Today is a national holiday, but not one that transfers to the Monday when it falls on a Sunday. So are the supermarkets open? Low on bread, though not urgent. I phone Sklavenites, the nearest to inquire - one of those silly situations where their answering the phone is itself the answer to the question, which must be asked anyway because hanging up on someone is rude. Yes, they're open. But we opt not to go anyway because of horrific levels of dust in the air, fine particulate matter blowing in from the Sahara. It's been a frequent problem this winter, and clearly - or rather unclearly - not one the government can do anything about. The matter is so fine that face masks don't prevent inhalation, not that we're tempted, and it can be a significant cause of cardiopulmonary damage. We can check pollution levels on a site that gives hourly readings for Larnaca - and plenty of other world cities if we want to see how much cleaner the air is in London or see how much we resemble Beijing. Actually quite a handy site as looking out the window is an indicator but not a very precise one.