Thursday, November 30/2023

Spectacular view from our bedroom. Corner of the deck looking up to the peaks of the Pentadaktyl Mountains. Sun first hits the craggy rock around quarter past eight. If we lived on the southern slope we would have it much earlier, but then we wouldn’t have the view of the sea from the other side of the flat. Looking across the orchard, or past the next door neighbour’s arbour we see the dark blue of the Mediterranean, and, if it’s clear, the mountainous coast of Turkey. 

We take the dolmus in to Girne. Hadn’t realised it, but the little buses are not a municipal service but are independently owned and in some cases in competition. This explains a violent argument between our driver of yesterday and the driver of another dolmus that had just passed us. An overtaking bus can unfairly scoop up the passengers from the next stop. Didn’t come to blows though sounded as if it might. Bearing in mind that even quite friendly disputes in the Mediterranean can sound murderous to Anglo ears. Used to say that I had divorced a man without ever talking to him like that.

Today’s driver is loud and cheerful - especially loud. Spends most of the trip in speaking at astonishingly high volume, presumably to some unseen listener to whom he is connected through his earphones. Speech occasionally punctuated by hand gestures, both hands joining in. A (Russian?) woman we have picked up along the way tells him bluntly that he is too loud. He apologises and lowers the volume very slightly. A few minutes later she asks him to drive a little faster as she is already late. Then complains that he shouldn’t be talking at all while he is driving as it’s dangerous. Complaints pretty cheerfully ignored, leading to speculation that he has as much domestic practice in ignoring criticism as she has in giving it.

 

Wednesday, November 29/2023

 

J decides to harvest the oranges, or those that are reachable at least. They’re in the process of harvesting themselves, with quite a few splatted onto the ground underneath the tree where, J points out, they do add to the nutrient value. Can also see an orange tree  in the orchard across the road from our building where we can hear, but have not yet seen, at least one goat. Remember an orchard down the road last year where goats reclined happily amidst the fallen oranges.

Young man arrives in the late morning to connect the internet. He speaks no English but he and J appear to agree on what is happening, a phenomenon I first noted in Famagusta when the plumber, who spoke no English conveyed both history and essence of the problem to J, who speaks no Turkish. Concluded that they communicated in some version of universal handyman.

Tuesday, November 28/2023

 Broom but no dustpan. Could also use mop and pail. Repair to handy little supermarket. Has pretty well everything and, somewhat like Sioux Lookout, no need to waste hours in comparison shopping. Reminded of when I first moved to SL and my watch strap broke. Two of the right size in the Northern. Bought the one that was not pink and thought one could save a lot of time in this town. Here, interestingly, the default assumption seems to be that one would normally wish to buy mop handle and mopping bit separately, as it’s unlikely they would wear out/break at the same time. Very practical and comfortingly uncapitalist. No need to sell people what they don’t yet require.

Discover that we have an orange tree, actually growing in the nether reaches of our extensive wrap around deck. Better than that, there are currently oranges on it and they’re surprisingly sweet. Not an endless supply, but they’re everywhere at this time of year, including at our little supermarket.

Monday, November 27/2023

 Taxi booked for nine and arrives about quarter to, but we’re ready. An hour to the border and pretty quick across. A bit of a queue but not long. Driver doesn’t speak English - so no requirement for idle chat. Less than an hour to Lapta, where he does ask which way to turn but fortunately not until we’re in territory where we know the answer. Have memories of being in countries where drivers did not know how to read maps, though in all fairness J points out that it can be remarkably difficult to sort out a city map of quite familiar territory when all the names are in an unfamiliar language, particularly if it happens to be one that uses other than a Roman alphabet.

We’re not far from the house we rented last spring but there are a couple of advantages. For one thing we’re not as high up the north slope of the mountain so significantly more sunshine. Though this is a country we have lived in during the summer (in the 2020 lockdown) so do understand why mountain height and shade is an asset in very hot weather. We’re also closer to the small supermarket we used before. Prices pretty good and pretty fair range. And the dolmuses go past the supermarket. Dolmus being the term for the small shared vans or buses. In Tunisia they were shared taxis that just waited until enough would be passengers had showed up but here they follow fixed routes in and around a city - Girne (Kyrenia) in this case.

D drops over bearing lemons.Twenty of them! Will no have the happy decision of whether to make lemon curd or lemonade. Also drops us at the place where you sign up for the internet. When will it be connected? Shrug. Well, this is the laid back lifestyle isn’t it. Dolmus back as far as our supermarket where we get wine and yoghurt and a couple of bananas.

Sunday, November 26/2023

 

Good day for packing up. Or at least a good day for being inside and not out. Very high levels of particulate matter in the air, both fine and large. And, probably not unrelated as the Sahara is usually the guilty party in this part of the world, strong wind warnings and thunder storms expected. There are isolated rain showers and some token thunder and lightning but the wind lives up to the predictive warnings. Not cold, though. Temperatures stay above twenty.

Could probably have found a sports bar for the final Formula One race of the season as we have done in Cyprus before but with access that has been intermittent at best we’ve rather got out of the habit of watching. Would probably never have begun if things hadn’t been so different forty years ago. That was before F1 was desperate to sell itself to any country with an excess of money but no tradition of motor sports. In those days BBC carried the races as did CBC (usually about six hours after the fact so you had to be careful not to hear the results before watching). Probably more lucrative now, but with some loss of soul. So today Verstappen won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the season championship. Do know who Verstappen is. Remind me on Abu Dhabi.

Saturday, November 25/2023

 Have lamented the disappearance of the old boys - the coffee drinkers, the smokers, the backgammon players - from the Mediterranean city centres. But not completely disappeared. This photo taken between the animal charity shop and the second hand store. Not far from the square by the Eleanora that has become all upmarket coffee shops. Yes, do ask if it is ok to photograph. Bloke on the left grins and the backgammon players go on with their game.

Come home past what used to be the tennis courts and remember that they’ve been moved - actually a couple of years back but seems we don’t usually take this route.  There are new and reportedly impressive tennis courts elsewhere, but more interestingly this has allowed the excavation of the ancient city of Kition which lies underneath modern Larnaca to expand. Human habitation in the area goes back to Neolithic times (nearby Khirokitia is 6000 years old and a moving place to visit).  Larnaca/Kition not quite that old but it was a port city in Mycenaean and Phoenician days and there have  been recent finds of the remains of berths for docking triremes. This is all within a kilometre of various places we have stayed over the past twenty-four years and the site is accessible for a small fee but apparently there is very little to see - unlike Pafos, for example, where a day’s visit is really not long enough.

Friday, November 24/2023

 Coming to an end of our four weeks in the Republic of Cyprus before heading north to the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, TRNC. So taking with us the goods stored in boxes here at the Sunflower. Boxes down to two this year but that by virtue of one of them being enormous. Will it sandwich into taxi going north. And if we find a smaller one will everything fit? Problem solved, surprisingly, by discovering a large empty suitcase. In the time honoured custom of Cypriots as well as many others it has been left next to a refuse bin about a block away from us, free either to be salvaged or to be collected by the bin men. Suspect a broken wheel or latch, but not a bit of it. Everything in working order and clean as a whistle. Someone bought a sports car and it didn’t fit in the boot? Happy discovery anyway. 

Also stop by Sklavenitis where we have previously spotted some coffee equipment. Coffee bean grinder and French press. Surprisingly - or maybe not as the whole world seems to be piling in - Sklavenitis is holding a Black Friday sale. Would be curious to know if any of the customers know the origins of Black Friday, but of course it’s the same here as anywhere else. Encourage a spate of buying and clear out some old stock before the Christmas spree. Do discover when we open the boxes at home that the plug on the grinder is a European one, whereas both North and South Cyprus use British plugs. Oh well. The price was good and we do travel with adapters. 

Travel, for us at least, rather like camping. Forage, salvage, adapt. And enjoy the stunning scenery.

Thursday, November 23/2023

 So few of the old buildings left in the centre of Larnaca - or many old world cities. This one still standing, but barely. And not sure if the graffiti is an asset or not. A little more cheerful than it might otherwise have been. Would be nice to think that it was the equivalent of a listed building and would be restored but actually looks far more likely to collapse. The building on its left is now a gaping hole. High rises everywhere. 

Stop at Sklavenitis for peanuts and coffee. Coffee happily labelled “grounded” coffee. Should really be grateful that there is ever any attempt to label in English as well as Greek. Canada careful to fulfil the requirements of labelling products in French and English, but rare to see any other language. Though no one would suspect based on a shopping trip in the South that in the Republic of Cyprus both Greek and Turkish are official languages. Have never seen anything with Turkish labels, although it’s entirely possible that one is legally entitled to use Turkish in court. Anyway, like grounded coffee. Morning cup does leave me feeling grounded.

Post script. J says that he had known that Turkish as well as Greek was an official language. It goes back to the original constitution at the time of independence (1960). One of the advantages of living with an historian.

Wednesday, November 22/2023

 From down the street comes the sound of cheerful accordion music. A strolling player, accompanied by wife and baby. I take a picture from third floor balcony, nearly a block away. He turns and waves, blows a kiss.

Over to Super Discount, still known to us as the Elephant store from one of its previous incarnations. Home with a chicken and some fruit and veggies. One of the nicer things about buying produce here - apart from the general lack of plastic packaging, with the notable exception of Lidl - is that you can buy the amount you actually want. Well, that is related to the non packaging as well as to the old European and Middle Eastern tradition of shopping several times a week, for freshness and no doubt originally down to lack of refrigeration. Anyway, it allows me to buy two tomatoes, three onions, six mushrooms, four clementines. 

Just after sunset

Tuesday, November 21/2023

 By bus to visit Maggi in Mazotos, a village about 20 kilometres south of Larnaca. Arrive late morning so there’s time for a g&t before lunch. Maxi, her rescue dog, has known us for years but with covid and irregular visits has probably only seen us once in the last four or five years. No doubt she remembers, though. And heads straight for Joe who always used to bring her treats.

We drive down to the restaurant on the beach. A Cypriot family one - and no problems re adequate ventilation! Torn between sheftalia sausages, which I love, and fish and chips, but in the end all four of us go for fish and chips, which Maggi and Brian say is their regular order. Good meal and lots of chatter and laughter. Small pieces of various fruits preserved in sweet syrup come with the coffee, a Cypriot specialty on both sides of the island. 

M and B also come here often in the early morning for a swim. Sea temperature today is 24, pretty close to the air temperature and the beach completely empty. Brian has to go to his flat in Oroklini, just north of Larnaca, so gives us a lift back.

Monday, November 20/2023

 Three ships came sailing in. Not Christmas Day, although some happy to anticipate the season. Larnaca Bay this afternoon. Ships right and centre are cargo while the one on the left is a destroyer. Not particularly unusual for destroyers, usually US, to pay a courtesy call to Larnaca port, but this one doesn’t appear to have been mentioned in the news although obviously not in hiding.

Go for my semi-annual haircut to the same shop I’ve been going to for over twenty years, and J as well until he started cutting his own hair. It’s a family business, with a framed photograph of the grandfather, now deceased, on the wall. We remember when he was an active barber. Now the son and his wife run the business, with dubious assistance from the grandson, as good looking as his father but seemingly having inherited none of the family talent. Has been in training for at least four years and not good at or permitted to do, much beyond shampooing and some combing.  Even less busy than last time as the wife is not there and I’m the only customer. Good cut and, once father takes over, good comb out. But as last time feel the weight of responsibility for keeping the business solvent. He charges me €12 (£10.50, $18 CAD). It was €10 ten years ago. I give him €15 but can’t imagine how they survive.

Then we stop to see another survivor - Natalia the Ukrainian jeweller. As she was last winter, she’s running a small take out pastry business over near St Lazarus Church. Not optimistic about the situation in Ukraine where her family is and distressed by the situation in Israel and Palestine. But one bit of good has emerged as a result of war in Ukraine. Her adult son, who came to Cyprus as a small child and has known no other life - speaks Greek and not Ukrainian or Russian - has finally been given a visa by the Cyprus government as part of their response to those unable to remain in war torn Ukraine. Who knows if it will be renewed next year, but for now….We buy some spinach and feta pastries - large, warm and delicious - and eat them on a bench by St Lazarus.

Two stops on the way home. One for bread and the other at the large and insanely crowded second hand store - clothes, books, jewellery, small appliances, kitchenware so closely packed as to make examining them almost impossible. Racks spilling out into the courtyard a matter of necessity. Normally, though not it seems this year, travel with the small kitchen implement known as —Well, here we wander into the wilds of bilingualism, multiculturalism and more. Am well aware that the implement is frequently referred to in British English as a fish slice but the term simply doesn’t come off my tongue, not least, probably,  because you could use one regularly for a lifetime without ever cooking fish. Apparently often referred to in America as a spatula, but to me a spatula is a different animal. Rubber in my youth though usually silicone now, smaller, not slotted, flexible, and good for getting the last bit of icing or whatever out of the bowl without using your fingers. Lifter? As close as anything, though so general it helps to know you’re talking kitchen and not workshop or gym when you suggest buying one. And no idea what it might be called in Greek, which may have contributed to my reluctance to ask Venera for one when I did look up the translation for stainless steel, thereby obtaining a pretty decent frying pan. Anyway, we now have a lifter and can take it with us to the next place.

Sunday, November 19/2023

Next door for our weekly purchase of the Cyprus Mail, with all its deficiencies. And catch the very tail end of the Larnaca Marathon coming along Makarios. Over 11,000 entrants from 85 countries and a good day for running as the unseasonably hot weather seems to be over and back to highs of 23 or 24.

Meanwhile President Christodoulides has announced piously that he is « steadfastly increasing efforts to resume negotiations on the Cyprus [reunification] issue. The difficulty being that he was speaking at a memorial service for EOKA fighter Kyriakos Matsis, who died in 1958 while resisting arrest by security forces. To quote from my blog entry of March 2, also concerning then newly elected President Christodoulides:

EOKA was a terrorist organisation active from the fifties to the seventies whose aim was political union with Greece, pitting it against the British, Turkish Cypriots, and many fellow Greek Cypriots. While many independence movements have involved violence, EOKA was not an independence movement and did mean death for Turkish Cypriots. Independence was granted by the British in 1960, and the government of the Republic later outlawed the organisation, which had been responsible for civilian deaths and involved with the assassination of the American ambassador.

Difficult to reconcile glorification of EOKA with sincere attempts to reunite Cyprus.

Saturday, November 18/2023

Cyprus president Christodoulides has denied allegations that the US is using the British bases on Cyprus to send arms: “There is no such information. Our country cannot be used as a launching pad for military operations. Through our actions we demonstrate the humanitarian nature of our approach “.The sources of the allegations are the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and the British media outlet Declassified. Obviously the details will be left to the historians, but regrettably both are more reliable sources than Christodoulides, though in fairness few politicians can be relied on for factual accuracy. And, as always, truth is the first casualty of war.

What passes here for a cool breeze picks up in the late afternoon and is accompanied by rain. The meteorological service issues a yellow warning, probably not so much for rain (to which the inevitable response is that we needed it) as for what may be coastal gale force winds. However the patio doors provide a comfortable view of the lightning which can’t be very close, given the time delay before we hear the thunder. Ten pm and temperature 21.

Friday, November 17/2023

Hooded Crow- courtesy of Wikipedia

 Miss the crow family. There are crows here, though not the same. Hooded crows are similar in size and behaviour to American crows but not in appearance. We do see them, sometimes in the palm tree beside the balcony where they - and smaller birds - poke their beaks between the fibres on the trunk (well, technically stem) either hiding food or looking for insects. Did try leaving a couple of peanuts on the balcony railing. They  did  disappear eventually but suspect the wind blew them off. Do also feel guilty when the last uneaten bite goes in the bin as well. With the crow family we’d achieved practically zero waste.

Thursday, November 16/2023

From our balcony. 17:05. Sunset at 16:49. Temperature 23. Gin and tonic time.

Eight Cypriots, four representing political parties in the Republic of Cyprus (South) and four representing parties in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, TRNC (North) visited Northern Ireland this month in order to examine the history and philosophy of the peace process and check Good Friday Agreement.  An interesting step, as the Good Friday Agreement has been in effect for over twenty-five years now and ended violence that many thought could never end. There are young adults in Northern Ireland who have known peace their entire lives. Of course circumstances are different, as they are different in Israel and Palestine, for whom Northern Ireland has also been suggested as a model. Still, there could be lessons learned and inspiration in a country where conflict once seemed endless.

Wednesday, November 15/2023

 

 

The Middle East is a complicated area, with a history that goes back for milennia and disputes that long predate the Balfour Declaration. In recent years the US has taken a hyperactive interest that far exceeds its desire to prevent conflict and see justice done. As the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace puts it “During the Cold War America’s quest to dominate the Middle East was driven largely by the need to ensure the uninterrupted flow of its energy resources to America and its allies”. Photo courtesy of Petroleum Economist.

Cyprus, Egypt, Israel and - yes - Gaza have massive undersea gas resources and plenty of dispute over boundaries and methods of access and export.

Tuesday, November 14/2023

 Happy to share this blog with anyone who finds it of interest. But it grew out of the notebooks I started keeping when our winter travels began after we retired in 2000. It was some time before I began putting them online and this is actually the second host site. At first they existed as both handwritten notebooks and blog posts and then a few years ago the handwritten versions ceased, in part because they didn’t include photos but largely because having them meant writing the initial entries and then transcribing them. That made sense when we had only intermittent access to computers and the internet but not once we travelled with tablets and wifi was everywhere.

Still, their chief value is for us as a reminder of the places we’ve been and the people we’ve shared our life with. The blog is searchable which is handy if we want to know what year we went to Romania or how much we paid for wine twenty years ago. And we trip over funny or quirky memories in the search. Like this fragment from Larnaca in 2013:

Walking down to meet J for coffee when a car pulls over to the curb. Do I speak English, asks the nondescript man inside. Yes, I say, assuming he is looking for directions. Slowly he introduces himself. I - hairdresser - cut - set. No thank you, I say, before the painful process can be drawn out longer. But no hairdresser looks for business by curb crawling. In fact, he reminds me of a man that I once saw exposing himself in the walkway under the road by Finchley Road tube station, so under-equipped for the display that it wasn't at first obvious what he was doing. I feel I should have given today's man pointers. Try it on with someone much younger - and maybe go with I photographer - studio - model.

Monday, November 13/2023

 The late Canadian writer Norman Levine came and spoke to - I believe - the Humanities Association in Fredericton some time in the sixties. He would have been in his forties then and talked about the years after he moved to the artists’ community in St Ives, Cornwall in 1950. He was at pains to tell us that those had been the glory years and that St Ives in the mid-sixties was not the same at all. The experience he had had could no longer be shared. One young woman, caught up in the spirit of his reminiscences wanted to know where now was like St Ives had been fifteen years earlier. Nowhere, said Levine. There’s nowhere like that now. 

And it seems that now there’s nowhere quite like the Mediterranean cities we first stayed in nearly twenty-five years ago. The old city centres, a bit shabby but real. Not assembly line high rises or international chain restaurants. Places where old men read newspapers and drank coffee and played a little backgammon. Where women remembered how you liked your Cypriot coffee and started it when they saw you’d arrived.

So down to the waterfront today for a cup of coffee. They’re heavily into upgrading and repairs but Mcdonald’s used to be a good spot amidst the touristy places to get a pretty decent cup of filter coffee with the advantage of being able to take it across to a bench by the beach. Well, the filter coffee is no more, replaced by Americano which isn’t the same thing by a sexier name and isn’t as nice. It’s also €2.40 (£2.09, $3.55 CAD). Just about twice the price of a small coffee at McD’s in Canada where it would have been premium roast filtered and not Americano. Other coffee shops in the area also seem to have adopted the Americano, along with lattes and cappuccinos. And looks like €2.50 is standard for the Americano, though most of them do make Cyprus (read Greek or Turkish) coffee. Have my suspicions re the cappuccinos. When Dorothy visited us here some fifteen years ago she quickly learned to ask restaurants whether they had a cappuccino maker. Inevitably the answer was oh no - we have little packets. 

But farther back from the waterfront is inevitably more local and more real. More cats, more tiny shops, more cafés that are only a couple of tables. Still looking for the backgammon players. We do pass an old man on his balcony, a former councillor that we chatted with years ago. Astonishingly he remembers us. So we chat for a couple of minutes. His English is quite good. His hearing not so much. But smiles all round at having met up again. Then past what used to be an independent Italian restaurant. Now a Wagamama. Well, why not - they’re popular. Do we expect to eat only English food in England?

And then our bakery.The koulouri (sesame studded bread rings) are now in plastic bags, which will, unfortunately, ruin them. But it’s already too late in the day. They’re perfect hot out of the oven. Afternoon is too late. They do have our favourite loaves of rye and whole wheat bread though. Dense and sesame studded as well. And available nowhere else that we’ve discovered. Found the bakery by chance one Christmas Day - for who would want to eat day old bread at Christmas - and have been coming back ever since. Enormous loaf slightly less than the cup of Americano. Some things haven’t changed.

Sunday, November 12/2023

 Not a Luddite, but tolerance for the digital world rapidly decreasing. Attempt to log in to a Gmail account I’ve had for years but don’t use frequently. Know the account name AND the password. Gmail unprepared to give me access without sending a text - to a mobile number I can’t access here. They do get that people may have lost/changed phones but point out that it would have been prudent (no, they don’t use the word) to have listed secondary email addresses for emergency access. Not a requirement at the time the account was opened. Basically no alternatives, tough luck.

Dust in the air causing lower air quality due to particulate matter. Much as smoke from forest fires did where we spend the other half of the year, although the presumed culprit this time is the Sahara. Can’t fight Nature - and it’s not really unpleasant.

Cook the gigantes beans that we soaked yesterday. Have never been particularly tempted despite seeing them regularly at the greengrocer’s as they just look like enormous lima beans. But nicer taste and creamier consistency. In tomato and pepper sauce. A keeper.

Saturday, November 11/2023

 Once upon a time, but within living memory (ours) telephones were wired in and PCs non-existent. Hell, we even remember party lines. Hear the fire engines and pick up the phone to listen in and find out where the fire is  (spoiler - the usual suspects having a chimney fire. Again). And eons later we considered ourselves lucky to have begun our retirement travels in the days of internet cafés. Slow connections, grubby keyboards, queues of students. Much better now, but probably more frustrating.

So we possessed - well still possess, and that is the problem - a bank account with HSBC Canada. It’s outlived its usefulness and we have attempted more than once to close it, though not forcefully enough. You can’t close a dormant account; you have to reactivate it first. The process isn’t quick. And somehow by the time it has been achieved the will to live, or at least to continue dealing with banks, has been sapped. So last attempt made shortly before we left home. Ended with their saying that closing the account could only be done at a branch office. Quite unmoved by my explaining that the nearest branch is in Winnipeg, 240 miles away.

Fortunately for us - HSBC indifferent - we were about to go to Winnipeg en route to Europe. So bus downtown on a lovely golden day to talk to a couple of helpful young employees who succeed after viewing our passports and credit cards and collecting our signatures in reviving our account. This doesn’t contain our life savings - only slightly too much to write off cheerfully. Though we’ve been tempted. However, for reasons known only to the gods of banking, it is not possible to revive AND close an account on the same day. And the next day we’re off to Europe. No problem, we think. Have an online only bank account that lists HSBC as an external account. Can simply move everything out. After tomorrow. All permissions for closure signed in advance.

Fast forward slightly to Cyprus. Oh right, we have money to move. Load app. However external account has disappeared from friendly online only bank. Presumably buried some time after HSBC declared it dead. Fair enough. So revive it - or more accurately enter it as a new external account. Enter HSBC account number. Number no problem but transit and institution numbers require help from Mr Google. Advice to copy them from the front of a cheque not helpful as we have somehow neglected to bring a cheque book for an account we are closing. But Google useful as always. Enter info on online bank app and am told that there will be two small deposits made into HSBC account. Report the amounts and all will be fine. 

Except it won’t. HSBC has no intention of telling me what’s going on in our account. We might be thugs holding the Jaworskis hostage in the hopes of emptying this small account illegally. The only hope is to open access to online banking which involves eliciting assistance from the people who told us to drive to Winnipeg to close the account. But, needs must. Put a Canadian VPN on the mobile and use a VOIP to call HSBC.  

And hit it fairly lucky. A representative who pretty well gets what has happened and has endless patience. First confirm identity. Includes providing passport number but stops short of fingerprints and dental records - though maybe those are only for identifying corpses. So begin process at website on ipad mini 2, reserving phone for conversation. Then the email with the code bit. Fingers well crossed as wifi not as swift here as it may be in Toronto or - more likely - Vancouver. Open email on second ipad so no need to risk leaving the VOIP and newfound friend at HSBC or the registration process. No bank ever gives you the same customer advisor twice. Code comes through barely within the requisite two minutes. Slow process but progressing. Ipad mini 2 receives second code - just read me the numbers on line 16. Then ipad 1 stalls and the dread buffer till you die circling begins. I express limited optimism. Can you download the HSBC app? Ipad mini 3 called into service. App loads although not quickly. Wifi capacity not necessarily helped by my current use of four devices. App accepts newly minted user name and password but does not wish to complete entry without further security. Resort to website. Website suggests three methods of increasing security or - on your head be it - none.  Representative dubious about none. I swear that all I need to do is LOOK at the account. It will then be closed. Rep agrees. Thanks me for patience. It’s mutual. Didn’t think to check watch when we began but half an hour would be extremely conservative estimate. 

Save dealing with other online bank for tomorrow. And memo to self - keep devices charged and at the ready.

Friday, November 10/2023

 One of the things that struck us this year and last in (the republic of) Cyprus is the large number of black people. The visual perception may be somewhat distorted because Cypriots are not walkers by choice, so those you pass on the street are probably disproportionately expats, students, and asylum seekers. It’s easier  to notice people of colour when they walk past than it would be if they were driving by. But many more dark faces. The majority apparently male and many, but by no means all, of them young enough to be students. And not unusual to see black women alone or with small children. The women often very well dressed. 

Cyprus received 458 Syrian refugees from Lebanon during the last week in October as well as quite a few refugees from Israel following October 7. But its location in proximity to Africa and the Middle East combined with its status as an EU country has made it an attractive destination for many asylum seekers. 

Perhaps more attractive than it should have been. Asylum seekers now make up six percent of the population, an EU record. Compare, for example, with the United Kingdom where last year there were around 13 asylum applications for every 10,000 people living in the UK. Cyprus is rather insular (well, that’s where the word comes from - insula, Latin for island). Minorities not always welcomed with open arms and, in fact there have been problems, including a fight earlier this week between Nigerian and Syrian migrants at a reception centre near Nicosia. Clashes between Greek Cypriots and migrants have also occurred. It’s surprising that there hasn’t been more trouble. Cypriot bureaucracy is abysmal at the best of times and is hopelessly behind in processing asylum applications.

Thursday, November 9/2023

 

On Monday BMO had said that my replacement credit card would arrive in three to five business days. Suspected them of simply having no idea where Cyprus was. In fact quite sure the last young man assisting had no clue, but eventually we developed a rapport and his confidence grew as he adjusted to the idea that this was a foreign country and addresses sounded different. Did accurately read back the info and said that with overseas countries the practice was to use courier service and not mail.  But still  very impressed when tracking number shows card out for delivery - physically at present in Aradippou, a Larnaca suburb. And indeed at one o’clock Rita calls from reception to say it has arrived.  Very large thick envelope saying, discreetly, replacement document. Seventy-two hours door to door.

Needs to be used in order to be activated.  Happily, it’s a little cooler this afternoon - about 27 degrees - so we walk down to Lidl. Their produce seldom as good or as cheap as the Cypriot grocery stores. Gin a different matter. Seven hundred  cc bottle of house brand, Castelgy  for €6.69 (£5.83, $9.85 CAD). Had seen it at Lidl years ago and assumed on the basis of price that it must be dreadful. Happily, not the case. New credit card put to work.

Wednesday, November 8/2023

 

The best gin here used to be at Lidl. Their own blind test prize winner at impressively low price. May still be but we haven’t been because Lidl is the opposite direction from everything else we want to do and it’s been too hot for midday walks for pleasure. Have found that the Elephant store has nice German beer for a euro a (500 ml) tin, though. And 500 ml tins are big enough to split. Actually there is drinkable Cypriot beer as well. Breweries getting sneaky though. Spot a tin labelled Krauzer Bräu. Sounds German enough. Small print on side of tin extremely small. Well, it has been getting smaller every year, possibly even for young people, but in the EU there’s a particular problem. Like Canada, but more so, unilingual labelling is rare. (Although not all that rare in Cyprus so maybe it depends on whether a product is for domestic consumption or export. So squinting at labels I’m hoping first for English. Failing that French, Polish, German, Spanish - pretty well in that order. Greek would be last because of the letters, and it does come after Russian, but Arabic is dead last - at least among the labels we encounter here. So squinting reveals that Krauzer Bräu is brewed in the EU. Hmm, sounds like deliberate obfuscation. The German beers we’ve been drinking have been proud to announce they were brewed in Germany. Resort to Google, and sure enough discover that Krauzer Bräu is brewed in Cyprus.

And then there’s water, which is actually what we drink the most of. Took us years, literally, to establish that tap water in the Republic of Cyprus is potable. It tastes like chlorine. That’s obvious and unpleasant, but not an answer to whether one can drink it. The answer was always that everyone here buys water. And initially we did, though not happily. It comes in endless plastic bottles and they’re heavy to carry home if you buy in any quantity as well as being environmentally unfriendly. Then we talked to John - then working at one of the charity shops.  He explained that the nasty chlorine taste dissipated, along with the chlorine itself, if you let the water sit in the sun for a day. We had two large jars and began to produce water that you not only could drink but would want to. Have learned a little more since. Sitting for 48 hours better than a day. Sunlight not necessary but does speed things up a bit. Boiling for fifteen minutes can substitute for sitting for a day. No longer have the jars but do have a very large pot and can then decant into empty wine bottles and refrigerate. The water was always disinfected - that was the problem - but now it tastes good.

Tuesday, November 7/2023

Citrus fruits just coming into season. Tried a clementine that was ripe enough to eat, although only just. A regular orange was coming into its sweetness but still really too fibrous. Won’t be long though. Was trying to remember the surprising relationship of citrus species. Obviously many detailed sources but noted this in the blog January 22/2019: 

Citrus fruit development a complicated history. Had assumed that pomelos were an offshoot of grapefruit, but quite the opposite. The (slightly simplified) version is that all citrus varieties are descended from pomelos, citrons and mandarins. The more familiar oranges, lemons, limes and grapefruit come later. 

Conference pears now at their prime. Sweeter, more tender - and down to €1.90 (£1.65, $2.80 CAD) a kilo. Tomatoes surprisingly expensive, or the best ones are. Bins at various prices roughly matching quality. You just tell the lady at the till which ones you have. Qualitative difference between best and worst pretty obvious - not so much the categories in between. Hard to resist the habit of buying in quantity when produce is attractive or very inexpensive, but there will be more and fresher tomorrow and we don’t have a lot of storage space.

Slightly unclassic carbonara for dinner. Lountza (Cypriot smoked pork tenderloin) rather than prosciutto and a little sautéed pepper, onion and mushroom added. Lovely dark yolked eggs. Ingredients here such a pleasure. 

Monday, November 6/2023

 Day starts with an email from the bank saying that my credit card has been restricted and asking me to phone. Am mildly annoyed that they haven’t texted, suspecting that they have failed to record my winter mobile number or have been unable to cope with the U.K. prefix. Possible advantage to eight hour time difference is that there seems to be no wait time at all in getting to speak to a human. Practically at the end of the conversation, which seems to consist mainly of their verifying who I am, the question of the suspect transaction comes up. Yes, I recognise the U.K. company and no I am not responsible for this transaction though an earlier one was legitimate. Have to admit that this does rather undermine my claim that their obsessive surveillance makes it difficult to use the card abroad. So card cancelled and new one will be sent. Eventually - talking to a third employee - am able to establish that card will be couriered rather than mailed, which makes its arrival in the next week or so possible if not actually probable. Three to five business days?  Strong suspicion that am being reassured by someone who has no idea where Cyprus is, but at least the intentions are good. Fortunately debit card unaffected as is J’s credit card, of course. Inconvenient, but scarcely an emergency.

So to second complication of the day. Last week cockroach appeared in kitchen. Seemed to have no companions but this is not necessarily to be relied on - as with mice. Not unduly disturbed. Cyprus is subtropical and residents do seasonal battle with the katsarida. We’ve stayed at this hotel before without encountering any. Trapped offending insect (on its back and hopefully experiencing death spasms) underneath upturned waste paper basket and reported its presence to management the following morning. Gone when we returned home. Last night, in dimly lit kitchen, an apparent companion spotted on the kitchen floor. Did go closer to investigate but it began to move and, in order to foil escape attempts, repeated the waste paper basket manoeuvre.

So report last night’s captive to front desk as before. Soon followed by knock on door. Enter the cleaners, stage right. Maria bearing large and presumably lethal cannister. Venera accompanying her to assist or perhaps just for the entertainment. And entertainment there is, as Maria removes the basket, missing only a drum roll, to reveal - a large tangle of heavy black thread, no longer moving in the breeze. No doubt cleaners now have a story with which to regale friends for years!

Quick trip out to Prinos for fruit and veg. Offerings not entirely vegetarian. As well as meat in the usual small butcher’s area there are three net bags of snails next to the veg. In Paphos we used to see snails climbing happily over lettuce bits but these are tightly bagged. 

Seem reasonably expensive at four euros ninety-nine a kilo as you often see people gathering them on the hillsides where they’re free for the taking, but then the same could be said of wild blueberries. 

Home to make an aubergine curry to have with bulgur. 

Sunday, November 5/2023

 Sunday is newspaper day. Access to lots of newspapers on line, which was not always the case. But the Republic of Cyprus has a daily newspaper in English as well as those in Greek. It’s not a particularly good paper, and overpriced at €1.95 for 32 pages but does give a Cypriot slant on life - and on Sundays three puzzles instead of one. Happily J doesn’t wish to do one, so we’re spared the need to buy two copies of the Cyprus Mail as Sam and Andy used to do daily in order to do the puzzle competitively.

Unsurprisingly, island affairs take priority, and a story about a woman wanted for stealing money from donation boxes in bakeries in Paphos makes page three. There’s often a rather negative preoccupation with the affairs of the TRNC, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. So the headline today is Stark Increase in North’s Population. Stark? Page 10 before the conflict in not so distant Israel and Palestine makes an appearance as there’s no specifically Cypriot angle. Though to be fair similar priorities prevail in more impressive newspapers in bigger and more sophisticated countries.

Saturday, November 4/2023

There are more detailed maps available, of course, but this one does show how Cyprus is nestled in a very ancient corner of the world. On a clear day you can see Turkey from the north shore. Latakia, Syria is 110 kilometres from the eastern tip of the Karpaz peninsula. Long distance swim records involve greater distances. A flight to Beirut takes an hour but it’s all ascent and descent. 

So Cyprus is a small country but it’s never been an insignificant one. Known as an unsinkable aircraft carrier, it functions as a launching point for planes heading to conflicts throughout the Middle East, as well as a useful spot for R and R between missions, as when Britain gave Cyprus its independence in 1960, the agreement was that she would retain two sovereign bases on the island, amounting to about three. percent of the land.  Britain had in earlier times needed the island as a base to guard the land route through the Middle East to India. The sovereign military bases now include an intelligence gathering station at Agios Nikolaos as well as one in the Troodos mountains - revealed by Edward Snowden as a facility used by both the UK and the US for spying on the Middle East. Currently the word is that this base has been monitoring communications from the resistance in Palestine and supplying it in real time to the Israeli military.

Friday, November 3/2023

Always slightly surprised by the warmth in the evenings. Sunset today is at 16:49. In Sioux Lookout it’s 17:41, nearly an hour later. And, for what it’s worth, 16:30 in London, which is actually a fair bit north of Sioux. The surprising part is that this time of year has early sunsets but warm weather. As darkness falls it’s still early, possibly before dinner, but it’s warm, mid twenties, whereas all our childhood experience leads us to associate early nightfall with cold temperatures. It can be quite hot at night in Canada in midsummer but that would be in the months of late sunset.

So in the interest of pleasant temperatures we head to the grocery store at about six. Dark enough to make crossing the road by Sklavinitis slightly hazardous in the after work traffic. And store pretty busy. Grateful for the pictures on some products. Can never remember the Greek word for sheep so the drawing on the sheep yoghurt container quite helpful. Stylised sketches not preferred. 

Fortunately for us most sweet things are expensive. Not really explained by the fact that sugar must be imported, as this is the case with other things that have a much  lower markup. Not a sin tax either, unless the definition of sin is different - which it probably is. A bottle of Famous Grouse whiskey currently selling for €12.45 here would be €29 equivalent in Ontario. But it really isn’t whisky weather. Think that the price of pastries is down to the fact that most Cypriots seem to have a taste for desserts of a paralysing sweetness. The price is just what the market will bear.

Thursday, November 2/2023

 Some discussion in the press, both Cypriot and international, of establishing a sea corridor for delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza. General agreement on desirability, with President Nikos Christodoulides announcing that he had had a long telephone conversation with Netanyahu who, he says “was not opposed”. The distance from the Cypriot port of Limassol to Gaza is only 390 kilometres, but sea access is not normally possible as the coast is patrolled by the Israeli navy. So does this mean that aid could be provided almost immediately? Well, not precisely. A more cautious note from a Cypriot government spokesman: “This will be a big operation and one which needs to be coordinated in advance with international aid agencies”. So not soon.

Then, from The Times of Israel: “The underlying premise of Cyprus’s proposal is to have a constant flow of large quantities of assistance delivered by sea during what the officials called ‘humanitarian pauses’ in the fighting, to enable aid to reach those in need. We want to be ready to start sending aid once a window of opportunity opens.” So after the war is over? For anyone who remains.

Wednesday, November 1/2023

When we first started coming to Larnaca, over twenty years ago, you would often see small fields - really a bit more than vacant lots - in the middle of mixed residential and commercial neighbourhoods. Uncut grass, wildflowers, mustard. A touch of country. Gradually these have been disappearing as their financial value is realised in terms of high rise apartment buildings. So we walk over to Sklavenitis and Prinos as we continue to acquire a little basic food to set up and realise that in a walk of about four blocks we are passing several new apartment blocks. And only the tiniest bit of remaining “country”.

Prinos is a greengrocer’s that outgrew its humble origins in the city centre for classier quarters and prices beginning to match. Although most food prices have risen since the pandemic, as in the rest of the world. Some real bargains, though, like lovely Conference pears for €2.40 (£2.08, $3.50 CAD) a kilo. They won’t be from Cyprus - more probably Greece. We’re almost between two major fruit seasons, with the grapes just finishing and the citrus barely beginning. In fact what might at a distance be mistaken for limes turns out to be extremely underripe clementines.

Across the road at Sklavenitis supermarket we get olive oil, roasted peanuts, lovely small glossy aubergines - for €1.07 (£0.92, $1.56 CAD) a kilo. Interesting. Everything in Canada is in fact labelled in kilos but often the price in pounds appears much larger, presumably because the number is a reassuringly smaller one. Here everything is

in kilos only. The trick is to have. Sign on the shelf that says something like this: Not 

exactly deceitful, but the intent is to have you focus on the smaller number.