Saturday, January 16/2010

Meet M&M at the market for coffee. It rained a little in the night, so the chairs need a wipe down, but it's sun and warmth now. And all the colour of market stalls. We only need eggs - seldom bought more than 6 at a time here, as they should be fresh. We wait our turn for the eggs, watching as the green olives in a bucket are mixed with slivers of garlic, oil and lemon juice. J manages to get one to taste before the lot are scooped into a plastic bag for the enthusiastic purchaser. It's hard to walk past the fresh fruit and vegetables and herbs without discovering things that we need - so broccoli spears and carrots by the time we leave - though we're passing everything from shiny blue-black aubergines to an enormous round of halvah.

Meet Berndt and Britta on the way back. They're now happily ensconced in the remodelled - and repriced - Eleonora. Britta speaks no English, but her fingers quickly simulate bugs crawling as Berndt remembers that he last saw us as we were looking for an alternative after our disastrous introduction to the Frangiorgio. We say we like the Kition, but then everyone sighs as we think of it's being torn down.