Friday, February 28/2025

Turns out that the internet problem was “us” and not “them”. Good because J fixes it first thing in the morning. Replacement plug and all’s well. 

Morning with internet restored brings expected if joyless news of Doug Ford’s third majority government. And, also expected, Sol Mamakwa takes our riding for the NDP with over 60% of the vote. Our absence makes no critical difference. Can’t always say that though. In the next door constituency, Mushkegowak-James Bay, the NDP incumbent, came in four votes ahead of the Conservative challenger (pending recount, obviously). Reminding us of the municipal election in 1988 when Doug MacMillan and Ed Adriano were tied for position of councillor even after a recount and the decision had to be made by drawing straws.

Blue Song in the afternoon. The regulars there except for Criegan who, it turns out, is in hospital, having been transferred yesterday from the local Girne hospital to the larger state one in Lefkoşa by ambulance. This occasioning some amusement- considered decent as C has had a stent put in and is now more than eager to leave - as he apparently (notes compared) phoned at least three of the women at the table from the ambulance en route, arranging visits, rides home, etc. Leaving John to refer to them as Criegan’s harem. Some concern over C’s flat being three floors up with no lift as everyone explaining the unsuitability of their own accommodation for housing an extra person. Leaving Daphne admitting to a ground floor flat but protesting that it is very tiny.

Swifts circling above the village as we walk up on our way home. They always seem to come at dusk. But where are they the rest of the time? They spend virtually their whole lives in flight - eating, sleeping and even mating on the wing.

Thursday, February 27/2025

From bedroom window - new glass

 Sunny morning and with the sun comes warmth. Well more than warmth - heat. Temperature hits about seventeen in the shade but in early afternoon that translates to 42 in the direct sun - prudently remembering not to leave the thermometer there too long as the mercury once burst one of its predecessors. 

So a good day to do a wash. The washer takes its time with front loading indolence - until there’s a power cut. Duly restored more or less as the sun goes down leaving the towels to dry outside in the dark. 

Sundown and dinner time. Just as we finish cooking it the blue gas flames fade into non-existence. There is, of course, a spare cylinder but it can wait until tomorrow morning. Cylinders seem to be in short supply. Normally turn in an empty when purchasing a new one but one local firm has apparently resorted to offering a free full cylinder in exchange for two empties. And acquiring a full one with no empty to trade in currently impossible. 

Laundry outside, dinner completed, and we lose the internet. Fairly unusual and presume it’s “them and not us” but time to call it a day.

Wednesday, February 26/2025

 Our little supermarket down the road is interesting for what it has - and what it doesn’t have. And sometimes we’re running on guess work. The employees are very friendly but don’t speak noticeably more English than we do Turkish. Though at least - thank you Atatürk - the letters are Roman and not Greek. 

So today we buy a packet of peanuts. Normally look - not always successfully either here or in Canada - for shelled unsalted ones. Salt usually pretty obvious and these seem clean. The real pleasure comes when we get them home. They’re raw - and lovely when J does them in a dry frying pan.

Had been looking for carob syrup as the bottle we had been given some time ago is down to its last few drops and we add it to the sheep’s yogurt and honey and fruit at breakfast. Had written down the translation - harnup şurubu - but hadn’t spotted any. Not near the pomegranate syrup or next to the honey. Finally see it today. Same aisle as the honey but other side. And labelled harnup pekmezi, which apparently translates as carob molasses. Fair enough. Have thought so many times of old Mr Czekaj in Hudson who spoke English well enough but didn’t really read it and lamented the fact that if there was no identifying picture on a container he had no idea what was inside. Clear glass jar in this case though,  so not much doubt.

The police have found and arrested the four suspects in the donkey killing and charged them not only with harming animals but also with possession of explosive materials and illegal possession of firearms. Would actually be surprised if there were any legal possession of rifles here as there isn’t any hunting for animals larger than rabbits or partridge. The men have been detained for two days during the investigation. Feeling against them is running high and it wouldn’t be surprising if police had identified them on the basis of tips. 

One of the four unwisely said to a journalist “If photographs of me are published publicly, I will shoot all of you when I get out”. A charming lot.

Tuesday, February 25/2025

 Our little local supermarket has freshly baked bread. Sometimes still warm. They do have an oven and we’ve seen it baking multiple loaves. Can’t tell where the bread dough is prepared and proofed but presumably not on the premises as there isn’t really a suitable space. But beautiful bread. Sourdough and studded top and bottom with hundreds of sesame and nigella seeds. Don’t usually eat bread that isn’t whole grain, but willing to make an occasional exception for this one.

The most basic bread loaves have a government controlled price of fifteen lira, about sixty cents Canadian or 33p. Plain white, unsliced, shaped like a small loaf of French bread, though less appealing. Needless to say we don’t buy it but J has watched people leaving with armloads. Don’t think there are price controls on any other staples. 

Good time for warm bread. Reports are coming in regarding record temperatures. Not ones that would raise the blood pressure of a Canadian, but a fifty year record set. The town of Geçitkale recorded -6.2, the lowest in the country’s fifty years of monitoring history. It’s a town well to the east of us, on the other side of the mountain range. 

Monday, February 24/2025

Clouds dissipating and cold spell seems to be ending as well - slowly. Hasn’t hit the same temperature as Sioux Lookout, but gave it a try. By the end of the week should be back to February normals.

Has been hard on the electrical grids in both North and South. In fact there were four days last week on which the North was augmenting the electrical supply in the South. This was due to faults in the system but made worse by unusually heavy use in the cold. And there have been brief power outages in the North as well. Our electricity was off for about half an hour this evening.

We’re actually quite lucky. We haven’t had our heat on mainly because we have large south facing windows on one side of the flat. As long as there is sunshine that provides more than enough heat on the south side. Many people aren’t as fortunately situated though.

Reports from the South of Larnaca, which hit a low of one degree, opening a daytime warming centre for those who have no heat at home, cannot afford heating or are homeless. Interesting, because we spent parts of over twenty winters in Larnaca without this happening, to the best of our knowledge. Although this may mean that the municipality is becoming more caring rather than the winter hitting a colder low.

Sunday, February 23/2025

J out on the patio enjoying his Sunday cigar comes in with good news. A man on the roof of the house opposite, currently under construction, is cutting off the protruding rebar. As long as a metre or so of rebar emerged at regular intervals from the perimeter of the roof it was unclear whether the intent was to extend the building by another storey. In fact in some countries protruding rebar is deliberately left as it legally defines a building as unfinished and therefore taxable at a lower rate. Ugly, but practical. It can also be left in a semi-finished state to keep options open. Next year we may have the money to add another level. Or our daughter and son-in-law may want to have a flat above us. 

Our point of view, of course, totally different. Immediately across the road from us is an orchard with orange, lemon, fig and carob trees. The new house is kitty corner and blends well with local village architecture. But if it were higher it would block a significant percentage of the sea view from our patio or windows.

New tube of toothpaste. Same kind we use in Canada but clearly very different, apart from being more expensive. Different colour, different texture, different (though fortunately inoffensive) taste. So bring magnifying glass to bear. Toothpaste manufactured in China and distributed by Colgate Palmolive Nigeria.

Rebar

Toothpaste China, Nigeria

Saturday, February 22/2025

Courtesy Ulak Kıbrıs

We intend to walk down to Lambousa market as usual on a Saturday, but there’s a sharp wind and it’s overcast. And there’s nothing in particular that we need there so opt for the grocery store instead.

Look at AccuWeather and it tells me that it is raining and will be for the next sixty minutes. It isn’t, but take the hint and go outside to rescue the towels from the drying rack.This has the predictable effect of guaranteeing that we remain rain free all day.

However, there are parts of the TRNC that experience snow. Photo taken apparently shows a road on the Karpaz peninsula at the far northeast end of the island. It will melt of course but that’s a quantity of snow normally seen only in the Troodos mountains. We have been in Larnaca when it snowed, but that would only be a few flakes melting as they hit the ground - and people would come out to watch because it doesn’t happen every year.

Meanwhile, ironically, there is a report saying that turtles are nesting earlier in Cyprus as the climate warms. Green and Loggerhead turtles are coming back earlier each year. Turtles, which are protected in Cyprus, come back to the area where they themselves hatched to lay their eggs and each one degree increase in sea temperature sees them laying eggs 1.6 days earlier. Warmer seas also mean a higher proportion of female offspring. In February sea temperatures are usually about fifteen to seventeen degrees Celsius.

Friday, February 21/2025

First time this year that our table of friends has gathered inside instead of out on a Friday afternoon. Sunny but a pretty chill breeze. John and Criegan smoke and usually opt for an outside table although smoking is allowed in restaurants here.

More whitecaps than yesterday, and the ferry from Girne to Taşucu in Türkiye was cancelled today due to rough seas.

The old Kyrenia (Girne) harbour area is an historic site dating back centuries, probably to the Bronze Age. And has emerged as the object of the anger of a number of Greek Cypriots. An association promoting « historical dialogue and research » offered students from both North and South aged thirteen to seventeen trips and workshops of cultural and historical significance. Interestingly, the program is sponsored by Germany, home to the world’s second last divided city. The objection raised was that it included a trip to the North, although the program was voluntary and would not take place during school hours. 

Thursday, February 20/2025

Maps still show north winds but temperatures far from arctic here, although some flights to Istanbul were cancelled because of snowfall at the Istanbul end. Happened to a flight of ours two years ago. Nothing like Canadian snowfalls obviously. 

Today breezy though sunny, and plenty of whitecaps on a sapphire blue sea below us. 

The mid-winter water bird survey has reported a dramatic decline in flamingos at Akrotiri Salt Lake in the Akrotiri Sovereign Base area. Only thirty were observed this year and the assumption is that this is down to decreases in both quantity and quality of water. In recent years numbers were down to one or two hundred but in the past thousands were recorded. Cyprus is on one of the regular migratory routes, with flamingos usually in residence from November to February, and when we stayed in Larnaca we sometimes went to see them at the salt lake near the airport.

Wednesday, February 19/2025

If you don’t like the weather, just wait a minute and it will change. Attributed to a number of sources in various countries. And definitely the case here this morning. And even more so in the early afternoon. Five minutes heavy rain, followed by sun accompanied with light rain for another five minutes. Then alternate dark clouds and bright sunlight for most of the afternoon, sometimes at less than two minute intervals. Not cold though!

Meanwhile the TRNC Meteorological Department has issued a warning of a Siberian cold front approaching. Had thought it hard to imagine how, unless Siberian was simply code for very cold, as the wind here is almost never from the north, but check the weather map and indeed it features steady north winds. 

So we are promised a cold and moist air mass delivering temperature drops of as much as eight degrees. Which would leave us well above freezing here, but chilly by comparison with what we’ve learned to expect. 

In the North we do hear the Adhan, the Muslim call to prayer, five times a day from the mosque. It’s not especially loud and wasn’t an irritant even when we lived closer, in the old walled city. Have also seen complaints occasionally in England from people who feel their Sunday morning peace is disturbed by peals from nearby steeples. But it seems in the South the ringing of church bells is being used as a form of offence. According to the Cyprus Mail « Father Georgios of Platanistasa had allegedly resorted to ringing the church bells for extended periods of time and amplifying their sound with a loudspeaker in order to exact revenge on the community leader Savvas Savvides ». Apparently his early morning services were broadcast at a volume that could be heard in the next village. He is being charged with noise pollution.

Tuesday, February 18/2025

Day starts windy but sunny, and warm enough to sit out on the patio at early coffee time. Most flowering shrubs are in winter mode - still some flowers but somewhat short of bouquet quality. The buddleia is starting to produce delicate yellow lilac type blossoms, though if last spring is anything to go by each branch will stubbornly refuse to provide new blooms until the flowers on the next one are thoroughly disreputable.

Horrifying story about the wild donkeys on the Karpaz peninsula. There is a population of about a thousand wild donkeys living on the Karpaz peninsula in the northeast of the country.They’re under the protection of the Turkish Cypriot government and free to wander in herds over an area of three hundred square kilometres. Some unknown person or persons has shot fourteen of them at close range. The whole country from the president on down is appalled and  police are investigating. Meanwhile the Bar Association, Golden Paws, and the Cyprus Animal Rights Association have laid black wreaths at parliament.

And a Canadian story in today’s Cyprus Mail. The Delta plane crash at Pearson Airport. Compelling story dramatic enough for any paper, although the photo they went with confusing rather than dramatic. Of course professional photographers not on the tarmac at the ready. The Toronto Star published a clear shot of the upside down plane and, unusually, credited a man who had posted it on Facebook.

Monday, February 17/2025

Courtesy Mairead Sweeney Malone

Photo from a member of an informal group of TRNC weather watchers. She’s captioned it thunder rumbling in the distance. More or less the way the afternoon has gone. The weather forecast had suggested thunder showers in the early afternoon but reality has been brief intense wind and a few drops of rain. 

Nice because we accompany Caroline on a run to Lefkoşa (Nicosia). Within our memory - now approaching a quarter century 🙄 - the road from Girne (Kyrenia) was a simple two lane highway. Now as complexly cloverleafed as any modern city access. Only about thirty kilometres but frequently slowed by traffic. 

On the way back spot a large sign atop a building reading FINAL DENTAL SOLUTION. Suggestion of beautician for a funeral home? But no, surely there the clients have sedate expressions not grins. Caroline elucidates. The first word is pronounced fee-nal, with the accent on the second syllable, and is the name of a Northern Cypriot university. Apparently has a dental clinic offering “a variety of treatments “.

Sunday, February 16/2025

Have long enjoyed kleftiko in Cyprus, in both North and South though more frequently in the South. In the North it’s called fırın kebab, literally oven kebab, though suspect any restaurant would recognise it by the Greek name kleftiko. But you can’t just walk into a restaurant in either place and order it. Most restaurants don’t feature it and those that do tend to have it on limited occasions, such as Sundays only, because it takes several hours to cook, traditionally in a beehive shaped outdoor oven. After which it should be almost butter soft.

Didn’t know that the Greek word kleftiko means stolen meat. Apparently dates back to the Ottoman days when Greek guerilla fighters would steal a grazing goat or sheep and bury it underground to hide it. Slow cooked in an underground pit it was delicious. (Have had both sheep and goat and both are excellent). The rebels were called Klephts and have lent their name to both kleftiko and kleptomania.

Seem to remember a similar story about theft and underground roasting in Scotland, although there cattle theft was at least as big an issue and not only in the Highlands, where for centuries some made a living stealing each other’s cattle, undeterred even by the death penalty for perpetrators.

 

Saturday, February 15/2025

Apart from some pretty deplorable driving standards, this is a pretty law abiding country. All the same the police reports sometimes make interesting reading. In part down to the pleasures of translation. Suspect that some bits of quaintness don’t appear in the original.

So we read that “A 30-year-old man stabbed a person with whom he had a previous enmity in Akdoğan”. The press release continues “…M.M. (M-30) entered the house of İD. (M-35), with whom he had a previous feud, without permission and ravaged the property, then with a knife he had illegally in his possession, he superficially injured İD. in the fingers of his left hand, ribcage, left shoulder and abdomen”.

It is standard practice in reporting police news to provide the initials of those involved as well as gender and age. Actual names not usually included, although Akdoğan is a community of about 2500 and there will be no one who lives there and remains unaware of all the gory details. Much as it is in small Canadian communities.

And then there’s “a drunk person who caused a disturbance by shouting and yelling loudly” who was arrested. This apparently in our quiet village - which is sprawling rather than tiny. İMY (M-26), who was under the influence of 234 ml of alcohol, behaved in a public place in a manner that was against honour and morality by urinating, and caused a disturbance by shouting and yelling loudly.”

The Turkish keyboard is not quite the same as the standard English one. Used to really annoy me years ago in the days of internet cafés when, being accustomed to touch typing, I would look up and see that what I thought I had typed was not what appeared on the screen. The reason of course is that the alphabet is not precisely the same. There are 29 letters - and in fact in November Turkish President Erdoğan announced an intention to add five more. More or less daring than renaming the Gulf of Mexico? So now, with several keyboards installed on my tablet the ever-helpful predictive text is kept on its toes trying to guess. In fairness to the translator, the grammatical structure is not the same as English either. Some words will have various possible meanings, although one does wonder whether in Turkish it is possible to shout and yell other than loudly. 

But do kind of like the old-fashioned appeal to honour and morality.

February 14/2025

Northern  Cyprus had the driest January in fifty years according to the TRNC Meteorology Department, with 6 mm of rain. January average is 74.9 mm. February, on the other hand, has been unusually wet and windy, and included thunderstorms and hail. (Though note that the dead bat is still welded to the electrical wires opposite us despite the wind and hail).

Not exactly non-stop though. We’ve had some lovely days. A fair breeze today but sunny and sixteen degrees. Regular Friday afternoon walk down to the Blue Song and a draft beer outside in the sunshine with Beverley and John and Pat and Criegan, et al. 

 

Thursday, February 13/2025

Despite the existence of absolute zero, cold is a relative thing. Even Environment Canada recognises that and issues extreme cold warnings at different temperatures for different parts of the country. Yes, they do grow them tougher in Northern Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Similar phenomena in other countries. So there is a standard joke in the UK -  “Weather warning: Southerners are urged not to travel unless absolutely necessary. Northerners, you will need your big coat.” And a friend said the coldest he’d been was in Spain in winter in an unheated house. Though suspect it was no colder than houses we’ve stayed in in Scotland with no central heating. Not complaining about the relatives at all - the welcome was always warm and a wee dram was warming.

When we rented the stone house farther up in the shade of the mountain it was cold in February. No south facing windows and located on the north slope of a mountain in any case. Six hundred years old and beautiful, but not designed for warmth. And actually many places in Cyprus were not traditionally built to withstand cold. Summer heat was the greater problem and still is. But we’re lucky in the flat we’re in. Big south facing windows on one side and north facing ones on the other. If the sun is out, and there’s an average of 300 days of sunlight a year, it’s never cold on the south side. There is a heater but we haven’t turned it on.

Wednesday, February 12/2025

Official local warnings this morning to be careful of icy roads. Feels like we’re in the wrong country. The ice soon gone, although the weather is chilly. We don’t drive here but most of those who do not very experienced with driving on ice - and many not particularly experienced with slowing down.

Patio wet - but not icy - when we get up. Not in any especial hurry about getting dressed until we’ve had our coffee. Then J spots a big flatbed outside with large glass windows on it and we speed things up a bit. 

The floor to ceiling windows in the south facing room have had condensation between the two panes probably forever. Meaning that what should have been a stunning mountain view was spoiled by what looked like - but wasn’t - dirt. And Doğan had said, for months if not longer, that it was clearly (though clear didn’t seem like quite the right word) a manufacturing defect and the manufacturer should replace them. Had all the hallmarks of a dispute that might continue for years until two men came and measured the existing windows and frame about a week ago. Encouraging but not conclusive. Debate re price might still have been endless.

But here we are!

Tuesday, February 11/2025

Courtesy Lapta Alsancak Çamlıbel Belediyesi

Yes, it’s our. area, last night. No, the precipitation wasn’t green - just the lighting. And no, it isn’t snow. It’s accumulated hail. Does snow in Cyprus, but usually high in the Troodos Mountains. And this morning the patio and the road in front of us are still wet with last night’s rain and melted hail.

Our reading from the thirties paralleling current events in interesting ways. In Germany Hitler was in the process of achieving absolute political power. A little earlier, in the autumn of 1929, in America the stock market crash had thrown an optimistic country into chaos. Claud Cockburn, then living in Washington while working for The Times of London describes the panic and confusion:

It was one of those situations in which deterioration and collapse are so rapid that even quite sensible policies always seem to be put into operation too late. There were flashes of hope and optimism which, as they flickered out, only emphasized the surrounding gloom. It seems odd, almost ludicrous, perhaps, by hindsight, that the so-called Hoover moratorium—the suspension of payment on all international government debts—should have appeared to enormous numbers of people as equivalent to an announcement that salvation after all is just around the corner, that God, after some agonizing stumbles, is once again marching on.

His description of President Hoover’s simplistic response has a certain resonance in the press situation:

For long years Mr. Hoover had accepted the view that the way things look on the ticker is as important as the way things really are, or rather is the same as the way they really are. Now everything was going up. The depression was over. If it was not over, why was everything going up? I noted at the time that “it was just the sort of public mood that the President likes best—carte blanche and no maddening interruptions from the blundering crowd. He is the Great Executive again, the Great Engineer of modern society, and he has pulled the right lever at last.”

Spoiler alert: The lever was the imposition of high tariffs. Other countries, predictably, retaliated. The effect on world trade was catastrophic. Within ten years the world was at war again.

Monday, February 10/2025

Poised for rain all day with sullen skies as people hoped for rain - January was warmer than usual but also drier. Happy to see the sun,  and it heats up the morning room almost instantly, and February so far not warmer than usual - or as warm. But not praying for drought. And well aware of how fortunate  we are to be in this climate.

This evening the sky explodes with thunder, lightning, rain and hail. The blobs of blue rain that have been floating around the island on our radar map move into action as a blob monster on the north shore leans down  to consume Kyrenia (Girne), fifteen kilometres east of us.

Sunday, February 9/2025

Is Cyprus part of the Middle East or of Europe? The answer depends on whether you’re thinking geographically or culturally. The eager little predictive text assistant at my side suggests politically. Yes, that too.

So the map shows Cyprus nestled in the arms of the Middle East and the Middle East is the origin of the first settlers, whose excavation site at Choirokitia near Larnaka we’ve visited. They lived in a collection of tiny huts huddled together for safety some nine thousand years ago.

And is the Middle East part of Europe or of Asia? Geography is not geometry. The lines are not always very neatly drawn. And in any case shouldn’t Eurasia be one continent? The others seem more neatly divided. Though not  always, perhaps. Think of continental drift. The Appalachians were once part of a range that continued through the Scottish highlands to the Scandinavian mountains. But that fact, interesting as it is, looks like it belongs elsewhere - wandered in from some other blog when the door was open.

Culturally the island is now mostly Greek and Turkish, but it wasn’t always. Physically it’s closest to Türkiye. You can see Türkiye from our north facing salon window on a clear day. The Ottoman Empire held it for some three hundred years and then ceded it to the British in 1878 as part of a deal at the end of the Crimean War. Remember that? No, well anyway that’s recent history. Before that it was Venetian (the walls around the walled city of Famagusta are Venetian) and before that Lusignan….It’s always been a desirable property. A little like Gaza, but that’s for another day. Once it was referred to cynically as an unsinkable aircraft carrier. And from its base at Akrotiri, in the South, British and American planes head southeast to Israel and Gaza for intelligence purposes - and much worse. That too for another day.

And politically it is an EU country. Though the EU understood - or thought they did - that the South and North would get on with the reuniting that hadn’t happened before Cyprus joined at some convenient time later. But that’s for another decade.

Saturday, February 8/2025

Courtesy Cyprus North FAQ

Heading in Cyprus North News section: In January, Prices Rise for Passports and Grenades, While Pumpkins Got Cheaper in Northern Cyprus. Naturally speculation among foreigners here as to where grenades might be purchased and what use they might be put to. Plausible suggestion that pomegranates are probably what was meant, but correction not issued. The Turkish for pomegranate is nar, although that really isn’t relevant if the writer was trying to remember the English for nar and only got as far as grenade. 

Or more probably was assisted by a helpful predictive text. Predictive text always seems like a bright but very young child trying wildly to be helpful. Yesterday I wrote “in the lee of the building” and discovered that PT had proudly remembered that Lee was a proper name and helpfully capitalised it. Blame all proofreading failures on PT. 

The pumpkin which apparently got cheaper is probably a large yellow winter squash rather than a Halloween special. Frequently in grocery stores and some of them are enormous. The phrase is “took two of us to carry it home” but actually you just have them cut off a length a foot or so long.

Endless caterwauling tonight (from the 1300’s, referring to sounds made by cats on the prowl for a mate). Sounds no farther away than the patio. What is the gestation period for cats?

Friday, February 7/2025

Chilly, though not by Canadian standards, and crazy windy. Plenty of whitecaps. Still pretty nice in the sun for our weekly gathering at Blue Song. Outside table in the lee  of the building. So it warms up well. 

Northern Cyprus FAQ news reports that suspicious sheep have been seized in Northern Cyprus. Sheep in accompanying photograph don’t look all that suspicious.

Although they might have good reason to be wary if someone were about to seize them. Seems their ear tags don’t match required registration. Presume someone is attempting to make an illegal profit, and given the price - and scarcity - of lamb there would probably be be willing buyers. 

Actual theft here is extremely rare, though. We first noticed years ago that businesses seem to feel free to leave tables and chairs outside when they’re closed and they don’t get nicked. Explanations that theft is considered wrong in Islam or that one would need a small truck for removal seem to fall a little short. Other countries we’ve lived or stayed in also have religions that regard stealing as sinful but people seem to acquire suitable vehicles and engage in it anyway.

Not to suggest that wrongdoing doesn’t occur here. An MP’s son has just been arrested and charged with forgery and fraud with respect to a tender for construction of a new central bank building. No comment, as he has been charged, not convicted. 

Thursday, February 6/2025

Belated winter weather with a high of thirteen today and eleven predicted tomorrow, though temperatures expected to struggle back to normal after that. And significantly warmer in the sun, which has been in full glory today 🌞. 

Much more wintry two years ago in Athens where we were en route to Northern Cyprus. We woke to snow, both on the orange trees outside our window and on the Acropolis (not outside our window but duly photographed by others). Had expected to fly to Lefkoşa via Istanbul the next morning but received an email from Turkish Airlines saying that the Athens to Istanbul section of our flight had been cancelled due to weather conditions and would have to be rebooked. Suspected then, and now, that the real reason for the cancellation was chaos caused by the earthquake, though there was indeed some snow in Istanbul and a little in Athens.

In Türkiye the chaos was only beginning from a 7.8 earthquake that ultimately left over 55,000 dead. Many people in Northern Cyprus, where most residents are ethnically Turkish, have family and friends in Türkiye. But grief centred on a volleyball team that had gone from Gazimagusa (Famagusta) to southern Türkiye for a volleyball tournament. Young teens, both boys and girls, all from the same school. All twenty-four youths, along with eleven coaches and chaperones, died when the hotel in which they were staying collapsed. And no, it shouldn’t have collapsed. A great many of the deaths in Türkiye were down to substandard buildings or failure to adhere to codes.

This is a small country. A high proportion of residents know or are related to people who were killed or displaced by the earthquakes. And today there have been services and memorials for a team posthumously christened the Champion Angels and for children who belonged to everyone.

Wednesday, February 5/2025

 Wake up to horrific and mostly unanticipated news each morning since the American inauguration. And not, obviously, developments that affect US citizens only. Some minor advantages to being old - one’s memory stretches back to more than one administration. And I remember Trudeau père saying to Americans “Living next to you is in some ways like sleeping with an elephant. No matter how friendly and even-tempered is the beast, if I can call it that, one is affected by every twitch and grunt”. 

The time difference between Eastern and Central Standard and us is seven and eight hours respectively. Which means that we wake up to find that all kinds of political events have concluded after we went to bed but commentary in North America has ceased, though just begun in Europe. And when we first travelled we were reliant on a little short wave radio where, if we were very lucky, we could pick up BBC world service amidst the static.

What is happening now with regard to the Canadian American border is well beyond twitches and grunts, and the current beast is neither friendly nor even-tempered, but spare a thought for Gaza. Roughly 400 kilometres south of us and reduced to rubble. More than 46,000 people dead, entirely disproportionately women and children. A number which will increase to well over 60,000 once it is possible to search underneath the rubble. And now Trump has announced his intent to clear Gaza totally of Palestinians in order to turn it into the riviera of the Middle East. A real estate agent as well as a bastard at core (well I couldn’t say heart).

Tuesday, February 4/2025

Courtesy Cyprus Mail

Two brothers were given prison sentences of 45,376 and a half years EACH in an Istanbul court yesterday for operating a Ponzi scheme. Be interesting to know how the judge came up with the extra half year in sentencing. Sentence length does make one wonder what the punishment would have been if they’d murdered someone. And no, not execution. The death penalty was outlawed in Türkiye in 2004 and no one had been executed for twenty years before that.

The brothers had set up a company in North Cyprus, which seems to have involved selling virtual animals while persuading buyers they were investing in genuine livestock that would earn a profit. Buyers were defrauded of over 1.6 billion Turkish lira - worth €250 million at the time (2017). No intention of studying the historical currency tables but the current equivalent of €250 million would be about £207,809,144 or $372,004,014 CAD. If long sentences are a deterrent - and there is debate - the fate of the brothers should do it.

Monday, February 3/2025

The almond blossoms are starting to come out. The almonds won’t be ready to pick until July or August, though, so we won’t be around for the harvest. Walnuts and peanuts (a pulse, not a nut, but anyway…) also grow in Cyprus but have no idea where or in what quantity. Think in the North they’re more likely to be imported from Türkiye, though J spotted walnuts at the Famagusta market in a large sack claiming to be from the US. Somewhat before the current tariff blight. 

Bananas also grow in Cyprus - and in Türkiye - and there are currently fears that there has not been enough rain to guarantee a harvest. Both North and South also supplement the banana supply with Latin American imports (Dole). The odd thing is that when they sell both the price is often the same, although presumably the Dole bananas are much more expensive to obtain.

Do a search to see the harvest times of various Cypriot fruits and find the descriptions on a Russian site, with some delightfully quirky information of the lost in translation sort:

Of the fig - “It has a number of useful properties, but is also forbidden to people with some features”. Big noses?

Of carob - You can make syrup from the pods. “Try traditional Cyprus unsalted anari with nuts, sprinkled with syrup on top. It turns out very mentally “. Considering that anari is a tasteless fresh whey cheese with no redeeming merits, very mentally seems about right for anyone choosing it. Would seem a shame to waste the carob syrup and nuts, though. Actually we do eat carob syrup along with fruit and honey on our morning yoghurt. Very nice too.

Carobs also have an interesting non food history, which one might - but probably wouldn’t - guess from the name. The seeds are so regular, with a fixed mass of 0.2 grams, even when dried, that they were used historically when weighing precious stones or pearls. Thus the word carat is derived from the Italian for carob - carato. 

Sunday, February 2/2025

The local municipality is about to initiate a recycling program, long overdue but better late than never. When we stayed in the TRNC during the lockdown in 2020 there simply was no recycling. Presume that water bottles and beer tins can now be recycled as there is a large cage affair near the Blue Song for same - to which we keep forgetting to take our tins when we go. Don’t think that glass is recycled at all, which is not unusual. Isn’t at home either. This sounds somewhat better organised than the past, although deposits would be better. Roadsides full of discarded soft drink cans and occasionally beer bottles which might be retrieved by someone if they could be turned into cash. And then there are the cities, like Istanbul and Rome that have developed schemes for taking recyclables in exchange for transit fares, though not sure that would work with the dolmuş system.

Meanwhile our little venture with the waste basket in front of the building seems to be working - more or less. Appears that some people who won’t take ten steps to put an empty cigarette pack in the bin are, happily, not prepared to drop it immediately next to the waste basket. Progress of a sort.

Saturday, February 1/2025

 

Market morning and the first Saturday probably since November that it’s been shirtsleeves weather in the morning, though it often is at noon or early afternoon on the patio. Hard not to welcome sunny days but they do come with warnings of probable water shortages in the summer as the island experiences the second year in a row of severe drought. We have never experienced water cuts here. May be lucky in location and also we’re not here in summer when it’s driest.

Complaints in the Republic of Cyprus (South) that Israeli security personnel have been operating along with Greek Cypriots at the Larnaca and Paphos airports, including perimeters and control towers. This follows reports of Americans assisting in upgrading Greek Cypriot air and naval bases “for humanitarian purposes”. Opposition party AKEL has asked for confirmation of the accounts of Israeli personnel - and received silence. Leading the very centre road Cyprus Mail to suggest in an editorial that this is a surrender of sovereignty:

“The government’s failure to deny reports about the presence of Israeli security personnel at the perimeter of the Larnaca Airport fence and in the air traffic control-tower was not a good sign. It suggested the reports were correct and that the Republic had surrendered the security of its main airport to the security forces of another state.”

And tonight the early night sky features a single star above a sliver of crescent moon, like a tilted Turkish flag. Actually the TRNC flag is the same design with reversed colours - but the world of emojis, like most of the rest of the world, doesn’t recognise it.