Saturday, December 31/2023

 Well, the end of 2023. Sadly symbolised by a Santa lying boots up and hood down in a shopping cart at Sklavenitis supermarket, and no doubt sadly discounted as the season closes. There was a time when this store celebrated the year’s end with truly impressive liquor prices, requiring us to calculate how much we realistically (and assisted by our friends) expected to drink by the end of March. No such accounting needed now - sale discounts more in line with LCBO in Ontario - lucky to see 5% off. 

Booking now done for air fares and accommodation up to late April. The various 90 out of 180 regulations involving careful counting if they’re running close as overstays can result in fines. My least favourite part of travel but without the bookings there would be no travel.

Early evening has sporadic firecrackers, mostly associated with a group of young men hanging out by the Indian shop across the road. Serious public fireworks at midnight from the beach. Can just see the ones that are higher than the intervening buildings. But only for about five minutes - and we’re not sorry to be cosy inside.

And last - a half hour later - deep and continuous horn blowing as a procession of vehicles drives down Makarios Avenue, led by trucks ablaze with Christmas lights.

Friday, December 30/2022

 Open a new container of sheep’s yoghurt. Have been trying different brands, though not noticing enormous differences so far. Like sheep’s yoghurt and it has significantly more calcium than cow’s - or for that matter goat’s. Helpfully, sort of, the label on the jar says “with picardi”. Well, it’s nice that it’s  labelled in English as well as Greek. Not always the case, although with yoghurts the little picture of the relevant animal can be useful, even if sometimes a childishly drawn representation can be resistant to a positive ID. But what the hell [puritanical predictive text wanted me to say heck but shrugs its shoulders and takes no responsibility] is picardi? Google gives only as surname - either unhelpful or horrifying. Resort to Google Translate and my Greek keyboard and enter the Greek.  Google Translate extremely bad with long texts but often ok with one or two words. Google Translate says it means “old woman”. Something significantly wrong here. Squint at the Greek letters again. Am somewhat better with capitals than lower case - which these are. Ah, minor? mistake. Enter new reading. This time translates as home. Home style? Will go with it. Tastes fine.

Thursday, December 29/2022

Cyprus Mail reports on the financial state of pensioners, quoting the pensioners' union:

“Unfortunately, this problem has remained unresolved for the last several years, both due to understaffing at the departments and the fact that the government did not bother to digitise and simplify procedures for examining applications. Nor has it so far been able to operate a call centre to serve pensioners.” An emergency increase has been promised but several administrative difficulties cited. By no means unusual in Cyprus government. 

Our friend Bill, who kept meticulous records, had regular not unfriendly discussions with those in charge of property tax. PT: You haven't paid this year. B: I have indeed - here is the receipt. If memory serves, there was at least one year when he wished to pay but they hadn't got round to calculating an amount.

Wednesday, December 28/2022

Back to travel booking again. Not my favourite activity, in part because I’m picky. Well, careful? Sounds better. Get out the thesaurus and may end up sounding quite impressive. The world is getting harder to travel, our sort of travel anyway. More restrictions all the time. So now not only does the Schengen Area (most of the EU plus a couple of other European countries) allow you to stay for 90 days out of a 180 day period, but separately so does the Republic of Cyprus and, separately again, so does the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. And, just to complicate matters, time spent in North Cyprus is included by the South in their 90 days if you entered through the South. Gone are the days when it was easy to go to a country for 90 days, leave for a weekend, and come back to start over. 

So, our 90 days here will be up in early February and we are booked in North Cyprus for two and a half months. The geographically obvious method would be to drive the 90 kilometres involved. However, that would mean that from the point of view of the South we would never have left the Republic of Cyprus and would be subject to a substantial fine for overstaying and possibly refused entry in the future. The alternative, which I’m in the process of setting up, is to fly from here to North Cyprus via a third country and then Turkey. Insistence that flights go through Turkey is essentially due to pressure from the South and based on the fact that only Turkey recognises the TRNC. Not exactly an inevitability. Taiwan is recognised by only thirteen countries, none of them major - think Haiti - but there is no problem at all in flying to Taipei. So China causes fewer difficulties than Cyprus? Who knew?

And as a consequence, currently looking to book flights to Athens and from there to Lefkoşa via Istanbul. Well, haven’t been to Athens in a while.

Tuesday, December 27/2022

Prepared for temperatures to drop after Christmas, and they will, a little. But this morning thermometer hung on the balcony is registering well over thirty degrees. That’s in the sun, of course. Predicted high is only twenty or twenty-one in the shade. But take the newspaper puzzle page and the coffee J has made this morning out into the sun to enjoy the touch of summer. Feels as if the lenses might easily start a fire. Pleasant  initially and then just too hot and too much glare on the page. It’s a tough life.

Dispute on the street below over apparent minor car accident. We heard loud horn but no sound of impact. One of the cars left partially blocking the street. Much animated discussion and seems both friends and police summoned. Friends show up, but not police, though clearly they were expected to as those we assume to be the injured party hang about for close to an hour before driving off, the girl in the other car having left much earlier.  The minor dramas of life here. Not always quite so minor, though. On one occasion a car flipped on its roof in the same location, having first sideswiped a number of parked vehicles. Jaws of life required and police definitely not slow about appearing then.

Chris phones from reception to give us the new entry code for the building. Dutifully write it down though it will only be required if we come back after midnight when the front doors are locked. Actually might have happened on New Year’s Eve in earlier years when we lived a block away from the beach and the fireworks lasted longer. Somewhat less likely this week.

Downside to all the sunny weather is that rainfall for the month to date has been only about a third the normal amount. Seems to have been close to normal over the autumn as a whole, though.

Monday, December 26/2022

Boxing Day, and a holiday because Christmas was on a Sunday. And as always and everywhere excellent leftovers with minimal effort. Another good reason for not, despite our limited cooking facilities, resorting to a restaurant for Christmas dinner. The best reason is that we make a much better dinner than we would have had in most restaurants - and that’s even before finishing with a small glass of Chartreuse.

Tomorrow is the last day for Cypriots to register to vote in February’s presidential election, of which, no doubt, endlessly  more later. A reminder that in the past political parties used to pay for students studying abroad to come home to Cyprus to vote. A free trip to see family and friends that doubtless engendered gratitude in the hearts of even the totally apolitical. Meanwhile municipal elections in the North seem to have resulted in modest wins for leftish pro (unification) solution candidates, which is good, even if everyone has learned not to hope for too much.

Sunday, December 25/2022

Christmas Day. A very quiet one. Not the first Christmas we’ve spent on our own but the first in several years. Very low key and peaceful. Periptero is open next door as anticipated so we have the Sunday paper with our morning coffee. Faint memory from years back of there being a Cyprus Mail published on Christmas Day but not New Year’s. Christmas part is right, anyway. Also, past memories of being surprised to find our bakery open on Christmas Day. Clearly not an occasion for stale bread.

We’re a pretty short distance from the port and this morning we can see from the balcony the back end of what looks like a large cargo ship. Last night it stood out in the evening as a giant Christmas decoration, covered with multicoloured lights. Usually there are a few ships in port for Christmas and also at New Year’s - when they sound their horns at midnight. A couple of bursts of fireworks west of us in the early evening but nothing sustained, so presumably a small private effort.

Very little traffic outside, although we overlook Makarios, which is a main street. A block from us is a small automobile repair shop which, not particularly unusually, has no bays, no hoist, no facilities for taking cars inside at all, though repairs take place regularly on the sidewalk outside. Noted that this weekend it was not at all busy and in fact appeared to be closed yesterday, although the car wash a few blocks a way has been busier than usual. Conclude that no one had time to spare in the run up to Christmas for getting their oil changed but many people wanted a newly washed car for the occasion.

We’re lucky to have a very large pot - probably the least easily replaced object in the boxes. Salvaged years ago when a hotel we were staying at was being sold and old pots weren’t wanted by anyone. Very handy, because we only have two burners so the plump chicken goes in along with carrots and leeks and garlic. New potatoes and green beans and mushrooms. Everything here fresh year round. Wine is a Sicilian shiraz shared three ways - between us and the bird. Shaping up for a pretty good Boxing Day dinner as well. Tomorrow will be a public holiday because Christmas this year is on a Sunday, moving the statutory holiday to the following day.

Saturday, December 24/2022

 Christmas Eve. Lovely day. Hard not to feel guilty about the truly miserable weather conditions in much of Canada and the US, ranging from high winds, snow, glare ice, rain, flooding, power outages to temperatures below -40. Not everywhere at once, obviously, but covering a fair bit of the continent and leading to hundreds of flight cancellations. As we sit on the balcony drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.

Shopping for tomorrow’s dinner basically done but we do take a walk and stop in at our local Zorba’s bakery. Very busy in a happy sort of way. You have to wait your turn for the tongs to fill your box with pastries or sweets. So we get a small box and put in a dozen melomakarona, soft spice and honey biscuits that are traditional for Christmas, along with kourabiedes. 

The election of the new archbishop of Cyprus is complete and Giorgios, Archbishop of Paphos and not of the Russian persuasion is indeed the winner as predicted. The report is that his first speech after election was accompanied by sharp criticism, as he called for “those who wander from medium to medium and expose both the Church and themselves to stop”. Presumably, though by no means obviously, this is a complaint about those who disapprove of either the archbishop himself or the methods of the Holy Synod and share their opinions with various news media. Does raise a less probable image of malcontents drifting from one old crone to another, crystal balls prominently displayed.

The bakery and supermarkets may be humming but charities that serve the poor see another side and are saying that need has tripled in the last two years and conditions are worse than in the financial crisis of 2013 or the previous covid years. A reality missing, as in most countries, from presidential statements.

Friday, December 24/2022

 Listen, as every morning this week, to J playing Polish Christmas carols. One of the many benefits of Spotify, even the free version. We also have a small speaker with us, though not always required, depending on the size of the room and whether we’re both listening. Also good for podcasts.

Out early - early for us that is, as our intent is to do our weekend shopping today as tomorrow will have crazy queues and Sunday and Monday are holidays, though probably not impossible to pick up bread, wine or some other essential at a nearby periptero. Analogy here is with Quebec, not most of the rest of Canada. Taking a course in Ottawa but staying in a house borrowed in Hull used to be able to stop at a dépanneur on the way home and buy a hot baguette and a bottle of wine. Flowers too, had I wanted. Okay, that was better in Quebec. But no winter storms here and no complaints.

Plump fresh chicken, leeks, carrots, cauliflower. A lemon for €0.10 (15 cents Canadian). At the market in the old days if you bought a cauliflower for less than a euro the seller would often throw in a lemon rather than make change. Well, wouldn’t have been euros in the old days, but that was the principle. Still not willing to pay €4 for package of cranberries, imported and considered as exotic as dragon fruit. Do succumb and by kourabiedes, Cypriot Christmas cookies somewhat like shortbread and dusted with icing sugar. When in Cyprus….Think that good Cypriot cooks make them with butter, but perfectly reputable Cypriot bakers definitely don’t - though charge as if they did.

Thursday, December 22/2022

 Out for a bit of pre-holiday errands. Stop at the watchmaker’s for my new watch strap. Some have come in but not all. No black the right size - would I settle for brown? No problem. Reminds me of moving to Sioux Lookout and going to buy a replacement watch strap. Went to the Northern store where there were two that were the right size. Bought the one that was not pink and thought it would be possible to save a lot of time in my new town. 

Then to the butcher shop. It’s one we’ve been frequenting for years but still takes a bit of finding because it was located on the edge of the municipal market. The shop hasn’t moved but the market has, or rather will have done once they finish constructing the much postponed new market. Meanwhile a multi-storey car park is being built where the old market used to be and the route to the remaining shops is convoluted. Butcher’s worth hunting for, though. Beautiful cuts of meat and - the delicacy we’ve come for - well aged smoked pork fillet. 

Then, on our way back, a stop at the East European shop. There used to be several in central Larnaca. Now this is the only one we’ve found remaining. Looking for pickled herring. And finding it. Reading labels in here sometimes tricky. Russian names for ingredients often similar to Polish, but Cyrillic alphabet slows things down considerably. 

Very nearly useless news report on visit of agriculture minister to a supermarket. Gems such as decrease in sales of turkey and beef may be down to thirty percent price rise. Sounds entirely probable. However the minister adds cheerfully that demand should remain strong as Cypriots are a nation of meat eaters. True enough. The small amounts of meat described in the Mediterranean diet definitely don’t reflect practice here. (Actually it seems that the earliest observations of the diet came from the post war period when meat was in short supply and didn’t necessarily reflect local preferences in better times). Then the stats: a well off family of four will spend about €166 on about 35 items for the Christmas meal, a four member family “on a budget” about €92 on 19 items, and a poorer family about €24 for 11 items. Presumably a homeless family might spend nothing at all. No suggestion as to what the goods in the basket might be or what kind of income each designation represents. Article concludes by saying prices not expected to fluctuate much before Christmas. That would be in the remaining two days? Occasionally wonder if the Greek news items here are any more useful than the English. But there are sometimes good opinion pieces. And then there is the unintended humour.

Wednesday, December 21/2022

 

Winter Solstice. Photo taken from our balcony when the sun was immediately behind the palm tree. Actually taken yesterday, which is fortunate as today there is no sun, which is appropriate for the shortest day of the year. It’s also pretty unusual here. First genuinely rainy day we’ve had, although heavy rains one night and very occasional showers. It’s also been warmer than usual. Think this is the first day when the high didn’t reach 20 (17 today) and we’re now predicted to have highs of 20 or a little more until after Christmas. Seems it’s not just our impression - and memories of typical temperatures are notoriously unreliable. We have been experiencing three or four degrees above average this month. Quite pleasant at this time of year, though obviously considerably less desirable if it continues here in the summertime.

About to leave for the shops when Bill catches us on FaceTime. Good to see him and he seems in good form. He’s eighty-eight now but says he can still walk a couple of miles, just more slowly than in the past. Fair enough! We reminisce about the Christmases we’ve spent together in the past, most of them at Ship’s Inn in North Cyprus but the last at their place near Ipswich in 2018, a year and a half before Jane died. And in the pre-pandemic universe.

Shopping really more recce than purchasing, although J does buy a kilo of peanuts. Raw and therefore, needless to say, unsalted. He’ll roast them himself in microwave or frying pan or combo. Infinitely nicer than packages of pre-roasted but no idea where we’d get them at home or at what gourmet price. Here they’re cheaper than processed, as one feels they should be. Other than that we’re checking out what we’ll buy on Friday. Probably chicken, although we have cooked lamb at Christmas. Saturday will be crazy busy and Friday probably not much better. No Cypriot would buy anything frozen for an important meal or by choice at any time, though frozen food compartments are becoming somewhat larger and more varied than they were ten years ago. So we’ll join the last minute queues.

Tuesday, December 20/2022

Maggi and Brian stop in between errands. First time we’ve seen them since we came back from the North, three and a half weeks ago now. Cheerful visit and a small Cyprus brandy - our old times’ sake drink. And the old times with Maggi, though not Brian, go back twenty years now. He currently unable to drive for medical reasons, which is difficult as he lives in Oroklini, north of Larnaca and she in Mazotos, country area twenty or so kilometres south of Larnaca. Worked fairly well when both were driving and, obviously, they’re hoping the problem is temporary.

Used to be several banks near the Sunflower, all of which appear to have closed. Including the one I visited on the last day before Christmas a few years ago where it transpired that the custom was to offer customers some fairly classy snacks as well as wine and whiskey on the banking days before Christmas and New Year’s. Much laughter when I said that banks in Canada regarded coffee and biscuits as a treat. Well, perhaps the high generosity contributed to their demise. Or more likely they were simply part of the international trend to close small branches and encourage internet banking. Anyway, after consulting a map online re neighbourhood banks we head a few blocks west of Sklavenitis where there is indeed a branch of the Hellenic Bank with a cash point. Also, as is always the way, a branch of the Cyprus Bank only a block away. Chief advantage of the Hellenic is that it will allow withdrawals of €500 at a time. Cyprus Bank, oddly, a maximum of €410. Neither sufficient to pay the rent of course, but that’s the way it is.

Monday, December 19/2022

 Temperatures still in the low twenties in the daytime, which means significantly warmer in the sun. Think we’re running three or four degrees above average. But prefer the shady side of the street. To Lidl to stock up on peanut butter (actual sale on 100% peanut kind). Also Lidl’s own astonishingly inexpensive but prize winning gin, as well as cheese, wine and eggs. They have free range eggs here, while other supermarkets seem to be mostly caged or barn (free run) with free range in smaller quantity and much pricier. Of course this is territory in which a hen might not feel ill used at being sent outside to take the sun in January.

Notice that UK products seem almost, though not quite, to have disappeared from the shelves. Scotch whiskey still in evidence, though there seems to be more Irish than previously. Cheese is increasingly not English. Much, of course, is Cypriot or from other EU countries, with the aged cheddars often from Ireland. This week’s peanut butter is from Poland. Lidl in the past used regularly to carry Scottish shortbread and with Christmas coming it would be nice, but none to be seen. Presumably the problem is Brexit. British goods may be less competitive than  EU products and - worse - the extra paper work is a deterrent to both selling and buying. Many labels are multilingual, often with four or more languages. Finding English is ideal but rare, with French and Polish next in order of preference. After that look for any Romance or Germanic language - or Slavic if the letters are not Cyrillic. In desperation Greek or Russian about equally desirable - or undesirable. Arabic, of course, dead last. Not sure whether the decreasing size of the letters is a factor of age or of their trying to include info in too many languages in too small a space.

Sunday, December 18/2022

 Despite a Church spokesman having said that the results of the archepiscopal election would be known by six o’clock, the information comes in the form of an exit poll rather than an official statement. And the exit poll shows the two pro- Russian candidates well in front with Athanasios, Bishop of Limassol, a city noted for its Russian citizens, well in the lead. Find it astonishing that there are exit polls and try to inagine the cardinals in Rome confessing their choices to eagerly waiting news reporters, microphones at the ready, instead of waiting decorously for the white smoke. 

By evening the Cyprus Mail is ready to list the top three, Ahanasios well in the lead. And not missing a trick. Knowing full well that the Holy Synod has some tradition of choosing a candidate that can unify rather than supporting one side of the Russia/Ukraine split, he is quoted as saying that “ although the Holy Synod allowed the people to pick the top three they can be counted on to chose the most suitable as Archbishop because they are wise”. A word to the wise indeed - the Holy Synod is not compelled to accept the people’s first choice but surely he would not reject their wisdom.

Saturday, December 18/2022

 Tomorrow begins voting for a new archbishop of Cyprus, the previous one, Chrysostomos II having died last month. The process is surprisingly democratic for a church which is in many ways extremely conservative. Referred to as universal suffrage and so it is, more or less. Registered Orthodox of all nationalities living in Cyprus for a year or longer, men and women, have a vote. True, this is the preliminary stage and the final decision is made by the Holy Synod, choosing from the three front runners in the people’s vote. Sort of the reverse of the way the British Conservative party chooses a leader, but that’s another story. 

Info comes from Wikipedia. Not a surprising first source for basic info, and had actually only checked it to ascertain who was allowed to vote, but in this case it’s the provider of quite a lot of backroom gossip and even a little backbiting. So we learn that there are two main factions, pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian, mainly related to ecclesiastical and theological matters, but spilling over, understandably, into international politics. Accusations amongst the candidates of (financially) self-serving motives and pious denunciations of rivals engaging in electioneering before the previous archbishop was buried. Protestant is a common insult thrown at other contenders. And that’s without the truly bizarre, even allowing for possible losses in context or translation. For example am assuming, perhaps wrongly, that the sex reference below refers to legality of homosexuality or same sex marriage and not to pedophilia -

‘The Metropolitan of Morphou, meanwhile, is known for his many conspiratorial stances, claiming to find prophecies of the COVID-19 pandemic in Asterix [comics],^[28][29] for example, or that anal sex leads to children becoming homosexuals.^[30] He also supports the Russian invasion of Ukraine stating that "a war must be fought to purge the children of the devil".’

Friday, December 16/2022

 Fairly noisy excavation sounds this morning outside the Chinese restaurant across the road. Proves to be a large CAT digger accessing a sewer outside the restaurant. The only surprise here is that this isn’t a daily event given the very small diameter of the pipes involved, as seen in the major upheavels in the roads of Gazimagusa. Essentially, the diameter of the sewer pipes here, as in Greece, is about two inches, while in most of Europe and North America it’s twice that. Possible to translate into metric for those young enough not to engage in double think, but doesn’t improve matters any. J points out that a restaurant may have problems beyond the obvious (and, speaking of the obvious, everyone knows not to put toilet paper down the flush). But restaurants no doubt deal with more than household amounts of grease and food residue.

Both Carrefour/Sklavenitis have new sales beginning today and lasting into January. Used, at one point to be a relatively exciting time, when anyone able to plan effectively was well advised to buy their winter’s supply of liquor at a significant discount. Also little taste treat samples. Wine in disposable plastic wine glasses worth hanging onto as spares and on one occasion Bailey’s liqueur in little chocolate cups. Not really a fan of Bailey’s but it did create a pretty festive atmosphere, not really matched today by background music repeating “let it snow, let it snow”, as the outside temperature reaches the mid twenties. And the amazing savings somewhat less amazing than in the old days, though to be fair any of the liquor prices here would look pretty impressive in Canada.

We leave Carrefour and a car beeps and pulls over next to us. Almost ignore it, assuming it is unlikely to concern us. How many people do we know here? But it’s Kiki, afternoon receptionist at the Sunflower for the first ten years of our stays and a lovely, kind and warm person. Now newly retired. Yes, we’ll get together. Give her our mobile number (it’s UK but as J says she will know she can reach us at the hotel) and also M’s number. Lovely.

Thursday, December 15/2022

Find we are calling the supermarkets we frequent by names they went by in the past. Sign of age - ours not the world’s? Probably not. Rachel, still in her teens then, used to complain that people in Sioux Lookout regularly referred to business establishments by names they had possessed in the past, sometimes the distant past, leaving her with no idea where they meant. So we find ourselves talking about Carrefour - as it was - rather than Sklavenitis as it now is. Carrefour, of course, a more familiar company and easier to say - to say nothing of spell. And that’s without involving  the Greek alphabet, where it would be written as Σκλαβεm. We read Greek about as slowly as a kindergarten child sounding out words and preferring all capital letters - although with some degree of success in guessing meaning once deciphered. And our preferred supermarket is still known to us as Elephant, as we remember when it rejoiced in the name of The Elephant Store. Locals our age probably still call it Sarris after a previous owner. 

Noting on our way out that the preponderance of rectangular white buildings with flat roofs is somewhat reminiscent of the architecture in childhood picture books of Biblical stories, although not nearly as strikingly so as in the white city of Amman, Jordan. Well, served the same purpose in much of the Middle East. Missing in ancient times were the large, if ugly, water storage tanks and the much more recent solar panels.

Wednesday, December 14/2022

 Make supper at usual time thinking that power cut, should it happen, not expected to be all that long and in any case could always resort to cheese and tomato or humus sandwiches and clementines. Pretty painless. And reading material ensconced on well charged ipads. In the event, there is no outage and eventually news posted that the industrial action triggering it has been called off, or at least postponed.

Showers in the morning, really for the first time since the brief ones the day we arrived in the South, although it did rain heavily in the night once. When it does rain it’s immediately obvious how inadequate the road drainage is, particularly on the side streets. Puddles would be a definite understatement as there are blocks that are no go without rubber boots. But all dissipates within a few hours so obviously never high on the infrastructure agenda. Actually the more serious problem is not rain but rather the lack of it. Desertification is a genuine threat - Cyprus predicted to be a desert within fifty years - and the rain such as it is should be more carefully saved than it sometimes is, although there are reservoirs.

Tuesday, December 13/2022

Still reading yesterday’s Cyprus Mail, the only English language newspaper in the Republic of Cyprus, although part of the weekly Financial Mirror is also in English. Much of it available online but not all - lovely article on excellent Cypriot wines made from hundred year old vines did not appear in the online edition. And then there’s the pleasure of Sunday morning with coffee and the puzzles. Fortunately for me no competition as J doesn’t do them.

One advantage to internet news, though, in theory at least, is the up to the minute updates. So today we learn of coming power cuts: 

“Open-ended scheduled power cuts will begin Wednesday following a Transmission System Operator (TSO) decision to safeguard the stability of the Cyprus grid during strike action. The blackouts will affect the districts of Nicosia, Larnaca and Famagusta from 5 pm to 9 pm as of Wednesday.

Power cuts will last between 30 minutes to an hour at a time on alternating days."

This may or may not mean actual power cuts, which in any case may or may not occur at the announced times- which are pretty vague anyway. Anyone who has spent time in the North (of Cyprus) is used to power cuts, and there too they may not be announced or occur at the announced times. And anyone who has lived in northern Ontario is also used to annual power cuts of several hours for planned maintenance - which are announced - as well as fairly frequent weather related power failures, which obviously are not. No mention of Cypriot power cuts taking into consideration the timing of World Cup games, though maybe that was the point of their taking place before nine.

Monday, December 12/2022

Seedyish area around the port -  not a million miles from where we stay but the neighbourhood does change and the class of bars deteriorates as you approach the port. Rumours of hotel rooms rented by the night rather than by the day. So on our way to Lidl in pursuit of wine, sheep’s yoghurt and tonic we pass a bar with a small sign over the door saying Bar Women Wanted. Gender discrimination no doubt in violation of some EU regulation and most probably some Cypriot one as well. Am reminded though of an internet café we used to frequent here in the years before wifi which announced shamelessly a lower internet price per hour for “girls”. Clearly the intent was that the presence of more young girls would serve to attract more boys, who constituted the majority of their patrons. Did consider saying that the discrimination was undoubtedly illegal, but instead used to hand them the “girl” amount, knowing perfectly well that I was not who they were hoping for - and that they would be unwilling to tell me so.

Sunday, December 11/2022

 Christmas decorating time. Am actually a traditionalist - well, purist - and would personally put up decorations on Christmas Eve and take them down at Epiphany but, probably fortunately, J is a more open celebrator as well as being significantly less lazy so the place looks cheerful and a bit Christmassy. Also lucky that a few bits were preserved in the boxes, so we have our stained glass (well, technically stained plastic, but that’s probably contributed to its survival) Christmas tree as well as the little wooden people, veterans of many Christmases past.

Christmas music also providing fairly uninspiring background in supermarkets. Haven’t noticed anything as funny as a previous year’s Sinatra rendition of Let it Snow played on a warm sunny day. Street decorations are up, though, and there’s a tree in the hotel lobby. Shop windows used to have more Christmas themes than they seem to this year, frequently featuring a classic European Saint Nicholas, looking tall and episcopal in gold and ivory or gold and blue - nothing at all like the North American Santa Claus, whose jolly round appearance came primarily from Coca Cola advertisements.

Saturday, December 10/2022

World Cup games continue, now into quarter finals with Morocco playing Portugal and England against France tonight. Game times pretty well ideal here - five and nine pm but don’t really expect another winter World Cup as this was an accommodation made for Qatar, which is much too hot in summer, although Arsene Wenger, former Arsenal manager predicts more winter World Cups as other nouveau riche nations in other hotspots join in. Meanwhile everyone in the world is watching, including the people in the next flat, who have the volume high enough to compensate for ours being turned pretty far down. Could be off altogether as excited Greek commentary not entirely helpful, but as J says the announcer tone and crowd response are cues as important to following the play as suspense music in a horror film. Don’t know if the people in the next flat are actually Greek speaking or not. Most probably not as guests here usually aren’t.

But Greek commentary no drawback when the national anthems are played. Think it’s our first time listening to God Save the King and it still sounds slightly wrong. Though nothing equals The Marseillaise. And tonight the English didn’t equal the French - score was 2-1.

Friday, December 9/2022

Walk downtown past the restaurants, reading menus as we go, at least those that are posted outside. One lists the beef dishes among its mains, including brains, tongue and tail. Recognise that brains are considered a delicacy in some circles, though never been tempted, and tongue is at least a familiar concept, if not something I’ve actually bought. But tail?! Not about to speculate. 

Visit Tony’s Alcohol Paradise on the way back. Parked outside is a Wolseley Hornet in beautiful condition. Is it yours, Tony?  No, but he wishes it were. Produced in the 1930’s and a classic Mini beneath the exterior. It’s for sale for €15000 but won’t quite go in a suitcase. Some of Tony’s own wares would, though. What’s on the shelves is alluring enough but the real 40 and 50 year old whiskies are at home, though he could bring them in if we were seriously interested. Lovely story of his buying a classic - and he says underpriced - bottle at Heathrow in the old days when they sold to collectors. His wife was so distressed at the thought of paying £7000 for a bottle which could, after all be dropped, that they attracted the attention of a large security guard. Can quite see her point. We do buy a bottle of green Chartreuse for somewhat under £7000. Much of the pleasure, though, is just talking to Tony, an enthusiast and dramatic raconteur.

Thursday, December 8/2022

 Checking blog to see what we were doing and where on December 8 of previous years. Mostly here in Larnaca but a couple of times in Paphos -  and Tunisia, Thailand and London put in an appearance as well. On one occasion we were just arriving in Winnipeg and on another just leaving it. The searchable blog online only goes back about ten years, though there is an earlier unsearchable version on another site for five years or so before that as well as handwritten journals at home for roughly the first half of the retirement period. When the journals first went online they were transcribed a couple of times a week at internet cafés from the handwritten originals. No photos in the early days and rarely time to fix the typos.

Wednesday, December 7/2022

Down to the centre with three three tasks in mind. Visit our usual cash point, buy a new strap for my watch before the current one deteriorates to the point of disintegration and get a haircut. No problem with the cash point. Watch shop still open although it observes the traditional early closing on Wednesdays and Saturdays but realise I’ve forgotten to put the watch back on post shower so on to the hairdresser cum barbershop. Well, as Meatloaf says, two out of three ain’t bad. 

No sign of activity at hairdresser’s and I realise that the four occupants of the chairs by the window where customers wait their turn are in fact staff. Recognise the owner and his wife, and he nods toward the chair. Surprisingly he remembers me, though it’s close to four years since the last visit, saying Canada. Both of us have gone here, irregularly, for the last twenty years, J less frequently as he usually cuts his own hair. When we began the old father was still alive and giving haircuts, mostly to the older short back and sides contingent. He’s long deceased, but his grandson, now a young man in his twenties is being trained and gets to do some of the combing out and sweeping up. Seem to remember him apprenticing four years ago, so he’s either slow on the uptake or has been away at school in the interval. No sign of any other customers, which is a little disconcerting. Have deliberately gone mid day and mid week to avoid a long wait but don’t really fancy being the mainstay of the establishment. Do round up my payment somewhat more than I originally intended though.

J waiting on the waterfront and we make our way back slowly, checking out the changes in restaurants. Most menus and prices not posted, or not together at least. Do establish that beer is typically about €4.40. Probably close to twice what it is in a small backstreet café. Beer a better barometer than food, as - unlike a sandwich or a salad - quality and quantity are constant.

Tuesday, December 6/2022

Larnaca awash with plans for new hotels, including one robot hotel, whatever that may be when it’s at home. Mediterranean hospitality meets high tech and you can indeed have everything?  Thus: “This is fully in line with [the] goal of making use of listed buildings so as to save our architectural and cultural heritage, give character to the city, and offer diverse accommodation options.” Accompanying photo showing the city beach somewhat short on sense of architectural heritage. 

Larnaca city beach, Finikoudes Avenue 

Sadly can see the coast of Spain with acres of tourists in the shade of non-stop high rises in the future here. Do try to be fair. The upscale square - well more accurately triangle - in front of the Eleonora where we first stayed twenty plus years ago is probably more attractive to tourists and the affluent young than the bus parking cum news stand that was there when we first knew it. But where are the old men who used to sit there with a cup of coffee and a newspaper or backgammon game? Tidied out of existence? They’re certainly not drinking the highly priced coffee. And w miss them. Not that deteriorating buildings should be preserved in situ to meet our nostalgic needs. And we ourselves are happy to have accommodation with plenty of power points and no entry points for the rats. So there it is.

Monday, December 5/2022

 Unemployment in November increased over the previous month, but more seriously is up 9.5% over the figure for November of last year. This seems consistent with the number of closed shops, banks, restaurants and cafés that we’ve observed but calls into question the steady increase in reported tourist numbers. We actually were asked once to answer tourism survey questions at Larnaca airport a number of years ago. J not into surveys but usually I’m up for it. Probably the academic in me - impossible to collect good data and engage in useful planning if nobody will answer questions. But this was so long and ultimately so intrusive that I gave up part way through the interview and told the young woman I was unwilling to complete it. 

Pharmacies appear never to go out of business here. It would be an exaggeration to say there is one on every block, but not much of one. Prices not particularly good, possibly on the same principle that taxi prices here are high - if there are too many franchises then only high charges  make it possible to make a living. Quite a lot of pharmacies in the North as well, but there the prices are significantly lower. Also quite a few medications that would require a prescription in other countries are available from the pharmacist over the counter in the North, which made our life considerably easier when we were locked down in 2020. To avoid any confusion over accent or different brand names would just take the empty bottle in and say do you have this. No problems.

Sunday, December 4/2022

 Have definitely noticed price increases here, although not always certain what the specific comparisons are. Easy to have vague memories of what used to be. Didn’t we get a whole bag of oranges for a euro? But when exactly was that? It’s three and a half years since we last stayed here. Obviously prices have increased but by how much? Sometimes feel like our mothers, knowing things used to be cheaper but pretty unreliable about how much and when. So today we read that sugar has gone up 16% over the past month - and more critically 68% since January. Not something we would have noticed as I don’t bake here and we never buy sugar or baked goods. Really only save the sugar packets when they’re provided with coffee at a café in case guests want sugar with their coffee. Apparently there’s been a monthly drop in hotel prices and flights. Not affecting us, or not directly anyway, and presumably normal after the end of the summer season.

The tourism department department admits the year has been difficult but focuses on the return of British tourists to 90% of 2019 numbers. That’s definitely focusing on the positive as the second highest number of tourists usually is from Russia and that number must have suffered a catastrophic decline. In any case the tourism department has always taken as much pleasure as the old soviet union in announcing targets met and exceeded so it’s difficult to know how cynical to be. And particularly with British entries how do they know who to count as tourists? There are quite a lot of permanent residents going back and forth on UK passports and no one at the immigration desk asks the purpose of your entry. Presumably there must be some way to identify permanent residents. Hotels can provide information but hardly total numbers as many tourists might stay with friends or relatives.

Saturday, December 3/2022

 Seems that the pound sterling is rising. No longer have any with us as we paid our dental bill and the transfers from Larnaca to Gazimagusa in sterling. The driver had quoted the fare in pounds - quite probably assuming we were British as we spoke English and had a UK mobile number, which may have contributed to the difficulty over exiting through the British sovereign base. Quite sure he would have been as happy with the equivalent in euros. Had been feeling mildly guilty about paying Fehmi, our dentist, in pounds and wondered if the euro was sounder at the moment. Seems not. Didn’t ask as he always professes to be happy with any currency and would have taken Turkish lira without complaint.

Note more buildings that used to be banks and now aren’t. Some replaced by shops or other businesses. Most just empty premises. Travel agencies pretty thin on the ground as well. Not surprising as searching for possibilities and booking on line has become so easy. And well aware that no agency would be willing to do what we do on transatlantic flights - check plane configuration and book according to seat pitch or find the four rows that have two seats abreast instead of three. Cypriot agencies used to be good re special offers. Gave us a (visa run) weekend in Romania at one of the classiest hotels we’ve stayed at for peanuts. But they seemed incapable of booking anything at all on the same day the request was made. Always we will check for availability and let you know. And now few remain in business.

Friday, December 2/2022

 

Minor bit of exploration on our afternoon walk. We’ve stayed in this area for years - ten in this part of the city and twenty in Larnaca - but like any old city streets follow unpredictable paths and neighbourhoods change character quickly. And Larnaca is an old city. It was first colonised by the Mycenaeans about 3500 years ago. Originally known as Kittim, and referred to Biblically in the book of Numbers, it was re-established by Phoenicians as Kition about 800 BC. We’re not exactly lost on our walk and certainly within a mile of home, establishing direction by the afternoon sun. Then spot the fenced off ruins - and they’re fairly minimalist as ruins go - and realise we’re beside the ancient Kition site. And two blocks later see the turns that will take us to our favourite bakery, not yet visited this year. So a large wholemeal sourdough loaf and two koulouri - chewy sesame studded bread rings (simit in Turkish). By tradition we stop to share one on the way home. Must be eaten the day they’re baked and it’s already afternoon, but still good. 

As we’re sitting enjoying the koulouri we spot a hotel we stayed in for a couple of months about twenty years ago. Well, it’s actually hard to miss. In its previous incarnation was the Chrysopolis, now known as the Rise Street Art Hotel and only the location is at all familiar.

Thursday, December 1/2022

 

Direct sun temperature 50 degrees. Or more - little thermometer only goes to 50. Shade obviously significantly lower. AccuWeather says current temperature 23, and usually fairly ‘accu’ about temp if a little less precise about exact minute of precipitation commencing.

Clothing stored in the boxes not losing their not all that trendy wrinkled look despite usual methods of washing to drip dry, hanging near shower, etc. Have to admit shirts fail to meet my very low standards of acceptability. Begin searching Greek dictionary for iron, preparatory to asking to borrow one. Naturally word iron has many possible meanings, some of which may only serve to confuse the issue. Memory of Peruvian boarder many years ago approaching me and saying fluh-teer-un. Totally at a loss until he produced his Spanish English dictionary and showed me the word - flatiron. 

One of the happier aspects of spending half our life travelling is how it pares “things” down to essentials. A small suitcase and a carryon each. Yes, we left the three boxes here and appreciate the extra cookware and changes of clothes, but most places we go are fine without. Some improvising and very little waste. Does help when we don’t need big coats and winter boots. And ebooks have made an enormous difference. Although there is a slight loss in the serendipitous character of our reading. Most books now are chosen and chosen out of an abundance rather than oddities we would never have picked but were nonetheless pleased to have read. Interestingly, the tablets have a benefit other than the quantity (and quality) of 

ice cube tray

books that they hold. They’re readable regardless of the sufficiency of the indoor lighting. Forty watt light bulbs distressingly common (though we have been known to substitute) and light fixtures often poorly placed for reading, though seldom as inconvenient as the present non-existence of kitchen lighting.

Have wondered occasionally whether there is anything we would miss if we travelled year round. Tools probably, although fewer things to repair and J does have a mini set. Probably art on the walls the most. There the tablet screen just doesn’t substitute.

F