Sunday, January 29/2012

Several people using the lobby this morning, including a woman with an East European accent who is interested in going to Choiokitia, a village near Larnaca that boasts the remains of a neolithic village. Very interesting and quite moving as the outlines of the little dwellings huddle together for comfort and safety. Turns out the woman and her husband are Canadians, originally from Hungary but now living in Mississauga. They've been visiting relatives in Hungary and are now in Cyprus for two weeks.

The Congolese merchant banker is ensconced in the far corner, voluble as ever but unhappy with the speed and quality of his connection. "There are too many people in the lobby using the wifi," he tells his unseen telephone partner. "The signal isn't good." But he stops short of asking the rest of us to shut down our computers.

Saturday, January 8/2012

This has been the coolest (no Canadian could call it cold) and wettest winter we've experienced in Cyprus. Having said which, iti's rarely rained for a whole day and the temperature has always climbed at least to the midteens, so all things are relative. Today's forecast is for fine weather and when we plan our walk for coffee the temperature is 20 in a shaded but sheltered spot on the balcony and the skies mostly clear with a little light cirrho-stratus cloud inland. Then it takes no more than three blocks walking before the clouds darken and the sun disappears, accompanied by a drop in temperature. But down at Harry's Café, opposite St Lazarus church, the sun comes back as J, M and I sip our Cyprus coffees and all is bright again.

Email from Alex in Cairo to say that he has booked us in at the Vienna, subject to our confirming with them by email, which we promptly do. So now accommodation booked and also a promise for pick up at the airport.

There's a merchant banker from the Congo staying at the hotel. we know the occupation - and quite a bit more - because he uses the lobby, equipped with the same hesitating wifi the rest of us put up with, as an office for lengthy discussions and internet phone calls. Maggi points out that her suspicions may be unkind but as soon as Kiki turned on the television tonight the man left. Was he feeling deprived of an admiring audience she wants to know.

Friday, January 27/2012

Tickets booked online, so now we turn to accommodation. Alex and Lynette email that their first choice had proved unsatisfactory and the hotel next door which they went to notworth the price, but they're now in an inexpensive and central place that is convenient and OK - should they book us in as well. Yes please.

The fewer online transactions the better. I've used the debit card for the UK account, which has finite funds, but at the end of the transaction they want to know if I wish to register the card - if I don't I may have difficulty making future online purchases. However, when I say yes. I'm asked for my UK postal code. A click on "help" elicits the information that those not resident in the UK can telephone the following number....So we'll hopethe problem doesn't arrive until we're back in the UK. though there is quite a bit of money left on the Cypriot mobile - it's just the combo of mobile, long distance, and sometimes non-English accent at the other end.

Thursday, January 26/2012

Maggi and I meet Margaret for coffee at George's. M not keen on George's - smoked glass overhead makes the open court darker and chillier, the prices aren't good, etc. - but it's Margaret's local, so to speak. She can go there for elevenses any time and meet someone she knows and share a laugh. There's just the three of us this time, though, so Margaret takes advantage of Maggi's having the car along to ask us over to see her flat. It's in Drosia, a part of Larnaca up past the Salt Lake. A nice, large, secure flat fill of the mementos of a lifetime - a large cabinet full of crystal, some of it a lovely pink, china figures, a cheerful stone Scottie dog. And several framed photographs of Margaret and Charlie, her husband who died three years ago of prostate cancer, including a wonderful one of Margaret (aged 60 at the time she says) clinging to her husband's arm and wearing a miniskirt which shows off a great pair of legs. Maggi and I check with Martina as well as at a randomly chosen other travel agency on the price of airfare only to Egypt. Martina quotes us €180 and the other place €190. The price online from Egyptair is €156.25, and there's no credit card fee, so that settles that.

156.25 return, and there's no credit card fee, so that settles that.

Wednesday, January 25/2012

Interesting minor drama. I'm reading to J, who is facing the glass doors to the balcony, when he sees a woman on the top floor of a nearby apartment building come out onto her balcony and find herself unable to get back in. We watch her efforts for about five minutes and then I leave to see what I can do. As soon as I reach the ground it becomes obvious that the problem is somewhat different than it appeared from the fourth floor. You have to get quite close to the apartment to see the balcony as it's screened by another tallish building and it's high enough that shouting up (or down) isn't really possible, even apart from language difficulties. However there is a lobby with a man on duty in a grubby, smoky room in front of pigeon hole mailboxes full of keys. He's talking on the pone but I explain the proble and he says he will check it out. I'm off to Carrefour, reluctant even to look up at the disconsolate figure in the pink cardigan, but when I get back the balcony is empty and J says that the woman was let in shortly after I left. It had looked funny for a minute or two, but she could have spent quite a while out there with nobody close enough to shout to.

Over to the cinema at Dhekelia with Maggi and Turid, her Norwegian friend, to watch War Horse. Beautiful filming and some Spielburg mgic. Though those who have seen the stage play say it has more magic than the film.

Tuesday, January 24/2012

Enjoying reading A View from the Foothills, Chris Mullin's political diary, written as a British junior minister and covering the first half of the last decade. It's astonishingly indiscreet. One can't actually imagine its being published in Canada. The publishers would be afraid to touch it, and those who considered themselves to have been embarrassed would know no better than to sue and thereby prolong the embarrassmen. There are some people who come off better than one might have expected (Tony Blair, John Prescott), people who come off worse (Gordon Brown) and lots of insight into how the system works - sometimes like Canada and sometimes not.

Monday, January 23/2012

Alec and Lynette, Australians, have been staying here for a couple of days and are now off to Egypt. I leave to go on errands, find them drinking coffee outside in the sun, and end up talking for three-quarters of an hour. Theyève rented out their house in Australia and are seeing the world for twelve months. Interesting couple. We talked to them yesterday and found a fair bit in the way of overlapping interests, reading, etc. Theyève booked an inexpensive but central place to stay in Cairo, online. The pictures look fine but they'll email with their recommendations.

Finally on with the errands. Stop in at George's where Margaret and Leslie are having coffee with a friend, and join them. Then off to the Slovakian travel agency - well, the one where Martina, the Slovakian girl, works - to check on trips to Egypt or Syria. Tell her we want something cheap and wonderful, and she duly photocopies some options.

Sunday, January 22/2012

Terrific rainstorm in the night with high winds. Before I open my eyes it seems that there is a bright light. Feels like the sun has come out, but this turns out to be J's bedside lamp. He's stripping the bed, so I inquire. The bed is wet. Takes me a minute, as I'm thinking oh no - it's come to this, but it turns out that the ceiling is leaking in the rainstorm. So basin under the leak and move the bed. By now we're awake enough to open the curtains and admire the storm.

M's moving day and she treks up and down with drawers of cutlery, clothing, etc. She's got permission to take the sofa from 202 with her. It's old and worn, but the one supplied in 302 is vinyl and armless - looks like it belongs in a dentist's waiting room. But, Mr. Andreas says, don't think of doing it yourself. The men can do it tomorrow, or maybe if my friends come by for coffee today....Meanwhile random furnishings are being dumped in 202 as M removes her belongings and we can see that her sofa may turn up anywhere at all. there's a workman who points to his heart as he refuses to help so - spur of the moment - M and I take it up the flight of stairs ourselves. Not quite ready to hire ourselves out, but fairly proud of ourselves nontheless.

Out to the cinema at the Dhekelia base to meet up with Jane and Bill to see The Iron Lady. Meryl Streep brilliant as always. M's a Thatcheer fan - we of course not. Don't know about Bill and Jane.

Saturday, January 21/2012

The plan was to go down to DaVinci Café, opposite St Lazarus Church (traditionally believed to be the second burial place of the Biblical Lazarus) for a coffee in the sun. But sun in short supply, so M suggests driving out past the airport for a village coffee wherever takes our fancy. This turns out to be a local café in the village of Pervolia. A tiny adult of indeterminate gender points to the door and we're out of the wind and into a local. Three Cyprus coffees and local men at the next table looking like a permanent fixture of the backgammon and coffee sort. there must be live music here on occasion as there is a mike with a sculptured head and hands attached to  sax. M takes a photo.

Friday, January 20/2012

Air traffic controllers, in protest over civil service pay freezes. Public sympathy - and  ours as well - pretty limited, as the lowest paid earned €120,000 last year as well as over €50,000 overtime.


Exciting first. I download Chris Mullin's political diary, A View from the Foothills onto the Kobo. Have only downloaded freebies from Project Gutenberg, etc before. I've wanted to buy the book for some time, so this is a great pleasure.

Thursday, January 19/2012

Going to meet Margaret for coffee at George's and run into Jane having coffee on her own She's in for blood tests. So George, who doesn't have to be asked, arrives with a pot of tea and I drink the first half with Jane and the second at Margaret's very busy table. I've brought her a jar of lemon curd, made this morning, and, with the enthusiasm that must have been much the same seventy years ago, she's busy sampling it and giving a little taste to the man sitting next to her.

Much media analysis of the character of the captain of the Costa Concordia, the Italian cruise ship that ran aground. So that one psychologist talks of the panic fuelled personality disintegration of an alpha male who finds that everything has gone wrong and feels compelled to deny that there is a problem. Another commentator adds that he is not afraid of the Captain Schettinos in the world - only of the Captain Schettino inside himself.

Wednesday, January 18/2012

Explore the new (to us) charity shop up behind Carrefour. Quite a good selection of books - though this year we're far from desperate, with the Kobo. J picks up a copy of William Dalrymple's From the Holy Mountain. It's a travelogue with depth, a trip through the area of the Byzantine world as experienced by John Moschos, a wandering monk in the 6th century, just before the whole of the Middle East became Moslem. A fascinating look at that part of the world then and now, and a focus on the remnants of Byzantine Christianity still remaining in these countries.

Tuesday, January 17/2012

Dinner with Jane, Bill, Harry, Aylsa, and Maggi at Xylotymbou, a neighbouring village just up the motorway from Pyla. Very nice meal. The village tavernas seem to keep the old country tradition of extras - Greek salad and tahinni dip, pickles and olives, warm pita, etc. - that come gratis with the meal - even token desserts like fruit or deep fried nibbles and brandy. The restaurant's own sauce, available on chicken or pork fillet, is rich and oniony. It's a cool evenng and the fireplace - which is gas - is lovely as well as warm. Home with the car smelling of fresh basil from Jane and Bill's garden.

Horrific accounts of the behaviour of the captain of the cruise ship that hit bottom off the coast of Tuscany. We get to listen to recordings, with voice-over in English, of the coastguard demanding that the captain get back on the ship, which still has unrescued passengers. Harry and Bill, both of whom have extensive sailing backgrounds, Harry on ships, have quite a bit to say on the subject of safety measures aboard.

Monday, January 16/2012

Endless in-house drama as Norwegian couple in next flat seem to be angling for the same apartment, 302, that Maggi occupied last year and has booked for this year and next.  Iit's being renovated but the renovation is nearly finished. It is, of course, the fault of co-owner Mr. Andreas, who dislikes conflict and is therefore quite likely to promise the same flat to more than one prospective tenant, possibly hoping that the world will end before he has to deal with the resulting difficulty.

Sunday, January 15/2012

The Russian cyclists (obviously a national team of some sort) are moving out, with heaps of shopping bags and piles of luggage in the lobby. They train in Cyprus in the winter, taking advantage kof the varied terrain and relatively unbusy back roads as well as the climate. so we get usedto seeing them  in team uniforms in the lobby and sometimes biking through the city.

The Sunday edition of the Cyprus Mail deplores Standard and Poor's actions, its headline reading: Hidden Agenda of Downgrade.

Saturday, January 14/2012

Standard and Poor's has come out with major downgrades for most Euro countries. The most international attention is given to France's loss of AAA status, but Cyprus has, like Portugal, been downgraded to junk bond status - BB+.

Friday, January 13/2012

Dinner at Vlachos Taverna with Maggi, Bill and Jane. We were set for moussaka, but they apologise - one pan of it was burned and only one portion remains. So J and I split it, as well as splitting a mixed kebab plate. The usual enormous portions, and as the dog owners, Harry and Elsa, aren't here, the doggie bags come home instead of to the dogs. Fresh lemons and basil from Bill's tree and garden.

The Russian ship sent on its way by the Cypriots on condition that it go to Turkey and not Syria has arrived in Lattakia, Syria, somewhat predictably.

Thursday, January 12/2012

Final look at the icons on the dentist's wall. An article in The Cyprus Mail a week ago may shed some light. it refers to a surgeon whose walls contained not graduation certificates but icons given by grateful patients who considered that he had performed miracles.

Coffee with Margaret and a couple of expats. Len reminiscing about his early days: the doctor said move out of London or the run of the family won't survive - so we went to Southend.

Wednesday, January 11/2012

The Cypriots have detained a Russian ship that came into port at Limassol, suspecting it of carrying "dangerous goods." They have good reason to be wary, as last July there was a massive explosion due to seized munitions that had been stored for over two years in the sun at a naval base. Thirteen people were killed and the country's main power station wrecked. This time, despite suspicions, the ship has been allowed to continue on the understanding that it sail only to Turkey and not to its planned destiation of Lattakia, Syria. The captain's word, apparently, the guarantee.

Tuesday, January 10/2012

Maggi has reported the deficiencies of our fridge to the powers that be. Thus the cleaner and the brother arrive to investigate. We demonstrate - the door to the tiny freezer is missing - replaced by one of Jès construction, made of cardboard covered with plastic bags taped and tied with string that forms opening hndles. They profess astonishment at the missing door and leave, muttering "avrio" - tomorrow. The (feigned?) astonishment is interesting. The fridges obviously get defrosted and, one hopes, cleaned between guests. There's ample opportunity to observe damage and defects. And in any case, what do they presume has happened? This must be a regular occurrence with cheaply constructed fridges, and the freezer doors must be found periodically next to the afflicted fridges. It seems extremely unlikely that they can actually suppose that a maverick guest ripped off this particular door and disappeared with it in his suitcase.

Monday, January 9/2012

J rereading The Haj, by Leon Uris after many years - this time with a  sense of annoyance about the strong pro-Israeli, anti-Palestinian bias. And more critical of the quality of the writing as well.

Sunday, January 8/2012

Thunderstorms at night and some rain in the moroning. Sophie, the cat, is not pleased and goes out to sit on the ledge under the little white patio table to survey the world from a dry perch. But the sun comes out in time for our 11:30 bus home, and the flag it down on the waterfront system works. The pavement is busy as we wait - a little street market, Philippino girls with a day off, and an old woman who can scarcely reach into the roadside skip but emerges with three handbags, two of which, after careful examination, she returns to the skip, walking off with the third over her shoulder.

Rain holds off until we're home again before beginning. We're about to have lunch - acquired a seeded rye still warm from the bakery - when Maggi calls up to say that lentil soup is on the boil. we can come down but she has to get bread in. So down we go with warm bread to join M for lentil soup. Perfectly timed.

Saturday, January 7/2012

Sam and Paddy suggest we stay another day, with more time to visit. So we head off with Sam to look at Curium Beach - just below an old Roman settlement - and do some errands. The beach has interesting stones and shells and an exhilarating wind, which has led some parakiters to bring out their colourful sails like giant kites. we speak to a young Portuguese man just before he heads into the surf, the wind catching him and taking him what seems like a half mile down the breakers before he tacks back and builds up speed again.

After collecting the bread, Sam asks if we would like to see Kolossi Castle. It's a couple of miles away in the next village, an early 13th century square Crusader castle with walls that must be close to ten feet thick. The first thing that we notice is what looks like decorative stone work at the top of the tower. Not merely decorative, it seems, but the spot where boiling oil could be poured down on the heads of invaders. Inside it's simple but very nicely proportioned, with stone arches and fireplaces and window seats, and stone floors that must have been cool in summer and frigid in winter.  J wonders about water supply and Sam points to a stone aquaduct outside. Beautiful views across the fields and villages and out to the sea from the top.


Home to find that Paddy has not only fiished washing the crystal - having postponed all my offers of help - but taken down the Christmas tree and put away the decorations. The season is over. Chat, and nap, and dinner of prime leftovers. Then a game of Scrabble. Paddy, who has been working most of the time since dawn yesterday, is off to bed, but we linger and talk to Sam for a couple of hours. He has a lovely quiet style, a good memory and a wide range of interests. And, that greatest of charms, opinions and interests that overlap significantly with our own.

Friday, January 6/2012

Walk down to the beach to take the bus to Limassol, only to discover that the waterfront road is still blocked off after this morning's Epiphany parade. Rapid Plan B, as we remember that the second stop is opposite St Helena's Church. Where the bus duly arrives - unfortunately a small one that doesn't accommodate all the would-be passengers. J and I do get seats, but are at opposite ends until midway, when I move up and take a now empty seeat next to J, while the driver, who speaks no English, is at pains to let me know that I needn't sit next to this man as there is a single seat available across the aisle.

Sam, Jenny's father, picks us up as planned and we drive the 15 km to Erimi. The table is already beautifully set for twelve, but Paddy is ready with small bowls of soup to tide us over, as we won't be eating until 8:30.

And a lovely meal it is, with venison paté as a starter, followed by roast leg of lamb with mint sauce and currant jelly, roast potatoes and vegetables, and a choice of Paddy's homemade desserts - ginger trifle, chestnut log and mince tarts. Good conversation too, as we get to know the other three couples, all expats.

Thursday, January 5/2012

Weekly coffee with Margaret and assorted friends at George's café. The shop next to our outdoor table has a closing down sale ahalfnd women from our table make make forays in, emerging with bags of half-price gift items, including a tallish wooden giraffe. It seems everything really does have to go, as the shop owner emerges with a large shopping bag containing plastic boxes of potpourri, one for each of us

Wednesday, January 4/2012

Help Maggi move her things from the storage room - inconveniently located on the mezzzanine where the lift doesn't stop. She's two floors below us in 202 while they finish redoing the third floor - clearly not a day or two but now what? Three weeks?

Tuesday, January 3/2012

Rent due and so the annoying question of cash point withdrawals arises. Different banks have different maximum dispersal amounts, but on a long stay higher is better as there's a withdrawal charge each time. So it is irritating to find that no Larnaca bank appears to dispense more than €600 at a time (€540 of which will disappear instantly as the rent is paid) particularly as we were able to withdraw €1400 in Paphos. J suggests that our lack of info on cash point withdrawal possible is due to our reluctance to ask questions. Actually I think it's in large part due to the reluctance of Cypriots to provide answers, or at any rate accurate and useful ones, so that many inquiries take a lot of time without resulting in corresponding enlightenment. But, chastened, I head to the Marfin Laiki Bank round the corner to ask questions.

The first person tells me that the cash point allows withdrawals up to €€400. This is a little puzzling as I know from past experience that it will give €600. However, I put this down to possible, if improbable misunderstanding, as a woman with excellent English takes over. Perhaps it's a problem with my daily limit - what is my daily limit? Two thousand dollars, I say, deciding that the Canadian and US dollars are close enough for me not to bother complicating the issue with explanations. she takes my bank card, makes a phone call in Greek, and says yes, as she has said, the maximum on foreigh cards is €1000; there have been recent changes demanded by Visa. But my card isn't Visa, and the Paphos bank that gave us more in November was also a Marfin Laiki bank.  All the same, the maximum is €1000. So will the machine outside give me €1000? Yes. It doesn't, of course.  Just repeats its message that its maximum is €600. Which, as I say to J, is why I am reluctant to ask questions in Cyprus. After all the production, you're no further ahead.

Maggi arrives in the late afternoon. So hugs, and our first g&t of the season, with ice cubes made in the empty clear plastic six egg carton. Then supper with lentil soup and sandwiches - chicken salad, humus with cramelised onions, J's chicken liver paté, cheese. And a bottle of Smart Stores bubbly de maison to celebrate her return. 

Monday, January 2/2012

As New Year's Day is on a Sunday this year, Monday is also a holiday with more or less everything shut. J off to the beach, where he walks laps on the sand.I defrost the little bar-sized fridge. As its tiny freezer across the inside top  has no door - mush oonce have done, so what happens to these things - J has fitted it with one made of heaving cardboard covered with thin plastic bag taped in place. Frosts up faster than one with a real door, though. It will keep meat frozen or make ice cubes, but ice cream would turn (based on past experience) to milkshakes.

 

Sunday, January 1/2012

The rain is no longer what the television newsreader refers to as torrential, but it rains on and off all day. Finish reading the last book of Paul Scott's Raj Quartet.

Saturday, December 31/2011

Margaret phoned last night to say that the shops will be closed Monday as well as Sunday, so we're off early to pick up the few things we need. Will Prinos be open at eight? It will be a zoo later. Turns out it's been open since six - and 6:15 is its usual time. Who goes then? As usual, I go for two things - carrots and potatoes (the latter 40 euro cents a kilo - or 32p GB or 53 cents CAD - and still with the iron rich red earth clinging to them). But end up with extras - leeks, onions, garlic, courgettes, red and yellow peppers (€2.20 a kilo, £1.83 GB, $2.91 CAD) and lettuce (32 cents EU, 27p GB, 42 cents CAD) each.

We meet up at the beach later and go on to the New Year's Eve market. The sky is beginning to darken but the fruit and vegetables still gleam and we choose pink grapefruit, tomatoes, tiny cucumbers and green beans, all fresh.

New Year's Eve  is traditionally celebrated at the beach with fireworks, free wine and beer (and not a drunk in sight) and a concert. But suppertime brings a thunderstorm  with the lightning showing palm trees bending in the wind and sheets of water blowing up the street. We don't go out, and wonder if it's all been cancelled, but at midnight we can indeed see the fireworks, only partially obscured by a building on Makarios.