Getting into September in Cyprus

 So, two and a half weeks have gone by. The heavy rain at the end of August - which I wrote about in my last post - didn't lead to significant cooling, although the humidity did, somewhat, reduce.

Overnight it was cool enough that I resumed early morning walks, three times per week, with my friend Sheila. I didn't want to wear socks and trainers, though, and I wasn't sure how far I could manage, so on Sept 1st we started by walking in the upgraded Salt Lake Park, including going along the bridge and observing the Salt Lake with some water, at one end, from the recent rain: 

We did then walk a little way along the trail itself and I found it wasn't too bad with sandals. We wondered how long the water would remain.

Gradually it felt as if life returned to normality although the days remained hot - but 'only' 32-34C, and down to 29-30 by 7pm. Richard and I went for short walks most evenings, and I no longer felt as if I were dripping by the time we got home.

Games evenings and mornings resumed, as did the dance exercise class which I've started going to one evening per week.  And there was more construction going on - or, in some cases, destruction, as was the case with a house I've seen many times on a corner not far from where we live. 

The house was there one day, and the next it was like this:

There was rubble everywhere. That large digger or crane (or whatever it is) started work before 7am, and the following day the ground was cleared:

No doubt they'll start putting up another block of flats within the next few weeks or months.  There are so many partially-built flats locally; some of them seem almost finished, but we never see anyone moving in. 

By the end of the first week of September I decided that I would gradually move us back to having hot food in the evenings, using the oven. I was oddly reluctant to start doing this, and have continued making at least one salad each day to go with our evening meal, as well as some hot vegetables. 

Yesterday evening there was another government warning on our phones, this time telling us to expect thunderstorms overnight and during today. 

Sure enough, around 2am we were awakened by a tremendous flash of lightening, followed by a loud boom - so close that the lightning must have been almost overhead. Then there were more flashes and booms, getting further away, followed by rain. 

I drifted off to sleep again, and when I woke the rain had stopped, but there were puddles everywhere. And around 10am it started raining again, quite heavily, though there was no thunder this time.

The temperature hasn't risen above 29 in the house - or outside, according to my app - so for the first time in months I haven't turned on the air conditioning in my study.  

Is this the start of more autumnal weather....?  Alas, it doesn't look like it. This is the prediction for the next ten days: