We picked Ed up from the airport on Wednesday and we haven't stopped to draw breath since. There has been lunch in Kamares Restaurant, Arapis, Tsada and yesterday on the Akamas Peninsula. We have off-roaded along the peninsula towards Lara Beach (turtle hatcheries) and explored the rugged coast of St Georges Bay. And now the boys have gone off to play nine holes of golf and I'm crashing out for an hour or two.
Adventures so far have included being blocked in by a huge bus down at Coral Bay and Phil trying to help a family who had managed to get their vehicle well and truly stuck in the sands of Lara Beach.



This is the rugged coastline at St Georges Bay.



Lunch was high up above the beach on the Akamas in a restaurant called The Last Castle. Beautiful setting with spectacular views.

I haven't told you about the gardener, or indeed lack of gardener. It seems fairly typical that you get let-down by gardeners here when you work away. They are happy to take the money but don't appear for months until the moment you get off your flight.
This time we were again disappointed and let down, the garden had not been seen to and was not going to be by Greenfingers (name and shame). This of course left us with a problem. However, Phil decided that he was going to take charge and proceeded to head off down town. He arrived back with enough power tools and 'big boys toys' to put Kew Gardens to shame.
He set about attacking the garden in a chain-saw frenzy and I saw little of him for a few days until the dust and clippings had settled. And then one morning I awoke and walked out into the garden to be totally amazed at my other halves new talent, topiary! All of the lavender bushes were now resplendent cushions of green, the plumbago crafted into two cushion arrangements sitting one on top of another and there glowing in the early morning light,his best ever creation something that can only be best described as a chickens bottom!! Absolutely magnificent, quirky and tremendously funny.

Guess who's coming tomorrow?

Last night I was taken to Annabelles for an early Anniversary dinner. We sat out under the stars, there was an arrangement of my favourite flowers (day lilies and orchids), a bottle of Bolli on ice and a beautiful Omega Constellation watch! The meal consisted of Lobster Bisque, Duck Pate, Sea Bass and then for dessert the chef had made this wonderful confection with Happy Anniversary written on top; a truly wonderful evening!

You should know by now that living in Saudi means not just limited shopping opportunities but non-existent shopping opportunities!
So as soon as I hit civilization I shop. However, prior to this I thought I would do a little fashion research by looking at magazines to see what 'is hot' and 'what is not'. This sort of helped but as two months stretch before me I find I am in no rush so I decided to see what the average British tourist from the UK is wearing because surely they are at the cutting edge of fashion?
The conclusion that I have come to is this:
Day-glo bikinis are still the number one fashion item for lunching, dining and walking around the streets of Paphos.
Chiffon sarongs with beads are a must.
Glittery, sparkly flip-flops are essential for the best dressed Brit abroad!
Now I have serious issues with the latter as Karim, my right hand man in Saudi, neatly places his flip flops outside the door of the villa and tells me quite emphatically that he is saving for shoes and that flip flops are rubbish. I mean would Emelda be seen exiting any plane in South America wearing flip flops?
Putting this to one side, I now have the information that is needed. So I will be donning my lime green bikini,girding my loins with my chiffon sarong, slipping into the sparkly flip flops, getting ratted in the karaoke bars down Plastic Street before...
picking Edward up at the airport next Wednesday! Trendy don't you think?

There's one name that keeps cropping up in Cyprus and recently I have come to understand it's significance. You see there's Costas the Pool, Costas the Gardener, Costas the Furniture Supplier, Costas the Restaurant Owner, Costas the Car Hire and Costas the Car. In fact everything has Costas a lot of money over the last two weeks!

I haven't been able to Blog for a few days because Costas the Builder accidentally cut through the cable! I also realised that you haven't had photographs of the villa this time so have a look at our new alfresco coffee table:

I don't smoke and although I'm all for 'live and let live' I can become intolerant if a smoker blows smoke over me. I also hate it when they hold the cigarette down and away from them but almost underneath my nose! And surely there is nothing worse than children who reek of stale tobacco because they are in home environments where smoking takes place.
So why am I getting on that high horse again? Well temperatures are high, as one would expect at this time of year in Cyprus, and the land is very dry. Last year we watched as a fire almost engulfed the little Cypriot village of Tala. It took four fire helicopters nearly eighteen hours to get the inferno under control and residents were obviously very worried that they would lose their homes. It was believed to be started by a passing motorist flicking a cigarette end through an open window.
Yesterday we watched as the mountainside opposite went up in flames. This time it affected the area to the north of the village and was soon under control. However, it came very close to the villas up on the skyline and residents were even using their own garden hosepipes to tackle the flames which were licking at their perimeter fences.
Now I have no idea whether it was started by a careless smoker but again it leaves you wondering doesn't it?

Met up with Jeff from Jubail (KSA) yesterday lunchtime and I couldn't resist asking him about the guy who walked into the desert. I wrote about it last year but I will refresh your memory should you have forgotten. This man came from the UK to KSA for an interview for a job at Jeff's company. He seemed very disturbed during the interview and Jeff told him to go and have a break and get a drink of water as he didn't look well. You may now remember that the guy never came back. His passport and clothes were in his hotel room and he had just disappeared. Jeff told me that no body was ever discovered but I guess if you wander into the Empty Quarter there isn't much chance of you ever being found. He and the Embassy think that it is more likely that he had another passport and that he got out of Kingdom in a water tank going over the Bahrain Bridge. So why do you think he did it?
Well something is definitely fishy and not just our fish mezze at Yangos and Peters at Latchi today. 
 
 

Today we have spent the afternoon trying to sort out the car situation and we have a result. A large car firm in Limassol called Andy's has come up trumps and helped us out to an extent that is mutually beneficial to both parties but which has still p***ed us off.They have agreed to give us 2,500 pounds for my BMW (yep, it's my car)and that hurts! We have then given them 2,200 pounds for a four year old Yaris. Yes, I think we have been stitched up one way or another but at least we haven't paid 7,200 for our own car which is only valued at 4,500 pounds.
The Yaris is kinda cute and I made Phil laugh when I got in and said 'come on Big Ears, fancy taking a spin with Noddy?'

I haven't mentioned this before because we were waiting to check things out when we got here. I think a little history is required for you to fully appreciate the situation.
In the year 2000 we took advantage of our visitor status in Cyprus to purchase a cute duty free BMW. This means that every time we left the country the car went into a bonded wharehouse and had to be signed back in by Customs. Now this has worked extremely well and at the end of April we put the car back into bond. Little did we realise that May 1st meant that Cyprus joined the EU and the government decided to trawl in some easy revenue. This took the form of retrospective taxes on duty free cars. Now we wouldn't have minded a moderate amount but you are not going to believe the sum of money they are claiming? The car is 8 years old and we paid just under 7,000 pounds. They want 7200 pounds to get the car out of bond!!
Apparently there are over 3,000 people in the same position and some of them are faced with amounts of over 20,000 pounds.
We have hired a car for the two months and are trying to get our heads around the situation.

Finally arrived yesterday morning after a gruelling and protracted journey. However, in true Scates style we have crammed in a party last night and a BIG lunch today at Vatouthka. It was Phil's birthday yesterday so we have celebrated with champagne a few times.The BIG news is that I have pictures of donkey's; well one scrawny little chap really but a donkey never-the-less.



This is the view from the hotel window in Amman in Jordan.



This is Coral Beach and where we had lunch on Phil's birthday.



Oh, bless! A sleepy donkey. Tethered beneath a carob tree at Vatouthka, lunch today...(no we didn't eat the donkey.)

Well the Swimming Gala is now over and another tick goes in a box. The end of the academic year is always busy but only 3 days to go. Bowling tomorrow and pizza on Wednesday, then I'm out of here for 2 months...yippee!
On the down-side, I have a dreadful cold, thank you to all of those children who sneezed on me last week and the eye 'thing' is back! Also I tried on my 'Jungle Jim' dress (an all-time favourite for 6 years and one I always pack for holidays) and it's a little too snug! How much weight can you lose in 3 days?

Camille:



What is she thinking?

Two parties, two nights running. Last night it was G's birthday formal dinner (lovely to go to a function that wasn't the usual 'smart casual'. What does that mean, almost an oxymoron?) It was a wonderful evening and I had the best time ever!
Five days now before we travel up to Jordon and then out to Cyprus on Thursday for two months. As usual I will be Blogging from Kamares so you can look forward to photographs of donkeys.


The third National Dialogue Forum discussed women's rights in Saudi Arabia three weeks ago. One male delegate claimed that women were "incapable of handling cars in open spaces because they suffer from agoraphobia. During their periods women become temporarily dyslexic and deaf!" Obviously some women would not have heard this comment and others would have been unable to write about it. So girls what do you thonk, whoops, thank, blimey thicnk...oh, you know what I moan, KO?