Tuesday, November 28/2017

                      Photograph by Fehmi Tuncel, Famagusta

Rain begins at breakfast, not immediately obvious as it's still sunny- just with vertical lines of rain. And probably a rainbow if we were to run out and look for it. Breakfast always the same here. Would say that grows tiresome, and it rather does, but ironically at home I eat the same slice of wholegrain toast with peanut butter six days out of seven, obviously without complaint. Here it's olives (quite nice black ones), village bread, an egg, tomatoes and cucumber, and cheese. Two kinds of cheese - a round slice of soft white cheese of truly astonishing blandness and two slices of absolutely delicious grilled halloumi (hellim in Turkish). The coffee is instant, but really nothing to complain about. 

Our host, proprietor of the hotel - or probably more accurately the proprietor's husband - comes to the table to present us with his most recent publication, a book of Cypriot legends written in Turkish but with complete translations to English and German. And he has inscribed it. He teaches mathematics at the university in Nicosia, so this is a sideline, from the other side of the brain. Again, the relational - and cultural - North Cyprus. 

Avoid showers going over to see Fehmi but spend ten minutes in consultation and about forty-five minutes discussing everything from photography (he's a very interesting photographer) to historic houses. No way to avoid the showers going back, and, as always when it rains in Cyprus, torrents of water in the streets.