well.  

Then I walked - slowly - for a couple of kilometres around local streets. As so often, I noticed how much construction is going on in our neighbourhood. Mostly new blocks of flats. There's a housing crisis here as there aren't sufficient affordable homes - yet new ones are going up all the time. 

These are just a few developments, at different stages, within easy walking distance of our house: 

After breakfast and over an hour hanging out with Richard, talking and discussing many things, I read for a while before preparing a chocolate chia seed dessert for the evening (as friends were coming over) and making some chocolate-banana ice cream. I also put on a loaf in the breadmaker.

Since I'm not using the oven in the summer, and we both felt like having roast chicken, Richard went to buy a rotisserie chicken at Metro. He also bought some roast potatoes, which I cut into smaller pieces and air fried to make them crispier. Then I gently fried some onion, pepper and broccoli. 

After lunch and clearing up, I had an hour or so to do some NYT puzzles and read updates etc. Then we drove to our friends' house so Richard could help putting up a new net curtain, to replace a damaged one. After that, we drove back, with our friends, for a game of Catan, followed by Ticket to Ride (Europe). 

(You might spot Lady Jane, determinedly sleeping in the Catan box lid, so we couldn't put it away before starting the second game).  

That was followed by our usual bi-weekly shared evening meal. 

Our friends left not long after 7pm. Even though I very much enjoyed the afternoon and evening, I needed time to myself to recharge. Richard had things to do on his computer, and I mostly read. And then wrote a review of the book I finished. 

Monday

Another somewhat busy morning for me. I went out for a short walk, as far as Ioannides supermarket, where I bought some vegan yogurt and a couple of other items; then on to the froutaria for fruit and vegetables for the next few days.

When I got back, I put on the air conditioning in the kitchen, knowing I'd have quite a lot to do.  The first thing was another batch of oat milk before preparing breakfast, but that only takes a few minutes. 

Richard was meeting a couple of guys in our guest flat, helping them understand better how his PA system works, and doing a bit of maintenance together. We had agreed to give them lunch, so I had to put on another loaf of bread in the breadmaker. He had cut up the rest of the chicken from Sunday and arranged it nicely on a plate, so that was in the fridge, ready to serve. He had also bought some deli counter taramasalata (with no artificial additives). I don't like it at all, but many people do. 

I made some coleslaw, too (using the food processor), and a green salad. There was humus left from last week, and we had been given some Lebanese baklava by visitors a couple of weeks earlier, so I didn't make a dessert, though I did wash grapes I had bought and put those on a plate.

I'd finished all the food preparation by about 11am so it wasn't too strenuous. It was good to sit and have a leisurely lunch, and get to know these young men a bit. 

Then, once again, I had to be on my own to recharge - I read, uploaded the book blog post, did Duolingo etc, answered emails and forum questions, and did some online puzzles.

In the evening we decided to eat much the same as we had at lunch-time, as there was plenty over, and also some pasta salad left from Saturday. Then Richard had some work to do, and I read. Even by 7.30pm it was still over 30 degrees outside, and humid, so neither of us felt like going for a walk.

Tuesday

A relaxing day, which started with watering the front patio plants again and going for a short walk. I wrote some emails and other messages, and - once again - contacted the Water Board, reminding them that our guest flat water meter has been broken for over a year now. They may be closed for the August two-week break (or even the whole month) but it seems like a good idea to keep sending reminders, now and again. Richard sometimes phones, too, but we have no idea if those messages get passed on.

In the evening, friends were taking us out to dinner at the Al Sultan Lebanese restaurant in town. Richard dropped me right by it before going to park, as it was still very hot at 6.30. As we've done before when eating there with two other people, we had a 'grand mezze' which is supposedly for two people, but which is plenty for four. This, for instance, is the first course...

We didn't finish it all, as we knew there was more to come. I really like this kind of food! 

It was close to nine o'clock when we departed, and I walked with Richard to the PO Box which isn't far away. Not that there was anything there, but we like to have a look most weeks. At some point I hoped that the books I ordered last week would arrive.

Wednesday

On Tuesday, at some point, I had noticed an article saying that the redevelopment in the Salt Lake Park was complete. I was very surprised, as it had looked a long way from completion when I last walked there with Sheila, towards the end of June. 

So on Wednesday morning, I decided to walk there. Not to explore everywhere, as it was hot and humid, but to see what was going on from the main path. I went through the main entrance, and the brown metal construction was still there, with no plants or any other clue as to what it was for. 

Indeed, the park looked much the same as it was last time I saw it, though the bit which we assume is a dog park was now fenced - but with no shade at all, so unlikely to be used at this time of year. I did see one new feature - a picnic area, although that, too, has no shade. 

And it did look as if the bridge was now complete, but I had no idea how to access it, and didn't want to get lost on such a humid day.

I didn't stay out for long.  

Richard was having another day with his PA team guys, so - after breakfast etc -  I put on yet another loaf of bread, and made a beetroot salad, one which I only learned about a few months ago but like very much. Again, I used the food processor rather than grating the beetroot. 

I also sliced some tomatoes, with a bit of garlic and basil, and cut up some watermelon to go with the rest of the baklava for dessert. And I boiled some eggs, to make egg mayonnaise, although there was still a fair amount of sliced chicken left from earlier in the week. 

Then I collapsed for a while in my air conditioned study before lunch.

In the evening, we did something we've done a few times this summer: ordered salads via Foody. We've used three different places, and have liked them all. This time I ordered from the 'Salad Bar':

It's hard to tell quantities from a photo like that, but for the two of us this quantity lasts for two days, sometimes longer. The Salad Bar gives a small slice of wholegrain bread with each salad, and we didn't feel we needed any more carbohydrate.

Once again it was too hot for me to leave the house after eating, so we decided to watch a film - one we hadn't seen before, 'The King and I'.  Worth seeing once, I think, for the extravaganza and some excellent dancing. But I found the plot - which is apparently based on a true story - rather depressing. 

Thursday

I watered the plants first thing. It was even warmer and more humid than previously. 

I made more oat milk. No bread or salads to make. Instead, I spent a peaceful, relaxing day in the air conditioning. 

In the evening, Richard went out for a half-hour walk to (and around) Salina Park, but I prefer not to go out when it's over thirty degrees and humid. 

Then we played three rounds of Kingdom Builder with our young friend E.

Friday

I didn't wake until 6.30, but it was surprisingly cloudy outside. Humid, but not quite as hot as it sometimes is. I walked for a couple of kilometres then went to the fruitaria for the weekend's fruit and vegetables.

After breakfast and hanging out for a while, I put a load of laundry in the machine, then we ventured out by car to the nut shop, and Metro; we hadn't been to either for four weeks. We were getting low on both nuts and Clean-kill (mammal-friendly insecticide). 

Despite being humid, it was not as hot as it might have been as the sun was hidden behind quite heavy clouds:

 
To my astonishment, as we were en route to the nut shop, there were a few drops of rain on the windscreen!

Not enough to need the wipers in the car, and they'd all dried up by the time we arrived. But still, rather unusual. 

I should be used to the varying costs of groceries by now, after nearly 29 years in Cyprus. But it still sometimes surprises me that whereas two full shopping bags of fruit and veg from the froutaria typically cost between €12 and €15, one half-full bag from the nut shop or Metro is typically around €30-€40. 

By the time we were home, and I had unpacked our purchases and put them away, I was more than ready for my study and the air conditioning. I really don't like going out during the daytime in the summer.

Around 5.30pm I suddenly remembered that I hadn't made any salads for the evening, so I turned the study aircon off, and turned on the kitchen one instead. Then I boiled some new potatoes which I'd bought that morning, with mint, and prepared some other salads. 

 Peach, tomato and fake feta next to the potatoes; green beans and mushrooms with ginger and garlic bottom left, tuna with avocado and cucumber bottom right. 

Since we also had a bit of green salad left from Wednesday's order, and some beetroot salad from Thursday, we had quite a lot of food on the table for our evening meal:
 

We finished the take-away salads but there was still plenty of everything else for Saturday evening. 

At 7.30, Richard asked if I wanted to go for a short walk. I didn't particularly, but Lady Jane was very insistent that we should both go out. She wanted a cat treat, and she knows that she gets a few Dreamies or similar if we both go out in the evening. It was 30 degrees according to my phone weather app, and humid, though the sun had gone down. 

We walked - fairly slowly - to Salina Park, then I had to sit down. Richard made a few circuits of the park, and I watched the fountains in the water feature. We don't know how the fountains or the colours are controlled, or why the colours vary over the months. This time they were different shades of blue or purple, and the fountains followed a pattern which I found quite mesmerising.

When we got back, we put the air conditioning on in the living room, and watched a couple of episodes of 'Yes, Minister'. 

Saturday

I woke about 5.45pm, having not slept very well, but got up anyway. It was 27 degrees out, and very humid. No change there, then. I read for half an hour or so, as it was still almost dark outside, then did the three NYT puzzles that I do on my phone first thing (Wordle, Strands and Connections). 

After that, I went out for a shortish walk. My phone tells me it was less than a kilometre, but it's been somewhat inaccurate recently, and I think it was a bit more than that. But maybe not. By the time I got home, I was dripping. 

A couple of friends were coming over at 11am to work with Richard on finalising and uploading a book to KDP, so I did what I could to cover most of my Saturday 'basic' chores (as outlined on my previous post) before leaping into the shower (okay, no, I didn't leap. I climbed in wearily) at 10.45. 

By that stage, the bed was made with clean sheets etc, the bathrooms were clean, the dishwasher filters were cleaned out, the Roomba was given its weekly thorough clean, and I'd folded and put away Friday's laundry. The kitchen was clean, too. There were no ants that I could see, which was encouraging. 

Lady Jane doesn't like it when I spend too long outside my study in the summer. In previous years, she refused to go into a room with air conditioning. She apparently preferred the heat and humidity of the rest of the house. But this year - maybe because she is now at the mature age of twelve - she likes to sleep on 'her' cushion, with both air conditioning and a ceiling fan.  

The rest of the basic Saturday chores were completed, one at a time during the afternoon. Then we had an unexpected bonus: a video chat with both our sons at the same time, which enabled us to catch up with their lives, and update them on ours. We had been wondering about a visit to the UK in the second half of October, but that's not going to work out for various reasons. I still miss my sons very much, but chatting online is a way of easing the heartache somewhat. 

In the evening we went for a short walk before watching another episode of Doctor Who (eighth series).

So ends another week where I wasn't fully aestivating (I do, after all, do things first thing in the morning, and somewhat in the evenings) but still avoiding going outside as far as possible between 10am and 6pm.