Sunday, March 31/2024

 Easter Sunday and also the day of the change to daylight savings in those places this side of the Atlantic that observe a time change. Can quite understand places that see no point to a change - Saskatchewan take a bow - but don’t think there’s much hope for world peace when countries that adopt daylight savings can’t all agree to do it on the same day. North Cyprus - like the Republic of Cyprus - makes the change. Turkey doesn’t. So we’re now back to being two hours ahead of UK time and eight hours ahead of Central Canadian time zone. (Yes, I know, not Saskatchewan). Have for years just left my iPads on London time and added or subtracted mentally as necessary.

High of 28 today, but hotter than that in the sun of course, so move chairs and drinks and books to the shade - where a small scurrying lizard runs over my foot as he hurries along the wall.

Oranges may be nearing an end but orange blossoms are now out everywhere, including on the tree on our patio, and the air is full of their scent. And across the road the loquats are ripening.

Saturday, March 30/2024

 Not only shirtsleeve weather but warm enough that it’s nicer to walk early in the morning - or what passes with us for early - than at noon. So we head down to the market shortly after nine, remembering the days during the summer of 2020 when we used to go to the Thursday market in Famagusta as early as possible, when the temperature was cooler and the shadows longer. Though that was midsummer hot. But even in late March we appreciate the tree lined road leading in to the market this morning.

It’s the only time we’ve been to this market without buying anything. Would probably have bought eggs, though we’re not out yet, but the egg and honey lady wasn’t there so that decided it. 

So many books at the weekly charity book stall. Makes us think of the years in the past, before access to ebooks, when we bought and read pretty well anything we found in English in non-English speaking countries. Made for a rather eclectic winter selection - from early Evelyn Waugh to the memoirs of a Mossad agent.  Now we could easily come home with a dozen books any week but we’d be piling up books well ahead of getting them read. Not that unread books are necessarily a bad thing. Some comfort for the inveterate book hoarder in the words of  Nassim Nicholas Taleb: “Read books are far less valuable than unread ones. The library should contain as much of what you do not know as your financial means, mortgage rates, and the currently tight real-estate market allow you to put there.” Though he may not have been thinking of one’s library while travelling.

Friday, March 29/2024

 Patio tiles are warm under bare feet and clearly patio walls are warm enough to attract cats to nap in the sun. Not like last year. We don’t know these cats - and don’t feed them - but they are two of a number who stroll across the patio, usually singly and seemingly on their way somewhere, occasionally stopping to look in the window. 

Our regular Friday trek down to the Blue Song. Definitely warm in the sun but there’s always a breeze off the sea. Meet a woman called Wendy who has lived in a number of places - Dominican Republic, Hong Kong, Singapore - and travelled to very many more, some of them relatively unusual. Such as Bhutan. Living here now but considering where to live next. Thinking unseriously about Namibia, seriously about Mexico. Life too short not to spend it travelling.

Thursday, March 28/2024

 Definitely shirtsleeve weather and scent of flowers in the air, especially orange blossoms. Take the dolmuş out along Karaoğlanağlu and collect oranges, strawberries, cherry tomatoes and mushrooms. Do have all these at our little local store, but these are both cheaper and nicer. Strawberries have a lovely scent.

Stop at a photographer’s to get a print made of a photo on my iPad. No language in common but the man can see what I want and gestures to ask about size. I write down 13 cm X 18 cm. He is delighted with the precision and takes the iPad from me. It’s set up in English of course, but this is a process he’s been through many times. And then I have it. Yes? Yes! 

Back by dolmuş. Nothing we really need - unless our little supermarket….It does!  Ramadan flatbread with sesame seeds on top. On the shelf outside the oven, still hot. So home for bread and cheese and a shared half litre of Tuborg. Sun on the patio and mist enfolding the mountain peaks.

Wednesday, March 27/2024

Patio tiles warm under bare feet. Spring has come. Not that it ever gets cold here. And flowers never totally disappear, although they do thin out and get ragged. There were always bougainvillea in the winter but pretty sad looking. Always lemons and oranges though past their glorious juicy prime. But now there are new buds and blossoms.

The fig tree across the road is fascinating. We know it’s a fig tree because in December we ate figs off it - at least those that hung far enough our side of the fence that they seemed to be fair pickings. And we weren’t alone, so presumably that’s the community custom. But for over two months now the branches have been stark naked, looking like an illustration from one of the darker German fairy tales meant to frighten children away from the evil forest where the witch lives. Leaves all long gone. 

Now, just as spring has technically begun, the fig tree has begun pushing little green shoots out of the bony ends of its branches. Nothing that looks like it intends to become a full fig leaf but definitely green hope. All the more interesting because other fruit trees maintained leaves and even some fruit all winter. Still plenty of oranges and lemons in the supermarket. 

As well as grapefruit. Always amusing to see the sign posted: greyfurt. First time I assumed a spelling error but no, that is the Turkish for grapefruit. Not surprising that Turkish includes words borrowed, however awkwardly, from other languages. The English language is notorious for borrowing words, frequently mangling them beyond recognition in the process. 

Tuesday, March 26/2024

The gale force winds continued in the night. Could actually see the floor to ceiling window move inward a little during gusts. Visions of it popping out of its frame but fortunately better made than that. No rain and a full moon, reminder that Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox - though not really celebrated here except by ex-pats.

Winds diminish in the early afternoon, though a hooded crow on the wires outside our flat still looks as if it is not simply perched but hanging on. Quite a few hooded crows around but none of them seem remotely interested in human life.

Monday, March 25/2024

The meteorological office issues an advisory that strong winds are expected at sea blowing from the south and west between 1 pm today and 2 pm tomorrow and expected to reach storm force 8. And indeed the winds are howling round the flat long before afternoon. In fact the effect is rather strange. It’s the sort of sound we associate with winter storms but there’s no precipitation and the temperature is about 20, although it feels quite a bit cooler because of the strong winds. Not that we’ve never experienced gale force winds in summer, but it still sounds like winter.

And not familiar enough with the Beaufort scale to translate, but Google comes to the rescue.  Force 8 means gale, 50-61 km/h. On land twigs break off trees, progress generally impeded. Sounds about right. One step below Force 9 which features 7 to 10 metre waves and roof slates and chimney pots blowing off. Good day for reading.

Sunday, March 24/2024

 

Surprisingly the supermarket has one of our favourite just-out-of-the-oven breads two days in a row. And still warm this time. This one is called Ramadan pidesi. Literally Ramadan pita. Recipes vary but the result is always a flat(ish) bread with a woven appearance on top covered with sesame seeds. Can be either sourdough or yeast. 

Does seem rather a shame that it’s baked in the afternoon so that we get to eat it while it’s still warm - and can rarely hold off starting long enough to take its photo with no bits broken off - while those actually observing Ramadan have to wait until after sunset. Though presumably most of them have ways to reheat the bread if they haven’t made their own. 

Suspect that most people don’t bake their own bread here. Bags of flour most often contain one kilo of flour, sometimes two. I bake entirely with whole wheat flour and find the two kilo bags not easy to obtain. At home would rarely buy smaller than ten kilo.

So today the fast time would end at 7:23. The meal that follows is a happy gathering and this bread is often included. Not a feast but not penitential. Warm and familial.

And as the days grow longer so does the daytime fast. A week from today daylight savings time begins for those European countries that observe it. That won’t create more hours of daylight of course, but it will move Ishtar, the family meal after sunset, one hour later.

Saturday, March 23/2024

 

Saturday is market day and shirtsleeves weather. Actually it would have been shirtsleeves weather on earlier occasions if it hadn’t been crazy windy. Blossoms coming out on trees we haven’t yet identified and the air is perfumed. 

Honey from the honey lady again. Ours had lasted but only just. She is also the woman we get the eggs from. Apologies that there aren’t many left and some are small so she adds a couple of extra. Not planning to bake with them so size no real problem. J picks up an iron for 50 lira (€1.44, £1.23, $2.12 CAD). Couple of scratches and the plug is European but well worth the gamble. 

Stop at our little supermarket on the way back. Small parking strip in front and a tractor pulls in next to the cars. Actually not particularly unusual to see a tractor driving down the road in the village. And happily there are simits baked this morning. Would love to be able to figure out the baking schedule in the store, especially for simits and sourdough olive bread, but don’t have anything like enough Turkish to ask - and in any case suspect there is no schedule.

Home to eat the simits for a late breakfast. And to find that the iron works.

Friday, March 22/2024

 

Love the changing face of the sea. Cerulean, cobalt, sapphire. Deep, intense solid colour. Spiked with whitecaps. Streaked with grey or green - or with a near white that looks from the mountain slope like ice floes. And then totally different from the shore.

Thursday, March 21/2024

Courtesy Cyprus Mail

 Had determined not to continue in supermarket tabloid mode. After all bizarre and distressing behaviour occurs in all countries and is really not the essence of our usually serene life here. But unable to resist remarking, re the monastery of Avvakum of previous mention, that that thousands of the faithful are reported to be distraught at the discovery that secret cameras had been installed - capturing colour images and recording sound - in the monastery, including in the confessionals.

And in the small mercies department it has been established that giant water bugs recently appearing in North Cyprus do not (contrary to first reports) bite human toes.

Wednesday, March 20/2024

 Re previous scandals besetting/entertaining the island:

 A criminal complaint for sexual harassment has been filed filed against the head of the Osiou Avakoum monastery, by a former employee [apparently secular] who, the Cyprus Times says, spent two hours giving statements to police on Sunday. The Cyprus Times adds that the complaint had  various contradictions which created doubt among the investigators regarding the authenticity and motivation behind the complaint. More supermarket tabloid scandal material to follow? Some reporter appears to have found a good leaky source in the local constabulary.

Not to be outdone in the scandal department, the North is displeased to report that the use of fake diplomas in pursuit of promotions now seems to have spread to the military, as a lieutenant colonel was remanded in custody for two days by a district court [not military] in the west for having presented a fake doctoral diploma in order to obtain promotion. On the one hand it is encouraging to find that the military values education sufficiently to make an officer entertain this sort of risk - and if you intend to make use of counterfeit degrees why not go all the way and claim a doctorate. On the other hand it is another somewhat unsettling example of arrest and imprison first and sort out the details later. 

Meanwhile the only domestic excitement chez nous is a twenty minute power outage, the first of the season, leaving us to rely briefly on “real” rather than electronic books on a blustery day

Tuesday, March 19/2024

 

Courtesy LGC

Scandals continue in Cyprus, South and North. As in much of the rest of the world of course. 

As the Cyprus Mail says “Sex, money laundering and bogus miracles, the scandal at a small monastery has it all”. Shades of supermarket tabloids as the report continues: “Nobody could have guessed that the story would have taken such dimensions when it broke late on Wednesday March 6, with reports that the head of the monastery Nektarios and fellow monk, archimandrite Porfyrios, were caught on camera having sex with each other, while a raid of the monastery, during which Bishop Isaias was present, found €800,000 in cash in the safe – revenue from staged miracles it was claimed. It was also reported that sex toys and sexual stimulants were found in their chambers.” Unsurprisingly, these details and others equally unedifying, are being disputed 🙄.

Meanwhile in the North there has been a continuing scandal involving corruption in some post-secondary institutions, including fraud, embezzlement, fake student registrations and fake diplomas. Arrests have included university officials and senior civil servants. And today LGC reports that the Famagusta Chief of Police has been arrested for providing false university documents in pursuit of a pay rise. Unimpressive at best, although it’s hard not to reflect that in most western countries, where inaccurate CVs and forged transcripts are not unknown, seeing the alleged perpetrator led away in handcuffs is almost unimaginable.

Monday, March 18/2024

The Turkish lira is a currency in difficulty. That being said, inflated currencies are not necessarily fatal. It’s just that the burden of the difficulty is not borne equally by everyone. One thing that happens is that large ticket items tend to be priced in hard currency, which prevents  having to increase their price daily. Here that normally means in euros or pounds sterling. Actually more often, it seems, in sterling, probably because that was the currency in the days before Cyprus gained independence (1960) whereas the euro was introduced after the North and South split. But the euro is the currency of the South and pretty widely accepted here. Right now the exchange is about 35 Turkish lira to the euro. When we were locked down four years ago it was more like seven tl to the euro.

Obviously items cost more lira now than they did then and some things are genuinely more expensive, but the picture is not as simple as it seems. 

Exactly a year ago I noted in the blog that an Italian Merlot we were buying on sale cost the equivalent of €3.50 (the euro being our most comfortable thinking currency though we do ok in sterling and Canadian dollars as well). At the moment the same wine is on sale at the same supermarket. Had noticed that the price had increased but assumed that was just the way of the world. The new price: 110 Turkish lira. Now equal to €3.14. 

Sunday, March 17/2024

Courtesy of kibrispostasi.com

Another meat smuggling scandal, and fairly close to home this time. A late night raid, presumably on the basis of information provided as two supermarkets were searched simultaneously after normal business hours, revealing very nearly two tons of illegal meat. Most of it was beef, although reports say, with prim precision, that 67.1 kilos were lamb. 

Three arrests made. Here not all accounts are the same. Supermarkets not named but one in Girne, where we don’t shop, and the other in Alsancak, next village over from us, where we sometimes do but never for fresh meat. Two of the suspects were in their thirties, the sources agree. The third either early thirties or twelve. Would police actually have arrested a twelve year old? Quite possibly. Intriguingly a different account gives initials although not names for all three. Though as usual one assumes that their identities are well known to family and friends but meaningless to anyone else. 

Not entirely clear why meat is so much more expensive in the North while chicken and produce not much different. Although one Southern commentator says snarkily that Northerners should try eating pork -  which is indeed the cheapest meat in the South but  obviously not eaten by most Muslims.

March 16/2024

Seems like our fruit and nut man has left the Saturday market for good - not that it’s good from our point of view, though the raw peanuts that we bought at the supermarket and J roasted were much nicer than commercially roasted. And we didn’t have to clean off the salt. Sadder, the fruit and veg man was there - rearranging the strawberries, J points out, with maximum hands on - and he didn’t have local garlic either, though he usually does. So garlic from the supermarket it will have to be. It’s not from China though appears as travel weary as if it were. In the end we only buy eggs from the friendly egg and honey lady. She’s also selling hand woven baskets this week. Very attractive and sparking nursery rhyme illustration images of self going to market with basket on arm rather than sturdy plasticised bags from Sainsbury’s and Aldi’s. But wouldn’t fold away nicely for travel. Sunny morning and large dog napping peacefully on the market tiles.

J notes that friendly orchard owner across the road from us has his beehive shaped outdoor oven operating. Kleftiko? And we haven’t heard the two goats he keeps in the tiny shed next to the oven today. Have always thought their quarters too small for happy living, but at least they were living. Recognise that most Cypriots, and indeed most farmers everywhere, take a pretty unsentimental view of animals. The best that could have been hoped for from the goats’ point of view is that they were being kept for dairy and not meat. And in fact we’ve eaten goat kleftiko - pretty well indistinguishable from lamb and very nice so who are we to criticise?

Do remember being in Tunisia at Eid and seeing the street gutters running with sheep’s blood just before the feast day. And friendly neighbour seems pretty handy and quite possibly up to doing his own butchering. But this is early in Ramadan - an odd time for dispatching a largish animal. Try not to think about it until, as we’re preparing our own evening meal we hear the familiar sound of bleating goat. The inevitable postponed.

Friday, March 15/2024

 Beware the Ides of March. Thunder and rain in the night and wake to dark clouds. Repair to usual sources for further information. Usual sources as unsatisfactory as usual, with varying projections.

Can only think that there is something peculiar about our little corner of the Mediterranean, tucked up snug against Turkey a few kilometres to the north and Syria a few kilometres to the east. European by political definition but Asian geographically. Live representations of the wind usually show it moving in from the west, passing the island on the south coast, hitting the shore of Syria and bouncing back to pass Cyprus on the north, heading east this time. Hard not to imagine a massive cliff face on the Syrian coast deflecting it, whilst knowing that there’s a perfectly normal shoreline suitable for docking boats.

However, skies clear and it’s sunny. Not cold, though very windy. Pretty sheltered and definitely shirtsleeves in the sun beside the Blue Song when we stop for our regular Friday afternoon draft and chat. And special treat on the way home. Our usual store has sesame flat bread for the first time since last winter. Still hot! 

Thursday, March 14/2024

The price of petrol at the pumps has just increased slightly today. It’s government controlled and there are two grades. The lower one is now 34.95 Turkish lira a litre ($1.47 CAD, €1, £0.85) and the higher one 35.95 tl ($1.51 CAD, €1.03, £0.88). Diesel is priced the same as the higher grade petrol.The interesting bit from a Canadian viewpoint is that the octane ratings are much higher here in North Cyprus. The lower grade is 95 and the higher 98. In Canada regular gasoline has an octane rating of 87 and premium 91. 

Having said which, nothing is quite as simple as it sounds. Well, the currency conversions are. That bit is pretty accurate, for today at least. Watch the lira and hold onto your hat. Octane is more complicated. North America and Europe don’t use the same system to measure it and unfortunately there isn’t a conversion scale. There are actually advantages to both systems, but they are different. And higher octane numbers aren’t better under all circumstances. If you are nerdy enough to want to pursue this, the following explanation isn’t bad:

https://www.autotrader.ca/editorial/20171117/fuel-octane-numbers-explained/

 

Wednesday, March 13/2024

 Dolmuş down to the bank to change euros to Turkish lira. Have not been changing them ahead of necessity as the lira continues to fall, although not precipitously so if you wait you get more lira per euro. More or less balanced by prices creeping up. Don’t think our Italian wine is actually any more expensive in euros - or for that matter other major currencies - than when we came, but it does cost a few more lira. 

Stop on the way back to buy whole wheat flour, which our supermarket seems to have run out of. Also raw peanuts and beautifully ripe strawberries. Attracted by the scent before we actually see them in the bin.

Second stop at Altınbaşak, little family run restaurant. They have both chicken and lamb doner kabobs, but it’s the lamb we’ve come for. If it were any later than lunch time there’d be none left. May of course help that it’s Ramadan and less busy. We like to eat outside - half a dozen small tables on the front veranda, immediately outside the window to the kitchen and a couple of feet away from the passing world. Accompanied on the deck by three small cats who give up hoping we’re about to share our lunch and head off to nap under a nearby table.

Meanwhile, in an interesting case, the Republic of Turkey has just been fined €9,000 by the European Court of Human Rights for the imprisonment of a Turkish Cypriot conscientious objector. The ECHR ruled that Turkey had violated the objector’s “freedom of thought and conscience”. Not the same young man as the one who was jailed here in January for refusing on conscientious grounds to report for military service, but presumably there is a precedent that may apply in his case as well. This objector, Murat Kanatli, has refused to report for military service in the North since 2009, and was sentenced to 10 days in prison by a military court. He applied to the ECHR  citing Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights re freedom of conscience. The interesting bit is that the court agreed that the case could be taken against Turkey as the TRNC could be considered a sub-administration of Turkey, despite North Cyprus acting as an independent entity. It’s unlikely to result in large numbers of conscientious objectors in future, but who knows where else it may lead. 

 

Tuesday, March 12/2024

Courtesy of vesselfinder.org

Well, Open Arms, the Gaza bound humanitarian ship, finally left Larnaca this morning on its mission.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted  that this is the first time a ship has been authorised to deliver aid to Gaza since 2005, but added that providing humanitarian aid was not enough and that a ceasefire was necessary. She discreetly refrained from referring to the Israeli attack on a Free Gaza flotilla ship in international waters in 2010 that killed nine civilians. And naturally no mention of EU arms sales to Israel.

Monday, March 11/2024

 Ramadan has begun. The actual beginning varies geographically as it starts with the first sighting of the crescent moon in the lunar month of Ramadan and lasts for just about a calendar month. The tradition is to fast between sunrise and sunset each day during the month, and at a time of year when the days are getting longer.

Fasting for Moslems means no food or drink, not even water, during the daytime hours. It also means no smoking, no sex, no music during the day. But the focus is not entirely on abstinence. There is also an emphasis on kindness and charity as well as prayer. And iftar, the evening meal after sunset, is a happy time of family sharing.

Meanwhile, unhappily if unsurprisingly, Open Arms, the rescue ship intended for Gaza, remains in harbour in Larnaca. Its barge is fully loaded with food but there is some delay. Most sources cite “technical reasons” - a phrase that could cover a multitude of political sins. Euronews - less diplomatic? - says “as Israeli authorities requested to inspect it”.

Sunday, March 10/2024

Courtesy of Cyprus Mail

 Trying to make sense of press releases seeming to imply that humanitarian aid is about to leave Cyprus for Israel. Except, except….

We’ve been hearing since November that aid could be sent from Cyprus. Just that there were a few caveats. The article in Saturday’s Cyprus Mail - a publication never noted for clarity - is a masterpiece of obscurantism. Full of official statements like “There is optimism that over the weekend the operation will be activated…these works should be done as quickly as possible, but the aim is ‘not for the speed to affect efficiency, to have a balance’”.

It appears the Open Arms, “a vessel owned by a Spanish NGO and more accustomed to rescuing migrants at sea”, was expected to be deployed in the first mission. It was still at the port of Larnaca in Cyprus on Saturday afternoon, [and Sunday] and “authorities could not give a precise departure time”.

The photo of the valiant little ship does little to encourage one to think it will have a significant effect on mass starvation. And then there is the pier  that the Americans are about to build to receive aid ships. Projected to be completed in May?

“Biden said in his State of the Union speech on Thursday that he was directing the military to set up a pier off Gaza’s Mediterranean coast to receive ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters as Gaza has no functioning port infrastructure. Construction of the pier and causeway connecting it to land will take as long as 60 days and require about 1,000 US troops, Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick Ryder said on Friday. The soldiers will remain offshore.”  [Al Jazeera]

Would it be overwhelmingly cynical to suppose that if the pier is too late too prevent deaths by starvation it might still be convenient for exploiting Gaza’s offshore gas reserves?