BACK IN THE U.S., BACK IN THE U.S., BACK IN THE U.S.S.R.

Well,  back in the UK actually, but it feels more like Siberia. 

After most of December in Cyprus, a brief return for Christmas and New Year, followed by January in Tenerife we have returned home to the torrential rain and wind of the UK.

And we are NOT liking it!

Whilst in Cyprus Janice celebrated her birthday but before we left we had a pre-birthday outing with the girls:

 

 

The birthday celebrations in Cyprus were much more sedentary:

We had never been to The Canary Islands before but we had a great time in Tenerife. We were staying in an area called Golf del Sur, surprisingly enough surrounded by lush green golf courses running right up to the edge of the cliffs.

Our apartment/hotel overlooked San Miguel Marina and the view from our large balcony was "The B's Knees"! 
 

and we were able to enjoy the sunrise and the sunset everyday:

Ex colleague John Garner and his wife Andea were staying up the road so we had three enjoyable days in their company:

Everywhere was surprisingly inexpensive particularly the beer, as low as 95 cents a pint in some places. 

 

We discovered a proper family run Irish Bar, Aries, a few minutes walk around cliffs which served excellent food and had a "Happy Hour" from 9.00am until 6.00pm! Estrella Special is €1 a pint and Cava is €1.50 a glass. Happy indeed!

 
They had Leapy Lee, of Little Arrows fame, living just up the road and he performed there every Tuesday night:
 


In order to stay"Happy" I always find it advisable to follow the "Happy Hours" and fortunately there was a bar next to the hotel with a 6pm to 8pm happy window. We arrived one evening to find much arguing and shouting. The shop owner next door, an excitable Argentinian lady, had started building a wall between the premises, something that she was not allowed to do. Then it started to get messy! The gardia turned up and attempted to cool down the situation. Eventually, with the block wall still half built, everybody drifted away.That night the waiter from the restaurant on the other side of the shop kicked the blocks down and bricked up the door to the shop!

All in all it was a brilliant three weeks - here are some more of the highlights: 

There were only two major problems - I put on a stone in weight and we definitely weren't ready to come home:

I'll leave you with this:

 

Hey Ho!