Some winter sun

 We've just had a week in Cyprus to get some winter sun, staying at a hotel in Limassol this time.  Last year we stayed in Paphos which I liked better because it was smaller and more picturesque.  Limassol is quite a big sprawling city in comparison, and at least 50% of it appears to be under construction or gone out of business - COVID perhaps slowing down developments and killing off small businesses that depended on tourism? But it meant a lot of graffiti'd eyesores in amongst the newer buildings.  We both enjoy historical sites so we visited the Amathous ruins, the neolithic village at Choirokoitia, and the main Kourion site outside of town.  By chance we were there during the pre-Lent Carnival time, so we also went in to town to see the preparations for the massive parade that almost 150 groups were taking part in. The parade was going to take over 5 hours so we didn't stay, but we enjoyed walking around the colourful chaos of the staging area where all the floats and costumed groups were queuing up. It was good to have some winter sun, and also to have a holiday with DH before I disappear for a couple of months. Temperatures were up to 24C in the daytime but cooler evenings. Cyprus is two hours ahead of UK time so I am having to phase back in to normal getting up and eating times and am still waking up at 5:30am.

Our hotel (which was pretty empty as it's out of season)

Amathous ruins

We did a lot of this

Neolithic village of Choirokotia

We saw a couple of tame parrots in shops, this one in a 

restaurant was particularly colourful.

Lots of costumed groups getting ready for the parade, and many of the audience

were also dressed up  in costumes.  Themes were pretty random and not very local: we saw a group of Oompa-Loompas from Willy Wonka, a Garfield-themed float, Pokemon, Minions, steampunk etc.

Also at least half a dozen girls and women dressed as Wednesday Adams.

I took my travel lace scarf knitting project for the plane and the evenings, and also a small cross stitch card that came with a magazine. It was also an opportunity to test out some of my recent travel acquisitions:

- snack pocket sewn into my travel knapsack: worked great, roomy and kept my snacks out of the general mess inside the main compartment.

- Kindle - total fail on the plane going out as I discovered the books I had carefully purchased for my library had not automatically downloaded. So even though I could see them in my library, I couldn't read them. Also the Kindle wouldn't connect to the Luton airport wifi which required you to agree to T&Cs first. I hastily downloaded a book onto my phone and had to read that on the plane.  After the initial hiccup though, the kindle is working well and I particularly like that I can read it in the car at night without bothering the night vision of DH the driver.

- trinket tray - although this was useful to corral a few small things on my hotel nightstand, it turns out it isn't big enough for my eyeglasses and phone.  So I made a larger one when I got back, using a couple of squares from the Japanese-theme Layer Cake I bought recently.

It's only a month now until I go to Japan, so I have been tackling a lot of my To-Do list and am feeling more prepared than I was. I'm picking up some more Yen tomorrow and will apply for my COVID proof of vaccination letter next week. I'm also having to think ahead to things that need to be done while I'm away or shortly after I get back, like booking the caravan in for its annual service.  There is still no communication from the school in Japan, no joining instructions or anything. I have chased politely, they expect to send something soon. But really it is far too late for a foreign visitor since by now we have to have booked most things. I think I'm ok anyway because I've been before and I have some travel experience, unless they turn around and say 'make sure you bring X' and I have to scramble to acquire an X.

Before leaving for Cyprus, I pieced together the Sunbonnet panel quilt using some vintage Laura Ashley for the border which matched that early-90s harvest gold tinge. The top went together surprisingly smoothly - usually my dodgy arithematic skills result in some unplanned 'design features'.  I just need to piece a backing for it, and then it can inaugurate the queue for 'quilts to be quilted next time the frame goes up in a few years'.  I received a nice thank you note from Project Linus for all the fabric I donated, and it definitely feels like there is more breathing space in my fabric storage area now - despite DH coming in and saying 'I thought you got rid of some fabric? It looks the same in here'.

I finished the Bruges Lace Flower 2 and was really unhappy with it. Compared to the picture in the book, mine looks really untidy, my edge loops are uneven and gaping open, there are twists in the wrong place, my central plaits are wobbly, and my thread is too thin for the design so the petals look a bit 'starved'. I've substituted a thicker linen thread and I'm going to try Flower 2 again and see if I can do a better job now that I'm a bit more familiar with the technique.

I'm still unpicking DS's quilt,  I have a deadline now because I want to get it back to him before I leave for Japan.  And I've made a good start on the second house in the CrossStitcher British Houses SAL.

I'm off to Paris this coming week for a few nights, to attend the L'Aiguille en Fete' needlecraft show. I plan to visit Versailles while I'm there, but during our Cyprus holiday I received an email from Versailles to say that there is potential strike disruption including the day of my visit - depending on the results of a staff meeting they may close the whole site.  They offered to move my ticket to a different day, so I moved it to the end of my trip instead of the start. This meant I had to rearrange my Eurostar ticket, and as it turned out, cancel my hotel which was full on the new date, and then book another hotel. So effectively I had to rebook the whole Paris trip when I got back from Cyprus. Hopefully it will be alright now.  It's wonderful to be retired and to have the flexibility to vary my dates without having to worry about getting permission from work. I did consider using an extra day to do some sightseeing, but watching a few Youtube videos on Paris really put me off.  Compared to when I visited Paris various times in the 80s and 90s, the queues for everything are huge now. For example, I wandered into Sainte Chapelle in 1982 and it was empty apart from one or two other people, and I think free of charge.  Now you have to buy a timed ticket and it looked chock full of people which completely takes away the magic that I remember.  Similar pictures and reports of huge queues for the Louvre, Musee D'Orsay, Eiffel Tower etc. etc.  I decided I couldn't face the mobs so I'm sticking to my original plan of just the show and the Palace (which I accept will also be busy but I'm mainly going for the Queen's Hamlet which is mostly outside).

DS house-sat and cat-sat for us while we in Cyprus, so we went over to visit him today to return the possessions he left with us ( too much for him to take on the train).  Somehow spring seems more advanced in Milton Keynes even though it's only an hour away - we went for a walk in a local park that had drifts of daffodils, snowdrops and we saw some crocuses. Really pretty.