Sunday, March 31/2019

Suspect that our weather may accidentally have been switched with London’s. Yesterday afternoon there was 19 and sunny ☀️☀️☀️, though that obviously can’t last. Today in Larnaca seems to be more of same old intermittent rain 🌧. As it has been for the last several days, and is predicted to be until at least Thursday - by which time we’ll be in Bulgaria. Sofia high teens and sunny - at least until Thursday. Hoping we’re not like Joe Btsfplg [spellcheck understandably distressed] of the old Li’l Abner comics. The bloke who walked around with his own little dark cloud of disaster above his head, accompanying him wherever he went. 

Even Cypriots have stopped saying “but we need the water”. And most years they’re right. Have even been here when water was being shipped from Greece. Northern Cyprus supplements usually inadequate rainfall with water from Turkey via a five foot diameter 50 mile long pipeline under the Mediterranean. Actually, Turkey offered to supply the South of Cyprus as well, as a peace gesture, but the Greeks chose to beware of Turks bearing gifts. 

European change to daylight saving time, or summer time as it’s more commonly known. Pity the countries of the world that make the change couldn’t all see fit to do it on the same day. The iPads have adjusted themselves, and even the unsmart little Nokia asks if it should make the. change,leaving only our watches requiring manual attention. 

As well that we didn’t wait up last night for the petition to reach six million, as it hasn’t quite done so by morning, although it’s within a couple of thousand by the time we leave for our last Sunday lunch of the season. And about six thousand over by the time we get back. 

Saturday, March 30/2019

Well, no thunderstorms and no hail, but on off rain. Maggi comes in for a cuppa. Happy to see her as there probably won’t be another opportunity before we leave. J asks if she has a cassette player. No, not since she left Norway. The object, of course, is to find a home for our not all that small collection of tapes. She phones to inquire of an extremely deaf neighbour whether she might be interested. Our end of the shouted conversation which seems to be mostly mishearing and misunderstanding is as good as a Python skit, although we’re left with the feeling that there would be no point in said neighbour listening to music anyway. In the end M does leave with the tapes, though, in the hopes that they may find a good home. 

Do make a brief foray out in the afternoon. There’s a little sun and the rain has taken quite a lot of the orange blossoms off the trees and left them scattered on the pavement, the scent lovely as ever. 

The online parliamentary petition asking government to revoke Article 50, which triggered Brexit, has almost reached an astonishing six million signatures, most of them since the beginning of this week. Obviously we haven’t signed, not being UK citizens, but we’ve watched with interest. Had intended to pour a celebratory drink at the record six million mark. No legal force, and government has said that it will be debated but not implemented, so heaven knows what the debate will consist of. Must have some moral force, though. In any case, at quarter past midnight it has reached 5,995,836 - and we’re not staying up for the remaining 4164.

Friday, March 29/2019

Rains most of the day as we head into the second of the two consecutive long weekends. Worse, the forecast for tonight and tomorrow is a yellow alert for thunderstorms, heavy rain and hail. Suspect we’re not on the more violent end of that, but who knows. Apparently hail significantly damaged potato, onion, and kohlrabi crops a little to the north of us yesterday morning. Wifi happily not disrupted and good day for reading. Also good day for curry as J turns single remaining chicken breast and some mushrooms and onions into a nice curry and I make dhal with most of the dried lentils (Canadian, as green lentils seem to be in much of the world). Substitute the remaining bulgar for rice, which we’re out of. We’ve done much better than usual at finishing the provisions and the stay at the same time. 

Small bit of drama in the Brexit department as Theresa May brings her EU withdrawal agreement to parliament for the third time and it is, for the third time defeated. This time she’d upped the ante somewhat by promising to resign if it passed - a prize which did lead a couple of would be prime ministers (notably the utterly shameless Boris Johnson) to overcome their passionately expressed objections and support it, but to no avail. 

And, confirmation that the wheels of justice really do turn as slowly as they seem in Cyprus, as the Cyprus Mail reports rather quaintly that “Cyprus ranks among the slowest countries in the world in terms of receiving swift justice” as “the EU average required to complete a [legal] case is eight months, [while] Cyprus needs more than 2,500 days”. Entirely typical that the Cypriot time to deliver justice is cited in days, presumably In the hope that “more than 2500 days” would sound better than “nearly eight years”. The latter would surprise no one hear waiting decades for the title deeds to their property.

Thursday, March 28/2019

Cyprus Mail brings the unwelcome news that the buses in Larnaca and Nicosia are to begin an indefinite strike on Tuesday. Last bus strike was three years ago, and the cause was the same - the drivers had not been paid. No real excuse for that, as they’re public employees, but non-payment of workers fairly common here. Particularly inconvenient timing for us, as we leave for Sofia the following morning. We can take a taxi, but they’re overpriced and the airport bus goes right past our door - when it’s running.

And, re the airport, the same newspaper site  carries an account of a Russian government complaint to the Cyprus government (although on closer inspection the story seems to date from before Christmas). One of their nationals, a young woman here on holiday, admitted that she was going to be staying in the North and was consequently held in a cell and then deported to Russia, but only after agreeing to pay the cost of the deportation. This is a problem that arises periodically. It isn’t illegal to stay in the North, but staying in a hotel that was previously owned (with possibilities of title dispute) by Greek Cypriot is frowned on. Whether that is technically illegal is unclear, and some authorities say not. The official position seems to be to allow tourists to cross freely and stay in the North as they wish. However in practice this may depend on how easily offended any particular airport official is by the thought of tourists patronising Northern businesses. Have viewed the “official” list of hotels in the North, and all but a half dozen are considered to be originally Greek Cypriot owned. Happily, the hotel we sometimes use in Famagusta has always been, as we had known  owned by a Turkish Cypriot family whose daughter is now the proprietor.

Wednesday, March 27/2019

Wednesday food shopping. Now at the point where we are only buying food when we can identify the specific meal it’s slated for. And sadly passing up fruit and veg of a quality we’re unlikely to see until next winter. Had we only bought pears in northern Ontario I would have had no idea how sweet and juicy they could be. 

Continuing with Jack Shenker's The Egyptians: A Radical Story. What is most radical about it is Shenker’s own, entirely justified, rage about what a neoliberal anti-socialist agenda fuelled by greed on the part of an Egyptian elite as well as the greed of multinational investers and corporations has done to ordinary Egyptians, especially those who made a very modest living farming small amounts of land. The villains of the piece include not only Mubarek and cronies but also the World Bank, USAID, and others committed for less than altruistic reasons to economic restructuring:

“Evictions] left 1 million families – one-third of Egypt’s rural population – without land. The removal” of most families’ primary source of income sparked a rash of ‘abrupt impoverishment’, devastating the most vulnerable social groups. Research carried out in rural areas in the years following the ‘transition’ has exposed the many hidden catastrophes of landlessness: children taken out of school, especially girls, to cut down on household expenditure, severe food shortages (the Land Center for Human Rights listed ‘sleeping early to avoid feeling hungry’ as a common coping strategy deployed by peasants), a dramatic expansion of child labour, and the selling off of household assets”.

Interesting, but not an easy read. The book was published in 2016. We were last in Egypt in 2016, so the period in which Shenker was writing the book more or less coincides with our being there.

Tuesday, March 26/2019

Photo from Blacksmith’s Facebook page

What will probably, despite our having expressed hopes otherwise, be the last meal the six of us have out together. Booked at The Blacksmith, in the oldest part of Larnaca - well, discounting ancient Kition, settled circa 1300 bc - hoping that a Tuesday night will be quiet enough to converse. The building actually was a blacksmith’s in the path, and has quite a lot of old tools, pots, etc as decor. It also has probably the best meze in town. Far too much of it, as seems to be the point of mezes, but this means a bonanza for Harry and Ailsa’s many dogs and cats, as there is what would otherwise seem like a sinful amount of leftovers.

Monday, March 25/2019

Today is the first of two consecutive Monday holidays in Cyprus, Greek Independence Day. A traditional Greek holiday, somewhat loosely (and irrelevantly) associated with the Feast of the Annunciation, but only because the dates are coincidentally the same. Really only significance for us is that two of our remaining nine days here are holidays. Add two Sundays and that leaves five business days. 

Not that we have any business to transact. Do need a haircut, and all hairdressers/barbers are closed, by law, on Thursdays. No, no idea, although government here has traditionally been fairly interventionist. When we first started coming nearly twenty years ago supermarkets had early closing, village style, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, subject to fines for non-observance. Peripteros (small convenience stores,  corner shops, dépanneurs) were exempt, leaving a large one near us remaining defiantly open during a period of protest with a large banner across the front proclaiming it PERIPTERO. That period long gone, though this year for the first time legislation preventing the use of plastic bags is being observed, with no apparent loss of trade as people meekly carry fabric bags as their grandmothers did.

Sunday, March 24/2019

We’ve planned a Sunday meal at Zygi, a fishing village down the coast, actually more than half way to Limassol. Bit cloudy, and chances of rain depend on which forecast you choose believe, so we go with optimism. We’re booked for one o’clock at Santa Elena fish taverna, located in a former carob mill. Very busy, as it’s not only Sunday  but a long weekend. Happily, we seem to be the only non-Cypriots there - always a good sign. We go for the fish meze - not inexpensive, but a feast for the eyes and more than filling. Sea bream. Shrimp saganaki, red snapper, squid cooked in own ink, shrimp, mussels, octopus, unnamed but tasty little fish, salad, chips, and more. Plenty of seating outside, but the odd spit of rain so we opt against. Drive back on the coastal route and Jane buys strawberries from a small place along the way.

Saturday, March 23/2019

Wake up to revoke petition at over 4 million. Ought to be hard to ignore. Clips of today’s people’s vote on Brexit march in London remind us of the anti Iraq invasion demo we went to in 2003. Not THE demo of February 2003, but the second anti Iraq invasion march five weeks later, with an estimated 200,000 marchers rather than the February 15 one with probably a million people. All estimates vary wildly, in part because huge demo number determinations difficult to do, as people enter at various points and cover an unphotographably large territory. Remember asking J: well, are we joining? J answering: You may not have noticed, but this march is made up of segments and the people now passing us are the Maoists. Me: Right, we can wait for the environmentalists. Estimates as of four o’clock London time today are about a million. May or may not be accurate, but hard to imagine a demo five times the size of our anti Iraq experience. our demo had a couple of signs we won’t forget - “How did our oil get under their sand?” and “They know Saddam has weapons of mass destruction - they still have the receipts” spring to mind. Some good posters on this one as well. “Don’t blame the Bulgarians or Romanians - Blame the Etonians, for example”. Or “IKEA make better cabinets” and “Even Baldrick had a F**king Plan”. By evening petition over four and a half million. 

Complaints that it’s easy to sign more than once using same email with explanations from the relevant techies about why this is not in fact so. And the following tweet: “Seen a few people talking about how the revoke petition is compromised because someone signed it from Kyrgyzstan. That was me. I’m here for two weeks for work. People move around the world. Imagine that”. Leading a number of people to joke about the probability of similar unfounded accusations re march participants, and post their comments to accompany photos - or better still video clips - of the crowd:

*Apparently you can turn up using as many different emails as you want, though.

*The people who've finished are catching the tube back to the start and doing it again!

*I've shown up as three different people.

*Nah, they’re all bots

*And some of these people aren't in the UK

*Paid actors. The lot of ‘em!!!

*It’s all fake photography. I was just there and the streets were virtually deserted 😀

*I'm there in my capacity as a Macedonian server farm.

Friday, March 22/2019

For some time now, and - as with so much that seems to be two years ago and turns out to be “several” - could be some considerable time, have been getting regular (or more accurately irregular) texts on the trusty little Nokia, informing me that my credit card has been used at some Nicosia shop or other for X number of euros. Have no card issued by Hellenic Bank and don’t go to Nicosia as often as once a year. But have developed a fair knowledge of the young lady’s spending habits. I say young lady advisedly, as mostly she is notified of small sums spent at coffee shops or boutiques selling lingerie or make up. The texts aren’t a major nuisance, and I don’t pay to receive them, but it is an annoyance and I do often stop to check in case the beeps are a friend’s message, as does occasionally happen. 

So today, after withdrawing money from the cash point at the Hellenic Bank down the street, I go inside to ask about cease and desist possibilities. Have already been cheerfully informed by Cyta that they can only block numbers re phone calls not texts. This seems, even to a non-Geek, to be unlikely to be true technically, so can’t help asking if this would be the case even if I got daily obscene texts. But I don’t and the girl clearly doesn’t think that I do, so don’t pursue the issue. At the bank am directed to a sixtyish man who doesn’t seem particularly pleased to see me and asks (not sarcastically) how I think we might proceed. I wonder whether the card owner might be traceable by telephone number - mine, of course. He begins to be interested in taking on the rôle of detective and solving the case. First attempt proves that my number is not associated with any Hellenic Bank card, but he has a “suspicion”, and is delighted when it proves correct. The card was issued by the Co-op Bank, which failed last summer and was bought up by the Hellenic Bank. So a different number to call re the records. Each call he makes involves some initial pleasantry before getting down to business, which I, knowing virtually no Greek, interpret as a bit of how are the wife and kids chat. At one point he looks at me and exclaims, with what sounds like mixed excitement add indignation, “She bought women’s underwear!” and I admit to having known the card owner was a girl from the way she spent her money. 

In the end he pronounces the case solved, by now cheerfully calling by my (conveniently Greek) first name. It may take half an hour to go into effect. But if not I can feel free to return. Leave wondering If J, who has waited outside, has shrivelled up in the sun, but no, so on to Lidl, our original destination. 

Reading in the afternoon when fire alarm goes off in the building at 3:40. We listen for a bit - a couple of years back this happened frequently and at length and all alarms proved false. But eventually head down the stairs. No one about. Certainly no distress, except possibly on the part of the mostly Greek speaking receptionist, who appears to be trying to figure out how to turn the system off, making minor expeditions down the hallway and placing phone calls. Eventually she shrugs in our direction. And we remember a previous occasion on which we went to the lobby in response to a fire alarm and were asked if we had been afraid. Well, no - just that we habitually leave a building when a fire alarm goes off. Actually fires are pretty rare here. Everything is concrete, but still we ignore a young man stepping out of the elevator and opt to walk up the five floors, as the bells are still ringing loudly. One small mystery solved en route though. J stops to examine the books in a little set of shelves which proves to be either the final resting place or exchange station for defective hot plates. We had wondered. Pour well earned drink. At 4:02 alarm ends. 

Have been following the UK petition to revoke Article 50, the article which set in process UK’s exit from the EU. Carries no legal weight, but in two days over three and a half million people have signed, which, one would think, would make it difficult for Prime Minister May to insist that the “will of the people” is clearly to leave. But then one would have thought many things during this two year ordeal that have not come to pass.

Thursday, March 21/2019

Stunning day. Drive to Famagusta past fields of barley and wildflowers. Red poppies by the roadside. Market its usual riot of colour. Outside near the bedding plants are bunches of wild asparagus and a basin of snails. Buy some small pastries from a young woman, who probably made them. Easy enough to establish the price, as we can show the correct number of fingers (1 Turkish lira = €0.16, $0.24 CAD). Pastry content a little trickier. Would prefer it not be the tasteless soft white cheese popular in some Mediterranean and Eastern European pastry. Seems not. But apple would be nice. Elam? I ask. We’re both delighted as she gives me a sign 👌 I’ve hit it. Quite surprising on my part, too, as it is a memory retrieved from over twenty years ago when we bought apple tea at the bazaar in Istanbul. Probably (disgracefully) don’t know ten words in Turkish. Don’t know the words for bread and milk. Buy strawberries from an enormous heap where you can choose your own - all winners in that lot. Twenty lira a kilo, though we don’t buy as much as that. 

We go for lunch to Ocean House, the seafood restaurant that the son of Fehmi (our dentist) started a year ago. Share a platter of mussels, shrimp, calamari, fried fish, and saffron rice. Son not there, but service very good, and food good too. 

Wednesday, March 20/2019

First day of spring, though technically not until two minutes to midnight in this time zone so we just missed being in with the March 21 lot. I check for exact time to see whether we’re today or tomorrow, knowing the time zone will matter, and find that it’s complicated. Easter Sunday (in the Western Christian Church) ​​​​is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full Moon that occurs on or just after the spring equinox. 

Here’s the tricky part: ”Since the full Moon AND the vernal equinox both fall on March 20 this year (in North America, at least), you might expect that Easter Sunday would be on the following Sunday, March 24. However, for simplicity’s sake, the Church set a fixed date for the equinox, March 21. Additionally, the Church does not rely on the date of the astronomical full Moon, but rather the ecclesiastical full Moon, which occurs on the 14th day of the ecclesiastical lunar month. The date of the ecclesiastical full Moon may fall one to two days before the astronomical full Moon. Therefore, because the first full Moon after March 21 doesn’t occur until April 19 this year, Easter Sunday 2019 falls on Sunday, April 21!”  - Old Farmer’s Almanac

Actually hot in the sun, though. Down to the bakery and the watchmaker and definitely seeking shade on the way back. 

Tuesday, March 19/2019

To Pyla by bus, and the area seems to be full of police. Cop cars parked on corners and driving up and down side roads. Third day of sun so J and Bill working on the roof, retiling bits that were not slanted enough to prevent standing water. Meanwhile over the front door swallows are nesting, so we’ve been using the side door to give them some peace. And Bill has made a small trapeze style perch which they seem to like. Flowers around the house thriving in the warm sun. 

Fish and chip lunch, an annual tradition at the restaurant next to the Dhekelia Base (UK). Must be frozen as there are certainly no cod in the Mediterranean, but they consistently turn out some of the best fish & chips we’ve had, and the chips have definitely never seen the inside of a freezer. 

Turns out that the heavy police presence was down to a bicommunal football game being played between South and North Cyprus teams with President Anastasiades and a former Chelsea Football Club player attending. Northern Cyprus President Akinci was invited but decided not to go when he found the game would be in Pyla, just on the Greek side of the border rather than in the buffer zone.

Monday, March 18/2019

Would much appreciate knowing if anyone else has had virus problems with this blog, most specifically with JS Downloader FJP (TRJ). My understanding, and I’m  no techie, is that this would affect Windows. I don’t use Windows - straight iPad - so any problem would be with the site. Blogger is a google site, so you can appreciate the pointlessness of trying to communicate with them. Blogger has not been entirely satisfactory for a few reasons, one of which is that it’s not designed to be edited on a small screen and frequently won’t do what it’s told re spacing, photo placement, etc. Note, for example, the forced change in font size in this paragraph. On the other hand it is free and its defects are ones that I’m used to, despite inflicting a certain amount of swearing on J. So, most of this post should also be available at www.fellowtraveller.home.blog. Not at all good with their format but with luck that may improve.

Sun appears to be back – well permanently may be tempting fate, but now heading for the shady side of the street. So walk downtown on errands. New watch strap as previous hanging by a thread, quite literally. Check out possible replacement for cafetière glass broken yesterday. Suspect simpler to buy new coffee press, but this too late to acquire things for storage. Actually divest time, though charity shop manager regrets that cassette tapes can no longer find homes. No one listens to them any more, which is, of course, why we are trying to dispose of them. Between CDs, and Spotify, with bits of YouTube….List things to be done in the next two weeks and obviously must get a move on. Did check out a couple of more central locations re next year, but mostly not truly enthusiastic about the length of time we’re looking at. So, choices to make. Portugal would be cheaper, as would Spain, but they’re both Schengen countries and there is a limit of 90 days out of 180 in the whole Schengen area (most of Europe, though fortunately not Cyprus. Turkey is an option.

Trial of WordPress, as possible virus problems with Blogspot (most probably when using with Windows?). Unfamiliar format, but will see how it works. 

Sunday, March 17/2019

A Cambanella Sunday. Bill and Jane arrive with Maureen in the car. She’s in the process of moving from Cyprus back to England, planning to rent an apartment in Deal, Kent, on the southeast coast. Current difficulty being to find one that allows her to keep her cat. This could be a farewell meal for Maureen, but is also a belated birthday dinner as she turned eighty on Friday. Jane has brought her a pin to wear that says I am eighty. M puts it on, but seems less than enthusiastic about making the announcement. Not a lot of people in the restaurant, though, so no real threat of congratulations and song. 

Cypress trees usually stand neatly to attention, tall and slim and controlled. Seems this may depend on trimming, though. The one outside Cambanella’s always looks less on guard and more like it’s practising semaphore. Letter unknown. Any semaphore I may have learned now decades in the past. 

CJ Sansom’s Dissolution is our new light read aloud book. Historical mystery set in the time of the dissolution of the monasteries. Author has a PhD in history and has also been a practising solicitor, and the expertise shows. Happily, this book is the first of a series of (so far) five, and he has other historical mysteries as well, so future pleasures await. Unusual in my circles, online and in real life, for being a Scot who is passionately against Scottish independence. Can hear my cousin saying oh well, we won’t hold that against him. Or maybe not - he’s pretty passionate himself.

Saturday, March 16/2019

                                          Photos courtesy of Cyprus Mail 

Road hazards differ regionally. No moose in Cyprus. None on the trans-Canada in New Brunswick either, as it’s fenced to prevent them, with helpful crossing tunnels underneath - but that’s another story. A stretch of Cyprus’s main motorway from Limassol to Nicosia closed this morning for a peculiarly Mediterranean reason - a large quantity of oranges had fallen off the back of a truck. Secondary roads not necessarily any better than northern Ontario, though. Yesterday firemen called upon to rescue a man who had been driving his Honda when the road gave way, leaving the car upside down ten meters down in a giant pothole.  Man ok, car maybe not so much.

Friday, March 15/2019

Good thing that J and Bill did the trimming yesterday, as we seem to be back to the pattern of a series of showers. Windy but not cold. Not complaining either - no snow, no cold, plenty of fresh fruit and veg - but hard to plan anything that involves being any distance from home when a (usually heavy) shower hits. Winds tend to make umbrellas fairly useless too. Do take a short walk for provisions, though now reaching the point of not wanting to stock up on food that may not be eaten in the next two and a half weeks, so bread, wine, eggs, milk. Note that there’s still a packet of green lentils (yes, Canadian, as they seem to be everywhere we go) in the cupboard. Make pea soup using the lamb bone from yesterday’s dinner, brought home because it still had half a portion of meat on it. Should really have regarded today as a fast day. Too much good food here. 

Finish reading Breaking News and look through the ebook library for what’s next in the read aloud category. Should be one light and one more substantial. Choose Jack Shenker’s The Egyptians, a look at the struggle of ordinary Egyptians for political justice - not assisted in any way by the support of the West for undemocratic elites as long as a self-serving Western agenda is maintained. We’ll need a lighter read for relief. 

Thursday, March 14/2019

No sign of last night’s thunderstorm this morning, which is good because Bill and J have plans to do some garden trimming. Pass a large snail - maybe two inches - on the path. Unlike most animal subjects, snail unable to hurry away, so do get its photo. 

Kaffir lime, bougainvillea, etc. For the chop. Some of the trimmees fight back. Fairly tough thorns on bougainvillea. Garden definitely in spring mode. In Cyprus lawns are rare - simply not enough water, especially in summer, to waste it like that, but paving stones and flowers everywhere. 

Bill puts salmon fillets in the smoker for lunch and Jane has baked apples. The working it off bit of some value as we’re slated to go out for dinner, and have not only booked but pre-ordered the kleftiko, as arrival time is much too late to start slow cooking. Involves forethought, but much nicer result than when restaurants rely on pre-cooked, frozen, thawed, reheated. Be good to fast for the next two days, but not very likely to happen. 

Wednesday, March 13/2019

Prinos greengrocer on the agenda as Wednesdays are 20% off days for produce. And theirs is always first class. Wear a long sleeved corduroy shirt over my t-shirt, which proves too warm. Spring is here. As usual, many older people taking advantage of the Wednesday prices. Previously J said that he recognised repeat faces, which sounds entirely probable, though prosopagnosia prevents me from knowing whether he’s right. This time he says he doesn’t recognise anyone. 

Oranges, strawberries, pears, bananas, tomatoes, apples, mushrooms, red leaf lettuce, courgettes, cucumbers, and little new potatoes. The tiny potatoes are always much cheaper than the larger ones - this time €0.35, (30p, $0.45 CAD) a kilo. J once told a seller at the market that in Canada the little potatoes cost more, and got a good laugh in response. Suspect that as potatoes seem always to be peeled here that the small ones don’t seem worth the bother. Everything grown in Cyprus except the Conference pears, Pink Lady apples, and onions, which are from Greece. Surprising in the case of the onions. 

Watch second of three days of Brexit related debates and motions. Incredible drama of conflict between executive (cabinet) and legislature (parliament). With quite ugly possible repercussions. Once more, we live in interesting times. So following Ian Dunt, editor of politics.co.uk and author of Brexit: What the Hell Happens Now, gives us access to live running comment, incisive and sometimes profane, on serious UK parliamentary debate and votes. And for analysis, there is David Allen Green, contributing editor of the Financial Times and commentator on law and policy; Steve Peers, Professor of EU, Human Rights and World Trade Law (next book - EU Citizens Directive); and Steve Bullock, ex-negotiator for UK in EU. Amongst others. Astonishing resources in real time or close to it. 

Pour a whisky, and am reminded of the days when we used to watch Power and Politics, before we pulled the tv plug. In the days of the previous Canadian government Paul Calandra, MP was so enraging that we took to pouring a drink when he appeared on the roster - known in house as a Calandra. Leading eventually to “What? He’s not on today?” By the time the House rises several members from various opposition parties have expressed extreme frustration with the fact that defeats of government motions by unprecedented margins have no effect at all in changing executive position. The prime minister simply repeats that she is implementing the will of the people (i.e. referendum) while ignoring the will of the House. By now there can’t be more than twenty MPs left on the benches.

Tuesday, March 12/2019

Maggi calls to ask if she can come for tea and sympathy. Of course. She’s taken Maxi in to the vet. Had her at the beach and she seems to have injured her leg again. Cries when touched and can’t walk. Happened yesterday morning, but no answer then from vet as it was a holiday. Now dog at vet and M waiting for phone call. We have tea and J suggests early lunch, aware that we do have three stuffed peppers. Well planned. Actually, shortbread biscuits and chocolate digestives as well. Surprisingly well prepared. M leaves for home, but calls during stop at Lidl to say vet has called. No real damage and she can collect her tomorrow along with prescribed painkillers. Vast improvement over her fears of amputation, etc. 

Evening vote on Theresa May’s plan with pathetically minimal changes. Defeated as predicted, meaning two utterly wasted years. Years in which pressing problems like poverty and homelessness not addressed. Someone online, appalled by the toxic parliamentary paralysis was moved to remember Cromwell’s speech in April 1653, at the end of the Long Parliament (long being something of an understatement as it sat for twenty years, apparently to no good purpose):

“It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place, which you have dishonored by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice; ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government; ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess? Ye have no more religion than my horse; gold is your God; which of you have not barter'd your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defil'd this sacred place, and turn'd the Lord's temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices? Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation; you were deputed here by the people to get grievances redress'd, are yourselves gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

In the name of God, go!”

Impressive enough, but would be more so if Cromwell himself had not been such a bastard.

May, regrettably, unlikely to go as a result of anything short of assassination. 

Monday, March 12/2019

Green Monday. More properly known as Clean Monday. A religious but also civic holiday in Cyprus, (and not to be confused with the much more recent name for the second Monday in December, supposed busiest shopping day before Christmas). It’s the first day of Lent in the Eastern Church, which follows the Julian calendar, and as such is a fast day - of sorts. Meat, eggs and dairy products are not eaten by the observant today and throughout Lent. The Cypriots have managed to turn the first day of a fast into a celebration, though. No meat or fish or dairy, but wonderful salads, and seafood not only permitted but traditional. 

Wine and beer always allowed on feast days. Thus the Cyprus Mail notes “Police were on the lookout for drink-driving, as Green Monday coincided with the conclusion of the carnival in Limassol...from Friday afternoon to Monday evening 140 motorists were booked across the island for driving under the influence of alcohol”. No comment on how this compares with a typical weekend. (Population of the Republic of Cyprus - the South - close to 1.2 million).

Green Monday means family gatherings, most often in the countryside or at beaches. Barbecues usually feature, and kite flying is a tradition. We have picnicked at the beach at points in the past, once with a kite Maggi had acquired, but  cook at home this year. Stuffed peppers, and not precisely vegetarian either, as there’s a little lountza (smoked pork tenderloin) in the filling.

Sunday, March 10/2019

Daylight saving time begins in North America today (well, with some exceptions, like Saskatchewan). As a minor irritant, most of Europe also will switch to summer time, but not for another three weeks. According to Tim Q, the EU intends to give up making the relatively pointless time change. Can imagine that a post Brexit UK and America will regard it as a point of principle to refuse to copy the EU, while Canada will do whatever the US does. And so it goes. 

Back to ours for coffee after Cambanella’s. We have quite a decent view, considering that it’s urban, and Bill notes that the swifts are back. They’re from the family apodidae, literally footless, although that isn’t literally true, and are therefore related to the hummingbird. Swifts are characterised by very long wingspan compared to body length, and in fact are not only able to fly very fast, as their name suggests, but can remain in the air almost endlessly. Despite this healthy swifts rarely land and fly for very long periods of time, eating, drinking, sleeping and even mating as they do so. “It is only breeding swifts that must land to build their nests and lay eggs. Most swifts have their first breeding season when they are 3 or 4 years old so a young swift may have stayed in the air permanently for 2-3 years” [britishbirdlovers.co.uk]. Quite astonishing. We usually see them from our fourth floor perch as they speed past in the late afternoon or early evening, eating insects as they go. 

Photo credit: Paweł Kuźniar (Jojo_1) GFDL

Saturday, March 9/2019

                                                Photo cyprusisland.net

To Pyla. Bus almost empty. Difficult to predict. Have been the only ones on a full sized bus, but then there was the time last month when it was so full that we were offered seats by members of a Tbilis, Georgiai team (identifiable by their jackets, but sport unknown) as people were standing in the aisles. Team a significant reason for the overcrowding, but there were quite a few others as well. 

Archetypical Cypriot spring day, with full sun and a cloudless sky. J and Bill with some more trimming to do with the new saw. And sheftalia on the barbecue for lunch. Sheftalia, are a Cypriot sausage. Name sounds the same in both North and South, although the spelling is, obviously, quite different in Turkish. They’re made from ground pork or lamb, or possibly beef, mixed with finely chopped onion and parsley, salt, and pepper. The filling is formed into small balls which are then placed on spread out caul, which is transparent and naturally fatty. Squares of caul (thin lacy membrane surrounding internal organs) are cut around them and wrapped, making little sausages which are put on skewers and then grilled, preferably on charcoal, until golden brown. In the process of cooking the caul fat melts and drips off, leaving just the  browned sausages. sounds rather off-putting, but completely delicious.

Friday, March 8/2019

Feels like Cypriot spring, while technically another eleven days of winter. Walk down to the animal shelter charity shop to donate a couple of things as we begin the thinning out. Then to the waterfront. Breeze off the water, but plenty of sunbathers, a couple of them in bikinis. Hot in the full sun. Not crowded, but it will be on the weekend.

Thursday, March 7/2019

Thursday, the day of Famagusta’s weekly market. And have also made a dental appointment, with mixed feelings. Always a pleasure seeing Fehmi, our dentist but hoping that he doesn’t think there’s a need for extensive work, largely because cross border transportation is made, deliberately, about as awkward as possible. It’s easy to forget that the actual distance is only about 45 km, but buses don’t cross the border, except for some coach tours. Buses that go near the border aren’t Larnaca region but Agia Napa region. Crossing points are limited. Taxis overcharge for the hassle and extra insurance requirements, and car rental outfits usually don’t want their cars taken across. And therefore we have on a couple of occasions booked a hotel in the old city and stayed for a few days to simplify dental access. A pleasure in other respects, of course, as it’s a World Heritage Site with stunning ruins. 

Today, for the first time there is a queue at the border, with several cars ahead of us waiting to have Turkish immigration check passports and vehicle insurance papers. Are they looking for a particular individual? Nobody smuggles goods into the North, do they? But J, who gets out with our documents says everything seems as low key as usual. About a fifteen minute delay, though, when there’s usually absolutely none. Happy stop at the dentist, with only minor work. And Fehmi sits down to have a cup of coffee and a chat with us when it’s done, always interesting, always unhurried, always the gentleman. Lunch in the old city at the place by the Venetian walls (15th and 16th century). Busy, but happily it’s virtually all local business. 

Then the market. Flowers and plants outside, as well as fish and ice cream trucks. And inside clothing, jewellery, handbags, footwear, linens - but mostly food. Cheese, eggs, butter and pails of yoghurt. Nuts (although we do note that the enormous burlap sacks of walnuts say California), dried fruit, and pulses. Garlic is - as in most of the rest of the world - from China, but the olives are local. And a colour explosion of local fruit and vegetables - tomatoes, oranges, bananas, beets, artichokes, cabbages, carrots, peppers, lemons, and much more. Turkish lira currently just over 6 to the euro. We pay in lira but could do in euros. Scales now all modern and electronic, but still a little calling out the wares. At customs they do look in the trunk, but we seem to be legal - no cigarettes, no liquor, no bodies.

Wednesday, March 6/2019

”Borrowers with non-performing loans (NPLs) with a mortgage on their primary residence, the value of which does not exceed €350,000, should not worry about being evicted”, begins a short piece in today’s Cyprus Mail. The article is badly enough written that it takes some time to make sense of it (and no, not primarily a translation problem). Though it is in part a problem of jargon, and not unique to Cyprus. Thus “borrowers with non-performing loans” does rather sound as if the poor unfortunates have been landed with loans that simply aren’t up to it. Nothing to do with them - just bad luck. “Does your loan perform?” “Not really. Sadly, it just lies there.” “But did it ever perform?” “Not at all well, I’m afraid.” “Ah well, some of them are like that.” 

We are, of course, talking about bank loans, specifically in this case mortgages, that are not being repaid. And without wishing to sound like the cruel landlord, there is the fact that somebody - indeed identified later in the article as the taxpayer - will be assisting in the payment. If the property is worth no more than €350,000 ($532,000 CAD) the government will step up and cover one third of each monthly payment. Thus people who cannot afford to buy a house themselves are, through their taxes, subsidising those who have defaulted on mortgage payments. The percentage of Cypriot bank loans that are non-performing (the highest in Europe) is a continuing scandal, reaching a high in 2017 of close to half of all loans. And, as J points out, if the improvement since is down to the government making the payments, things aren’t much better now. So why doesn’t parliament get tougher? Well, there is the matter of the number of MPs with - non-performing loans.

Tuesday, March 5/2019

Following Rose’s observation that the Ontario Library Download Centre does have at least one book of Hugh MacLennan’s, am forced to re-examine my research, and discover that I have spelled MacLennan inconsistently - and therefore at least part of the time incorrectly. Which turns out to be at the root of my difficulty in finding available ebooks. So, yes, the OLDC does have more than one of Hugh MacLennan’s books, in acknowledgment of his status as major Canadian literary figure. As does openlibrary.org. In the latter case including a copy of The Watch that Ends the Night, which I have since downloaded for two weeks. And presumably Hugh McLennan neurologist remains unrelated. It does help to be able to spell. 

Stop briefly at the Tsokos Hotel down the road to inquire about long stay rates next winter. All we really know about them is that they have a very strong wifi signal, frequently better than ours - though obviously with a password we don’t know. They are quite affable and give us the key to check out a room. Layout fine and the double induction cooktop looks new, but everything else pretty run down - and air conditioner cum heater only in the bedroom. View pretty unimpressive too, unless one had a top floor seaside flat - and those probably go by seniority. Does make our flat look a bit classier by comparison. 

The Larnaca airport has announced that it has begun upgrading work. Nothing to do with the airplanes, or even customer comfort. Wifi speed and reliability not mentioned. No, this is better (presumably read more lucrative) shops and restaurants. They already have what is the most expensive bottled water of any airport we have used. Have sad suspicion that upgrading may include the disappearance of the tiny under-the-stairs loo that had one basin and an actual traditional cold water tap suitable for refilling reusable water bottles. Any possibility that they would be moved by ecological shaming?

Monday, March 4/2019

By bus to Mazotos, south of Larnaca to visit Maggi. She’s more or less housebound while her dog, Maxi, recovers from an attack by two larger dogs at the beach ten days ago. Has stitches and is supposed to be staying home and taking it easy, though not easy to explain to a dog. Maxi, who probably hasn’t seen us for two years, is clearly delighted to see Joe. Good memory. Lovely lamb done in the slow cooker. Can (just) see the Mediterranean from the back deck - past the olive trees and the fields. After Magne’s death in 2012 she could have remained in Norway, enjoying Cypriot holidays, or returned to Scotland, instead of which she settled permanently in Cyprus and is now in the process of applying for citizenship. Think it was a wise choice.

When we get back it’s clear that it has rained in Larnaca, though happily not in Mazotos. Go down to pay Kiki part of a month’s rent until we settle on an exact checkout date. Bizarrely, it seems management has told her we’re leaving tomorrow. An eviction we have not been informed of. Trust we’ve been confused with someone else and it’s not an evil portent.

Sunday, March 3/2019

Despite dire predictions - well, online yellow warning sign re thunderstorms - we head to the village of Kofinou for their classic Sunday kleftiko, lamb roasted slowly in an outdoor clay oven, a Cyprus specialty. Actually, while most frequently referred to as lamb, it can be, and perhaps more classically is, goat. And in both cases, the animal should not be too young as the slow cooking (several hours) in a clay casserole leaves it butter soft. An Atlantic article gives some insight into its history: “It is said that the dish is named after the kleftes , the 19th-century guerillas who fought the Ottomans. In an effort to keep their hideouts secret, the kleftes developed a method of cooking that produced no smoke, literally burrowing fire-pits into the ground in which they could bake, not grill, their meat, thereby protecting them from Ottoman detection”. 

This stirs a rather faint memory of young backpackers in Scotland writing that they had acquired a whole sheep and cooked it buried in the ground, baking slowly until they returned a day or so later. Think that the sheep was acquired honestly, but the cooking method might well have originated with a desire to hide ill-gotten animals. Remember reading one highland history that left me to conclude that historically most highlanders made a living stealing each other’s cattle. In any case, our meal is delicious.

Following a conversation with Rachel about The Watch that Ends the Night, J and I discuss Barometer Rising. Check the Ontario Public Library download centre and find they have NO books by McLennan. Both of us mildly scandalised. Check openlibrary.org and find they do have one Hugh Maclennan book, “about Synapses, Neural transmission, including Synaptic transmission”. Obviously a different Hugh Maclennan. And no doubt a sign of our advanced age that we still see Maclennan as having iconic status. 

Saturday, March 2/2019

”A truck with Greek Cypriot licence plates containing smuggled fruit and vegetables worth €3,800 was confiscated and the produced destroyed by customs officials at the Ayios Dhometios checkpoint on Thursday... the 342 cases containing fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes and red peppers, as well as the truck carrying the foods were prohibited from crossing... In line with the Green Line Regulations, the transportation of such an amount of perishable goods across the buffer zone requires a document issued by the Turkish Cypriot chamber of commerce and industry, which the driver did not have”. [Cyprus Mail]. 

Well that raises further questions. So “such an amount” requires special paperwork. Can see that one couldn’t reasonably argue it was for personal consumption, even given a predilection for canning, but is there a particular legal limit - say twenty kilos? They’ve seemed pretty uninterested during cursory checks of the trunk after our trips to Famagusta market. We could actually have had bottles of whisky under the veg in the trolley without anyone noticing. Although since most alcohol is cheaper in the south there’s been more than honesty preventing us. Does seem a shame to have destroyed that much good food.  [Photo: Cyprus Mail]

But this same week an airport police officer was arrested at Larnaca airport and charged with theft - which resulted from not having destroyed confiscated goods. Well, more or less. He was found attempting to take abroad for resale (and apparently not for the first time) a suitcase filled with goods “such as mobile phones, tablets, perfumes, sunglasses, jewellery and alcoholic beverages that had been confiscated from passengers during security checks”. This also raises other questions. Such as why the items had been confiscated in the first place. OK, alcohol from non-EU countries, and maybe very expensive jewellery. Phones and tablets? Maybe with porn. Sunglasses? Or were these, like the veg, taken from people who’d brought them in in commercial quantities? Apparently goods confiscated at the airport are meant to be destroyed or stored. Stored where, and for how long, and to what end? Inquiring minds want to know.