Friday, March 9/2012

J to the beach for his morning walk and I to George`s café to meet up with Margaret and Leslie for a cuppa. Actually pretty hot walking in the sun, but after the cool weather we've been having no one is complaining. We're back to Cyprus sun.

In the afternoon Maggi, her friend Marge (visiting from Scotland for a week) and Jane and I go to the base at Dhekelia for fish and chips at the restaurant (portions so big that two would really have done the four of us). We're there for a production of Little Shop of Horrors - a combined effort on the part of King Richard School and the little theatre group. It's light and fun and fairly good for amateur, despite the female lead having difficulty carrying a tune. Probably would have been more interesting but less professional had it been entirely a student production.

Thursday, March 8/2012

When I'm in the lobby using the computer, Mr. Andreas calls me over to the desk where he's talking to another guest - a young man. And asks if "we" have a password for the hotel wifi. Yes. He's surprised. Do I know it? Yes. Can I tell this young man? Yes, I say, and I'll write it down so you can tell other users.

Take Alex and Lynette to the charity shop as A is running low on reading. We meet up with J and over to Harry's café for a Cyprus coffee in the sun. Not at the prices A and L have been getting used to in Egypt, but a striking location with St Lazarus Church in the background. They ask us to join them for dinner but we can see it will be simpler aat our place - we`re more set up for long term. So L makes two enormous and beautiful salads and we cook chicken, rice and vegetables. And we all settle in for an evening of food, wine, and chat.

Wednesday, March 7/2012

Coffee with Margaret and another friend. I ask afterward what the friend's name is, having sat with her before. Margaret says that she calls her Doula,  but then adds that it's not her name - but if I say it quickly no one notices. Well, helpful as a technique maybe....

Alex and Lynette, our Australian friends arrive back from Egypt - and Jordan and Israel -  and give us a call. So we go over to share some wine and a great deal of chat about their travels. They were in Cairo for about two weeks as well as time in Israel and Palestine and more extensive travel in Jordan than we've done. They've now been away from Australia nearly a year and going strong.

Tuesday, March 6/2012

Horrible story of Nicosia area family who watched their house collapse as the municipality carried out major roadworks. The municipality and contractor each blamed the other. Most shocking, the insurance company, Laiki, which is a major bank, refused to pay out on the grounds that they had not been informed by the policy holder that there were roadworks happening. It's such a ridiculous objection that it's quite clear that they would have used any feeble excuse aat all. And all this was three years ago, with no compensation by anyone. Unbelievable!

Monday, March 5/2012

Maggi to dinner as we have a sort of spaghetti carbonade with artichoke hearts, mushrooms and caramelised onions replacing the bacon. As we look the ingredients over we can see there's lots for three, so nice evening.

Sunday, March 4/2012

The morning paper announces that Paphos airport was "left unstaffed" overnight. The strikes continue - mosly a half day at a time but it's definite hit and miss whether one can leave as scheduled. It must be affecting tourism as people with a week's holiday can't afford to mess it up.

Saturday, March 3/2012

Warm sun again and Cyprus coffee lazily in front of Harry's Café - shirtsleeve weather in the sun.

Friday, March 2/2012

We're reading (aloud) a volume of Tony Benn's diaries, this one covering 1991-2001. Tony Benn, the left wing icon, thoroughly Old Labour, who stayed fast as the party shifted to New Labour under his feet. Benn was first elected to the British parliament in 1950, when J and I were not yet in school, and left in 2001. During the whole of this time he kept, and at regular intervals published, a political (and occasionally personal) diary. He's cheerful, extrovert, and amazingly energetic.

His memory is wonderful - and the perspective of course is quite remarkable. So many people that one thinks of only as historical figures he knew. He met both Nehru and Gandhi, and entered the house shortly after World War II, in which he served in the airforce. And J and I remember the meeting of totally uncompromising hardline Commuists that we went to in London a couple of years back, where they dismissed Tony Benn because he hadn't been against WWII. He is extremely principled though. He would, in the normal course of events, have become Lord Stansgate on the death of his father but rejected the hereditary peerage on principle.

The book is hardcover and nearly 700 pages long, so when I got it at the charity shop on Saturday I told J that I couldn't resist but we'd have to come back next year to do it justice, but a week later we're a third of the way through, carried along by Benn's boyish enthusiasm. Despite the enormous spa of his career, he's very focused on the present nd enjoys the company of a wide range of people. The book reveals surprisingly unnuanced views of many issues, but maybe that's what you need to get on with the job. The Times reviewer refers to "the brio of illuminating a life almost entirely free of boredom." There's also the interesting quality of a diary rather than a memoir - the events haven't been mentally edited after the fact.

Thursday, March 1/2012

Brief panic as we discover that the wifi system has been upgraded (good in itself) but requires a password about which the staff appear to know nothing. But, following Kiki's telephone entreaties, a young compputer guru appears and sets a password and all is well - actually a faster connection than before.

To Vlachos for dinner with the usual crowd. It's unusually busy for a weeknight and the staff seem a bit harrassed. Food is good, though. And the moussaka back in form. Wish it were easier to hear in there though. Conversation works best with those immediately beside one. Maybe that's why Greeks always talk so loudly.

Report on the Cypriot news tonight of a court case regarding gambling, which is illegal in the Republic of Cyprus. The accused are all women aged between 70 and 99, and they're accused of playing cards for five and ten euro stakes in a private residence in Limassol. A group thinned out somewhat since the original charges were laid, as two have died and another two lost their memories due to Alzheimer's.

 

Wednesday, February 29/2012

The threatened rain doesn't come, but it's pretty cold - 8 Celsius - and very windy. I set out to meet up with J and Margaret for coffee at George's and decide it's just too cold. Not really too cold for the walk, but too cold to sit shivering outside George's café. So call J, who has the UK mobile in his pocket. He, prudently, doesn't answer, but when it rings he knows I won't be coming.

In the afternoon Kiki has the good news that the rent here won't be going up next year. Was it's J's reference to Paphos, or suggestion that there should be a discount next year to compensate us for this year's renovation noiseOr was it Maggi's mentioning that we have been looking at other hotels? We'll never know - but it won't have been out of the goodness of Mr Andreas' heart.

In theory there is supposed to be an Inspector Frost film on at nine, but, as is often the case, it's been replaced without notice or apology by a different film, not, of course, in English.

Tuesday, February 27/2012

Too wet this morning for walking but we've arranged with Maggi to go to check on a couple of alternate apartment hotels for next year, prudently keeping our options open as management here consider the potential value of this year's "improvements", as well, no doubt, as factoring in the escalating cost of electricity and water.

Larco Hotel Apartments is fully booked - at least the apartments are - which  is not particularly good re prices. One bedroom flats in winter are  €660 a month, mostly occupied by Scandinavians. We're about to leave when the thunderstorm intensifies and there is tremendously heavy rain, which suddenly turns to hail. Quite dramatic as it piles up in front of the glass doors and the street becomes a stream.


We're driving back slowly, so as not to lose the brakes or skid into the intersections. Stop at another hotel - the Onisillous - to check it out. the flats are OK - a little less cosy than the Sunflower but with BBC TV and microwaves. The location has pros and cons - quite near St Lazarus and the beach and nearer the Saturday market, but not as close to the supermarkets or Prinos. The owner is a real charmer though. He's close to eighty and the hotel is a family business. He and his wife live on the premises and his granddaughter has a beauty shop here. But life wasn't always so easy. He invites us to share a cup of Cyprus coffee and Mandarin oranges from his own property, and tells us the story of his progress from barrow to small shops to hotel, with a lovely, quiet, modest style. The flats are €555 a month from November to March and there is, as he shows us, a printed price list - a refreshing change from Mr Andreas' practice of tossing out prices to see what the response is - run it up the flag and see who salutes. So that even when one has a more or less satisfactory price from him there is always the nagging suspicion that someone else has probably done better, or, embarrassingly, worse, or that one may have just lost a game of chicken.


As we're in the lobby there are torrents of rain pouring down the road and lapping up over the sidewalks, with white hail being borne along on the current. Less rain and no hail by the time we get back home, but at one point driving in the car sounded like living inside a drum as it was being beaten.

Monday, February 27/2012

This is clean Monday, also known as Green Monday. Follows carnivals on the Sunday and precedes Lent, which in the Eastern Church begins on Wednesday, February 29 - this year a week later than in the Western Church. In Cyprus, as in Greece, it's celebrated with picnics emphasising seafood and green vegetables and by flying kites.

The sky is threatening, though, and it's extremely windy. J, out for his morning walk along the beach, reports that it's holiday busy and there are plenty of kites in evidence. Some advantage to the wind. Showers in the afternoon, though.

Sunday, February 26/2012

By bus to Pyla for lunch with Jane and Bill. More difficult than it sounds, as the online bus maps don't mtch Bill's impression of which buses go there. flag down a 429, which had shown no signs of stopping. It's more than full, standing room only, and, apart from us, all the passengers are African students. One girl (though they're mostly young men) gives me her seat and perches on the knee of another young lady. They all alight in Pyla, as do we. The access road wasn't the one past Bill and Jane's so we're unsure of which road to take and Jane picks us up.

Lovely lunch outside in the Cyprus sun - roast chicken with stuffing and potatoes as well as a large dish of mixed vegetables. And good company. Jane has a couple of lovely tagines that she brought back from Morocco, which we admire. Afterward we use their secure computer to book the hotel in Victoria for July. Then ane walks out with us to the Dhekelia Road, where there's a bus about to leave for Larnaca. Conveniently, but rather by chance, it seems, as the schedule had said it should just be leaving its base point down the road. There's a map online that shows every stop as a nice little blue ring - but it's obviously useless.

Saturday, February 25/2012

Stunning day, so coffee at Harry's Café by St. Lazarus. About as good as it gets.

New source of amusement: Kobo sends me regular email in which it makes rather inefficient efforts to suggest books that may be to my taste, based on past purchases. So, as I have recently bought two of Chris Mullin's political diaries as ebooks, today's suggestion list is headed by an offering called So You Want to be a Politician.

Friday, February 24/2012

Finally booked return flights to London, for April 2. Not simple - HSBC card required verifying, involving phone call to London, three different employees, and a call back which never happened. Finally used Mastercard.

Thursday, February 24/2012

Coffee at George's with Margaret, Sharon, Leslie, Tina - and Lorraine, mother of six week old Lewis, whom everyone takes a turn holding. Tina's brought millionaire's cake with her as promised, as well as her husband's pork pies - some made with pickle and cheese. Lovely.

We've booked our last chunk - three weeks in London at the Baron, where we stayed in November.  My favourite city in the world - and at a remarkably good price.

Wednesday, February 22/2012

J reading a thick juicy looking book on Anthony Blunt's life and career. I'm reading a memoir called A Girl from Schindler's List, written by a survivor. And jointly (aloud) we're reading Ian Rankin's Exit Music. And, as if that weren't enough, we have two unread current goodies (as well as many classics) on the Kobo. Lovely knowing that one can't run out of good reads.

Tuesday, February 21/2012

Jane's birthday and she and Bill have kindly invited us to a birthday dinner at the Shanghai, a (needless to say) Chinese restaurant less than ten minutes walk from us.  There are eight of us - including Maggi, Harry and Aylsa, and Stuart, a friend from the hash runs. Jane has brought some great photos from her Morocco trip - camels, colourful tagines, etc., and we all starat thinking of desert treks. It's certainly agreed with Jane - she's looking radiant. The round table works well for conversation too - much better than two square ones pushed together. Good food, with very nice spring rolls. Lovely evening.

Monday, February 20/2012

Flirting with the possibility of a train/ferry trip to Ireland. The fares are amazingly good - £38 or €45 ($60 CAD) from any city in Great Britain to Dublin - or the same in reverse. Obviously the starting spot would be London, but what about the return? The temptation is to go as far as possible. Penzance? Inverness? Until reality sets in. The real difficulty is the timing of Easter as we compete anywhere we go then for high holiday prices.

Sunday, February 19/2012

The prediction was for sunny with a high of 13, but the actuality is, happily, better than that. Nice walk along the promenade. On the way home we spot the small jeweller's (sales and repairs) recommended to us by the Ukrainian girl who makes her own jewellery. She proonounced it ZEFS and spelled it ZEVS, and we were mystified until we saw the sign - ZEUS. Blame Anglo pronunciation.