A lovely walk in the sunshine. We then went shopping and bought Cyprus Today. What can I say about that, the paper has less and less news each week.
Purely by coincidence when I was with Sue yesterday, we were talking about genealogy and she said she was interested in finding more about her family tree. Mal did some research for her last night and managed to get back to 1655. He has also realised that Find My Past have this weekend free so I have sent Sue the link. This is because it is Remembrance Weekend. I hope she wasn’t intending doing anything this weekend as it can become very addictive and interesting of course!
We watched the football in the afternoon. QPR did surprisingly well. Thought for the Day – “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
We walked in the mountains with Ellie and she found a grasshopper/locust and was chasing it. She manages to catch them in the garden and then I have to force them out of her mouth. She just carries them around! Mal called her but she wouldn’t budge!
Chasing Grasshoppers
More wild flowers popping their heads trough….
I met Sue and Tanya for lunch at Magarina Bulli. That place is amazing, the food is good home cooked Cypriot food, so tasty. The only fault we always find is that Kenan gives you enormous portions. Today I kept saying SMALL as I was choosing and still had an enormous plate full. He just kept tut-tuting when I said No more!! If you want to you can have some of everything. It is all so good. The bill for the three of us with drinks and coffees……59tl (£16.50 at today’s rate). There were no other Brits in there, I guess they prefer the burger places. That is not what I came to Cyprus for! I wanted the real Cypriot food and that is what you get here.
A “small” lunch!!Tanya and Sue
Oops, Tanya looks a bit drunk, I can assure you she wasn’t! Unprepared for the camera!
So much for Marks & Spencer flower delivery!! I ordered some flowers for my sister as today is a significant day, Bryan’s birthday (my brother in law who died) and I knew she would be feeling down. I have just phoned her…………….no flowers arrived. I am so upset and so time for an email to M&S. She said it was a nice thought but that’s not much good without the flowers! Thought for the Day – “No matter how good or bad you have it, wake up each day thankful for your life. Someone somewhere else is desperately fighting for theirs.”
I have just clicked on the link above for M&S as they have some really lovely bouquets at 20% off just for today with free next day delivery. It is a special day for my sister tomorrow, so I have ordered one for her. They look stunning, I think you can rely on Marks for their flowers.
Last night I was really surprised. Way back in August I ordered 3 of the ceramic poppies from the Tower of London.- Blood Swept Lands And Seas Of Red. One for me, one for Torin and one for Rhys. My grandfather was killed in the First World War. He was 26 years of age. I also applied to have his name read out on the Roll of Honour. I heard nothing and knowing that 888, 246 were lost in that war, I was not surprised. Imagine my surprise when I received the email below………….
“Thank you for submitting a name for the Roll of Honour at the Tower of London. We are delighted to confirm that your nomination will be included at the ceremony on 11th November 2014.
The list of names will be read from the poppy-filled Tower moat at sunset, starting at 10.30am. The names will be read the order in which they were submitted and validated. We regret we are unable to make changes to the reading lists at this stage.
At the end of the reading, which will take about 20-30 minutes, the final poppy will be planted in the moat, and an Army bugler will play the Last Post. This will be followed by a two minutes silence.
If you would like to watch, you can get a good view from the area in front of the Tower ticket desks on Tower Hill. We are anticipating that the area will be busy so advise that you arrive on site by 10.00am.
We are filming the ceremonies and an archive site where you will be able to view the videos is currently under construction, we will let you know when it goes live.
We are also adding the lists of names being read each night at http://rollofhonour.tumblr.com/ so that they can be seen and remembered from anywhere in the world.
Thank you so much for your support for the Tower of London Remembers project.”
Quite honestly I am stunned that they have chosen the ceremony on Sunday to read his name. The whole family will be very proud. I wanted to go and see the poppies last time we were in the UK but we just didn’t have time. They have already emailed to say that my three poppies will not be sent out until Jan/Feb which is a bit of a shame as I wanted to give them to the boys as part of their Christmas present. Now Boris Johnson is trying to keep them for longer. I paid out nearly £100 in August (including the £5.95 postage for each one) and it seems now it may be even longer until we get them!
The Tower of London Poppy Display
Well here it is, they have just released the John Lewis Christmas ad………
http://youtu.be/iccscUFY860
Thought for the Day – “Don’t listen to what people say, watch what they do.”
We took Ellie out later than usual and the sun was out and so a lovely walk in the mountains. The weather has improved now the family has gone back to the UK. That’s a shame. I watch the seasons here and now after the first rains, things are sprouting and flowering already.
We went to pay our Multimax bill. They have moved offices but it was very easy to find. I was text by them and asked to take my passport in, which I did and they put a photo copy on record. Along with this I had to sign a 4 page “new rules” contract. These have been issued by Turkey. Before I signed, I gave them to Mal to check over, he speed reads which is just as well as the writing was so small and so much we may have been in there all day! There is one paragraph on the second page which was all about morality. Erm, whose opinion of morality? We asked the receptionist and she shrugged her shoulders, so we crossed out that paragraph before signing it! She agreed to this, so for anyone else, you don’t have to agree to that part! I wonder how many people just sign it without reading. Turkey is tightening up on the internet!
Violet and Tristan came on the webcam in the evening. Violet was telling us about her new school, the same primary that I went to!
Violet
Thought for the Day – “Going after a dream has a price. It may mean abandoning our habits, it may make us go through hardships, or it may lead us to disappointment. But however costly it may be , it is never as high as the price paid by people who didn’t live.” ~ Paulo Coelho
We were all up early and I took Charlotte, Torin, Scarlet and Jack to the airport. I hate airport goodbyes and so Torin said to just drop them off and leave, which I did.
Grandad will miss having the kids to play with and so will Ellie, she just loved running around with them. Of course so will I!!
Grandad, Scarlet and Jack
It all seemed very quiet and Ellie kept looking for the children. It was sunny but still quite a cold wind but such a shame the children didn’t have better weather.Time for all the washing!
Happy Birthday to Ollie who is 8 today and has had a Hudl for his birthday and now has an email. He even sent me a picture he had taken of his birthday cake!
Thought for the Day – “You don’t choose your life; it chooses you. There’s no point asking why life has reserved certain joys or griefs, you just accept them and carry on. We can’t choose our lives but we can decide what to do with the joys or griefs we are given.” ~ Paulo Coelho
Scarlet and Jack came for the walk with us and Ellie in the morning.
Fun in and around the pool. Of course Ellie thinks one of the sun beds is hers!
It was the last night for Charlotte, Torin, Scarlet and Jack and so we went to Veni Vici for our last dinner. They all enjoyed it. Just a shame schools have such silly rules now or they could have stayed longer.
Charlotte and Torin
Thought for the Day – “We can never judge the lives of others, because each person knows only their own pain and renunciation. It’s one thing to feel that you are on the right path, but it’s another to think that yours is the only path.” ~ Paulo Coelho
Mal and I took Ellie to the beach as we didn’t want to risk the mountains as it was the first day of the hunting season. The beaches were still covered in sea weed so that wasn’t too successful.
The morning around the pool and then we went down to Acmenya for Sunday lunch. It’s nice there because in between courses Scarlet and Jack could go outside and play.
Scarlet and Jack were in their element with help yourself deserts!
Back to watch the football and then in the evening we had a disco on the swimming pool terrace!
