Two weeks out of Cyprus

 Earlier in the year, we had talked about the possibility of flying to the UK early in April, so that we could see Richard's mother on her birthday. She's living in a very nice care home now, in Sussex and they make quite a thing of birthdays. 

We then pondered going first to Carlisle, to spend Easter with our older son and his family. We checked with them that they weren't going anywhere else, and we started idly looking for flights.

Then I spotted flights from Larnaka to Glasgow on March 31st at just 27 pounds per person. It was with EasyJet: a budget airline that we have used many times, and which we generally like.  That price doesn't include any luggage, of course, other than an under-seat bag. We tend to upgrade to what they call 'easy boarding' which gives us an overhead carry-on as well, but even so - the price was excellent. 

We know from experience that prices vary all the time, and can be extremely high over the Easter period, so we booked at once. Then we filled in the details - a rental car, accommodation when not staying with the family etc - and finally booked a flight back on April 15th. 

We were all packed and ready at least half an hour before our friend Sheila came to pick us up to take us to the airport on March 31st. 

The flight wasn't until after 9.30pm, which is when I usually like to be getting ready for bed.  So I was delighted to realise that it was an almost-empty flight. This meant that once we had taken off, we could have three seats each, and lie down to rest. I didn't get a lot of sleep, but I think at least a couple of hours.  So when we arrived at Glasgow in the early hours, I wasn't as tired as I might have been.

Out of Cyprus in August

At the start of July, I wrote a longish post about preparing for summer in Cyprus. And that's the routine I followed, more-or-less, during July. I finished our 2024 photobook and had it sent to our elder son's home. I went out for a short walk early most mornings, around the block or to the local shop. And we ate different combinations of salad dishes as our main meal most days. 

We celebrated our 45th wedding anniversary in a fairly low-key way. It was too hot and humid to eat out anywhere, so we ordered food from our favourite Lebanese restaurant. It's theoretically a meze for two. It lasted us nearly three days.

On July 28th we finished all our leftovers, cleaned the fridge, packed our cases... and in the evening, our friend Sheila drove us to the airport for a break in the UK.

Visiting CyHerbia

 For the third of our full-morning outings, we had decided to visit Cyherbia. Our extra guest this time was 19-year-old K, who had never been there before. We visited for the first time two years ago, when the family was staying, and had thought it pleasant but not too memorable. However when we asked our ten-year-old grandson what he particularly wanted to do this year, his first response was 'the maze!' 

We've had quite a bit of discussion about whether the Cyherbia hedged construction is technically a maze or a labyrinth. It's called both in different places. According to Google, a labyrinth is a complex but essentially straightforward path with no digressions or ways to go wrong, whereas a maze has false paths that lead nowhere. Under that definition, Cyherbia has a maze. 

An adult is supposed to accompany each child, but it was impossible to take that too seriously. Our grandson rushed into the maze cheerfully, and we could hear him most of the time, although we couldn't always see him. The rest of us wandered in in ones and twos. 

I know the infallible (if not very efficient) way of getting through a maze, by keeping a hedge always to my right, so using this method I fairly quickly found myself at the lookout point where, at the top of some steps, I took that second photo. Our grandson was still happily getting himself lost but we could see his hat and he waved a hand when he asked. 

Eventually we persuaded the children that it was time to move on to the next attraction. When we arrived and bought the tickets, we were given two sheets of questions for the children, similar to the kinds of things children on school field trips have to fill in. Our granddaughter was quite interested at first, and wanted to do this with her mother. But our grandson decided he didn't want to do it, so our friend K took over his sheet. In the maze, they had to find different models of birds which were hidden in some of the dead ends. 

Our next stop was the fairy garden, which is beautifully made and maintained. 

There were questions about that on the sheets too, requiring some observation and counting. I never found that kind of thing very interesting when I was at school, but it does mean people slow down a bit and have a proper look at what's on display. And they weren't excessive questions at Cyherbia. 

There's so much detail in the fairy garden, it was well worth spending some time looking. 

As we moved on, I was surprised to see a realistic looking deer by the path:

By this stage we were 'walking around Cyprus', with plenty of little information notices to read, describing different locations. And filling in questions on the sheets... 

There was a lot more: a bower where we could sit for photos, a little house explaining the flora and fauna of the island, and so much more. Towards the end we went around the extensive herb gardens, enjoying the aromas (and finding more answers to questions on the sheets). 

There was a little playground, too, although it was only supposed to be for children up to the age of seven or eight. And then we sat down in the café and were brought our complementary herbal teas. We think they were mainly chamomile; I drank about half of mine, but it wasn't my favourite taste. Still, it's a nice gesture at the end of an hour or more of gentle meandering around the area.

We had promised the children another visit to the maze, so we went back there and they went through a couple of times, including having a race. There weren't many other people around, so we didn't think it would be disturbing anyone. 

As with the camel park and the paradox museum, we couldn't take any food or drink into Cyherbia. And whereas there are suitable parks nearby the other two venues, Cyherbia is rather out of the way, with nothing obvious nearby. 

So we drove back to Rizoelia park which is in Aradippou, and had our picnic there. It's on a hill with an excellent view over Larnaka. 

Visiting the Paradox Museum in Limassol

 The second 'longer' trip we decided to do with our visiting family was to the Paradox Museum in Limassol. It was a bit further away than we wanted to go, ideally; our ten-year-old grandson is prone to car-sickness. But we had seen recommendations from various friends who had visited, so thought it worth trying. 

We wanted to check opening hours. The website is not the clearest, but we were glad we looked as it recommended booking tickets in advance, rather than just turning up, as there were apparently limited spaces. We didn't expect it to be full; this was still in the Cyprus school term-time. But after seeing coach-loads of school classes visiting the Camel Park on Monday, we thought we had better make a booking rather than risk being turned away. There were seven of us going; this time our 16-year-old friend H was joining us. 

We were able to take advantage of the four-person family ticket, and an over-65, but it was still somewhat pricey. However, we hoped it would be worthwhile. It would certainly be something different.

It took us rather more than an hour to get there, since car-sickness struck, but I will gloss over that quickly. We had booked for 11.30am, and arrived in the area by about 11.25. The museum doesn't have its own parking, but the Limassol marina is nearby and has plenty of parking space. It was 11.35 by the time we reached the doors of the museum, but it evidently wasn't at all crowded. 

We were greeted by friendly staff in black and white uniforms, and given a few basic guidelines. They said there was a direction to follow, rather like the arrows in Ikea, but we could spend as much time as we wanted at each attraction. No food or drink was allowed, but cameras welcome - indeed, strongly encouraged. 

The first few exhibits were fairly basic optical illusions, things to look at but without much to do. There was a tilting mirror, for instance:

There were patterns which seemed to swirl in different ways: 

There were chequered and similar illusions, tricking us into thinking that the lines or patterns were bulging, or in some way not what they appeared:

We didn't spend very long with these; they were interesting, but I did hope there would be rather more, or we would be finished in fifteen minutes...

I was not disappointed. This mirror room created some excellent illusions, and we all played with it extensively:

This one was rather disturbing, creating a serving dish with - apparently - someone's head inside:

The camouflage area was interesting, although we never worked out how to hide entirely. One had to don a voluminous robe with similar paint-style splatters and attempt to blend in with the background:

I never quite worked out how this room functioned, enabling us to appear to be different heights. We spent a lot of time there; this is just one of the results:

One of my favourite things was something that looked like a long, wide tube - it wasn't obvious that it was anything special. But everyone else was playing in one of the rooms, so I peeped in one end. The instructions said to ask someone else to look in the other end... and then the effect was stunning! 

It reminded me of those cardboard tube kaleidoscopes that we had as children. 

This one, looking down into apparently endless pentagons, was a bit scary for those of us not keen on heights:

And there was much more too. Apparently there are fifty exhibits in all. We spent quite a bit of time in a sideways room where one set a pose and then rotated the camera, but none of the photos look all that spectacular.  There was also a room of mirrors where one could see thousands of images of oneself...  for a moment I wasn't sure how to get out!  

The final exhibit was this one: the result is a rotated image but I think it's quite effective:

The website had told us to allow around 60-90 minutes to get around, and it took us a little over an hour. We could perhaps have taken it more slowly, but we followed the lead of our grandchildren. They found the different rooms more interesting than the exhibits on the walls, and very much liked trying out different poses, asking us all to take photos. 

At the end - by the entrance area - there's a little shop. There were all kinds of items: books about paradoxes, little toy puzzles, tee-shirts and more. There were a few puzzles on display that could be tried out, and some of us had fun doing that. We weren't really tempted to buy anything; the prices were a little high, and we didn't think we needed any more novelties. The museum staff didn't try to persuade us - they were all extremely helpful and willing to answer questions, but put no pressure on at all. 

It wasn't a cheap expedition, but it was definitely worth doing once. Our grandchildren - aged ten and eight - were just the right age to enjoy it. Older children and teens would probably find different possibilities, and understand better how everything worked, but I doubt if it would be of much interest to children under the age of about six or seven.

The Paradox Museum hasn't been around all that long; it's situated in a warehouse that previously housed part of the Limassol boat show, apparently. I don't know how long it will stay, as the structures looked somewhat temporary.  

Definitely recommended. 

Back in Cyprus after eight weeks away

This summer I had the longest time out of Cyprus for many years. I'm so thankful to those who put me up (or, perhaps, put up with me?), particularly my family in Carlisle who had me for the bulk of my UK visit. It was wonderful being an on-the-spot Grandma for so long, and I was very well looked after. 

Among other things, I played a lot of games with my granddaughter, who is seven-and-a-half. Early in my stay, we played Boggle almost daily, and also the card game Skyjo. I've never really understood why Skyjo is so appealing; it's easy to learn, quick to play, and has very little skill. Or so it seems... but some people (including my granddaughter) manage to win considerably more often than would happen if the game were purely luck. 

And, by the time I'd played thirty or forty games, usually first thing in the morning, I was starting to win more often. I have no idea why.

We continued to visit the Carlisle library most weekends, and also the wonderful 'Bookcase' second-hand shop. It's an amazing place, with several floors and dozens of different sections. The basement has a lot of children's books, and the grandchildren will sit and read for as long as they're able. 

Prices aren't as good as charity shops, but there is a huge selection. Unfortunately there isn't an online catalogue. But the staff on duty are very helpful. 

On other days, depending on the weather, we went out for walks, or went to local parks. We had one morning visit to the Watchtree nature reserve. The children rented bikes, and the adults walked a pleasant trail of a few kilometres. 

We also visited a place called Dalston, not far away, where there was another good walk through a natural environment, and a park. What we didn't know was that it was the first day of the village festival. So we were quite amused to see a rubber duck race in the stream...

There were scarecrows around the village, taking on a variety of important roles:

We walked around an art exhibition in a church, too, and were shown some conjuring tricks. The sun shone and we ate lunch outside. 

I mentioned in the previous post that I was planning to go to my aunt's funeral towards the end of my stay. It was a bit complex organising the transport. The best value was to get a train to Birmingham, then a National Express coach from there to Cardiff. The only problem was having to get from New Street train station to Digbeth coach station. They're not that far apart, but Birmingham has changed a lot since I lived there, and I'm not familiar with the city centre any more. 

So I allowed an hour each time for this.

I left Carlisle just after lunch on the last day of July. The train was mostly on time; maybe five minutes late, so I still had plenty of time to get to Digbeth. But I didn't want to take any chances, and there were taxis waiting outside New Street. So that was easy, even if it cost me a few extra pounds. 

I arrived at the coach station in Cardiff just after 8pm and was very thankful that my sister met me there in the car. It had been a long afternoon, and I  appreciated having my Kindle with me as I travelled.

Funerals are always poignant and difficult, especially for the close family. My brother took our aunt's funeral service, and it was as uplifting and encouraging as possible in the circumstances. It was a bonus to spend some extra time with my three siblings, although I had seen them all in June. It was also good to catch up briefly with my cousins, one of whom I had not seen for about forty years. I hope it won't be another forty years before we see each other again... 

My return journey to Carlisle started mid-morning on August 2nd. My sister drove me to the Cardiff coach station (so called, though it's outside) and my coach was due to leave just before 11am.  It left a little late, but I was thankful not to be on another one, a couple of lanes down, which evidently had a serious problem. All the passengers were told to disembark and leave their luggage behind... they were still waiting when the one I was on departed.

Traffic was quite heavy en route to Birmingham, and by the time it reached Digbeth it was half an hour after its expected time of arrival.  I knew I had another half-hour and that the taxi outgoing took only about five minutes, but I was still somewhat anxious about reaching New Street in time. I was more concerned still when I got out and there were no taxis to be seen. I headed in what I hoped was the right direction, thinking I would find a taxi elsewhere, but traffic was almost at a standstill in places, and there were no taxi ranks. 

So I kept walking. My sense of direction is appalling (some would say non-existent) but I tried to relax, reminding myself that I did pay an extra pound or so when booking the train which, I think, would have allowed me to go on a later one if necessary. I was praying for guidance as I attempted not to panic; the sun was out and I was getting warmer and warmer after the air conditioned coach....

Then suddenly I recognised where I was. It was not far from the ramp that used to lead up to the bull-ring shopping centre. I knew all the indoor centres had changed, and prayed that it still led to the station, as I had no idea where the main entrance was. 

To my great relief, the ramp still existed, as did the escalators down to the train station. I had done the walk in about ten minutes. I suspect a taxi would have taken longer, given the traffic. The time was 14.45 and I thought my train was at 15.00, but it wasn't showing on the board. I didn't know which platform to go to. I found my ticket - I had both an e-version and a printed one - and to my surprise (and relief) the booked train was actually for 15.10. With an extra ten minutes, I was able to use a loo and buy some sandwiches and iced coffee, as I hadn't had any lunch.

I got on the train in plenty of time, and although it was about ten minutes late arriving in Carlisle, I was back at my son's home by about 6.30 in the evening, for our last weekend together. 

On Monday we played games most of the morning, then walked to town and had lunch at a pleasant (and surprisingly good value) restaurant called Bordo's. 

We followed that with coffee at Costa, and then the family all came onto the platform to wave me off as I left on the train to Glasgow. 

It was perhaps appropriate that it started to rain about half an hour after I had left, and continued for the rest of the day. I was glad I had my lightweight rain jacket with me, easily reachable in my backpack. At Glasgow Central railway station I asked at the information office how to get to the airport, and was given excellent directions to the appropriate bus. I was a little surprised at how long it took to get to the airport - perhaps I shouldn't have been, as the fare was higher than I had expected.

Indeed, it wasn't a great afternoon. So much so that I didn't take any photos at all. Glasgow Airport was devoid of anyone who might be able to help me, and I couldn't find any shuttle buses to the Travelodge where I was booked in for the night. I did find a map which showed it, and set off, walking, in the right direction. However I found myself in a car park which I wandered round for far too long before I found the way out - back near the airport. 

I asked someone in uniform near the airport how to get to the Travelodge and was told to look for the Premier Inn, and then it would be obvious. 

They were wrong. 

But there was a garage near the Premier Inn so I went into the shop and asked a helpful assistant, who pointed me in the right direction. By then I was feeling drenched... my lightweight jacket is showerproof, but not fully waterproof, and I hadn't been able to keep the hood up. My trousers and socks were damp, too. I had to trudge along the side of a road, on a grassy verge where my pull-along large cabin case was looking decidedly wet. 

I did eventually find the Travelodge, and was extremely thankful to do so. It only had two storeys and was surrounded by quite tall trees and hedges. There is no way it could have been visible from the Premier Inn. I had been walking for an hour. I had to open the case and remove the socks I had put around the edges, so they could dry out. I was so tired I lay down for an hour before going to get something to eat at the restaurant. 

Then it was hard to sleep, because the room was quite light and too warm; but as it looked over a car park I didn't want to open the window as it was too noisy. The bed wasn't particularly comfortable either. Previously I've had great experiences with Travelodges, which are 'cheap and cheerful', but usually more comfortable. 

I eventually slept, and then had further disappointment when the breakfast bar had no apple juice, no fruit compote (one of my favourite Travelodge breakfast items) and, worst of all, the coffee machine was out of order. I had some instant coffee for the caffeine, but it was my least favourite brand; one I wouldn't normally use. 

However, there was one very good thing. When I checked out, I asked the person on duty what was the easiest way to walk to the airport, and she gave me clear directions. The day was bright and clear, and I walked back to the airport in about ten minutes. 

Glasgow Airport doesn't have great wifi; it wouldn't let me use Whatsapp or even send text messages, but Facebook and Messenger worked, as did Duolingo. And when it came to boarding my flight, I was glad I had 'easy boarding' (allowing me the large cabin bag as well as my backpack) as it was quick and very efficient. 

Unlike the many horror stories I've heard recently from friends and relatives, the flight left on time and arrived in Larnaka early. And since it was evening, and almost dark, it wasn't nearly as hot as I had feared. 

It's a relief to be home again, after all the travelling. 

Out of Cyprus

Yes, I'm still around. I haven't abandoned this blog, despite the longest gap between posts that I can remember. Part of the reason was my excessive sadness about the loss of our cat Alex. I started to write about him in March, and updated as draft off and on - I dated the post at the end of April, but only just recently remembered to publish it.

Another part of the reason was that I spent the end of March and first couple of weeks of April in Carlisle, being a full-time Grandma during the school Easter holidays. I hadn't seen my grandchildren (or their parents...) for many months. Video chatting is wonderful, but not as good as being with them. 

We played games, read books, went for walks, visited the library, had some outings... it was awesome. 

By the time I got back to Cyprus, the weather was already warming up. We've had the hottest months on record several times in the past year. And I don't do well in heat. 

Our bird of paradise plant had seven different blooms this year, after none at all for the past seven years. There are many theories about how often they produce their stunning flowers; it will be interesting to see if there are more next year, or whether we have to wait another seven years....

May, thankfully, was (unusually) a tad cooler than April. We had quite a few visitors in our guest flat, and did more entertaining than we had done for a while. We continued, of course, to play regular board games with friends, and I went on my early morning walks with my friend Sheila. Three of our young friends were baptised (on separate occasions) this year. I knitted, and wrote book reviews, and cooked and baked... we've often been told that time goes by faster as one ages, and I'm finding this more and more true. 

By early June the temperatures had started soaring and we knew it was time to clean the air conditioners. It's not a lengthy or difficult process, just a bit tedious. The priorities were our studies, where we have computers which become unreliable at more than 30 degrees Celcius. And our bedroom. We had discarded even the thin duvet in favour of a cover, but it was beginning to get humid. 

I abandoned the oven, in favour of making salads only for our evening meals (in conjunction, at times, with the air fryer or microwave). 

But only for a couple of weeks. In the middle of June, our younger son was ordained as a full Anglican priest in London, so we flew out for the ceremony.  Not a great photo: this image is from the livestream, as we weren't allowed to take any pictures during the (lengthy) service. Our son was one of about twenty who were ordained. 

We spent a couple of days with our son and his wife, then drove to Cardiff to see my sister and her husband for the first time in about eighteen months. Then up to Carlisle to stay with our other son, his wife and our two grandchildren.  

Richard had a long weekend with lots of board games, books, and hugs. Unfortunately our grandson wasn't well, so despite really quite good weather, we couldn't all go out anywhere. 

On the Monday he drove south again, leaving me behind, so I could have another six weeks or so away from Cyprus and the excessive heat. And it has been hot in Cyprus! June this year was apparently the hottest on record. I suspect the same will be true of July when they do the calculations.

In the past month, while the children are at school I've walked into town a few times to get some exercise. I've also done a lot of updates on my book review blog, after Amazon changed the way they provide affiliate links. I'm doing a bit of editing too, and making the posts look more similar so it's not a bad thing to do, just time-consuming. My book blog has more than 2500 posts, written over the past 25 years.  

Another thing I've been doing during school hours is tidying up my computer files. I had rather a muddle of folders, with some things in Google Drive, some duplicates, and a lot of confusion. That's also been time consuming, and a bit complicated at times, but I'm pleased to have it almost all sorted now. Just as well since tomorrow is the last day of school, and it's a half day. So time to myself will be more limited. 

Sadly one of my aunts died recently after a brief illness, so I'll be heading back to Cardiff by train for the funeral, then a few days later, in early August, returning to Cyprus via Glasgow Airport. Yes, it will still be hot, but the days will be getting a little shorter, and by September the humidity should start to drop. 

Twelve days out of Cyprus

In my last post, I wrote about some of the things we do to prepare the house (and ourselves) for Summer in Cyprus. July and August are always hot, and usually humid. Computers don't like temperatures higher than about 28-29 Celcius, and this human doesn't either. So it was important to have our air conditioners clean and ready to be used.

We did all this towards the end of June because on the last day of the month we flew to the UK for a 12-day visit. Sometimes I stay for rather longer, but it wasn't really going to work out this year. We needed to be there for July 1st as our younger son was ordained as deacon in the Anglican church. It had been his dream for most of his life and we were thrilled to be at the service, where the Bishop of London was presiding.

Not that we could see very much; there were nearly 50 ordinands, and about 2,500 people in St Paul's Cathedral, but we could hear - and were then able to see the live-streamed service afterwards, which gave a rather better view. Our other son came down for the day, one of my brothers came to the service too, and we were also pleased to see a friend from our early days in Cyprus, who had known our sons well when they were children.

Being in London, staying a couple of nights at the Heathrow Premier Inn, we didn't rent a car at first; instead we either walked or used the Underground. I don't much like it, and find it difficult to understand; but Richard's familiar with it as he worked in London (albeit nearly half a century ago).

I did like the new 'Elizabeth' line which runs from Heathrow, and I quickly got used to the payment system: one taps a credit or debit card going into the underground area, and again on exiting, and the full amount is debited at the end of the day. However it won't deduct more than the cost of a day-saver travel card.

On the following morning we travelled back into London, this time to attend the morning service at the church where our son will be working for the next couple of years.

Afterwards we had a Subway lunch, which we ate outside in a nearby park area. We were surprised to see how tame one of the squirrels was, running around near the benches, evidently hoping for some crumbs. And when it found something, it sat there in full view, nibbling. 

After this we went to look at the flat which our son and his wife will be renting for the next year or two - they had only just been given the keys, so it was still empty. The cost of renting in London is horrendous, and the flat is tiny; part of a converted Edwardian style terrace. But the ceilings are quite high and the living area looked surprisingly spacious.

We had left most of our luggage at a nearby station, so we collected that, and then got the train to Cambridge for a few days. Our son and his wife will be renting out their house - a small but very nice 'starter home'- so our task was to help them fix a few problems (such as a rusty access chamber cover) after the movers had collected their things on Monday.

It was a full and active few days; not that I was able to do much to help in practical terms. Richard was happy to help our daughter-in-law learn to use some power tools, and although there were more things to do than expected, and - inevitably - it all took longer than planned, our task was finished by early afternoon on the Wednesday. 

Two of us took the train to London while the other two packed all the remaining bits and pieces into a rental van, and drove to London - which took considerably longer than the train journey.  So we moved and even unpacked a few of the boxes from the movers, in order to make space for the extra things still to come. 

As we ate a cold supper, perching on boxes, we realised that it was only five days since we left Larnaka...

Richard and I took the van back to Cambridge that night, and in the morning went to exchange it for the rental car which we had booked for the next week. We used Enterprise Car Rental, which we hadn't tried before. Their prices were good - significantly better than our usual choices - and their staff were friendly, and helpful... but clearly over-worked. Although we arrived in good time to pick up our car we had to wait over an hour before it was ready. Someone else, who arrived before us, was waiting even longer.

Then when we had only driven for about two hours, an engine warning light came on, and the car lost most of its acceleration. We were perhaps 15 miles away from the village where my brother and his wife live, and we were due there for lunch. So we kept going, puttering along, struggling on the hills, very thankful this had not happened on the motorway.

One excellent lunch later, Richard spent a considerable amount of time on the phone to local Enterprise Car rental places, only to be told - eventually - to speak to the one in Cambridge. They were most apologetic, but after some research told us that our only option was to have a much smaller car than we wanted to get us up to Carlisle, and then exchange that for a bigger one the following day.

We had hoped to arrive at our older son's house in Carlisle by about 5pm, in time for an evening meal with the grandchildren. But it was about 8.30pm by the time we finally reached our destination, and our granddaughter was already asleep.

However, we had a very enjoyable 'long weekend', relaxing in the family environment, with lots of hugs, and books, and games, including 'Meeple Land', which reminded me of the old 'Theme Park' computer game which we played a couple of decades ago. 

The weather wasn't ideal, but among other things we did manage to go out for a walk, taking the grandchildren roller-blading in the nearby park:  

We went to their local church service where I was very moved by our grandson answering the question, 'Who would you most like to invite to a meal at your house?' (real or imaginary, living or dead) by saying, 'My Great-Grandpa, because I had such a good time with him when he was alive.' 

And we also helped our granddaughter with some school homework: compiling a bar chart of her extended family's preferences for different zoo animals, with a choice of eight: 

But all good things, as the saying goes, come to an end. So, after walking to school with the grandchildren on Monday morning, we said our goodbyes and set off down the M6. The car acquired in Carlisle was comfortable and, Richard said, very pleasant to drive. 

We had a brief break in Birmingham, having lunch with one of our oldest, closest friends, and then a couple of hours with my step-mother. The next phase of our journey was to the Gatwick Travelodge. We hadn't been there with a car before, and were a bit shocked at the parking charges, but we needed the car for the following day when we drove even further south to spend the day with Richard's mother. 

We returned the car to Gatwick that night, not wanting to get up early the following morning (or pay for another night's parking!) so we got the friendly 'Gatwick Hopper' shuttle-bus to our accommodation. 

After breakfast on the Wednesday Richard finished all the packing - he is much better at this than I am. Our flight was not due until 15.25 but we didn't see much point remaining in the Travelodge, so we got the shuttle-bus back to Gatwick shortly after 10.00. We should probably have waited longer as it was hard to find anywhere to sit, at first, and we couldn't check in our luggage until three hours before the flight was due. 

We had flown out with two full-size cabin baggage cases and two backpacks - which is still the free allowance on BA flights. We had not used BA for some years, as they don't fly to any of the airports we generally use, and they tend to be pricey. But since we needed to fly to Heathrow, and the only other choice was Wizz Air - which charges vast amounts for any luggage other than a small carry-on bag - we used BA on our outward flight. They weren't too expensive, their luggage allowance was generous (by today's standards) and even their boarding procedure seemed quick and efficient. 

However, returning from Gatwick, the only option was EasyJet, an airline we've often used and which we quite like. We had booked their 'speedy boarding' category which costs a bit more than the basic flight, but includes full-sized cabin baggage. And we had booked an extra piece of checked luggage, since Richard had ordered a large piece of equipment that came in a big box. 

We had also bought a few extra things, as one does in the UK, from Amazon and elsewhere. In Cyprus we can't easily find things like Roomba replacement parts, or filters for our cats' water fountain; getting them posted from the UK costs more than the items themselves. Sometimes we ask visiting friends to bring out items we've ordered, but this time we were able to bring them ourselves.

We used an airport trolley for the first time in many years:

The flight was a couple of hours late, but managed to catch up some time due to a useful tailwind. Our friend Sheila met us at the airport; our cats were very pleased to see us; and we finally got to bed about midnight. 

It had only been twelve days. It felt like we'd been away for at least a month....

Family visiting Cyprus

 It feels like a LONG time since I last wrote. It's only four weeks, but our generally relaxed empty-nest routines were thrown out for a while. The house looked more lived-in than usual, with the coffee table piled high with books. The usual weekly cleaning didn't happen. The Roomba only ran sporadically, and I barely managed half an hour at my computer most days. We didn't watch a single film or even an episode of a DVD series. I usually read at least two books per week; in the past month I've only finished three full-length books, although I read a large number of shorter ones....

It was awesome. 

Our family - son, daughter-in-law and their two children - came to stay over the Easter holidays, with a few extra days each end (authorised by the children's school) so they could find affordable flights.  For just over three weeks they were with us, in Cyprus for the first time since the summer of 2017. 

Life is very different with children in the house.  At eight (nearly nine) and six (and a quarter) our grandchildren are a delight. At times they are noisy, and they rarely sit still, but they're loving, curious, and interested in everything. They love playing games, too - so we played a lot of board games. 

The Lego proved popular... though it only came out a couple of times.

They love books - they can both read fluently, but they like listening to books too, as my own sons did, well into their teens. My grandson discovered Garfield for the first time. We have quite a collection of the books, and I loved hearing his chuckles as he devoured them, one after another. 

In the first week Richard took them out sailing, and we had an afternoon on the beach. I thought we might have had more beach afternoons, but somehow they didn't happen... sometimes it was too windy, or even wet; more often there were simply too many other things to do. 

Cooking was an interesting challenge: my son is vegetarian, which is fine; I have leanings that way myself. But others like to eat meat at least a few times each week. My husband is dairy-free, but eats meat: so normally our house is dairy-free, but we bought cheese and yogurt for the family. Then the grandchildren won't eat any cooked vegetables, though they love raw ones. They also don't like strong flavours such as hot curries, and are reluctant to experiment too much with new foods although they're pretty good about trying things they're not sure about. 

Unusually for us, we ordered takeaways via Foody about once a week, since both of us had discount vouchers. Besides, I needed a break from cooking sometimes, to be able to enjoy an afternoon out.  Sometimes I cheated, too, with ready-made burgers (meat or vegetarian) or breaded fish (or chicken or vegetables). 

But I prefer to eat 'real' food (enchiladas, perhaps, or spanokopita, or chicken pie, or a jalfrezi curry and rice...)  and on the whole it wasn't too difficult to suit everyone's tastes, it just took some planning - and a lot of oven space - if I was making two or even three different main courses, some added form of carbohydrate if needed, and two or three cooked vegetables. 

Before the family came, I made a mental list of places that we could visit. There are local playgrounds and parks, of course, but our first bigger outing was to Cyherbia. We weren't entirely sure what to expect, but the children were thrilled to hear about the famous maze, apparently the only one in Cyprus.

We took a twelve-year-old friend with us, which is a good thing as the children raced around the maze, and our young friend was the only one who could keep up with them. 

Cyherbia also has a walk in the shape of the island of Cyprus, where we could see different landmarks, and there's a beautiful fairy village which we all admired: 

We spent a couple of hours walking around (or running, in the case of the children) and would have stayed out longer, but it started to rain. So we went to find our complementary hot herbal tea in the tea room, and the children spotted that there were ice creams. Ice cream was quite a feature of their visit; we lost track of how many they ate when out at various places.

Over the Western Easter weekend, our son and his wife drove part way into the mountains for a couple of days by themselves, and the children moved upstairs to what used to be our younger son's bedroom. It's become an electronics room for Richard, so although he tidied it up prior to their arrival, it's not ideal... however the children liked being with us upstairs so much that they slept there at nighttime for the rest of their holiday. 

While we had the children on our own, we had our second further-away outing, this time to the Camel Park.  It's somewhere else we'd never been, although we'd heard good things about it. We were very impressed with the wide range of activities: a playground for younger children, exercise equipment for slightly older ones, plenty to see including a terrapin pool: 

We bought fairly inexpensive bags of animal feed (carob pods) which were doled out to the many different animals in the park. Perhaps the enclosures were a bit small, but the animals seemed contented and very eager to reach out for their food. 

The highlight was a camel ride, which both the children enjoyed thoroughly: 

They even went in the swimming pool, although we thought it rather chilly. I felt a bit anxious the whole time, since neither of us are good swimmers and we had no intention of going in. I would, of course, have jumped in fully clothed had either of the children got into difficulties, but thankfully they stayed in the shallow end, splashing about and enjoying themselves until they finally admitted that it really was too cold. 

We'd been at the Camel Park for two hours and it was past noon, so we thought we would go to the restaurant for an early lunch. We had checked the menu in advance: they offered sandwiches of various kinds, and a children's section as well as quite a wide variety of Cypriot foods.

Then we had a disappointment: there was a big party at the Camel Park, so the restaurant wasn't serving meals. They did say that we could have something from the buffet (although it wasn't available for another half hour) but they couldn't tell us what it would consist of - and the cost was quite high for something that we probably wouldn't want, and the children most likely wouldn't eat. We asked if they would at least make sandwiches, and they said no - they weren't providing any other food until 4pm! 

So we bought bags of crisps at the kiosk nearby, as we were all surprisingly hungry; then we left to have our cold lunch back home. We would have stayed another hour or more if we'd been able to eat there. Picnics are not allowed in the Camel Park, so we couldn't have taken our own food. 

As often happens on holiday, the second half of the visit seemed to race past. The children went to local parks several times, and visited the fort in the town. On Greek Good Friday (a week after the Western one) my daughter-in-law organised a hunt for small chocolate eggs for the children around the house and side yard; they took some finding as the hiding places were quite creative. 

I made hot cross buns (I never can get the flour paste on the top to look right, but they tasted good). In the afternoon, the children went to our friends' house to experiment with dyeing and decorating hard-boiled eggs. It's  something my grandson had read about but they had never previously tried.

For the next four days, the family was even more enlarged as our younger son and his wife made a short visit, staying in a local AirBnB, and bringing the warmest weather we'd had all year. Just as well, since my new daughter-in-law is very allergic to cats, so they couldn't come into the house. 

On the Saturday, they all visited an interactive science fair not far from Nicosia, which we'd seen advertised.  I decided to have a day to myself, so I didn't go. The children enjoyed it, but overall the adults felt that it was a bit disappointing. 

The advertising said that visitors would need at least two hours to interact with all the different displays. In the event, about 25% of them were not working - or not working properly - but there were no staff available to assist.  Not that it was crowded - despite being Greek Easter Saturday, there was almost nobody else there.  So they spent as long as they wanted to at all the working exhibits, and still finished in under an hour. 

On the Sunday, we barbecued lunch outside after going to church services to celebrate the Resurrection. Our local friends came over in the afternoon for games followed by a cold evening meal, with 14 of us in all sitting around tables in our side yard. I think it's the most people we've had sitting down to eat out there at one time, and probably the maximum we could accommodate from the point of view of comfort.

On Monday they had a morning of sailing. On Tuesday morning, our friends came over for games, then one of my sons treated us to lunch out in the town. In the afternoon we took a walk by the Salt Lake... and in the evening our younger son and his wife departed to return to the UK overnight. On Wednesday afternoon we took the children to St George's Park, followed by ice creams, and our other son treated us all to food in the Metropolis Mall. And so, time gradually speeded up in our perception as their imminent departure was measured not in days but hours... 

When they left I was sad, but not as devastated as I felt five-and-a-half years ago when they departed after staying all summer.  That's mainly because, in 2017, they were going to join a ship the other side of the world, and we had no idea when we might see them again. Now we see them more often, and video chat fairly regularly so it's not such a wrench. 

I wish we lived closer and could see them more frequently; I certainly hope they come again before another five or six years have passed. But for holidays to be special, they need to have their own everyday lives with their own routines.  And I was quite tired; much as I miss them, it's good to have my own space, with time to relax on my own to recharge my psychological batteries.