rain...

So whilst the rest of the Mediterranean roast and suffer under the grip of heatwave Lucifer the story is somewhat different here in Cyprus and not just up here in the hills of Droushia.  I woke to see leadened skies and a stiff breeze.  The cats are all in indicating that it is cooler indoors which isn't normally the case.  John was snoozing so I got up to deal with them and to enjoy the freshness on my skin.  It may rain but one thing is for sure - it wont last long and we will be back to sunshine soon - we had better be because we have four lots of visitors all coming out at the same time - the law of Sod - you wait ages for friends and family to come and then they all come at once!

I went up onto the roof terrace to take in the early morning view.  If you have ever questioned the damage that the sun can do take a look at my Jumbo cushions which started out in life as white writing on a dark grey background and the sun has bleached them to pink!  I shall leave them there until they rot - they only cost a couple of euros and I can replace them next year.

The impending rain will do wonders for the garden.  Everything benefits from having a natural watering - I try not to water too much but certain things really need it.  Our grapevine which we brought from the UK has produced fruit, it is sparse but then we don't use any chemicals on the vine and in the early days I didn't water it at all - the ones in the field don't get watered but recently I have and the fruit is better for it - the vine produces sweet black grapes, very sweet with a lot of pips!

The skies got progressively blacker and blacker and it was clear that we would definitely get some rain.  Rain yes but HAIL in August??????  We had showers on and off all day - this was reflected in the electricity generation for the day which was less than half what we would have expected but even though it had been pretty overcast the water from the new solar panels was bouncing hot so it would appear that it was money well spent having them replaced.

The rain was heavy when it came but oh so refreshing although it dropped the pool temperature quite dramatically.  The cats were confused by the noise as the hail hit the glass of the conservatory roof!  All plans for gardening went out of the window - it was a day for being indoors and chilling before going down to Mum and Dads for our supper.

John decided to go for a swim in the rain complete with a cup of coffee to keep him warm!  Actually he said it was really nice in there and reminded him of swimming in the rain when we were in Thailand - actually once the rain had gone and the sun came back out it felt very tropical indeed.  No watering required tonight when we return from Emba - just as well as our return was delayed due to an issue with Mum and Dad's internet and repeaters - we had to leave defeated and hope that the local PC store can shed some light on the problem in the morning.