Saturday, January 30/2016

Brief strikes, really more protests than serious work stoppages, are fairly common in Cyprus. Doctors employed by the state at hospitals and clinics have planned a six hour strike for Monday to protest the raising of their pensionable age from 65 to 68. Also on Monday is a strike of Larnaca bus drivers, slated for 24 hours beginning at 5 AM. Their problem is that they accepted wage cuts in September 2014 because the company had financial problems. The agreement, they say, was temporary - until December 31/2015 - and they should have reverted to their regular pay. 

Friday, January 29/2016

Lovely day, so reinstitute Plan A from Wednesday, sort of. Bus to Pyla, where Bill and Joe trim trees. Then evening buffet at Bambos, restaurant in next village over. Thursday and Friday evenings feature enormous buffet at impressively low price of €7.30 ($11.05 CAD, £5.55). Always noisily full of Cypriots with a few expats. Birthday parties, children under tables and great good humour. Family run.

Thursday, January 28/2016

At Prinos greengrocer's. They always ask at the till whether we have a bonus card. We don't, but have shopped there for so many winters that it occurs to us that maybe we should. So inquire, and are duly given an application form. First boc for surname and second for first name. Third is for ID or passport number!! Can think of no conceivable legitimate reason for asking. Sheer nosiness? Bureaucratic habit? Same phenomenon at airport, where girls doing tourism surveys invariably ask so many intrusive questions that visitors refuse to complete the questionnaire. Shall not bother with bonus card application.

Maggi and I have late lunch special at Marzano's. Classier than most traditional Cypriot restaurants, but without their familial warmth and rough hospitality.

Wednesday, January 27/2016

Wednesday. Plan A was that we would go to Jane and Bill's in the AM, and Bill and Joe would trim the trees adjacent to the house that were beyond B's reach and heading for the power lines. Weather still fairly bitter in the wind, so Plan B devised. Jane goes to her painting group at the Flamingo Hotel for the first time since she broke her femur and B and J collect us on the way back to Pyla. Homemade soup and terrine (totally spoiled we are) and film watching. Actually men watch WW II airplane videos. Jane has nap. I take out ipad. Always familial comfortable there when we each do our own thing, though. Then evening meal at To Kazani, in part down to Christmas present voucher from B&J's grandson. Lamb chops and chicken souvlaki, following meze that would have been sufficient in itself.

Tuesday, January 26/2016

Northern Cyprus press after their president's return from Davos yesterday: 

"President Mustafa Akıncı stated that they had an opportunity to express the peaceful, modern and rational messages of the Turkish Cypriots in Davos, adding that the few days in Davos were very beneficial for the Turkish Cypriot people and the future of Cyprus. In his press meeting at Ercan Airport after his return from Davos, Akıncı said that it was a great experience for them to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos. Furthermore, Akıncı expressed that the Turkish Cypriot people are one of the two equal partners of the Federal United Cyprus to be established."

And therein lies the seeds of reunification failure. Greek Cypriots recoil in horror at any thought of equality of any kind. Game over.

Monday, January 25/2016

Thought winter was over and thought wrong. Freezing. Very nearly literally as overnight temperature dips to about 1 degree. Water jar (our dechlorinator) on the balcony doesn't form ice, of course, but cold enough that the thought occurs. Cypriots can't remember colder temperatures, though we Canadians can, of course. Follows on what has been in general the warmest winter we can remember here. And since this is our sixteenth year we're developing a fair memory bank. But expected to warm up later in the week.

Sunday, January 24/2016

Chilly. Well, for Cyprus downright cold. Sunday lunch at Cambanella's with Bill and Jane. The place is packed and an Englishwoman asks us on our way in whether we know of any special occasion, as there isn't an unreserved table to be had.  Seems it's just chance, though. As usual the lady of the house, presiding over the carvery, is disappointed if one takes only a week's worth of meat from the roasts on offer.

Saturday, January 23/2016

 CTO, the Cyprus Tourist Organisation, is claiming credit for an increase in tourists to the island last year in typically turgid Cypriot bureaucratic jargon, citing "hard and methodical work, achieved through a multi-level and complex effort." Well, yes, although terrorism in Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt did give Cyprus an edge over competing markets. The strength of the pound against the euro was another factor, and many avoided Greece because of bailout uncertainty. An editorial in the Cyprus Mail comments wryly: "If this were the case what had the CTO been doing the previous years? Why had it taken so many years for it to engage in the hard and methodical work and the multi-level and complex effort that achieved the impressive results of 2015? Why was there no intense and targeted action in 2013 and 2014?"

Friday, January 22/2016

Think more of the Norwegians must be back in the hotel. There's a fairly exuberant gathering in the studio next to us, laughter until after midnight so we joke about taking a bottle and knocking on the door. But much more typical of Cypriots than Norwegians. Think it sounds like Norwegian being spoken, though. Time will tell. Last year the wifi was enough worse that we spent more time in reception in search of a stronger signal. Meant we saw more of the neighbours and knew more of what was going on.

Thursday, January 21/2016

Jane has physio in the morning so she and Bill stop for lunch. Raw veg, dips (tzatziki from scratch, others from Prinos), beef fillet and then fruit. Strawberries now local, from a bit north of here. 

Wednesday, January 20/2016

800 gram cauliflower

Coffee at Harry's about 11:30. Four older men (don't know older than what - not necessarily older than us, but not young) at the next table. They have coffee but also a bottle of something colourless labelled in Greek. Probably zivania, a grape based spirit. Much laughter, and when they're finished the bottle returned to the café shelves. Cheerful lifestyle, though as J points out the women don't seem to have nearly such a relaxed life. 

Carrefour and Prinos for fruit and veg. Incredibly lucky to be here strawberries are fresh. In fact I never by fruit that has no scent. Same rule at home, but in SL that leaves us with a much narrower range - mostly bananas and grapes. Here even the carrots smell like carrots. Tiny tomatoes, and cauliflower. The latter 69 euro cents per kilo today (52p, $1.06 CAD). That's 48 cents a pound in Canada. We've been reading stories about $8 heads of cauliflower in Canada. Of course that isn't a kilo price. Maybe they're enormous....Maybe aye and maybe hooch aye, my Scots grandmother would have said skeptically.

Tuesday, January 19/2016

Article from Davos, via Reuters, with commentary by B Jaworski in brackets:

Cyprus will make an unprecedented joint appeal to the world's political and business elite in Davos on Thursday to support their efforts to reach a settlement to their decades-old dispute.

Cyprus leaders to make joint Davos appeal for peace support   *[Wonderful! New captive audience - Brussels' patience long since exhausted]

U.N. and European officials say the prospects of finally reaching a peace deal to resolve one of the oldest frozen conflicts on the planet are better than at any time since Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. peace plan in 2004.  *[Not that they were good then].

There's an interest among the leaders involved. Both Turkey and Greece see advantages to moving on,"  [special UN envoy] Eide told Reuters.  *[Well, optimism is his job].

The east Mediterranean island has been divided since Turkey invaded the north in 1974 in response to a short-lived coup in Nicosia inspired by Greece's then military rulers.

Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 despite the Greek Cypriot vote against reunification. *[Major error on the part of a weary EU - when negotiating never assume the sensitive issues will sort themselves out later]

However, its relations with Turkey have remained frozen, efforts to reduce the economic isolation of Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus have stalled and Nicosia has blocked much of Ankara's EU accession negotiations over the continued dispute. *[All too predictably - what WERE they thinking in Brussels?]

Peace efforts gained a boost with the election of two leaders who are personally committed to a negotiated settlement, as well as the discovery of large offshore natural gas deposits off Cyprus which would be easier to exploit if there is a deal. *[Finally a little incentive, but don't hold your breath].

A reunited Cyprus would also need international investment to help the peace process work. Reconstructing one resort town abandoned in the conflict is estimated to cost billions of euros, and compensation may also be required for people unable to reclaim their properties. *[Dream on, Cyprus, do you have ANY idea where you fall in the list of EU priorities?].

The regional strategic environment is more favorable because Greece's leftist government is less nationalistic than its predecessors and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has tamed the military and is keen to improve relations with the EU.  *[And no serious problems in Greece or Turkey at the moment. They're free to concentrate on Cyprus].

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due to address the Davos audience right after the Cypriot leaders and is likely to reaffirm his country's commitment to support a settlement this year, which would also remove an obstacle to closer EU ties.  *[They'll be lucky to be allowed to stay in Nato. Forget the EU].

Some diplomats in Ankara hope for agreement on the text of a deal before Cypriot parliamentary elections in May, and a referendum soon after that.  *[These are the same realists who would rather destroy Kurds than ISIS and can't resist poking the Russian bear].

Anastasiades and Akinci  *[still referred to in southern Cypriot news broadcasts as the so-called president of the illegal regime - that's how friendly things are]. are not expected to announce any agreement on Thursday because much detailed work remains on sensitive issues such as territory, the return of property or compensation.  *[So far they've agreed on catering for the talks?]

An international reconstruction fund with EU and private money could be a vital component. *[Swamp land also on offer]

"We have gone from harvesting relatively low-hanging fruit into the hard core deepest areas. We're in tougher terrain now and both leaders will have to make concessions," Eide said.  *[Begin of preparation for disaster]

An agreement between the two leaders would have to be ratified in referendums in each of the communities and implemented over time with international support.  *[That was where it fell apart last time]. 

Anastasiades has not yet really begun to sell the benefits of a potential deal to a skeptical Greek Cypriot electorate.  *[Wisely. He's had cardiac problems. And said electorate already unhappy that both leaders went to Davos, just like equal human beings].

Asked why prospects for a settlement were better now than in 2004, Eide said: "The one major difference is that this time the process is led by the Cypriots and their leaders. My role is to facilitate but we (United Nations) are not putting down our own proposals. Every word is written and agreed to by the sides."  *[EU, at least, has learned not to beat its head against a wall].

Monday, January 18/2016

Cool and showery in Larnaca, but roads closed in the Troodos Mountains due to heavy snowfall. Cyprus is such a small island, 240 km long by 100 km wide, so the mountains are about 110 km away by road - more like 70 km as the crow flies. It's not unusual to have mountain roads closed to non 4WD vehicles (or those without chains!) in winter. Totally closed much less common.

Sunday, January 17/2016

Sunday lunch. This time we go with Bill and Jane to Kofinou, a little village just south of Larnaca. There's a restaurant there featuring lamb kleftiko - baked in a traditional outdoor beehive shaped oven. Actually, later googling reveals that there are several (5?) kleftiko restaurants in Kofinou, which is known in Cyprus as the village to go to for the best kleftiko. It's also known for its refugee centre, prefab houses sheltering various refugees including, as of September some Syrians who sailed from Tripoli in Lebanon. (And also for its abattoir). 

Our meal is certainly very good, served with roast potatoes, preceded by salad (including very nice marinated caper greens) and followed by small pastries filled with anari cheese and Greek coffee. Quite busy and all the other patrons seem to be Cypriot, a good sign.

Saturday, January 16/2016

Walking up from the beach we see our friend Mr Walid outside the mosque. He's an Iraqi refugee who lives at the Sunflower and always stops for a chat. His life centres around the mosque and he is pleased to invite us in. We've often admired it from the outside. A beautiful building, 500 years old he says, stone with flying buttresses. We leave our shoes at the door and enter the spare, carpeted interior. J lends me his sunhat, but otherwise I'm pretty well covered. Very peaceful. There are books. Take one if you wish, he says, and J takes a small paperback Koran in English. A few young men are seated cross-legged on the floor for instruction or discussion. We admire the few pictures. The space is large, airy, and pleasant. A lovely, serendipitous encounter. 

Coffee at Harry's Café. Usually fellow coffee drinkers are local Cypriots, though there are also occasional tourists or others. A tall fair haired man, probably in his forties (although we're becoming less reliable estimators as everyone looks younger and younger) arrives with a (probably) Cypriot man. The language of conversation is English but not close enough to assess the accent - the Cypriot is quite loud but his companion inaudible. So play the guess nationality game. Not British or North American. Wearing a waistcoat with quite casual clothes. Not proof positive but material is shiny, satin-like, as opposed to, say, leather. Number two is footwear. Leather sandals could be from anywhere, but these with loudly checked socks. Number three is hair. Shoulder length proves nothing, but the combed straight back look almost certainly European. Concensus, including colouring, Northern European, probably Scandinavian or German. Other considerations are that he is carrying a sketch pad featuring a cartoon and that he is here outside of tourist season, so perhaps slightly atypical in his home country. An interesting pastime. 

Stop at the elephant store on the way home. Notice, not for the first time that unit prices are utterly unreliable, specifically in this case re Famous Grouse whisky, which we don't intend to buy and bread, which we do. The sign says, inaccurately, that a 550 gram loaf of bread at €1.39 is the same price per hundred grams as a 900 gram loaf for €1.99. (And no, I don't carry a calculator or do the precise maths in my head - some things just stand out as an insult to the intelligence). 

More obvious is the whisky. Two bottles of Famous Grouse, one 70 cl and the other a full litre. The full litre one sells for €12.99 (or €1.30 per hundred ml). The 70 cl bottle is €9.99 (or €1.43 per 100 ml). Fair enough. OK, I know. If anybody is actually reading this, they may well be distracted by the actual prices. €12.99 is $20.61 CAD or £9.94. And you can't begin to think about an acceptable blend for that price in Canada or the UK. I also know that in Canada you can't buy a litre of whisky; you'd have to buy 1.14 litres. If you're not Canadian, don't ask. I also know that if Jennifer is reading this she thinks I've totally lost it. Raye, this is where numeracy leads. BUT the thing is, the sign doesn't compare mls at all. It shows the price per gram. GRAMS of whisky? And furthermore it says that the litre costs €3.25 per 100 grams while the 70 cl bottle is €1.43 per 100 grams. Go figure!

Friday, January 15/2016

Decide on booking Athens instead of Sofia. An unnerving experience with hotel wifi speeds, although safe enough with a VPN. Constant finger crossing that the system won't crash mid payment. Aegean's site works so badly that in the end I switch to Expedia which, oddly enough, is cheaper even with the booking fee than Aegean's own non-functional site. Then have the good luck to think of Expedia.ca, so no change of currency as well.  Book hotel separately, the same one we stayed at two years ago - quite adequate but definitely not the kind of luxury that attracts hostage takers. Whole procedure invollves switching to the reception area for better internet connection. Feel thoroughly entitled to the small whiskey J pours on my return.

Thursday, January 14/2016

Meet at the waterfront for coffee. No rain, but a dark cloud forms. Still warm though, with people on the beach, some swimmers, and sailboats on the horizon. Stop on the way back at Top Kinesis, the travel agency that sold us the Nile cruise all those years ago. The girl we talk to totally gets the idea of the visa run. We have to go somewhere by mid-February. Preferably reasonably cheaply. Sofia? Yes, maybe.

Wednesday, January 13/2016

Tree planting day. Bill has two trees started in pots that need to be transplanted and they're big enough that moving them has become a two-person job. They pick us up after Jane's physio appointment and we head out to the British base for fish and chips. Stunning warm, sunny day. The restaurant is on the edge of the sea. See-through plastic windows still in place, so the view is a bit hazy, but in the summer they'll be removed and the breeze will flow through. J and Bill transplant a young grapefruit tree and one other. J says the soil is extremely dry when they dig down but the trees get a good watering. Home with a beautifully marbled. 

Thick slice of Bill's latest culinary production, rabbit terrine. Light supper after lunchtime fish and chips. Light maybe, but with terrine and marinated olives from Jane and Bill's tree indecently luxurious.

Tuesday, January 12/2016

Bus out to Vlachos where we're meeting Jane and Bill for dinner. Last visit there was mid-December when Jane was in hospital. We're early so go for a short walk and return as Jane and Bill are arriving - Jane for the first time using elbow crutches instead of the walking frame and moving fairly smoothly. Excellent meal as always. I order moussaka and J a mixture of chicken kebab and sheftalia sausages (a Cypriot specialty made with ground pork or lamb mixed with onion and parsley and grilled). Practically a meal's worth of leftovers to take home.

Monday, January 11/2016

Radio four interrupted with the news that David Bowie has died. Presenters clearly stunned by completely unexpected news, though it emerges that he had been suffering from cancer for the last year and a half. Tributes and reminiscences for the rest of the day. By evening the Cyprus Mail online has struggled to find a local angle, a little reminiscent of the apocryphal story about the Aberdeen paper that was supposed to have reported the sinking of the Titanic under the headline "North-east man dies at sea". The CM's heading is "David Bowie: Cyprus is my Island (Updated)" and the story mainly refers to the fondness Bowie's first wife had for Cyprus where she was born while her father was here working as a mining engineer. Clearly pulled out of the archives to meet the occasion.

Sunday, January 10/2016

Cambanella's for Sunday roast again. Or choice of roasts. The staff are all, or mostly family (apparently the daughter is a lawyer who still cooks at the restaurant on weekends). The woman who carves the meet seems terribly disappointed when one says no to a third slice. Maureen here as well as Jane and Bill. Bill fills a plate at the carvery cum buffet for Jane and she says, mildly, that she had specified thin slices. But we're all agreed - the woman doesn't do thin. 

Saturday, January 9/2016

Lovely weather again. Some tourists wearing shorts. Some locals wearing sweaters and coats. Speculate, not for the first time, on the rôle of culture and human physiology in establishing comfort norms re temperature. And surely perspiration is independent of cultural conditioning?

Friday, January 8/2016

Threatens rain but more or less doesn't. That is it rains, but only while we're having coffee and sheltered by the restaurant patio roof. Windy but not cold at all. Some people in swimming and the sea probably warmer than Ontario lakes in summer. Stop at the animal shelter charity shop on the way back, where the Thai woman that works there on Fridays tells us that she and her husband stayed home on New Year's Eve because the celebrations aren't what they were. No music this year, she says. Timed the fireworks from our window, I say - three minutes. Glad we celebrated chez nous, although a little nostalgia for the days when we'd take a bottle of sparkling wine and a couple of glasses out into the throng along the beach and join the ooohs and aaahs.

Thursday, January 7/2016

Jane has a physio appointment, after which she and Bill pick us up and we go for lunch at Cessac, at the Dekhelia base (British). It's more or less cafeteria style, but famous for its fish and chips, which live up to the reputation. Jane manages the walk from the parking lot with her walker, and observes that a disabled parking spot would be handy but would undoubtedly be used by the wrong people. Back to J and B's where we're given oranges from their tree. Bus home.

Wednesday, January 6/2016

Winter over! Seems like it anyway, and nice timing as today is a holiday. The Feast of Epiphany always seems like a bigger event than Christmas in Cyprus, although it may only be that Christmas is more familial and celebrated in the home whereas Epiphany involves public events and parades. Super day - sunny and a high around 20 in the shade. Some in swimming and quite a few tourists around. Not as crowded on the waterfront as on previous years, though there are a number of booths selling everything from cotton candy and roast chestnuts and corn cobs to cheap jewellery and religious items. When we arrive the (arch?)bishop is still on the pier. There has been a procession from St Lazarus Church, ending with the bishop throwing the cross in the water and young men diving for the honour of retrieving it. Retrieval always successful as it's tied to a cord. We do see the procession heading back. It's always a little disturbing as a symbol of non-separation of Church and state. Large numbers of cadets bearing a large cross, soldiers with unpleasant looking automatic weapons, a military band, and heavily vested Church dignitaries. Nationalism, religious loyalties and a certain amount of xenophobia heavily combined. 

Harry's café open and along with our Cyprus coffee we're served two small lokoumades, round honey soaked doughnuts that are traditional on this day.  Back on the beach carnival atmosphere continues and we stop for our annual ice cream cone. Home with sprigs of eucalyptus leaves from the pier, left after the parade. Beautiful scent in the flat.

Tuesday, January 5/2016

Rain and cold. What passes in Cyprus for winter. The newspaper reports that police on Sunday wrote up 136 businesses for continuing to trade on Sundays while forbidden to do so. There's a continuing dispute over whether Sunday trading should be determined by executive decision or parliamentary legislation. Pending a supreme court decision stores should remain closed, with the exception of small corner shop types. One reader is enraged, writing: 

"So the police have lots of time to issue notices to shops staying open on a Sunday. Why don't the police stop all those driving whilst using a mobile phone, going over red lights, parking and blocking pedestrians on pavements, parking on zebra crossings, double parking outside schools, driving with children in their cars who have no seat belts, stopping motorcyclists who have no number plates or helmets on, stopping the many, many vehicles belching smoke out of their exhausts,..." Fair point as all of the above are huge problems, with people using wheelchairs or pushing prams forced out onto the road as the sidewalks are blocked by parked cars.

Monday, January 4/2016

Photo courtesy of Cyprus Mail

Winter. Cold and rainy and a good day to be inside. But a good day, it would seem for the birds. According to the newspapers they're back - the flamingos that winter at the 2.2 square kilometre salt lake near the airport. There were some there in December but they've been joined by many more - the estimate is 10,000. The salt lake was, until the 1980's, a source of salt for export, taken by donkeys down to the harbour. When we stayed at the Athene it was walking distance. It's not really now, although might be possible using the bus one way. The flamingos are a bit unpredictable, though. Not easy to tell which side of the lake they'd be on.

Sunday, January 3/2016

(Maureen and Jane. Bill's beer seems to have wandered into the photo too)

Sunny, and much less windy than yesterday. Buses on the Sunday schedule less frequent, but the 425 along Dekhelia Road goes every half hour seven days a week. Take it out to Cambanella's Restaurant. Have memorised the landmarks and do know where to get off, but the driver, rather sweetly, is concerned on our behalf. Another passenger (young Philippino woman, the only other passenger at this point) kindly puts him straight, as she's getting off at the same spot. Arrive just as Jane and Bill and neighbours Iris and Maureen are going in. Jane's first physio appointment has clearly made a lot of difference, and three more scheduled this week. Cambanella's usual Sunday roast. Starters, choice of four roasts - beef, pork, lamb, and chicken (or all four if anyone wanted and could hold it), roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and veg. Apple pie, cheesecake or crème caramel for dessert. Always the same, but always good. Maureen turns out to be, originally, from Kilburn, home of our favourite London café.

Saturday, January 2/2016

Jane messages to say "have not used W /C all day today.......improving.

So am now able to stand & walk but still need Zimmer to rest on." I read this with the traditional use of WC, meaning loo or toilet and am puzzled. Surely not having used it all day can't be good news. And this is improvement?! Read the rest of the message, which refers to our meeting tomorrow at a restaurant for a Sunday meal: "We are leaving w/c at home so it'll be a v slow arrival". Slowly the penny drops. W/C in this case is wheelchair!

Friday, January 1/2016

New Year's Day. Winter, or what passes for it here. Not wet, but chilly enough to wear J's windproof shell over my blazer. We're invited to Bill and Jane's for dinner. Bill's doing the cooking, as he often does even when Jane isn't incapacitated. It's fairly impressive, too. The soup is a venison purée and it's followed by duck breasts with orange. Unusually, we eat inside. Without the wind it would be ok in the sun. Sunday schedule for the buses, so we get on as the bus heads into Pyla to check the route and timing. Timing always a bit problematic in Cyprus. Drivers quite considerate about letting you off at a convenient spot or waiting for a mother struggling with toddlers, but have no problem running ahead of schedule to allow for coffee at the end of the run, and quite likely to, totally illegally, use the phone while driving.

Thursday, December 31/2015

New Year's Eve, and for once we don't even really give lip service to the possibility of going down to the waterfront. Free wine and beer with the fireworks and probably a young and festive atmosphere. But better quality drink here, and quite cosy. The clincher is that the fireworks - which we can see from our sitting room (although not quite as well as if we were able to remove one particular building from the line of sight) - are shorter every year. So online greeting exchanges as the new year moves west from Australia. Midnight North American central time 8 AM here. Time the fireworks. Right- only three minutes so much better here - and raise a glass.

Wednesday, December 30/2015

Bus to Pyla. Jane in wheelchair, but we go out for a walk around the neighbourhood. Meet Bulgarian neighbour with small dog. Neighbour as affectionate, voluble - and totally incomprehensible as ever. Identify (tentatively) one word. Może, same as Polish for maybe, and accompanied by "who knows" gesture. Wheelchair significantly heavier than it looks.