Wednesday, November 11/2026

Cypriot poppies. My photo, although not a November 11 one. Actually taken in March of 2018. North Cyprus doesn’t celebrate a Remembrance Day on November 11, having just the day before had a day to remember Atatürk and the founding of Türkiye. Not precisely the same thing of course. And modern Țürkiye came into existence after the first War as the Treaty of Lausanne created its borders. In the second War it attempted to remain neutral - benefiting as much as possible from both sides - until an extremely late (February 23, 1945) union with the Allies and declaration of war on Germany and Japan. Basically in order to acquire a seat at the post war United Nations.

Cyprus, of course, somewhat different. It was a British colony until 1960, with no division between North and South and a large number of Greek and Turkish Cypriots fought with the British in the Cyprus Regiment. We met an aging Turkish Cypriot veteran in Girne (Kyrenia) about twenty years ago.

Borders change and so do allegiances, not always for the noblest of reasons. A young Japanese student of mine, attending a Remembrance Day ceremony in his Canadian school said cheerfully “last war we were the enemy”. And then there was the girl I knew in university (yes, post war but not by an incredible amount - we are now as far away from the mid sixties as the mid sixties were from the Boer War) whose father joined his local branch of the Legion saying truthfully that he was a veteran but not mentioning which side he’d been on.

Tuesday, November 10/2026

 Siren sounds at 9:05 commemorating the death of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic, eighty-eight years ago. This happens annually and is followed by two minutes silence.

We have a link of sorts with Atatürk. We stayed, a number of years ago, at the Baron Hotel in Aleppo, Syria. Actually stayed in Room 203, previously occupied by Agatha Christie who was engaged in writing Murder on the Orientation Express. Room 201, though, was home to Atatürk. He established his headquarters at the hotel during the Ottoman retreat from British and Arab forces in 1918 and ordered machine guns mounted on the roof to keep the troops at bay.

Monday, November 9/2026

 On the domestic scene. Time for another water delivery. Could theoretically last until Wednesday, but in the unlikely but not impossible case that Mehmet is unable to come on Wednesday we would be looking at carrying heavy water (not in the chemicals sense, just the physical) back from the shop. So, empty remaining water from the large bottle into three wine bottles and the big stew pot and remove the handy plastic pumping device from the now empty jug so that it will be ready to exchange for a full one tomorrow.

Have no sooner finished than there is a knock at the door and there is Mehmet with a full jug of water. He can see I’m astonished and what I can make of the explanation is that today is convenient but tomorrow would not have been.  And in all fairness to Mehmet, who is the most agreeable person imaginable, had we not had an empty jug to exchange or even the money at hand, he would have waved a cheerful hand and assumed we would make good next week.

And on the national scene United Nations envoy Maria Angela Holguin appears frustrated by the lack of momentum in beginning talks on the reunification of Cyprus. She says that if the current initiative on the resumption of negotiations fails “there will be huge damage”. No doubt true, but the damage has been in effect for over half a century now. In 2004 there was a referendum on the UN’s Annan Plan for reunification. Turkish Cypriots had reservations but voted 65% in favour. Greek Cypriots voted 24% in favour. And in the period since Greek would be prime ministers have depended on telling the electorate that no plan likely to succeed would be good enough for them. Optimism not running high.

Sunday, November 8/2026

 Have been to the dentist in North Cyprus many times. In fact that was what led to our delightful Covid lockdown in Famagusta. But seen the inside of a hospital only for dental x-rays. 

This time for antibiotics. The hospital is state not private so charges are minimal. Also state of the art. It’s brand new - barely open a month now. Well equipped and an excellent staff, some of whom speak English.

Fairly large waiting room and notice a cat lounging inside a jacket. Seems odd. Related to allergy query? Then later cat - no longer in jacket - has been joined by another, this time marmalade coloured. Jacket owner disappeared.  Seems front doors frequently open and more than one cat happy to avail itself of the hospitality.

Saturday, November 7/2026

Photo is from two years ago. And a poignant reminder of the happy lives that goats can be living. Taken about a kilometre east of us. 

When we first moved into the flat three years ago we were delighted to hear the sounds of a goat - or two? - in the orchard across the road. 

Never did actually see the goat, who resided in a small shed, and occasionally wondered if it had been the pièce de résistance at some feast. (And have to confess, as a non-vegetarian, that we have eaten goat and it was very nice). But each time the bleats would come back and we would heave a sigh of relief.

So this year when we arrived two weeks ago we were not at all surprised not to be greeted initially with the meh-eh-eh of a goat. But days have passed and still no goat sounds. Also, J notes that the orchard people have not been gathering weeds and brush such as goats eat - along with anything else they can find.

Therefore can only conclude that the goat has stopped providing milk - if it ever did - and has met a fate possibly connected to the traditional beehive shaped stone oven near its shed.

 

Friday, November 6/2026

L’il Abner comic strip ran from 1934 to 1977. One of the characters was the ever unlucky Joe Btfsplk, usually shown with a dark rain cloud over his head, dripping rain that never seemed to touch anyone else.

Comes to mind this morning when the sky above the mountain on our south side is bright and the sky above the sea on our north side is light while rain beats down on our place as if it came from Joe Btfsplk’s cloud.

Rain stops, then starts up again on the terrace in bright sunlight. Check the radar. Radar shows no rain closer than the shores of Türkiye but projects showers and possible thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Dismiss radar and head down to Blue Song regardless. Shirtsleeve temperatures, for what that’s worth. And no rain at all in the afternoon.

 

Thursday, November 4/2026

 Forecast uncertain. Suggestion is mostly sun and cloud with a possible shower, and that is more or less what happens. Love the skies here. You can see for miles to the west and north across the Mediterranean the shore of Türkiye can be seen on a clear day. A tall cypress tree (visible about a third of the way across the photo from the from the left) serves as a wind vane, bending east or west as the wind changes. You can also follow the movement of the clouds, but that can be confusing because, as J points out, the higher clouds are not always moving in the same direction as the lower ones.

The wind has also been busy harvesting oranges. We now have over two dozen in the fridge, almost all of them wind picked. Grapes and bananas with the morning sheep’s yoghurt are imports, but the oranges are always local, and at the moment ours. The grape season in Cyprus is over before we arrive, but the banana imports (Ecuador) are more surprising. Small, slightly sweet bananas do grow in Cyprus, though more in the South, and also in Türkiye. It’s a bit early for them now, but don’t remember seeing them here in the winter either. 

Actually not much food crosses the Cypriot North/South border, certainly not in commercial quantities. Well, not legally that is. However, the day before yesterday a vehicle entering the TRNC from the South was found to be carrying 142 kilos of undeclared meat - beef stashed in six refuse sacks. Market value was estimated at 142000 Turkish lira ($4057 CAD, £2119). Seems fairly expensive - think $13 Canadian a pound - but no info on cut or quality and beef is prohibitively expensive here. 

Taken pretty seriously by the law. The person arrested was released on bail, forbidden to leave the country, and required to report weekly to a police station. Also had to deposit a cash bond of TL 50,000 ($1428 CAD, £746). And provide a guarantor who would provide surety for a million Turkish lira (slightly less breathtaking than it sounds, at $28,571 CAD or £14,925). Seems he - or of course she - (no reason a woman couldn’t be hauling 300 pounds of raw meat) was lucky enough to have a friend or relative willing to ante up if necessary.

Wednesday, November 4/2026

 

We’re probably the only people at the local grocery store - ok, supermarket, but that’s almost overstating it - who care about getting the itemised receipt with our purchases. And it really isn’t to check for accuracy - it’s normally accurate. It’s to learn the Turkish names for what we buy. Sometimes they’re similar to the English, and occasionally to the Polish but often resemble nothing we’re familiar with.

So, home with a heavy (estimate two pounds by comparing to an 850 gram container of yoghurt but will really have to acquire a kitchen scale for the Cyprus home) kohlrabi. By process of elimination, conclude it’s the item called glumra on the receipt. (Predictive text wanted me to write “glumly” and in this case can see its problem). But repair to Google Translate and enter glumra. No joy. No translation available. AI, at Google’s behest, somewhat more forthcoming. “The term “glumra” likely refers to kouloumbra (κουλούμρα),the Cypriot name for kohlrabi…Because kohlrabi is a highly popular staple in Cyprus, locals and visitors often phoneticize the Greek Cypriot name as kouloumbra, kouroumba, or colloquially glumra”. Pleased enough at the explanation that I forgive AI for using likely as an adverb.

Price 50 lira ($1.43 CAD, £0.74)