Saturday, March 21/2026

 Officially spring as of yesterday. Admittedly not cold and no heavy rain today but taps on and off and alternating with sunny spells. Correspondent in North Cyprus posted a photo of roads with a lot of snow but turned out that was in the Troodos Mountains. South of the border and high enough that snow is not unusual. When we stayed in Larnaca there were often warnings that Troodos roads were closed to vehicles except those with four wheel drive or chains. Interesting that there still are cars using chains but presume that snow tires don’t exist here. 

As gas prices soar around the world there is an interesting announcement from the TRNC government. Apparently petrol prices will not be rising at the pumps. This by virtue of reducing VAT (value added tax) to zero. There are a number of basics here - petrol, gas cylinders, basic bread - that are controlled by government. They do go up but aren’t subject to profiteering and don’t fluctuate wildly.

Friday, March 20/2026

 Eid in much of the Muslim world, known as Bayram in Turkish. Both words mean festival and the difference is etymological. Eid is Arabic and Bayram Persian in origin. The end of Ramadan is marked by a feast day. Actually according to Islam it is wrong to fast on Bayram and we’re happy to conform.

Despite tradition, it’s not a sunny day. Storms continue to cross the Mediterranean so we stay home and make chili and cheese biscuits (undoubtedly not traditional but good rainy day fare).  Cheese biscuits a bit of a challenge as the last of the baking powder went into yesterday’s rock cakes. So baking soda should work as long as there is enough acid in the mixture. Internet highly dubious but my guess is that if the liquid is sour milk that should do it, and we do have vinegar. Might not publish the recipe, but not bad. 

Have, over the past years, stayed in a number of places less well designed as retreats from the rain. Think, for example of the one room cabin inside the old city walls in Rhodes. The kitchen, such as it was, was a bit of a lean-to. Beside, but not quite attached to, the room in which we slept. Not bad in dry weather but did mean ducking through rain to enter it on wet days. But that was twenty-five years ago - we were young!

Thursday, March 19/2026

Watching the stormy weather trickle its way across the Mediterranean. Fairly heavy rain in the night but only bits of drizzle today.

Good day to be in the kitchen, so lentil soup. Then bake rock cakes with what is the very last bit of baking powder. Tell J it’s a choice between cheese biscuits and rock cakes. He, unsurprisingly, opts for the sweeter of the two.

Long weekend begins tonight at sundown. Government offices and banks closed at noon today. Feel a bit sorry for Turkish Cypriots here who had reasonable hopes for a sunny holiday. It’s the most important holiday of the year and a traditional time for visiting friends and relatives with the saying being that the sun always shines for Bayram. Well, may be lucky yet. ☀️ And truly the lack of a sunny weekend is not as sad as the situation of millions across the Middle East where the end of Ramadan is bringing not festivities but destruction and terror.

Wednesday, March 18/2026

 Last night’s radar looked like we were about to become the victims in a giant real life Pac-Man game. West wind and no escape possible. But come morning and no rain. Briefest of trickles in the afternoon. What was the gobbler doing? Treading water?

So tonight check the radar again.

And there we are. A little pearl of a country totally surrounded by storms. The forecast is for stormy weather for the rest of the week but perhaps that just applies to countries without the magical cloak protecting them. Who knows?

Meanwhile I spot a notice of power cuts down to scheduled maintenance and repairs. West of Girne with a long list of areas of concern. Customers to expect outage between approximately 9:30 and 14:00. Looks like it may include us.

Me: There’s a power cut expected on Wednesday and it looks like it will affect us.

J: That’s Wednesday of next week?

Me: Yes. Wednesday, March 18.

J: But today is March 18.

Me: [at 20:00] Oh well, forget it then. Didn’t happen.

Our magic cloak of protection in operation.

Tuesday, March 17/2026

Saint Patrick’s Day so message Maggi for her birthday. ☘️ A date I would be unlikely to remember if it weren’t always celebrated online, with even Google substituting a shamrock for the double o’s. Only about forty miles from us to her, but between an uncooperative political border and deliberately uncoordinated transport not as simple as it looks.

Where we do go is down to the Bestmar to the west of us (there are two). A little more than a mile and a pleasant walk. Poppies occasionally making their way through cracks n the pavement. Pass quite a few loquat trees with as yet unripe fruit and several golden chalice flowers reminding us of the luxuriant vine by Fehmi’s office. 

There are several new housing developments, finished or in progress, in what used to be fields, as well as older single houses that have been here for years. Takes us a while to remark on what is not there - people walking along the road. We actually pass only two - a couple about our age and obviously local. Twenty-five years ago there were many fewer cars but more people about, as well as men with the kind of motor bikes that win no races and can probably not get licensed any more.

Bestmar is bigger than our local grocery store. Prices occasionally much better though often pretty similar but selection different, particularly in the sinful bits - chocolate, drink and cigars. Note that they have (frozen) back bacon. Actually quite nice looking. It’s imported from the Netherlands. Not unusual to see pork products in the larger supermarkets but clearly not a big seller locally. 

Supermarket seems busier than usual for early afternoon, probably because Bayram is coming up on Friday, the most important feast day of the year in Muslim countries. So about equivalent to getting in provisions on December 22 in a Christian country.

Monday, March 16/2026

 Wake to find that the mountains and the sea have reappeared. And it’s sunny. Temperature 19 in the shade, higher in the sun of course. Still very windy.

And enjoying it while we can. We’re heading into the most important holiday weekend of the year and the prediction is that it will be a wet one, with showers and thunder showers beginning Wednesday afternoon and continuing through the weekend. Not cold, though.

Sunday, March 15

Beware the Ides of March. Rain and gale force winds again. Although could be worse. In the Troodos mountains the winds just short of hurricane strength. It will be colder there as well. The rain here at times heavy enough that it looks like sleet but isn’t. Temperature actually in the teens.

Our own mountains have disappeared in the mist. Seems particularly strange as we live part way up the mountain side. And on the north the sea has also disappeared. As if the landscape had been an illusion.

The war continues as hopelessly as ever. Including bizarre speculation on the whereabouts of Netanyahu. Our usually reliable sources - none of which are mainstream - admit that most announcements have been highly speculative at best. And not necessary to be a computer expert to spot the sixth finger on one of Bibi’s hands in the photo purporting to prove his continuing health or to note the odd behaviour of the coffee in the cup he is holding. Once more reminded of the title of the biography of rebel journalist the late Claud Cockburn, Believe Nothing Until it has been Officially Denied.

And not all bizarre occurrences are world scale. A small puzzle involving coloured circles that I enjoy on the iPad has just begun giving its - fortunately minimalist - instructions in Vietnamese. I am occasionally given information in Greek or - less often - in Turkish. Explained by varied VPN use. Years ago there was a spate of Czech instructions and, more awkwardly, Japanese. And now Vietnamese. Not one of my keyboards, but there’s always Google translate.

Vietnamese instructions 

Saturday, March 14/2026

Wake up to the sound of rain on the tiles of the terrace. Go to check the radar on the iPad and draw a blank page. No internet. Does that mean no power? Seems so. Reflect that a day squeezed in between Friday the thirteenth and the Ides of March is likely to have some negativity attached. But in all fairness can think of few places with a happier winter climate, which is a large part of why we’re here - although the culture is at least as significant. And the electricity is back before it’s time to make coffee - though we could always have boiled water on a gas burner.

Today is the twelfth anniversary of the death of Tony Benn, patriarch of the Labour left, orator, anti-war campaigner. He spent over fifty years as an MP and eventually retired in order to “have more time for politics “. There are a number of memorial tributes online today including one from journalist Owen Jones, who included this photograph of himself with the eighty-eight year old Benn at an event in London in November 2013, Benn’s second last public appearance. A photograph of particular interest to us because we were there, actually in the front row as a result of my having mistaken the starting time so that we arrived very early.

We were in Malta at the time of Benn’s death and I reflected on the London event and posted :

“We knew then that we were lucky and it might well be our last chance. A beacon of the left, yes, but beyond that a man of overwhelming personal integrity. No quiet retirement, though he would have been 89 next month. Certainly no ossifying of ideas or principles. As Harold Wilson quipped, he immatured with age.”

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. 

Wednesday,March 4/2026

 

Courtesy Private Eye

Well, it’s an ill war brings no humour, and Cyprus, in a peripheral role, some distance from the genuine tragedy, seems prepared to play its part.

So the government of the Republic (South) has risen to the occasion to send out a “test emergency SMS” to residents at 7pm today. Have no idea what the contents would be because a) We have TRNC (North Cyprus) and UK mobile numbers, and b) the Republic goes to what must be extraordinary lengths to make sure free mobile calls stop at the border. However, seems that there was major confusion, with people reporting receiving the text early, late, or not at all. And our UK/TRNC numbers might have made no difference as one person reported receiving the text on his Dubai but not his Cyprus number. In theory the text went out in both English and Greek, but one man who received it in Greek only said he habitually ignores Greek messages as they are usually scams or irrelevant.

In the event of a genuine and not a test alert, the theory is that those who can are to go to shelters. In fact there are shelters for less than half the population of the Republic, though the Interior Minister said, fairly if testily, that only two countries have shelters that could accommodate the entire population - Israel and Switzerland. Those unable to access shelters are to follow the usual guidelines of staying away from windows, heading to basements and such. Those outdoors are to “enter the nearest building immediately”. Can foresee some level of confusion, not to say conflict, involving home invasions by passing groups of youths.

Though the nearest building bit might be one of the happier alternatives. A separate piece of advice was that “those who find themselves outdoors with no time to seek shelter are urged to lie on the ground, preferably in a pit or a ditch”. (My predictive text has given up - simply unable to imagine what would be suggested). The ditch bit could be for some time as well. The previous paragraph had mentioned heading for the shelter with water, food, radio and torch. Wonder if “pit” was an awkward translation. Don’t frequently pass them on our walks.

There is an app, though, to assist you in finding a bomb shelter. Not perfect, as it seems on examination to include at least one building under construction and some places that were small or filthy - though possibly better than a ditch.

And the North? Apparently there are shelter spots for 200,000. Who knew? 

Tuesday, March 3/2026

 

We’re living in what was once the Persian Empire. And you could say that this empire was late in the history of the region. The Persian Empire lasted from 550 to 330 BCE but there are signs of human habitation in what is now the mountainous area of Iran going back for a hundred thousand years with settlements occurring ten thousand years ago. The fertile basin of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, located in present day Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Türkiye, was the cradle of the ancient Mesopotamian civilisation where grain was harvested and preserved 12,500 years ago. Mesopotamia meaning literally middle of rivers, just as Mediterranean means literally middle of the land. Somehow the translations lose all the romance.

Just beginning to read Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones’s book Persians, “a definitive history of the Persian Empire, the world’s first superpower”.  (Only the Welsh can fit three double L’s into one name). 

And terrace warming up nicely in response to spring. Tiles warm on my bare feet this morning. 

Monday, March 2/2026

 Buddleia on the terrace coming into flower. It’s a pretty colour and does attract butterflies. But have to confess to no great love for it. Related to the lilac but with a scent less powerful and less beautiful. But mainly annoying because the flowers at one end of each spike are visibly dying as those at the other end struggle out. Never anything you’d want to bring inside to enjoy.

But it is a sign of spring. March came in like a lamb yesterday in terms of weather - a warm sunny day for enjoying a read on the terrace with a drink. 

More like a lion in political terms as a projectile, apparently not armed, hit a hanger on the UK Akrotiri base on the southern tip of Cyprus at midnight Sunday and two others headed that direction were intercepted. The UK maintained two sovereign base areas in the country when Cyprus was granted independence by Britain in 1960. As recently as Friday the British government had confirmed that it had withheld permission for the US to use RAF Akrotiri to launch strikes against Iran. But a weekend is a long time in politics. By Sunday Prime Minister Starmer had announced that he had approved a US request to use British bases for the defensive purpose of destroying Iranian missiles “at source in their storage depots or the launches which are used to fire the missiles”. He has, of course, pleased no one. There was already some popular unhappiness among Cypriots about Britain’s allowing US presence on the sovereign bases at all, let alone making them a target, while Trump, never one to waste emotions on gratitude, said British permission had come “too late”.

But today warm and sunny. Vodka tonics overlooking the Mediterranean.

Sunday, March 1/2026

 Hadn’t thought of this poem by Canadian poet AJM Smith in years. Decades more probably. It’s called News of the Phoenix and was published in 1943 - and no, that’s not when I last saw it. But what brought it to mind, of course, was the nature of the reporting of the Iran war. The attacks and deaths that are reported and revised and denied as we evaluate the sources. And no doubt as the sources re-evaluate their own positions. Clearly Prime Minister Starmer would desperately like to be on the same side as Israel and the US, but also on the same side as history. As Lord Peter Ricketts, former head of the UK Foreign Office, warned: “If you’re going to attack a country you have to show it is in self-defence and that there is some kind of imminent threat. You can’t make that case here”.

So the British bases in the Republic of Cyprus have seen increased activity but it is referred to by both the UK and Cyprus as precautionary. On the other hand the UK Defence Secretary’s claim that two missiles fired “in the direction” of Cyprus were intercepted has been flatly denied by President Christodoulides, a politician not normally known for understating threats. 

Meanwhile reasonably consistent rumours have it that Netanyahu’s plane was not given permission to land in Cyprus and settled for Germany instead (presumably en route to New York). Noting that he was required to avoid French and Spanish airspace.

And the title of Patrick Cockburn’s biography of his father, guérilla journalist Claud Cockburn, which we read a year ago, comes to mind. “Believe Nothing Until it is Officially Denied.”

Saturday, February 28/2026

The neighbourhood. Cyprus is the island top left. Haziness presumably meant to portray cloud and not confused identity, though that could apply too. It’s part of Europe by adoption but Middle East by birth.

Not necessarily any more dangerous than any other country. People joke about Iran being foolish enough to put their country in the midst of so many US bases. But truly there are American bases all over the world, well over eight hundred. Quite enough to allow them to forget that declarations of war are supposed to be approved by Congress and the UN and self defence is supposed to be in response to an attack and not the cause of one.

Friday, February 26/2026

 

Weatherman (weather person?) delivers cool and windy weather as promised but also full sun. Sun more than satisfactory as heat source most days. So at 10:30 this morning outside temperature 13 degrees, temperature in the salon on the north side of the flat 16 degrees, temperature in the south facing room (shady side of the room) 21 degrees, and temperature in the same south facing room (sunny side) 40 degrees. Always reminds us of the old Aesop fable where the sun wins the competition with the wind, proving itself the stronger. 

And in line with the fable (the competition was to see who could make the traveller remove his coat) we find ourselves unzipping our windbreakers before we reach the Blue Song. There are whitecaps but it isn’t cold. The bartender isn’t willing to dispense draft, though. Says not in winter. Do point out that it’s nearly spring. Well, it’s three weeks to the equinox. And apparently meteorologists go with March 1 as the first day of spring, since the equinox is so shifty about its appearance. In any case, he isn’t playing, so two bottles of Efes it is. 

Small group but interesting. Well John usually is interesting, having hired himself out as an engineer all over the world. Turns out he was working in Iran in 1979 and caught a bus out just before the shah was overthrown. One memory among many.

And in the bizarre news department, a Turkish actress and companion (think the article said accomplice but it will have been a translation) came to Girne and went to a house belonging to a British owner who was not in residence, accompanied by a locksmith. The locksmith not only let them in but changed the lock, whereupon the couple settled in. They were discovered three days later by a man hired by the owner to keep an eye on the property, who informed the police. The actress said in court that she was curious about the lifestyle of her daughter who lived in the neighbourhood. This seems not to have impressed the judge and the pair have been sent for mental health evaluation. To be continued, no doubt.

Tonight’s sunset promised a lovely day tomorrow.

Thursday, February 26/2026

Hooded crow. The type of crow found in Cyprus, and for that matter much of Europe and into Asia. Not keen on coming close to humans and even when they rest on a nearby tree or wall they seem to stay only for a few seconds. No point in putting out food. The crows would be wary and we would only be attracting a wide range of cats, feral and otherwise, as well, quite possibly, as rodents. It is legal to hunt them in hunting season and there is also a late spring hunt for culling purposes, so they have good reason to be wary.

Courtesy Matt Starling, Birdlife Cyprus

Not easy to get a photo. Pic    above taken of a bird that stayed for a few minutes in a tree in the orchard across the road. Obviously would need a telephoto lens to do better. They do apparently make them for iPad minis but haven’t done any research re quality and cost. 

Have no idea what was used for second pic, Matt Starling’s photo, but probably a decent camera. 

Wednesday, February 25/2026

Zoe down the road to the east of us posts that there’s lightning out at sea. Haven’t gone to look as we’re in the south side of the flat but we can certainly hear the thunder and it’s definitely raining. Didn’t rain in the daytime but was extremely windy. In fact several reports of water spouts, which are essentially sea based tornadoes. 

For some reason this winter seems to have been much windier than we’ve experienced in previous years. Do remember that we studied weather when I was in grade ten. Don’t remember anything I learned other than the names of the different shapes of clouds. So google and learn, or relearn a bit more re atmospheric pressure and the rotation of the earth. None of which seems to answer a more existential question - why, and why now, and why here. 

Leading perhaps to an existential answer. Why not? And to considerable gratitude for not living in the northeastern US, some bits of which got over three feet of snow in one dump this week.

Tuesday, February 24/2026

Courtesy Cyprus Mail

Windy today. Seems that’s frequently the case lately. Weather app lists the fine particulate matter as being “fair”. As usual that will refer to dust from the Sahara. Obviously not ideal for humans, and probably some animals as well, but there’s another drawback apparently.

A new Cypriot study has found that atmospheric dust has a deleterious effect on solar energy production as dust blocking light to solar panels can drop electricity production by more than twenty percent. Easier to measure than prevent.

Monday, February 23/2026

 Water, and also gas cylinders, are delivered by a nice man called Mehmet.  The deal is that I message him on WhatsApp the day before we want a delivery. So early this morning I have just said to J that it’s surprising that Mehmet is prepared to drive over and deliver a nineteen litre bottle of water for a hundred lira ($3.12 CAD, £1.69).

Short answer is that he isn’t. Not any more. Knock on the door. Young assistant there with the water bottle. One hundred fifty. Well, scarcely surprising. And inflation is hitting everything, and not only in North Cyprus, although the unstable nature of the Turkish lira makes it more obvious here. Though foreigners like us normally operate on harder currency that they bring in and change to Turkish lira as needed.

Still fifty percent increases seem fairly striking. Although probably a bit of bite the bullet about it. Simpler than raising it by five percent every couple of weeks. And nineteen litres of water is heavy. Well, nineteen kilos of course.

Sunday, February 22/2026

Courtesy kibrisgazetesi.com

 Late afternoon and a couple of gunshots from the mountainside remind us that this is the last Sunday in February and therefore the last Sunday of the hunting season in North Cyprus. There has apparently been a proposal to extend the small game hunting season into March, citing, among other reasons, changes in climate. However, KUȘKOR, the Birds and Nature Conservation Association, have protested, saying that March is breeding season and that in fact with climate change some partridges are beginning to breed earlier, meaning that the end of the hunting season should be moved back rather than extended.

Meanwhile police reports for the day include the account of a 47 year old female who failed to stop at a traffic stop. Then fled the scene. Raises a couple of questions. Why are police/news reporters obsessed with the age of everyone? Possibly because it’s the bit they’re allowed to report. And suppose it would be interesting if the driver were, say, thirteen, or ninety-eight. However the more interesting bit comes later:

“A search of the vehicle revealed that he was in possession of a metal detector without authorization from the relevant authorities. The individual was arrested.”

The “he” is probably a translation error. There is no third person gender in Turkish. He and she are both translated as “o”. Particularly awkward when translation apps are used, resulting in posts saying things like “my uncle died last summer and we really miss her”.

And about the metal detector. Have never thought about buying one but would have had no idea that it is illegal to possess one here. What other laws are we likely to be breaking?

Saturday, February 21/2026

Don’t usually acquire books and olive oil from the same source but today’s Saturday market is a happy exception. Karen, who runs the book stall in support of animal rescue, also harvests olives and sometimes has olive oil for sale. 

So today we collect, as arranged, a litre and a half bottle of olive oil. And, as we’re at the stall, acquire two previously unread Ian Rankin novels  and three Robert Harris books. Would have stopped at four books, but Karen points out that there’s a discount when you buy five so go with it. Besides spring is here so more time out on the terrace, which means higher proportion of “real” books. And it’s in a good cause. 

Friday, February 20/2026

Second day of Ramadan, but we, happily, are not fasting. A bit cloudy but no rain and not cold so we’re back to our usual Friday gathering at the Blue Song.

We go to the bar when we arrive and the bar tender says “two draft”. I’m impressed. “You remembered”. Then he goes to the cooler and takes out two bottles of Efes lager and two glasses. Would raise an eyebrow in query were I so accomplished. He explains with a nod toward the tap.”Not good today”. Fair enough.

Stop for groceries on our way home. 

Fruit and veg and a half dozen eggs. But most important the Ramadan pidesi, Ramadan  bread.  Sesame studded and at its best when still warm, as it is now. Seems a pity that those observing Ramadan have to wait until after sunset.

And, from the for what it’s worth department, North Cypriot press Kibris Postasi reports that Whitehall has not given permission for US operations against Iran to be conducted from RAF Akrotiri in southeast Cyprus, apparently as a result of concerns that the UK might be found to be violating international law.

Thursday, February 19/2026

Courtesy Kibrispostasi

Officially into the Ramadan month of fasting. Sunset roughly 17:30 now, although it varies with the exact geographical location and there are websites happy to provide the info. As with Lenten observances, it’s easy to focus on the deprivation aspects, and they certainly exist. Between dawn and sunset those observing (who are certainly not all those who are nominally Muslim) are required to abstain from eating, drinking (including water), smoking, and having sex. Naturally the prohibition on sexual activity is meant for those who are married - sex for practising Muslims is expected to be within marriage.

However the emphasis is not exclusively or even primarily on denial. Ramadan is meant to be a time of spiritual renewal. Of reflection, empathy, charity and community care. Iftar, the evening meal after sunset, is often a warm family affair. There are also public iftar meals provided by charitable organisations such as the Red Crescent or institutions like universities and government bodies. Everyone is welcome, Muslim or not, as the sharing should be inclusive. Those unable to fast for reasons of age or health or other causes are expected to make donations to contribute, but are not the only ones donating.

 

 

Wednesday, February 18/2026

Storm warning issued by Girne municipality, Girne being the regional centre ten miles to the east of us. Wake up to amazingly strong winds and the sound of lashing rain. This has to be the stormiest winter we remember experiencing in the Mediterranean, and there have been over twenty of them. On the other hand winters here really don’t last very long. 

Like the phrasing, particularly the bit about taking precautions against adverse events such as roofs being blown off - be prepared to duck? Though not as amusing as the tongue in cheek posting by a FB correspondent: “With all this wind I’m worried about the caravan in the garden. We didn’t have one yesterday.”

Unsurprisingly, the skies were far too cloudy to spot the crescent moon today, but the assumption is that it was there beyond the storm and Ramadan will begin tomorrow. For the observant this means fasting between dawn and dusk for the following month. Times of sunrise and sunset are calculated for pretty well every location in the world, in modern days easily checkable on the Internet.

And tomorrow’s forecast is for sunny skies and gentler winds.

 

Tuesday, February 17/2026

 Before Ash Wednesday comes Shrove Tuesday. The word shrove is derived from shrive, meaning to give absolution after confessing sins. Pretty solemn nomenclature compared to pancake day. And fat Tuesday always sounds   rather more indelicate than the romantic Mardi Gras - until the realisation hits that Mardi Gras translates literally as - Fat Tuesday.

But both fat and pancake refer to the using up of foods that won’t be eaten during the coming days of fasting - meaning meat, eggs and dairy (as well as wine and olive oil). Thus, prudently, pancakes were traditionally made the day before Ash Wednesday with the last of the butter, eggs and milk.

So Beverley and John have invited us for dinner on pancake day. And we rightly expect pancakes but are in fact regaled with a full meal from soup made from their own tomatoes - duly roasted, blended and frozen - to superb crepes, John’s specialty, following a full meat and roast potato main course. 

Joined, discreetly, by Henry, the oldest of the four rescue dogs, and two of the rescue cats. Not to mention excellent company. Pat is there as well, and kindly gives us a lift home.

Monday, February 16/2026

Courtesy BBC

Season of fasting coming up, for those who observe. Between lunar, Gregorian and Julian calendars it takes some sorting. Once had a student ask if there were any way of predicting when Easter would be. Before I had my mouth in gear a not particularly academic classmate said ‘Yes, it’s the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox’. And that’s pretty well it for the western Christian church.

There are western Christians in Cyprus. A few Roman Catholics as well as Christians of various denominations among the ex-pat contingent. But most Cypriot Christians, living almost entirely in the South, are Eastern Orthodox. The Orthodox Church uses the Julian calendar which occasionally produces a date for Easter that matches the western - but usually doesn’t. (Christmas, on the other hand, is celebrated in Cyprus and Greece on December 25,  same as in the west, but this is not true in all Orthodox countries. Don’t ask). 

This year Lent begins next Monday, February 23, for the Orthodox in Cyprus. The Orthodox don’t do Ash Wednesday. They start Lent with Clean (or Green) Monday. Considerably less penitential than Ash Wednesday. No meat, but the tradition is to eat seafood and salads, often at outdoor picnics.

In Muslim countries, including North Cyprus, the penitential season is Ramadan, starting this year, tentatively, on Wednesday February 18. The date is based on the lunar year, and, in fact, the tentative bit is down to the tradition that Ramadan begins with the first sighting of the crescent moon. Used to be by the naked eye, and still is in some places, but TRNC - like Türkiye - now relies on astronomical calculations. Answering the question of what happens if the skies are heavily overcast for several days.

Thus the beginning of Ramadan is, coincidentally, on Ash Wednesday.
 

Sunday, February 15/2026

 Wake up this morning and can’t hear either raindrops on the terrace tiles or the near gale force to be reckoned with winds that seem to have been making themselves felt for days now. Cloudless blue sky (no photoshopping just classic Mediterranean blue) and morning coffee on the terrace tiles. Enjoy the palm tree next door but quite happy not to be responsible for one. They get very shaggy and are soon tall enough that a fireman’s ladder wouldn’t reach to do the haircut. Helicopter?

Have finished John Simpson’s Unreliable Sources as our current read aloud book so now move back a century to our next pick, Pushkin’s Button by Serena Vitale.  Had remembered far too little about the famous poet, although J points out that we did see a statue dedicated to him in Russia at Ekaterinburg.

Must have known at some point that he died following a duel. A duel which is the subject of the book. It’s surprisingly well written and compelling. As the Times Reviewer says ‘Vitale has created a new literary form somewhere between biography and detective story…the work of an artist and a scholar’. 

Saturday, February 14/2026

 

Walking home from the little supermarket with fruit, sheep’s milk yoghurt and sourdough bread still warm from the oven. Uphill to our place but less than a ten minute walk. We always look at the building barely visible from our spot (marked with a 🔻). Does anyone live there? Is there a road? How was it built? 

Have to remind my Canadian self that thirty degree gradients here may be steep but they won’t ever ice up. Unlike that in one of the scariest rides we’ve taken, which was from Antalya to Taşucu along the southern coast of Türkiye. It was twenty-five years ago but we both remember it clearly. Three hundred and seventy kilometres of coastal road. Tight curves, narrow passages, long sections running directly along the cliff edges, lack of guard rails. In places the road tilted perceptibly toward the sea side. We went on a day in January when the road was icing and occasionally we could see at the bottom of the ravine the corpses of previous vehicles that had failed to hold the road. A road that is apparently now in the process of being redesigned in acknowledgment of its status as one of the most dangerous in Türkiye.