Friday, March 13/2026

Friday the thirteenth again. Unlucky for world peace but pretty serene here. Oranges and lemons still in season, and across the road while the figs are only a hint of bud at the end of a branch the loquats are coming along nicely.

North Cyprus news is depressingly full of reports of bad driving, frequently citing loss of control of the steering wheel as the cause. There are other crimes and misdemeanours that seem surprisingly rare though. Theft, for instance, is uncommon. Have had it explained that it is regarded as a sin in Islam. No doubt, but somewhat short of a complete explanation as it is considered sinful in all major religions. It is true, though, that restaurants can leave small tables and chairs outside unsecured and not have them disappear in the night.

So it is surprising to see that a retired civil servant has been convicted of theft, both because he was indeed guilty and because the amount was quite modest. In North Cyprus small official charges are often paid with stamps. You affix the correct amount in stamps to a document that requires a small processing fee. The government receives the revenue and no need for petty cash boxes or making change. Seems that the man in question repeatedly removed stamps from official documents, took cash, and used the stamps on new documents. It was hardly grand theft. Over a period of ten years he collected 17,400 Turkish lira, an amount currently worth $561 CAD or £295, though admittedly the thefts date back to years in which the lira was worth somewhat more. However, despite his having admitted the crime and made restitution the theft was considered serious in that it was repeated many times, and he has been sentenced to a year in prison.

Thursday, March 12/2026

The UK based Financial Times, despite its name, is a pretty good general newspaper, though good for financial news as well. So when it offered a one month mini subscription for free, I took it. You get eight articles a day - and they choose which ones. The real draw, though, is that they don’t want a credit card number. This is not free for a month and then multi dollars a month until you remember to cancel. Obviously they are hoping to attract subscribers, but they’ll have to plead for them at the end of the month. And I won’t be one. Already have access to an array of excellent papers. But don’t mind a brief sampling of FT’s offerings.

And so in the Financial Times discover in an interview that Alan Bennet has a new volume of his diaries coming out this month. Was about to say a final volume, and it may in fact be that - he’ll be 92 in May - but it’s not billed that way, and who knows? I have reason to be grateful to Bennett. He’s primarily a playwright, and it’s from him that I learned to choose plays by the writer and not the actors. A brilliant script can come through with fairly average actors but first rate actors cannot salvage a poor script.

We have, between us, seen at least five of his plays in London, notably The Lady in the Van, with Maggie Smith, and The History Boys. And on my first trip to London I saw A Question of Attribution, with Bennet playing Sir Anthony Blunt opposite Prunella Scales (then best known as Mrs Fawlty) as Her Majesty the Queen.

The diaries are as much pleasure as the plays, though in a totally different way. We have the earlier volumes at home and will be looking forward to reading Enough Said, the latest addition.

And in a very minor way my writing a blog is somewhat like Bennet’s writing his diaries. It is primarily a journal, our record of our winter travels written for ourselves. For the first few years I had no ability to put it online and even after that had irregular access to pretty inferior computers and unreliable connections. On the other hand there are now a few people who read it, so it does fulfil a dual function. More explanations and, with luck, fewer typos.

Wednesday, March 11/2026

 Disruption of oil shipments has a much higher profile and is affecting the whole world as the barrel price teeters around the hundred dollar mark, but North Cyprus has its own shipping difficulty. Halloumi is TRNC’s main export and shipping has come to a stop as transportation is halted. On average, 850 tonnes of halloumi would be exported monthly. Now it’s not moving and recent shipments have not reached their destination so payment has not been received for them. Monthly income would usually be between four and four and a half million US dollars, and storage facilities are finite. Suspect that this will not translate to lower prices in local shops but who knows.

Meanwhile, and without any connection to world events, our electricity goes out at half past six. No problem. The stove burners are gas and we have a pot of borscht ready to be reheated and cheese biscuits baked this afternoon. No sooner heated than the power comes back on, so the evening’s reading is not disrupted either.

Tuesday, March 10/2026

The fig tree on the other side of the road is still in its naked winter state of undress. A so they went deeper into the forest look, reminiscent of the Grimmer sort of German fairy tales. But J has spotted tiny buds forming at the ends of the upper branches, so there is a promise of future figs.

Sunny and hot enough that I give up on reading Imperium outside after a chapter, despite the bliss of sitting with glasses of quince gin on ice looking down at the sea. Imperium itself is a distinct pleasure. Harris succeeds in escaping the distancing effect of so many historical novels where the characters may be interesting but somehow lack the quality of real people that might be interacting in any modern setting. Think one of his tricks is to avoid anything dated in the way of dialogue. Nothing stilted, no archaisms. Nothing like a thee or thy to make a character establish himself as less than real. 

Though the politics of violence do have their distinct period characteristics. Thus Crassus, the Roman general who put down Spartacus’s uprising of the slaves saw to it that 6000 of the rebels were crucified, their crosses lining the Appian Way for miles. 

Monday, March 9/2026

 Daylight reading now Robert Harris’s Imperium. It’s a novel based on Cicero’s career as politician and orator in Republican Rome. Fascinating and well researched - as are all Harris’s books.

Podcast last night on the Fall of Civilizations series described the methods of Assyrian Asher-Nazirpal who became king in 883 BCE. Expanding and maintaining empire less high tech in those days but no less brutal. After putting down a rebellion the king commissioned an inscription as boast cum warning:

“I burnt many captives from them. I captured many troops alive. From some I cut off their arms and hands. From others I cut off their noses, ears, and extremities. I gouged out the eyes of many troops. I made one pile of the living and one of heads. I hung their heads on trees around the city. I burnt their adolescent boys and girls. I razed, destroyed, burnt, and consumed the city.”

Makes the normal Roman punishments of death by execution or by being thrown off a cliff seem pretty restrained.

And then there’s the nightly news. And it’s hard not to think that brutality may simply be inherent in the human species.

Sunday, March 8/2026

Buds on the orange tree are beginning to turn to blossoms. You still have to get close to pick up the scent but it’s beautiful. And am reminded that oranges are actually a hybrid fruit - hybrid of pomelo and mandarin. One of those bits of knowledge that I have stashed away but tend not to remember because it doesn’t match up with grocery list cum recipe knowledge. Oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruit - none of them belong to the original three citrus fruits - which are mandarins, citrons and pomelos (spelling varies).

One of the simplified charts. Possible to get enough info to begin writing a thesis - but I won’t.

Saturday, March 7/2026

Windy but not cold on our walk down to the Saturday market. Geraniums out at the Lambousa Hotel, site of the market. Flowers seem a bit slower than last year but they never truly disappear in the winter.

And good news this week from the Meritta Sea Turtle Rehabilitation Centre. An injured sea turtle was rescued from the rocks on the coast of Lapta. It had become entangled in a plastic bag and was stuck on the rocks.

Its fins had been severely damaged and it was first believed to have died but surgery was performed by doctors from the Vet Expert clinic and it is recovering. More than 3000 turtles nest on the beaches of North Cyprus, with eggs hatching in August and September or early October.

The beaches are protected during hatching and people often go in the hopes of seeing the tiny turtles heading for the sea.

Friday, March 6/2026

 Half way between our place and our little supermarket is the mukhtar’s office. The mukhtar is an elected official for neighbourhoods or villages, serving as a kind of lesser mayor. So many documents or applications require a mukhtar’s letter confirming status or address. It’s not a full time job but the idea is that he’ll know his neighbourhood.

The one near us works at - and for all we know possibly owns - a garage that seems to be always busy. In it he used to have a bit of an office where he could approve documents and such. However about a year ago the municipality built a nice new office building for him, landscaped it, and put in a little park and children’s playground. 

Then this week we noticed people sitting at tables at the far end of the building and discovered there seems to be a bit of a café, though that may be overstating it. Seems you can order toasted sandwiches and jacket potatoes, and presumably tea. (Interestingly, Türkiye leads the world in tea consumption per capita, citizens averaging 1500 cups annually - followed by Ireland and then the UK). The menu is written on a whiteboard, oddly enough only in English.

Blue Song afternoon. Daphne back from visiting her daughter who is doing an exchange year at a university in Texas. Seems to have seen a great deal of the state and been impressed. Pat’s son is a pilot who normally flies out of Dubai but no flights there now of course so he’s been sent to Muscat in Oman. His family are back in Scotland.

Thursday, March 5/2026

 These are the classic Cyprus days. Cobalt blue Mediterranean. Cloudless blue sky. Marble and limestone mountain peak above. Fragrant scent of the buddleia bush filling the air. 

No blood orange gin at our shop so we live dangerously and try a quince gin instead. Made in Belgium and called Strange Love. Fresh quince with classic juniper and citrus notes. On ice cubes. 

Warm terrace tiles underfoot. Palm fronds feathering in the breeze. In two weeks it will be spring.