An exciting day for us , waiting for Lucy and Leon to arrive from Dubai. As they are both double vaccinated, the only requirement was a PCR test taken less than 72 hours before arrival and the same going back. They flew Turkish Airlines via Istanbul into Ercan.

We had a reasonably lazy day waiting for them. Tidied around the house – this is Leon’s first visit and Lucy hasn’t been for a few years, so we wanted it to look nice for their arrival. Bob did the last (hopefully) repair on the watering lines. I ran them and also hose watered some of the far borders. We had lunch on the terrace and then spent the afternoon wallowing and floating in the pool and reading our books. It is constantly over 30C now and completely clear skies. You don’t want to be doing too much in that heat.

Bob went to Ercan to pick Lucy and Leon up and they were back to the house for 815. This is the first time we’ve met Leon in the flesh and he was absolutely as nice as he had appeared to be over the internet. Their flight had been smooth albeit with stern examinations of paperwork along the way. Apparently some people had turned up at Ercan without the requisite vaccination certificates and been routed to quarantine….

I’d started the bbq and Bob finished it. We had sheftali, lamb kofta, pitta bread and a vegetable cous cous salad. After dinner we sat by the pool and talked for ages over coffee, filfar and brandies.

It’s going to be an amazing couple of weeks, all together.