We didn’t get a great night’s sleep on Friday night and we woke still overset by the loss of Bob’s coin. We were booked to do a wreck dive with Stuart and David (his 70th birthday today) but we decided our minds weren’t in the right place so we took Stuart down to the dive centre and Bob and I went off to begin our search.

We had little to no hope of finding the coin but we knew we wouldn’t rest until we’d searched for it. Uncharacteristically, we had both prayed overnight and in the morning many times to St Anthony of Padua for help in finding our lost item! Our friend Penny is a strong advocate of this and we thought we might give it a go, all other hope being lost.

First stop was the olive oil factory and we searched the car park and the areas where we’d loaded and unloaded the bags. Our fear was that the coin had dropped into one of the bags of olives and been poured un-noticed into the press. I spoke to the owner and he confirmed nothing had been handed in, and he looked into the bin where stones and hard items were washed out of the process but couldn’t see any sign of the coin.

We drove up to Pamela’s and began searching everywhere we’d been. She’d already searched the car, the terraces, the chair where Bob sat for lunch, the kitchen. We painstakingly searched under the trees. This was difficult as the pea gravel floor was grey like the silver coin and covered in bits of leaf and old dried olives and tree debris. We searched on, every crevice, amongst the tree roots, the grass…. nothing. Approaching the last of the trees, bent low to the ground, I was absolutely repeating my prayer and then…… there it was!!!! Right in front of me!!!!!! I gave a great shout and picked it up and turned back to Bob! There were tears of joy I can tell you and we felt like an enormous cloud had lifted off us. I cannot tell you the relief in having found it. Of course it was insured but it means so much more than money to us. Bob has worn it all day, every day for 35 years. We will take it to our little jewellery shop back in Folkestone and get Mr Brooker to strengthen the fastenings.

Much hugs with Pamela and we set off home. Called in to buy a few groceries and took them back then went to pick up Stuart from diving. He and Dave had a lovely dive on the coastguard wreck and of course they were delighted for us too.

A happy lunch back at the villa and then a very lazy afternoon by the pool.

In the evening we shared a taxi with our neighbours, Alan and Lesley, to the Wild Duck restaurant in Karsiyaka for David’s party. It’s a lovely garden restaurant owned by David and Deborah’s daughter and son in law, Emma and Az. We had such a fun evening. A brilliant singer who entertained us all night, lovely food as usual from the Duck – chicken curry, chips, rice, pappadoms. Great company of friends – about 50 people and a lot of dancing. Susan and Steve, David’s great friends from the UK, arrived as surprise guests which was the icing on the cake.

We taxied back after 11, tired but so so happy.