We live our lives forever taking leave - Rilke

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Wednesday, 2 January 2013

Monday, December 31/2012

New Year's Eve. Starts out with the town extremely busy as everyone buys last minute groceries and runs last minute errands. Sadly, the old New Year`s Eve tradition of small businesses barbecuing outside the premises and inviting passersby to join them in eating - and usually freeflowing drinking - seems almost to have disappeared. We run into Aylsa at Carrefour. J inquires about the rescued dogs they give home to - seven at the moment, to say nothing of cats and birds. Alsa herself has been plagued with bronchitis, though, and is not completely recovered. Home with another huge bags of oranges (€1.70, £1.38, $2.23 CAD for 22 large oranges).

New Year's Eve celebrations have apparently been cancelled in Nicosia and Paphos - the money going to go to hungry children instead. Larnaca, it seems, has compromised. There is to be a scaled back event, (J has seen a concert staged being erected) and some fireworks are planned. Originally we think of going, but as the evening passes we're reluctant to leave the cosiness of the flat and end up pouring ourselves a dram of whisky and watching the fireworks from the sliding doors to the balcony. And scaled back they are, unspectacular and lasting about three and a half minutes - not really worth the walk down, though it's always exciting to be in a crowd as the year turns. But we can hear the blast from the ships' horns in the harbour as 2013 hits.