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.
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