Wednesday, November30/2022

 Sunny and warm - normal in other words. So we head to the centre to reacquaint ourselves. Also to acquire some money as first instalment of the rent pretty well wiped out our euro supply. Refilling the wallet didn’t in the past (as in three and a half years ago) mean much of a walk. There seemed to be banks on every second corner. Definitely at least three between the Sunflower and Lidl, all with external cash points. The one nearly across the road from us used to provide food and drink in a serious way Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Not only for long term patrons either. I went in one Christmas Eve merely to inquire about a missing printout from the cash point and was urged to partake. Nuts, dried fruit, crisps, wine, whisky. Staff highly amused by my saying that Canadian banks would regard coffee and biscuits as a treat. Now it and the others all closed as are several between us and the city centre. Frequently used bank across from tourist information centre still open and doing a brisk business, unsurprisingly given the lack of competition.

So many places have changed. Gone upscale. May appeal to the “better [read richer] class of tourists Cyprus is always yearning for. Clearly does appeal to the affluent young locals. But where have the old men with the backgammon boards and folded newspapers among the coffee cups gone? Away from the main squares and into the back streets and lanes? That little shop where we used to buy our food the first year long closed. Easy to romanticise the past though - and forget J having seen a rat outside the second story window there.

Need a new watch strap but the watchmaker near St Lazarus, whom we have dealt with for years seems to have closed shop. He was across from our regular coffee spot, now also closed, replaced by a place with purple chairs and featuring ice cream, though in all fairness they do serve coffee - but would they remember that we drink it sketo, without sugar. So how about George’s, our other coffee spot, round the corner from the animal shelter charity shop? Restaurant there, but it’s no longer George’s. So maybe you can’t go home again.

We’re nearly home when we reach the new shop we’ve spotted from our balcony, just across the road. Was obvious it was a food shop, but we see it’s an Asian grocery. And a surprisingly good one. Tons of different pulses as well as a good variety of spices and grains and Indian pickles. Fair little collections of grains and Indian pickles. OK basic beer, wine and liquor. Pretty decent. Some change is for the good.

Tuesday, November 29/2022

 Last night AccuWeather App announced rain would begin in four minutes. Startled by the precision, we promptly removed clothing airing on the balcony. And indeed a night of distant thunder, sheet lightning and rain. However accuracy fails to quite match precision, so when at 14:25 app announces that rain will begin in one minute this not in fact followed sixty seconds later by raindrops, although skies are dark so we venture out and are not rained on. 

One of the real pleasures of travelling is the variety of mature cheeses easily available, not confined to tiny specialty sections - like wanting them was normal. Have read the defences of Canadian milk supply management and have also heard small farmers say it definitely doesn’t work for them. Had hopes when Canada struck a deal with the EU, but no joy. But rivals affordable wine this half of the year.

Monday, November 28/2022

 Settling in. Interesting the pluses and minuses of each place we stay. This flat not much larger than Gazimagusa in square footage (oddly, can think in metric in terms of length but area seems to produce bizarrely small numbers) but much more liveable. Actually the living/dining area has four easy chairs and four pretty solid straight backed upholstered chairs for the table. Could hold a pretty fair sized gathering here were one so inclined, and that’s without pressing the sheet covered mattress into dubious service. Well, still here New Year’s Eve.

Return the non functional toaster to the maid. Some mild guilt because well beyond my half dozen words of Greek to explain that there is a probable short in it and it sometimes but not always blows a fuse killing all the electrics in the apartment. Good? she asks. No good. Change. This will result in our getting a different (new would be overstating it) toaster, but suspect defective small appliances just end up in a store room from whence they are eventually redistributed to future unsuspecting guests. The translation problem reminds me of a discussion with a hotel employee in Paris regarding a defective television. That time the conversation, in French, centred on whether the tv genuinely did not work or whether we had misunderstood the instructions. Ending when I finally said kaput and we both laughed. Apparently international. Could have explained in English about the probable short to the evening desk man except this would have entailed explaining that we know toaster is the culprit because J has own set of screwdrivers and is perfectly capable of removing cover from “never touch this” panel and resetting fuse without assistance. So no good it is.

Sunday, November 27/2022

 Cloudy but warm. Can calculate the breeze by looking at the palm tree in front of our balcony. The fronds start at our level and provide an indicator. 

Walk over to Lidl. Like everything it has changed - more fruit and veg, though they were never its strong point. Good prices on whole grain (one of the first terms I learn in a language) pasta and chocolate. Not bad on South African and Chilean wines. Excellent on their own gin which, happily, has done extremely well in blind taste tests. Putting away the shopping, contrive to drop - and break - bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon. Oddly, 750 ml bottle leads to several gallons of red wine and associated glass on tiled kitchen floor. Down to reception to request assistance. Fortunately the single word vino and explanatory gestures suffice, and Venera shortly appears with mop, pail and cheerful dismissal of our apologies. Christmas tip assured.

TV evening. Canada’s World Cup defeat by Croatia followed by not previously seen episode of Great Canal Journeys, this one featuring a (mostly non canal) trip to Vietnam. Lots of memories for us, as we honeymooned in Vietnam, although long before Timothy and Pru’s expedition.

Saturday, November 26/2022

 The apartment is big and sunny - down to our forethought in requesting one looking onto the side street which means more sun as well as less noise. Balcony is narrow but runs the length of the flat with sliding doors opening onto it from both sitting room and bedroom. Plenty of fresh air. Good water pressure. More or less the number and location of power points one would expect in a building of ‘a certain age’. The oddest being one at about four feet high in the otherwise unbroken wall of the galley style kitchen. The opposite wall actually isn’t a wall. More an overgrown kitchen pass-through, about five feet wide by four feet high. Good thing it’s here, too as, unbelievably, there is no light in the kitchen. Well, there is a small window but no unnatural  light. Some does spill in from the sitting room and hallway, but distinct advantage to cooking in daytime.

First, the boxes. Along with a number of other long stayers, mostly Norwegian, we have habitually left boxes of belongings in storage for the following winter’s stay. Kitchen things, extra clothes, small tools and such. But it’s been three and a half years. Will they still be here? Seems unlikely. Most hotels are not all that keen on the practice to begin with though they recognise that it is a convenience for the guests and also gives  them an incentive to return to the same place. And there’s the inertia factor. Balanced against the inconvenience of storing the boxes would be the inconvenience of disposing of them.

Are our boxes still here? It seems yes, but the miscellany of boxes and cases are no longer stacked in and threatening to take over the staff coffee area on the mezzanine floor. Old Mr Andreas (not actually ancient but playing the part) produces a ring of keys and summons Maria, the maid who fetches a supermarket trolley - still bearing its Lidl insignia - and we parade out past the swimming pool, through the high metal gate and round the corner to a door that yields to the yellow tabbed key and reveals a warehouse of a room full to the ceiling of discarded furniture, neat plastic storage bins, elderly suitcases, cardboard boxes disgorging their contents, unidentified hardware, plastic sheeting, and more. At first it looks totally hopeless, but it’s slightly better than it seems. The guests’ stores are all in the front quarter so the hazardous climb over broken furniture won’t be necessary. And J identifies one definite and two probable boxes of ours in the front corner of the room, covered with multiple unstable layers of other people’s goods.

So everything we stored except the drying rack for the clothes. Not bad, and plenty of room to string a line on this balcony. Boxes a bit like opening Christmas decorations. Some anticipated - oh right, there’s the big cooking pot - and others we’d forgotten about - that’s a good jacket. Plus the actual Christmas bits, primarily a set of tiny wooden people acquired at a garage sale in Dryden years ago. Also some herbs and spices that have aged far better than we deserve, considering that they’ve had an unexpected three and a half years in non-cold storage.

Walk from the Sunflower to city centre cafés slightly longer than I’d prefer but excellent grocery shopping close by. Prices have, unsurprisingly, gone up. Most fruit and vegetables cheaper - and obviously fresher - than at home but more expensive than in the North. No insane bargains on wine, but EU advantage on Italian and Spanish. Sale bottle of Famous Grouse whisky for €12 ($16.73 CAD, £10.33). No exact equivalent to the one litre size in Canada for bizarre historical reasons, but extrapolating from the 750 ml bottle - $30.95 at LCBO - gives a price of $41.27 per litre in Ontario. No need to become alcoholic just because it’s affordable, but definitely one of the perks.

Friday, November 25/2022

Moving day. Advantage of door to door transport and no flights is that it’s easy to take things like the two remaining 1.5 litre bottles of water. They’re cheap and easy to replace but it’s nice if the first thing we have to do on arrival is not nip out to buy water. Especially as showers in the forecast.

No problems crossing from South to North on arrival but refused exit by TRNC official as we return. Explanation is that crossing point (same British Sovereign Base crossing by which we entered) is for EU and UK passports only. Driver is sent to Dherynia a town crossing not too far distant, though less convenient. Have crossed at Dherynia before, although only South to North but have crossed at both sovereign base crossings many times in both directions. Interested in whether this is a change in regulations - as opposed to a misunderstanding - and if so when and why. On entry driver - who was very competent - had brief chat in Turkish when our passports presented which evidently did not include anything along the lines of a reminder that the passengers (given a thirty day visa) could not exit at the same crossing. Glitches anticipated and prepared for never the ones that happen.

No glitches at hotel end. We’ve stayed at the Sunflower part of every winter since 2010, the last three years excepted due to covid. Some changes. Signs requesting face masks in lobby and lift. Compliance seems limited, but the idea is there. Only ten people permitted in the large lobby area, though actually can’t remember seeing that many in the lobby at once in pre-covid days. South facing apartment as requested. We’re early but it’s clean and ready. 

For a second I think that it’s been in a state of preservation and the furniture is still shrouded in dust sheets. But no, the four easy chairs - well not all that easy but the intent is there - are wearing white fitted slip covers. Seems an unlikely colour choice for a hotel but pretty durable and in any case matches the white sheet covering the single mattress plus box spring pretending, with the help of three large coloured cushions, to be a sofa (though blue and white mattress stripes at the end give the game away. More than made up for by the genuine double bed in the bedroom. No more singles pushed together under one coverlet claiming they won’t separate in the night. Fourth rental in a row with a real double bed. And it’s been a long day.

Thursday, November 24/2022

 Last full day in the North - until February anyway. And it’s market day. Rather ill planned on our part as we arrived - and are leaving - the day after the big weekly municipal market when better planning might have given us a week’s stay after two consecutive market days. But would have meant counting back all the way to the initial return flight from Canada and some of the other dates had reasons behind them. So a few grapes and a couple of oranges and pretend all the heaps of enticing fruit and vegetables - and olives and cheese and fresh eggs - are only decor, paintings on the gallery wall. Because there’s only so much we can eat between now and tomorrow morning, or take with us for that matter.

We run into Inci, the amazing cook from Minder and then Fehmi’s wife Filiz, along with daughter and baby grandson at the market. A relatively high proportion of the Gazimagusa people we know. 

Then clean up and pack, with the happy thought that next home we can actually unpack rather than just stirring the suitcases. We’ll be staying until early February. Happy discovery while cleaning the gas stove where minor spills seem to have the properties of crazy glue. Remembered that we bring tooth paste rather than gel because it’s abrasive qualities can come in handy. Stove gleams. Heaven knows what it does to teeth.

Wednesday, November 23/2022

 Aysel, who owns the house we stayed at from March to July of 2022 has suggested we meet for coffee at Tatlı Hayat, (literally sweet, or dessert, experience) a fairly classy coffee place just inside the walls of the old city. When we first stayed in her place she was in Ankara undergoing a bone marrow transplant. Then, four days after we arrived the border closed and instead of two weeks we stayed for five months, most of it at Aysel’s.

Had very nearly lost touch as emails seemed not to connect and now it transpires  that she’s been having a hard time. Her husband gets coffee for everyone and we catch up. Cancer has come back twice and she is now beginning her third round of chemotherapy. Husband spent six months working in the South and she’s hoping to be able to get medical coverage through his work, would be a major benefit as her doctor is in the South. She also has a ten year old daughter who we met very briefly two years ago. Interestingly, Aysel spent time studying in Winnipeg a few years ago and loved it. Misses the snow, although she agrees it lasts far too long. Much of this gets translated for her partner, who also gets a look at our fairly impressive snow photos.

Return via Minder for our last visit. Walk in and imagine I can feel my blood pressure - not horrific anyway - dropping. A beautiful calmness about being the only patrons and being received with such warmth. And all four of us delighted by traditional foods. We don’t really need a starter, but it’s soup made with rice and wild spinach that the couple picked in the countryside on Sunday - the one day the restaurant isn’t open. Beautiful. Then spinach casserole and the köfte that they remember I love . And as usual we split everything. The sweet at the end is very Cypriot - a preserve made of watermelon rind, so unrecognisably sweet it’s almost candy and easiest to eat with strong, unsweetened Turkish coffee. And would we like the limoncello? We would. 

Tuesday, November 22/2022

 Dental appointment. J’s plate is finished. Apparently only one technician in Lefkoşa (Nicosia) still doing the metal ones and people from the South as well as the North go to him. As always, we find ourselves looking forward to the visit for the talk more than anything. Always philosophical and over a wide range of subjects - photography, history, culture. He’s apologetic that prices have gone up. There is, of course, a particular problem with the Turkish lira - now worth only about a third of what it was when we were locked down here in March of 2020, but apart from that prices have gone up everywhere. He has recently come back from a month in Istanbul where his wife went for surgery and says not only has the city changed, lost some of its distinctive character, but it has become very expensive - especially a month of hotels and taxis. Must have been over ten years ago that we were last there and prices were quite reasonable then, but seems that world may have gone forever.

Stop in the square outside the mosque on our way back. This square too has changed but mainly because when we lived in the old city during the lockdown it was a throwback experience - no tourists, few businesses open, quiet enough to hear the morning rooster. Now getting back to its jaunty self, with tourists coming to the cafés, and designer brands (fake or otherwise) displayed on tables and racks in front of the shops. But still an undercurrent of life beneath the tourist facade. A wooden table in a little alley with a half dozen knitted baby garments for sale, pale pink. Pots of plants along the pavement in a side street carefully watered daily. A man with a bicycle taking a short nap on a bench.

Monday, November 21/2022

 Somewhat surprisingly, we seem amongst our many channels, to have one that is carrying the World Cup. Commentary of course is in Turkish but J quite content to watch with the sound turned off, although in these days of internet radio it would be quite possible to listen to BBC radio commentary and watch Turkish television sans sound. Memories of my father in the fifties watching hockey in Quebec. In those days CBC French television carried the whole game while CBC English tv only carried it from the second period, so Dad would begin watching on the French station with the sound turned off and English radio turned on. 

Matches ought properly to be accompanied by a drink. Predictive text helpfully suggests 🥃. If only. Efes pilsner gone and all that remains is second half of the bottle of third class Spanish red. Still, fans at the game in Qatar not permitted to drink alcohol at all, so not too badly off.

Sunday, November 20/2022

 Road works. More accurately sewer replacement underway in parts of central Gazimagusa. Disproportionately on our street, although we’re parallel to a main road so it’s easy to take an alternative route. Unfortunately, the replacement sewage pipes (blue, left in photo) are no larger diameter than the original ones and in any case would connect somewhere to small bore pipes and so it continues. In both North and South  Cyprus, as in Greece, you cannot flush toilet paper down most toilets. 

Open our second bottle of wine with the new tirbuşon. Opener quite satisfactory, wine a bit less so. Inexpensive Spanish but no hint of tannin. Basically alcoholic juice. Not unpleasant, but we’ve made better. So won’t be a repeat buy. Although actually we’re moving to the South on Friday, so the choices will be somewhat different. Tax component would be similar, though - 19% as opposed to 20%.

Television in the flat surprisingly good. TV has a decent screen, reception much better than wifi, and a couple of channels, including one Turkish one with a CNN style repeat loop actually supply English content. Not really a problem in the days of tablets, wifi and VPNs. Can access whatever news we want, albeit on a very small screen, and in fact didn’t check out the television for a couple of days, having pretty low expectations. There is, though, a Japanese documentary channel broadcasting in English with interesting material and a beautifully calm style of delivery. Anything worth saying is worth saying without hype. A real pleasure.

Saturday, November 19/2022

 Resuming our old semi-Victorian practice of reading aloud. When we first travelled this meant bringing real books with us, paperback but still heavy. Had to be of interest to both of us but also works we were prepared to part with as we traded as we went when English books were available. And the books we acquired en route were what was available, often not what we might have chosen from a wider selection, but some quite interesting nonetheless. Remember a bookstore in Antalya stuffed to the rafters with books in various languages and a proprietor who, finding we were from Canada wanted to discuss the works of John Ralston Saul. No doubt equally familiar with the literature of a number of other countries. But we first saw a glimpse of the future in 2009 in Dublin. Sitting on a bench in St Stephen’s Green, we realised that the man next to us was using an electronic book-reader, something we knew about but had never actually seen. He told us that he loved books and had an extensive library, but this allowed him to take a dozen books along when he travelled.

And tonight’s reading from the third volume of the memoirs of Alan Johnson, British Home Secretary in less infuriating days. Nothing can touch the first volume recounting his life in a not at all upscale Notting Hill “before it was Notting Hill” - outside toilet and cooker on the landing, one of the last MP’s, Labour or otherwise who knew what it was like to be hungry and cold. The third volume is still interesting, though, recounting his recruitment by Blair into the party just before its landslide win.

The flat we’re in has a brand new gas stove, a new and enormous fridge - much better than ours at home - and a pretty impressive front loading washing machine. It also has only three plates, two cups, a few unmatched saucers, and minimal cutlery. Until we pointed out the difficulty of using the cooker there were no pots and pans. Now we have an ok medium sized pot complete with lid and a little frying pan too lightweight  to stand upright unless completely full. Interesting discrepancy leading us to wonder if there is some tax fiddle about acquiring excellent appliances that later make there way elsewhere. J notes that the fridge, six feet tall and broad shouldered, must have been a bitch to bring up to the third floor - forty-eight steps and several turns. We try out the washer, it being a while since we’ve had anything not hand washed. Does a good job with the clothes. Bonus of a bit of money laundering, and pretty clear who’s to blame, as I am the only one who has added a garment with pockets.

Friday, November 18/2022

 

The morning after market the sensory pleasures continue - colour, texture, scent (easy to forget that carrots have scent), and of course taste. The green grapes are particularly sweet. Love the deep colour of the aubergines. The ones at home usually look like war survivors.

First task of the day is replacing the corkscrew. We try a shop in the old walled city that caters mainly to tourists, though we did buy some basics there - yoghurt, beer - in the old lockdown days when we lived here for five months. They sell quite a bit of whiskey and wine and presumably not all tourists have come equipped with Swiss Army knives. And yes, several of the sort we bought on Wednesday. Are we the only people to have noted, albeit belatedly, the basic design flaw? But spot as we leave a rack of souvenirs and such which includes a church key type bottle opener and a small self-styled professional corkscrew. Mission accomplished.

Then to Petek’s patisserie. Not for pastries but for a box of their chocolates, presentation every bit as impressive as their taste. A gift for the motherly woman who lives across from the place we stayed from March to July of 2020, during much of which we were locked down (and locked down more thoroughly than in other countries, except possibly China). We probably didn’t have ten words in common but this lovely woman kindly brought us regular gifts from her kitchen - pastries, freshly made humus, a plate from the family barbecue. And in spring circlets of sweet smelling jasmine. We knock on the door and get a middle aged woman. Friendly, but again no language in common. Think she remembers us. We’ve tried ‘Canada’ and pointed across the road to where we stayed. Then I try saying mother and that does it. Shouts for mother and she appears, and certainly remembers. Hugs, and a teenage son of the family is summoned from upstairs. Now we have a translator, although our affection and gratitude has already been understood without words. She is all warmth and smiles.

Mid afternoon meal at Fa Kebap round the corner where we used to eat at the outside tables, in summer waiting for sundown so it would be cooler. And, as often before, ask for şeftali, the little Cypriot sausages known in the south as sheftalia (do have a Greek keyboard but couldn’t begin to transliterate) and find that, sadly, they are out of them. But still a lovely meal, surprisingly free of opportunistic cats coming by to beg. And no  Cypriot restaurant, north or south, would dream of trying to hurry a patron. It would be, and is, uncivilised.

Thursday, November 17/2022

Thursday is municipal market day in Gazimağusa. A moveable feast as it was in Girne yesterday and will move on to Lefkoşa by the weekend. The purpose built building is enormous, with high roof and open sides - shaded but good air flow. Practically everything but meat for sale (and there is a fish truck outside). Fruit and vegetables, helim (halloumi), olives, eggs, dried fruit, nuts. But also clothing, fabric, and minor hardware. Our main problem is avoiding buying too much - we only have another week here, and in any case our cooking facilities are pretty limited. The new gas cooker is fine but we have one medium sized pot and a pretty flimsy frying pan and no desire to purchase more at this point. 

Note calculator in left hand, cigarette in right 🙄

Start with a a fair sized bag of freshly ground coffee. We’ve bought this here before and it was excellent. Then aubergines, tomatoes, onions, little cucumbers, courgettes, a couple of carrots, a few mushrooms. And also sweet green grapes and mandarin oranges. The grape season is just ending, the orange season beginning. And are persuaded - pretty easily - to add dried apricots and figs.

On the way home stop at supermarket and notice that aubergines that were 15 Turkish lira a kilo ($1.07 CAD, €0.78, £0.68) are 10tl  here. But market ones much nicer and difference unlikely to affect the quality of our retirement.

Today’s bonus: announced six hour power cut did not occur, making up for Monday’s unannounced outage.

Wednesday, November 16/2022

 Off to acquire a tirbuşon, corkscrew. Wine is şarap. Fortunately it’s pretty obvious what’s in the bottle. Also fortunately sek is pretty universal for identifying dry wine. And bira is in the majority world tradition for beer. Took a class years ago on teaching ESL in which they said that people learned best if given the vocabulary they personally needed. Well here it is. Though also have the words for whole wheat. We won’t die of hunger or thirst.

China Bazaar seems the most likely spot for a corkscrew, or indeed anything inexpensive and widely used, from t-shirts to dinner plates to electric fans. Think of a cross between Walmart’s very downscale relative and an overgrown pound store. And it does have corkscrews. Actually three kinds, one of which contrives to combine a corkscrew with a vegetable peeler and a church key type bottle opener. Something for everyone. We buy the cheaper of the two normal ones. It won’t last a lifetime but should see us through the season.

Then second visit to Minder for a late midday meal. The food is wonderful. We’re the only customers and treated like royalty. A bit of  vocabulary expansion here as well. Now know the word for aubergine. The restaurant is a cross between hobby and passion for the couple. They had careers before it. The husband studied in England and spent twenty years as a bank manager. They’ve lived in other countries but love traditional Cypriot village cooking. And the wife had no desire to stay home in her seventies. So as pandemic restrictions eased they opened with two tables and a limited menu. An act of love and we leave feeling as though we’ve just had a transfusion.

Addendum: Well, the corkscrew not lasting a lifetime bit was right. The seeing usthrough the season not so much. Pretty useless design. Even dismantled and down to bare metal it becomes obvious that it could never have worked. All not quite lost. J and penknife pare enough from the sides of the cork that it can be pushed into the bottle, a task made more difficult by the fact that the ‘cork’ is actually made of plastic. Then pour round the plastic cork and filter the wine to remove a few plastic shavings. Result is a drinkable Turkish wine, though not perhaps one worthy of the performance.

Tuesday, November 15/2022

 Power on and second attempt at dental examination. J has a broken plate and repair time is problematic as we leave on Friday of next week. Looks like it’s going to be possible, although sadly the reason is that the technicians haven’t been getting enough business and that’s down to the dire state of the economy. So a second appointment in a week’s time. 

Stop on the way back at the supermarket by our old flat. This time we do remember about the corkscrew. However, the supermarket doesn’t seem to stock them. Tin openers, metal whisks, pizza cutters - they’re not particularly short on kitchen implements. And they do sell wine and beer and whiskey, so it’s not a question of being opposed to alcohol consumption. Don’t know the word for corkscrew and not sure whether attempts to demonstrate, with or without sound effects would succeed in conveying the meaning or only in establishing own dubious sanity. Anyway, there obviously aren’t any. Pick up a tin of pilsner. 

Interesting observations re the itemised supermarket receipts. As in most of the world, although not in Canada, the price on the shelf is what you pay. There may or may not be tax on an item but if there is it will be included in the posted price. There is in fact tax on most items including most food and the tax rates are listed on the receipt, with some curious anomalies. Beer is taxed at 20%, most food items including herbs and spices at 5%. Soup cubes are 10%. There are some with 0% tax though; in our case red lentils, pasta and bread. So staples - fair enough. But bottled water is 5% although you’re not meant to drink the tap water. The culprit being the throwaway containers?

Learn the Turkish for corkscrew. It’s tirbuşon. The difficulty with Turkish being a non Indo-European language is that few words resemble familiar terms.

Monday, November 14/2022

 Preparing to walk over to renew acquaintance with Fehmi, our dentist, when the electricity goes off. Just us? No, J notes a diesel generator starting up by the next building. And on the main road intersection next to us the traffic lights are out, leaving cars making right hand turns (driving is on the left) with difficulty.

No electricity at Fehmi’s surgery either, so he sends his two waiting patients home and we chat. Everything from his early days as a student in Istanbul in the seventies to the welfare of the extended family. His becoming a dentist was an accident, though not one he’s ever regretted. He had wanted to be a teacher but by the time he was ready for university there was no funding for would be teachers but there was for dentists. And now, he says sadly, the university dental course here is graduating students but they have no hope of finding professional employment. Fehmi’s assistant makes us appointments for tomorrow, so presumably F is not anticipating a second day without electricity.

Stop at supermarket - which has generator - near our old flat and buy bread (can now identify whole grain in Turkish). Also more yoghurt and water. Nearly home when J realises we have not remembered to buy a corkscrew, having contrived to leave for the winter without 🙄. Last attempt at opening a bottle of wine without - Rome many years ago - involving a plan to push the cork down into the bottle using a toothbrush handle not an unqualified success, but fortunately one tin of beer remaining. 

Two o’clock and power back on after four hour hiatus.

Beer tin repurposed as toaster over gas flame

Sunday, November 13/2022

Promptly at eight a different man at the door. No jackhammer or indeed any equipment. He says something in Turkish which I don’t understand. Tries again. Then reduces it to one word - su. Water, a word I understand. Right, but last night’s visitor had said the water was leaking under the marble floor which would have to be broken up and removed. We envisioned piles of rubble outside the bathroom, total lack of access to the loo. Seemed unlikely it could be done in a day. Had begun researching alternative accommodation. No. The man determines that a pipe from the hot water tank is leaking - and causing the pressure loss J shows him. With virtually no language in common the two of them have a mostly non-verbal handyman’s ability to convey the essentials. Very pleased with the bathroom now dry, relatively clean, and supplying hot water at decent pressure. Ten o’clock and all’s well.

Ascertain that we are pretty close to the City Mall. Newish and relatively upscale but actually full of shops we’re not especially interested in. But there is a supermarket so we walk over. Neighbourhood not devoid of commercial establishments but mostly car body repair, appliances, pet supplies, radiators and such. Not much in the way of cafés, bakeries, corner shops. Not high interest from our point of view. Supermarket ok though and we get bottled water, a couple of bottles of wine, peanut butter that is 100% peanuts and a few other things. Probably our nearest decent source of bottled water. 

Then news of a (suicide?) bombing in central Istanbul, leaving at least six dead and more than fifty injured.

Saturday, November 12/2022

Walk down past the market to the old walled city, our first time back since 2020 when we spent five months living here, most of it inside the walled city.  A great deal  busier now than it was then, when much of the time we were in lockdown for covid. Of course the return of the tourists - group leader ahead with a flag (in this case a Smurf) signals hope for the economy but a part of us misses the quiet city we lived in. Sit for a few minutes in the shade of the fig tree outside the mosque, believed to be the oldest tree in Cyprus. Then walk around the southern side of the wall, not fully restored as J points out and home via our familiar supermarket, where we acquire the makings for spaghetti. Reflect on the fact that the places we feel like we’ve lived in are the places where we cooked. So yes, Rhodes where our spot was little more than a lean to and cooking involved ducking through the rain to the kitchen part, and yes to Malta and Spain and Portugal, but no to Turkey where we spent as much time.

Message our host to say that we have a continuing problem with water appearing on the bathroom tiles from no evident source. She sends a repairman who spots a leak from the sink plumbing that has been allowing water to accumulate under the tiles. Major work to be done and he’ll be back at eight.

Friday, November 11/2022

The good, the bad and the delightful. The good is the transfer. The relative of our former host Hassan arrives on time, as we expected, but is driving an enormous black Mercedes transfer vehicle with luggage space and back bench seats facing each other. No doubt there’s a classy name for the model, but it’s quite the poshest transport we’ve been in, possibly ever. No hassle at the border. 

In fact none until we, or more accurately our driver, try to find the actual address, at which point it becomes clear that the map that accompanied the booking is inaccurate. The driver is a gem as well as speaking Turkish and English fluently. His phone, my phone his gps, my map, his map. Reach destination. Same street but a kilometre further out. 

Host’s husband waiting. English better than our Turkish but that a very low bar. Cleaners apparently finished, or not started. Unclear which. Wifi not functioning. Gas cooker not functioning either, although perhaps not important as there are no pots or pans. Wifi a red line. We tell him no wifi we leave. Urgent call to wife re wifi and alternate provider/password supplied. Wife appears with pot and pan. Determines gas cylinder for cooker empty. Acquires replacement cylinder. Very fit young woman as gas cylinder heavy and three flights of stairs. Discussion re maps and location. She agrees our map was wrong but says she provided accurate info. So mildly unhappy truce. She leaves and we unpack a little.

Outside, now we know where we are. A little north and east of the weekly market grounds, a spot where we once lived. Mobile, surprisingly, equipped with compass. Walk over to see if Minder, traditional Cypriot restaurant in a city - and world - that has gone all doner kebab, pizza and chips. Reopened a month ago. Nearly bankrupted by pandemic as the couple who owned it continued to pay their staff while locked down. Now the couple, in their seventies, run it alone. Menu drastically reduced, but still traditional. Six days a week morning to late afternoon. Only two tables and by reservation.  They as delighted as we when we say we once lived in the same building and missed the wonderful cooking. J torn between two of the three dishes and husband suggests half portions of each. Conversation as we eat - reminiscence, philosophy, information. And after the Turkish coffee we are treated to a shot of homemade limoncello (the son in law is Italian). Should we reserve next time? No, any time for us!

Thursday, November 10/2022

Out for a walk and discovering that you can’t go home again. Or you can, but things change.We’re just behind St Lazarus Church and on the other side of the church, heading toward the sea, is - or was - a coffee shop where we regularly drank Greek coffee. Will they remember us?  They used to know to make our coffee sketo - without sugar. The shop is still there, but it’s an ice cream store now, with a different name and different staff. Look on the next block for our friend the Ukrainian jeweller. We’ve been worried about her family. She is there, but the jewellery store has been transformed into a pastry and sandwich shop - people may stop buying jewellery when times are difficult but they always eat.

Walk the length of the waterfront. Many tents and booths set up so something  must be planned for the weekend but no indication of what. Ferris wheel and carousel in Europa Square. Stop at a cash point and Maggi calls. Could we meet for lunch? We could and agree on St Lazarus Church, leading us to The Secret Garden, a little restaurant nearby with a shady inner courtyard. M has brought Brian with her, a British expat whom we have not met but whom she has been seeing for over a year now.  Lovely, as they’re both relaxed in each other’s company and delighted with their luck. In the end we drive out to M’s place in a nearby village for coffee and a chance to see Maxi - the little dog who clearly remember J after three and a half years.

Then pack up once again.

Wednesday, November 9/2022

 A pleasure we haven’t previously experienced - starting a flight day with a lovely breakfast and then two tube stops to Heathrow. Very civilised and may well do it again.  Plane delayed and many of its power points not working - and what is it with airplanes now having power points that can only be seen clearly by someone lying on the floor between the seats and holding up a flashlight? 

However, everything falls into place on landing. Having left frim North Cyprus illegally - in the eyes of the South - in 2020 after the border closed during the lockdown, we run a risk of a fine or, at worst, deportation on returning. Didn’t really expect more than sharp words but had gone as far as to look up a hotel where we have stayed in the past in Athens (reviews say good value for money, appalling neighbourhood 🤷‍♀️). Then wonder, having no previous experience of deportation, whether one is required to take a return flight to the place of embarkation or is permitted to go to a country of one’s own choosing. And the interim time. Jail? Decide that a very limited visa is more likely - as in you have 48 hours to leave the country. Consider Athens the best place to recoup. Or in the case of a fine. What amount would mean it was simpler (and cheaper) just to pay up rather than shaking the dust from our feet? A hundred euros? Two? Three? Almost an anticlimax when we, along with everyone else, simply scan our passports and stare into the camera and the immigration officer perfunctorily stamps the passports without comment. 

Dark by now, but the air is warm, and the bus driver friendly, which is a good thing as I reach for the non sterling section of my purse and hand him, accidentally, a Turkish five lira note. It’s worth 26 euro cents, not much more than 5% of the intended €5. Fortunately, the driver finds the mistake hilarious. Could well have encountered someone who reacted to signs of having been in the North with anger not amusement. The sad part, though, is that when we went to the North a little more than two and a half years ago the rough exchange rate was seven Turkish lira to the euro. Now it’s over eighteen, a disaster for Turkish Cypriots.

The friendly bus driver drops us near St Lazarus Church and we have little trouble finding our flat. The code works and we’re in. Studio it is, but nearly three times theize of the one in London. Once more, we’re home.

Tuesday, November 8/2022

Leaving London in stages. Initially felt like a waste of London time, though a prudent move given tube and rail disruptions. Changed original Heathrow hotel booking for a guesthouse not because it was less money, although it is, but primarily because it’s spitting distance from Hounslow West tube station, two stops from Heathrow. It’s clean and friendly and very quiet and means no early morning chaos. Coffee room and pretty garden complete with palm trees although we’re well north of Brighton. Brief consultation with google reveals that palm trees grow as far north as Scotland so our education continues. Only downside is distinct shortage of electrical outlets, forcing tablets requiring charging to compete for priority with the heater - but it’s not very cold.

Monday, November 7/2022

London time coming to an end for now. Never long enough but we’ll be back in April or May. Not helpful that his majesty has decided to be crowned two days before we fly back to Canada but probably not competing for the same space as those with invitations. Quick trip up to Golder’s Green, conveniently accessible from our new location without changing tube lines. Think Chapel Market is a keeper. 

Happily save a trip to HSBC when the new app chooses to work, so with luck no need in future to beg D to deposit a pound to keep the account breathing - never actually a problem before the long hiatus during the pandemic. No fortune stashed there but it’s getting difficult for non-residents to open accounts here so don’t want to give it up. Packing like a Chinese puzzle, not that we have much more than when we came. Check out tomorrow and head toward Heathrow. Cuts the visit by a day, but not sorry we called it this way as there’s been continuing transit disruption. Interruption when the fire alarm sounds. Loud and persistent but fortunately false alarm, or more accurately where there was smoke in someone’s flat there was, luckily, no fire. Has happened occasionally before in places we’ve stayed, never seriously threatening.

Sunday, November 6/2020

 Every other year when we’ve been in London on the first Sunday in November we’ve gone down to Hyde Park to see the dawn start of the London to Brighton veteran car rally. It’s superb. All cars pre 1905, mostly petrol but a few steam or even very early electric. Even a penny farthing or two. Chilly, but sleepiness soon replaced by the thrill of the event. Even helped push start a car on Bayswater Road on our way to the event one year. Had been looking forward to it this year but the forecast is for heavy rain and that is indeed how the morning starts so we don’t head out. Will be tough for the car owners as well, some of whom dress in period costume. Most of the vehicles don’t have roofs and they’ll be thoroughly soaked, to say nothing of the difficulty of antique cars struggling in heavy weather. Three hundred fifty-three cars entered this year. Sadly, the motor show on Regent Street, normally the day before the run was cancelled at the last minute yesterday or we would have had a preview of some of the cars in the run as well as some concept cars. Next year.

Weather hard on the Sunday only marketers at our end of the road as well. Mostly upscale, artisanal, organic, many etceteras. Some beautiful products - could probably have put together a stunning lunch for around £50 - but definitely reliant on aspirational sun-day shoppers. By two most are dismantling their stalls.

And this year’s London stay nearly over. Essentially one weekday left, as Tuesday we check out of our market flat and move much nearer to Heathrow, a cautious decision made a month ago in the light of intermittent industrial action by transport workers. Morning flight on Wednesday and want to guarantee getting there in time. Errands tomorrow, rain or shine.

*Photo FB post, RM Sotheby’s London to Brighton Veteran Car Run 

Saturday, November 5/2022

 

Hoping by the fish stall

Jenny comes in to see us. Not without difficulty, as the planned rail strike for today was cancelled but this didn’t seem to result in opening the Thames Ditton station, leaving Doug driving her to Surbiton to start the journey. We meet her at Angel tube station though she’s wisely taken the bus from Waterloo. Then get to show off our new neighbourhood. Lovely little shops along Camden Passage rather upscale latter day hippie - vintage clothing, Japanese prints, old silver, a French épicerie, a barber shop that provides shaves as well as haircuts. 

And only metres away our home, Chapel Market Road, with the fruit and vegetable stands in full colour display. Not at all yuppie here - you can buy mobile phone covers and batteries and bin bags - but most of the shoppers seem local and you could have almost everything you need without ever leaving the street.

We’ve chosen to have lunch at Indian Veg and it proves more than suitable for the purpose. It opens in time for lunch but that’s never a busy time and in fact we are the only patrons. So possible to visit at length without interruption.

 Have brought a bottle of California Malbec that exceeds our expectations and the restaurant supplies the glasses. Same variety of vegetarian - basically vegan - dishes and enormous posters promoting vegetarianism with evangelical fervour and slightly dubious claims. We do notice some minor changes. Food seems to have less heat, which could please some customers but is a bit of a loss. Plenty of choice but none of the dishes today seem to have coconut milk, I miss it but J definitely doesn’t. J also notes that the two older men we remember are not there, the staff are young. Possibly relatedly, there is a large new poster touting the benefits of vegetarianism for various medical conditions and citing the British Medical Journal and the Lancet. Things change.

As we live next door we repair to ours for tea and biscuits, having - just barely - room to fit three in the flat. So able to play host. Then Jenny off to catch her bus, and goodbye for another six months.

Guy Fawkes Day. Can hear the fireworks in the distance in the evening. Spurs discussion chez nous re the gunpowder plot and revisionist history.

Friday, November 4/2022

Early-ish walk out for bread and yoghurt and back through the market where we pick up more raspberries and cherry tomatoes and a bunch of fresh, plump asparagus. Really hard to avoid buying far more than we have space or remaining time for. Stall selling hot Ethiopian food, and on the other side of the road a Moroccan restaurant serving tagines at little outside tables. The Turkish restaurant a few doors away.

First task is to get a small bluetooth speaker, having worn our previous one to the point of battery no return. So to Marble Arch Argos as our choice out of stock in the others. Warm sun in Hyde Park and benches a little the worse for the pigeons. Then to Waterstones Piccadilly Street, the largest bookstore in Europe. They don’t have what I want but are very nice about looking. 

Then round the corner to Jermyn Street. Not for bespoke shirts or handmade shoes, though they’re available, but to check out Paxton and Whitfield, cheese makers extraordinaire. Partnership registered in 1797 but the origins go back a half century before that to a stall at Aldwych Market. Cheese from traditional English cheesemongers, hand cut and wrapped. Would be easy to spend a royal fortune - and yes, they are by appointment and have been going back to Queen Victoria. We don’t, but do come away with a lovely little unpasteurised Cote Hill Blue from a farm in Lincolnshire.

Thursday, November 3/2022

 Heavy rain in the morning but no need to hurry. J makes coffee and we still have yoghurt and oranges and the lovely raspberries. 

In the afternoon out by tube to visit Jean in West Harrow, probably my one remaining friend from university days. Eat samosas and onion bhajis and little cakes and drink wine and reminisce. See the wedding photos of Shanthi’s daughter Priya. Registry office marriage was Windsor but the Hindu wedding with a guest cast of hundreds will be Singapore in the new year.

Wednesday, November 2/2022

Chapel Market *

We’re learning. Out first to get a few things for the meal later, though never quite as few as we planned. Thought cucumbers, tomatoes and raspberries, but then we add oranges and apples.

Then down to the Saatchi Gallery to see what’s on. Initial attraction is what’s on outside. Across from the gallery is a primary school playing field buzzing with little boys. Quite a lot of balls as well so no one has to wait long for a turn to kick.

We originally hoped to see an exhibition by French artist Lily Mixe, now living in Britain, but suspect her work loses a certain je ne sais quoi by being contained in an indoor gallery when the artist is known to use organic forms and urban placement. “The work really starts to take shape when Lily walks away. Making the art is only half of the process, placement of the piece is key to its completion, the transient and brutal spirit of nature frames the work, pasting drawings to a wall is an offering, and a sacrifice, an experiment, to see the drawings grow, change, and often be destroyed by the environment and time.” [lilymixe.wordpress.com]

Other works of interest, though, as there usually are. As in this universal soldier by a Delta Gamma Contemporary Art Academy student.

*  Note £1= €1.16, $1.56 CAD

I 

Tuesday, November 1/2022

 Part two of the banking task. Good to know the debit card works but need to re-establish contact with online banking. Also wish to exchange six £20 paper notes and one relatively elderly £10 one, now no longer legal tender, for newer polymer versions. Had originally thought that this needed to be done at the Bank of England, handy enough at the moment as we’re actually living on the Bank branch of the Northern line. The website is discouraging though. Seems we’re not the only people with an obsolete hoard and they recommend  using a bank where we have an account instead, suggesting that at the BoE we may need to wait hours. 

Right so HSBC it is, Difficulty being that HSBC has been closing branches at prodigious speed - 84 last year and 69 this, our original Charing Cross branch being one of the casualties. Worse, of the few remaining in central London only four are full service. So to Tottenham Court Road branch where the queue just manages to avoid extending out the door and into the drizzle. We are, at least, before two o’clock. Two to three is listed at all the full service banks as ‘quiet hour’. Not, apparently closed for lunch, but quiet - conjuring up nursery images of the bankers taking their pillows and heading for the sleeping mats. Turns out the exchange of old notes for new pretty straightforward and we needn’t have had an account or indeed ID.

The online access takes a bit longer. Do we have a physical key for scrambled accesscodes? Well yes, but it no longer works. (Photo of similar included as these virtually unknown in Canada though not in Europe). Not to worry, updated app far more efficient than key. Do we have a tablet with us? Yes. Then our friendly representative will install it for us. Procedure not instant and shades of Winnipeg airport as the man is obliged to use a hotspot but he is remarkably cheerful about the glitches - although solving problems is his job - and there are no lectures about the sort of people who forget passwords and arrive without their bank books. It’s well after two when we leave. Not noisy, but no sign of pillows or sleeping mats.