Year: 2013

Nature has been forceful and up front in Cyprus this year and perhaps it is just coincidence but is this not the year of the Snake ? I have seen more snakes this year then I have in my whole life and none more vivid then the display we witnessed a few days ago in…

This is the island I return to every year and bring my children to, but this year it is almost unrecognisable in the way it has been beaten and bashed and left empty and wanting. I could spend the rest of the blog attributing blame, the president who left the island in a good financial…

We travelled to Cyprus on the boy’s hated airline Easyjet which to them somehow is anything but easy but there were no hitches on this journey and we even arrived 20 minutes ahead of schedule.  This coincided with another packed Easyjet plane from Manchester. Some 600 passengers all trooped into the arrivals hall and there…

Quite proud of the boys. They built their own little veggie patch in the heart of London and look how well everything is doing. With the good weather in London at the moment those strawberries will be ready for Wimbledon !

I would like to introduce you to my lovely Ozzie neighbour, Russell, crab catcher extraordinaire, organic veggie grower, prize avocado grower, wine connoisseur and bridge builder in his past. Now he is happily by my side, promising to take me out crabbing in the boat, while plying me with fresh bunches of parsley, spring greens…

Well every birthday boy is entitled to a wish. My hubby’s was cuddling a Koala. So off we went to the wildlife park and did exactly that but also spent a long time watching these docile, cuddly creatures and returning on several occasions as they sleep about 20 hours in every 24 hr period. We…

The island is small enough to walk around and there were some lovely trails to follow. Eucalyptus and scrub for most of it to Passage Peak the highest point of the island. More than 70% of the island is bushland and that is how it should be. On our way to various interestingly named points…

What do you give a man who has pretty much all ? A new espresso machine and a cuddle with a koala bear worked a treat in the case of my man. We escaped for a little sun – as if we don’t get enough- to northern Queensland. A group of Islands there is called…

…Variety is the spice of life. In this case TOTAL absence of choice would be my preference ! 

This blog entry is dedicated with much love to my mother in law and my husband. On many an occasion we have sat down with a good cuppa to have a great chat. And even when the moments are harder and tougher and sometimes there are no words he will say softly “Cup of tea…