It's been a long time...

Hi all,
So a few friends and family members have had a moan that I haven't blogged for ages, I am not being lazy I promise, but being a lady of leisure takes its toll you know :). You know the old adage, the more time you have the more time you take to do something, what can I say!

Mike keeps you all so well informed of what we are up to in his blogs at mikedevitt.blogspot.com that I have to wrack my brains to come up with something notable to write about. Plus, organising our travels and trying to help support Sam long distance has kept me busy, oh yes and sunbathing tee hee.

My Mum and John came out to visit us for 5 days last week and it was wonderful. We explored our corner of the island and walked quite a few miles with Taz. We ate and drank well and had fantastic weather, so much so that when we said a sad farewell at Larnaca airport I looked back and saw 2 lovely tanned faces smiling back at me.

Taz had his first haircut in Cyprus since we have been here and what a smart (albeit slightly bald in places) boy he looks. I am off for the same pre-holiday treatment today, fingers crossed for a different outcome. We are off to the the Daxi Awards evening tomorrow, a recognition of local businesses that have added to the community, food and drink included and black tie and long frock required. Yes, we shoved all of that in our suitcases just for this one event but looking forward to it.

We met 2 new lovely people a few weeks ago in a local coffee house in Paralimni and got chatting. Having met twice since, a very unexpected and exciting proposal was put before us by our new friends last Sunday. Long story short, I am going to work for Amber and Lionel for the months of May to September teaching Russian children to speak English. I know exactly what you will be saying right now.... "but Michelle doesn't speak a word of Russian!" and you would be correct. I have been confidently assured that I am not required to become fluent in Russian, just learn a few basic words and phrases. So here goes and I am really looking forward to it as it will be both a challenge and a great experience for me, not to mention a little bit of cash to help along the way :)

Monday evening brings our first flight of 8 in 8 weeks to Dubai for 3 days of heat and decadence. I will endeavor to blog throughout our travels, then again I might leave it to Mike even if I just post some photos eh? When we return on 27th March I then have a visit from Sam (maybe with Steph in tow?) cannot wait, followed by my sister Tracy (woo hoo) and Vicky in June. Mum has promised to visit again in May/June but she and John also have an amazing trip to Australia to take care of in the month of March first, so fingers crossed. I have also been told by a couple of friends that they may also make it out to Cyprus which would be amazing.

So in true Russian style: (thank goodness for Google translate):

Прощай и любят все

Proshchay i lyubyat vse

So long and farewell xxx

The Golden Arches

I can hear myself remonstrating my friend when she tells me that she had a weak moment and went to McDonalds and I say "but it's not even food Vicky!".

So in our defense, Mike and I had both been hard at work (tee hee) in front of the computer screens most of the day and needed a walk to clear the heads. I should mention at this point that the weather yesterday and today has been very grim - almost constant rain and high winds with a definite chill. So we set off on an almost 6 mile round trip across fields and back roads with no particular destination in mind other than to investigate our local area further. Taz of course was very happy with this kind of walk and left his mark multiple times! As we approached Paralimni football club, Mike pointed out the golden arches in the distance and said " We could get a McDonalds?" At this point I had a cup of tea in mind, but we ended up sitting outside eating burger and chips! Can you believe that Mike actually bought Taz his own mini portion of chicken bites!!! Sufficiently filled with pink slime (Jamie Oliver reliably informed me of this... euch) we began the walk back. It had become dark and as we crossed the field we may have taken a slightly early turn and found ourselves squelching through mud almost leaving my boots behind.

I arrive home to a text and picture from Sam. By the way, download Viber onto your mobiles as it means we can text and phone each other for free no matter where we are in the world. You can also send pictures and fun stickers for free. Sam and I was having fun with them last night. The photo from Sam was of a sunny 'tropical' (his words) view of Nottingham from his flat window. My Dad has the greatest pleasure in telling us that the winter in Cyprus is horrible. The last 2 days correspond with that view, but the previous 19 days do not. You see, my Dad also told me that I have 'panda eyes' care of wearing sunglasses in the sun too much... so make your own minds up! I just hope that the weather turns milder again before 18th January when my Mum flies into Larnaca for 5 days WOO HOO.

We are loving the house here that we are renting and we have 2 spare rooms - one with a double bed and one with 2 single beds, so get in touch if you fancy a break in Cyprus, it would be wonderful to see you. I think Mike has probably told you in one of his blogs, but we now have our flights booked for our travels. We depart on 2nd February and get back to Cyprus on 27th March. We will be going to Dubai, travelling around Australia and then onto New Zealand (both islands). 8 flights in total and I don't even want to count up how many hours we will be in the air, but I do know we are both very excited.

Tomorrow I am back to the grief of dealing with NPower and Southern Water... you just can't get away from the domestics of the UK :(. Home is never far from my mind in so many ways. Sam told me last night that while he was back in Maidstone he drove round to our house to take a quick look. He said it looked like our tenant was having a rave up or it could have just been mad Christmas lights.... HELP! He said it felt weird and I know what he means. At first I thought that I shouldn't miss home because of the fantastic journey we are on. Now I understand that it is normal to feel this way and I realise how lucky we are to have all of this variety in our lives. If I was at home I would be back on the treadmill at work with the January blues looking to book up the summer holiday. We feel like everyday is for living at the moment and getting the most out of it - we intend to do just that :):)