Sunday, February 7/2014

From the Cyprus news:

▪️ Burglars have made off with 60 bridal gowns and other wedding-related accessories worth over€90,000 from a central Larnaca bridal shop. According to the police, the break-in took place between 8pm on Thursday and 8.30am on Friday. The shop’s owner listed 60 dresses by various designers as having been taken, as well as 100 tiaras, 15 dress overlays, five sets of ‘stefania’ wedding crowns used in Orthodox wedding ceremonies, and five pairs of shoes. Police officers investigating the scene believe the thieves entered the shop through its main glass door after removing the lock.They have collected fingerprints and other evidence from the scene and will be examining footage from CCTV cameras in the area. The shop did not have an alarm or its own security cameras but the goods were insured, the police said.▪️

No alarm, no security camera, removable lock. But they were insured. Hmmmm

Saturday, February 6/2016

Checking on the bus strike. Apparently they plan to "escalate" next week, although they don't seem to have much labour left to withdraw.  Think one of the letter writers to the Cyprus Mail had it right:

"The owners are paid by the taxpayer but it appears that a disproportionate amount of that money sticks to their fingers." 

Anyway, plan B as far as getting to the airport on Tuesday is concerned. Ditto, probably, on coming back. Cyprus taxis overpriced, in part because there are too many of them, so that survival depends on high fares from few customers. Much worse than the airport question is the fact that our social life is tied in to the bus service. Talk of strike funds and holding out for victory not highly reassuring, although we do think that the drivers are not the cause of the problem. Ran into Harry at the supermarket and talked long enough that, as Harry said, we might as well have stopped for coffee. He has a good friend who drove a local bus for a while and was disgusted with the inefficiencies and outright corruption in the system.

Friday, February 5/2016

We're never quite sure what items we're not supposed to bring over the border from North Cyprus when returning to the South. Forget about it until we're asked by the uniform if we've bought anything, which seems a poor time to ask what shouldn't we have. Have always assumed tobacco was top of the verboten list but nobody we know buys it and booze doesn't seem any cheaper in the North. Though medicine  certainly is. But now we know not to waste our time gathering snails:

"Ten kilos of snails were found in the car of a Turkish Cypriot when he tried to transport them from the occupied areas to the south, customs said. On Wednesday morning, police in Pyla stopped a vehicle which was driven by a Turkish Cypriot man from Vatili and discovered the snails. The driver was taken to the customs department where he was fined €100. The snails were seized in order to be destroyed."

Destroyed, or escargots for the customs blokes?

Thursday, February 4/2016

(Photo: Cyprus Mail)

Identify the bar that was the scene of the shots last week. Bizarre, really: no one injured, bar closed for the night, but about 20 shots. Obviously not one careless person thinking it was unloaded and finding otherwise. Busy square with semi upscale bars and cafés, diagonally opposite where used to stay several years ago - before the hotel and square began to move up in the world.

Bus strike continues. Meeting with the relevant minister, or his delegate, predictably useless. Public sympathies probably limited, in part because only 39% of Cypriots have ever set foot on public transport, nor has the quality of same encouraged them to do so. As with so much in Cyprus, corruption seems to have been commonplace. Stories of personal vehicles being fueled at company expense.

J has acquired a friend at the beach, a Cypriot man who speaks almost no English but is highly voluble in Greek. He has a number of medical problems, from what J can make out, including metal replacement bits in his legs, back problems, and need for some difficult heart surgery for which he is waiting. Some of this information gleaned from a friend who sometimes keeps an eye on the man as he swims. Last week Cypriot Friend went swimming on a chilly day and J, seeing him shivering on the beach, brought him a cup of hot coffee. Later in the week, to J's embarrassment, CF pressed on him a bag of gifts - wine, sweets, zivania (wine based spirit). Today there's a top up package with Commandaria (traditional heavy, sweet Cypriot wine), nuts and more sweets. And this from a man with little savings, as his friend explained earlier! Horribly out of proportion any kindness in J's bringing coffee. He's on the beach today when We meet up and J introduces me. 

There's a young woman there sitting outside the concrete change room/toilet building who translates for us. His daughter? No, she works here but keeps an eye on him. She is Cypriot but Australian born and about to run out of any official assistance. The powers that be give her a number of days work and then cut her off. She says, philosophically, thar some people refuse to clean toilets but she needs the money. She has a ten year old daughter. She also used to have a good job, she says, working at the airport for €1000 ($1541 CAD, £771) a month. But with the economic crisis the salary was cut and then she was asked to work a split shift - which as a single parent she couldn't do. She shrugs. There are people who will work for four hundred euros - or five, or six - but you can't live. Later research shows that there are some minimum wage regulations, around €900 monthly, but only in a few occupations

Wednesday, February 3/2016

Jane has appointment with surgeon in the morning. The plan is that they will collect us afterward and we'll go for lunch. However usual chaos prevails at hospital, resulting in hour and a half of queuing (once more think of the ludicrous arrangement whereby those in wheelchairs go to the front of the line whilst those standing with difficulty do so interminably). This despite the fact that appointments are made in advance. Then J's files not delivered from registration counter to examining room, metres away, resulting in more delays. Would, in fact, be difficult to devise a more inefficient system. To add insult to injury, the surgeon then says they are expected to pay for the operation - which as Cyprus residents and EU citizens they're not. Odd that it would be the surgeon and not a clerk pursuing this anyway. But Bill, not in best humour by this point, obviously having none of it and enlightens surgeon. 

Lunch at Cessac at the British base, where we're metres away from a sunny sea and the fish and chips are excellent. Arrive home at B&J's just as the postman pulls up on his motorbike. Delivery is only weekly in Pyla, so there's a small bundle. Two letters in official brown envelopes are registered and require signatures. What are they? The postman is happy to share his expertise - it will be the title deeds for the house. 

And after lunch the treat: Bill shows us how to make terrine. Labour intensive but fun. Basically sausage meat and chestnut stuffing layered with chicken breast (or on some occasions rabbit) and wrapped in bacon. Plenty of herbs from the garden. To be baked, cooled and pressed. 

We leave for the bus after the terrine is in the oven. And wait a ridiculously long time even assuming the schedule may be a bit off. Until a car stops in the dusk and beeps. Woman inside informs us that the bus strike is still on. Certainly explains non-appearance. Obviously we should have read more than Sunday's paper. B&J kindly run us home.

Tuesday, February 2/2016

Hotel employees get the green light to strike, though apparently not immediately. Never thought of the staff here as belonging to a union, and perhaps they don't. In any case housekeeping of such an indifferent quality that we could easily manage without for a week or two. More if we had access to the linen and mops, etc.

Monday, February 1/2016

Reports say that the Cypriot unemployment rate for December 2015 is down by 8 percentage points to 15.7%, from 16.5% in the last month of 2014. Maths seem odd. But apart from that, this doesn't take into account young people leaving the country because there were no jobs for them.

Discussion - well no, actually we just listen - with the woman who runs the animal shelter charity shop. J asks her opinion on the UK exiting the EU: she's all in favour. Then comes the torrent - all the money and benefits that asylum seekers can get at the expense of the British poor. She quotes astonishing figures. They're wrong, of course. I'm disturbed enough to look them up when we get back. But if there were the sort of differential she imagines it would be pretty distressing. As it is, the most upsetting thing is the seemingly endless pitting of the poor against the poor. The why should they get it when.... Never seems to come round to any suggestion of sacrifice on the part of the one percent.

Sunday, January 31/2016

From today's Cyprus Mail, one more example of local Mafia style. Of particular interest as we stayed at a nearby hotel on Ermou St for several years. Not hat tourists are ever at much risk in these affairs. Normally tourists (other than yobs hitting on local girls in the bars) are at risk only from appaling Cypriot drivers:

▪️POLICE are investigating a shooting incident that occurred early Friday at a newly opened bar in Larnaca, after it had closed for the night.

▪️According to police reports, around 20 shots were fired with an automatic weapon at around 3.50am outside the bar which is located in Ermou Street, in the centre of Larnaca. The bar’s owner told police he does not suspect anyone.

▪️The bullets, smashed the bar’s front window panes, while several shells were found on site. The bar was closed when the shooting occurred.

Saturday, January 30/2016

Brief strikes, really more protests than serious work stoppages, are fairly common in Cyprus. Doctors employed by the state at hospitals and clinics have planned a six hour strike for Monday to protest the raising of their pensionable age from 65 to 68. Also on Monday is a strike of Larnaca bus drivers, slated for 24 hours beginning at 5 AM. Their problem is that they accepted wage cuts in September 2014 because the company had financial problems. The agreement, they say, was temporary - until December 31/2015 - and they should have reverted to their regular pay. 

Friday, January 29/2016

Lovely day, so reinstitute Plan A from Wednesday, sort of. Bus to Pyla, where Bill and Joe trim trees. Then evening buffet at Bambos, restaurant in next village over. Thursday and Friday evenings feature enormous buffet at impressively low price of €7.30 ($11.05 CAD, £5.55). Always noisily full of Cypriots with a few expats. Birthday parties, children under tables and great good humour. Family run.

Thursday, January 28/2016

At Prinos greengrocer's. They always ask at the till whether we have a bonus card. We don't, but have shopped there for so many winters that it occurs to us that maybe we should. So inquire, and are duly given an application form. First boc for surname and second for first name. Third is for ID or passport number!! Can think of no conceivable legitimate reason for asking. Sheer nosiness? Bureaucratic habit? Same phenomenon at airport, where girls doing tourism surveys invariably ask so many intrusive questions that visitors refuse to complete the questionnaire. Shall not bother with bonus card application.

Maggi and I have late lunch special at Marzano's. Classier than most traditional Cypriot restaurants, but without their familial warmth and rough hospitality.

Wednesday, January 27/2016

Wednesday. Plan A was that we would go to Jane and Bill's in the AM, and Bill and Joe would trim the trees adjacent to the house that were beyond B's reach and heading for the power lines. Weather still fairly bitter in the wind, so Plan B devised. Jane goes to her painting group at the Flamingo Hotel for the first time since she broke her femur and B and J collect us on the way back to Pyla. Homemade soup and terrine (totally spoiled we are) and film watching. Actually men watch WW II airplane videos. Jane has nap. I take out ipad. Always familial comfortable there when we each do our own thing, though. Then evening meal at To Kazani, in part down to Christmas present voucher from B&J's grandson. Lamb chops and chicken souvlaki, following meze that would have been sufficient in itself.

Tuesday, January 26/2016

Northern Cyprus press after their president's return from Davos yesterday: 

"President Mustafa Akıncı stated that they had an opportunity to express the peaceful, modern and rational messages of the Turkish Cypriots in Davos, adding that the few days in Davos were very beneficial for the Turkish Cypriot people and the future of Cyprus. In his press meeting at Ercan Airport after his return from Davos, Akıncı said that it was a great experience for them to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos. Furthermore, Akıncı expressed that the Turkish Cypriot people are one of the two equal partners of the Federal United Cyprus to be established."

And therein lies the seeds of reunification failure. Greek Cypriots recoil in horror at any thought of equality of any kind. Game over.

Monday, January 25/2016

Thought winter was over and thought wrong. Freezing. Very nearly literally as overnight temperature dips to about 1 degree. Water jar (our dechlorinator) on the balcony doesn't form ice, of course, but cold enough that the thought occurs. Cypriots can't remember colder temperatures, though we Canadians can, of course. Follows on what has been in general the warmest winter we can remember here. And since this is our sixteenth year we're developing a fair memory bank. But expected to warm up later in the week.

Sunday, January 24/2016

Chilly. Well, for Cyprus downright cold. Sunday lunch at Cambanella's with Bill and Jane. The place is packed and an Englishwoman asks us on our way in whether we know of any special occasion, as there isn't an unreserved table to be had.  Seems it's just chance, though. As usual the lady of the house, presiding over the carvery, is disappointed if one takes only a week's worth of meat from the roasts on offer.

Saturday, January 23/2016

 CTO, the Cyprus Tourist Organisation, is claiming credit for an increase in tourists to the island last year in typically turgid Cypriot bureaucratic jargon, citing "hard and methodical work, achieved through a multi-level and complex effort." Well, yes, although terrorism in Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt did give Cyprus an edge over competing markets. The strength of the pound against the euro was another factor, and many avoided Greece because of bailout uncertainty. An editorial in the Cyprus Mail comments wryly: "If this were the case what had the CTO been doing the previous years? Why had it taken so many years for it to engage in the hard and methodical work and the multi-level and complex effort that achieved the impressive results of 2015? Why was there no intense and targeted action in 2013 and 2014?"

Friday, January 22/2016

Think more of the Norwegians must be back in the hotel. There's a fairly exuberant gathering in the studio next to us, laughter until after midnight so we joke about taking a bottle and knocking on the door. But much more typical of Cypriots than Norwegians. Think it sounds like Norwegian being spoken, though. Time will tell. Last year the wifi was enough worse that we spent more time in reception in search of a stronger signal. Meant we saw more of the neighbours and knew more of what was going on.

Thursday, January 21/2016

Jane has physio in the morning so she and Bill stop for lunch. Raw veg, dips (tzatziki from scratch, others from Prinos), beef fillet and then fruit. Strawberries now local, from a bit north of here. 

Wednesday, January 20/2016

800 gram cauliflower

Coffee at Harry's about 11:30. Four older men (don't know older than what - not necessarily older than us, but not young) at the next table. They have coffee but also a bottle of something colourless labelled in Greek. Probably zivania, a grape based spirit. Much laughter, and when they're finished the bottle returned to the café shelves. Cheerful lifestyle, though as J points out the women don't seem to have nearly such a relaxed life. 

Carrefour and Prinos for fruit and veg. Incredibly lucky to be here strawberries are fresh. In fact I never by fruit that has no scent. Same rule at home, but in SL that leaves us with a much narrower range - mostly bananas and grapes. Here even the carrots smell like carrots. Tiny tomatoes, and cauliflower. The latter 69 euro cents per kilo today (52p, $1.06 CAD). That's 48 cents a pound in Canada. We've been reading stories about $8 heads of cauliflower in Canada. Of course that isn't a kilo price. Maybe they're enormous....Maybe aye and maybe hooch aye, my Scots grandmother would have said skeptically.

Tuesday, January 19/2016

Article from Davos, via Reuters, with commentary by B Jaworski in brackets:

Cyprus will make an unprecedented joint appeal to the world's political and business elite in Davos on Thursday to support their efforts to reach a settlement to their decades-old dispute.

Cyprus leaders to make joint Davos appeal for peace support   *[Wonderful! New captive audience - Brussels' patience long since exhausted]

U.N. and European officials say the prospects of finally reaching a peace deal to resolve one of the oldest frozen conflicts on the planet are better than at any time since Greek Cypriots rejected a U.N. peace plan in 2004.  *[Not that they were good then].

There's an interest among the leaders involved. Both Turkey and Greece see advantages to moving on,"  [special UN envoy] Eide told Reuters.  *[Well, optimism is his job].

The east Mediterranean island has been divided since Turkey invaded the north in 1974 in response to a short-lived coup in Nicosia inspired by Greece's then military rulers.

Cyprus joined the European Union in 2004 despite the Greek Cypriot vote against reunification. *[Major error on the part of a weary EU - when negotiating never assume the sensitive issues will sort themselves out later]

However, its relations with Turkey have remained frozen, efforts to reduce the economic isolation of Turkish Cypriot northern Cyprus have stalled and Nicosia has blocked much of Ankara's EU accession negotiations over the continued dispute. *[All too predictably - what WERE they thinking in Brussels?]

Peace efforts gained a boost with the election of two leaders who are personally committed to a negotiated settlement, as well as the discovery of large offshore natural gas deposits off Cyprus which would be easier to exploit if there is a deal. *[Finally a little incentive, but don't hold your breath].

A reunited Cyprus would also need international investment to help the peace process work. Reconstructing one resort town abandoned in the conflict is estimated to cost billions of euros, and compensation may also be required for people unable to reclaim their properties. *[Dream on, Cyprus, do you have ANY idea where you fall in the list of EU priorities?].

The regional strategic environment is more favorable because Greece's leftist government is less nationalistic than its predecessors and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has tamed the military and is keen to improve relations with the EU.  *[And no serious problems in Greece or Turkey at the moment. They're free to concentrate on Cyprus].

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is due to address the Davos audience right after the Cypriot leaders and is likely to reaffirm his country's commitment to support a settlement this year, which would also remove an obstacle to closer EU ties.  *[They'll be lucky to be allowed to stay in Nato. Forget the EU].

Some diplomats in Ankara hope for agreement on the text of a deal before Cypriot parliamentary elections in May, and a referendum soon after that.  *[These are the same realists who would rather destroy Kurds than ISIS and can't resist poking the Russian bear].

Anastasiades and Akinci  *[still referred to in southern Cypriot news broadcasts as the so-called president of the illegal regime - that's how friendly things are]. are not expected to announce any agreement on Thursday because much detailed work remains on sensitive issues such as territory, the return of property or compensation.  *[So far they've agreed on catering for the talks?]

An international reconstruction fund with EU and private money could be a vital component. *[Swamp land also on offer]

"We have gone from harvesting relatively low-hanging fruit into the hard core deepest areas. We're in tougher terrain now and both leaders will have to make concessions," Eide said.  *[Begin of preparation for disaster]

An agreement between the two leaders would have to be ratified in referendums in each of the communities and implemented over time with international support.  *[That was where it fell apart last time]. 

Anastasiades has not yet really begun to sell the benefits of a potential deal to a skeptical Greek Cypriot electorate.  *[Wisely. He's had cardiac problems. And said electorate already unhappy that both leaders went to Davos, just like equal human beings].

Asked why prospects for a settlement were better now than in 2004, Eide said: "The one major difference is that this time the process is led by the Cypriots and their leaders. My role is to facilitate but we (United Nations) are not putting down our own proposals. Every word is written and agreed to by the sides."  *[EU, at least, has learned not to beat its head against a wall].

Monday, January 18/2016

Cool and showery in Larnaca, but roads closed in the Troodos Mountains due to heavy snowfall. Cyprus is such a small island, 240 km long by 100 km wide, so the mountains are about 110 km away by road - more like 70 km as the crow flies. It's not unusual to have mountain roads closed to non 4WD vehicles (or those without chains!) in winter. Totally closed much less common.

Sunday, January 17/2016

Sunday lunch. This time we go with Bill and Jane to Kofinou, a little village just south of Larnaca. There's a restaurant there featuring lamb kleftiko - baked in a traditional outdoor beehive shaped oven. Actually, later googling reveals that there are several (5?) kleftiko restaurants in Kofinou, which is known in Cyprus as the village to go to for the best kleftiko. It's also known for its refugee centre, prefab houses sheltering various refugees including, as of September some Syrians who sailed from Tripoli in Lebanon. (And also for its abattoir). 

Our meal is certainly very good, served with roast potatoes, preceded by salad (including very nice marinated caper greens) and followed by small pastries filled with anari cheese and Greek coffee. Quite busy and all the other patrons seem to be Cypriot, a good sign.

Saturday, January 16/2016

Walking up from the beach we see our friend Mr Walid outside the mosque. He's an Iraqi refugee who lives at the Sunflower and always stops for a chat. His life centres around the mosque and he is pleased to invite us in. We've often admired it from the outside. A beautiful building, 500 years old he says, stone with flying buttresses. We leave our shoes at the door and enter the spare, carpeted interior. J lends me his sunhat, but otherwise I'm pretty well covered. Very peaceful. There are books. Take one if you wish, he says, and J takes a small paperback Koran in English. A few young men are seated cross-legged on the floor for instruction or discussion. We admire the few pictures. The space is large, airy, and pleasant. A lovely, serendipitous encounter. 

Coffee at Harry's Café. Usually fellow coffee drinkers are local Cypriots, though there are also occasional tourists or others. A tall fair haired man, probably in his forties (although we're becoming less reliable estimators as everyone looks younger and younger) arrives with a (probably) Cypriot man. The language of conversation is English but not close enough to assess the accent - the Cypriot is quite loud but his companion inaudible. So play the guess nationality game. Not British or North American. Wearing a waistcoat with quite casual clothes. Not proof positive but material is shiny, satin-like, as opposed to, say, leather. Number two is footwear. Leather sandals could be from anywhere, but these with loudly checked socks. Number three is hair. Shoulder length proves nothing, but the combed straight back look almost certainly European. Concensus, including colouring, Northern European, probably Scandinavian or German. Other considerations are that he is carrying a sketch pad featuring a cartoon and that he is here outside of tourist season, so perhaps slightly atypical in his home country. An interesting pastime. 

Stop at the elephant store on the way home. Notice, not for the first time that unit prices are utterly unreliable, specifically in this case re Famous Grouse whisky, which we don't intend to buy and bread, which we do. The sign says, inaccurately, that a 550 gram loaf of bread at €1.39 is the same price per hundred grams as a 900 gram loaf for €1.99. (And no, I don't carry a calculator or do the precise maths in my head - some things just stand out as an insult to the intelligence). 

More obvious is the whisky. Two bottles of Famous Grouse, one 70 cl and the other a full litre. The full litre one sells for €12.99 (or €1.30 per hundred ml). The 70 cl bottle is €9.99 (or €1.43 per 100 ml). Fair enough. OK, I know. If anybody is actually reading this, they may well be distracted by the actual prices. €12.99 is $20.61 CAD or £9.94. And you can't begin to think about an acceptable blend for that price in Canada or the UK. I also know that in Canada you can't buy a litre of whisky; you'd have to buy 1.14 litres. If you're not Canadian, don't ask. I also know that if Jennifer is reading this she thinks I've totally lost it. Raye, this is where numeracy leads. BUT the thing is, the sign doesn't compare mls at all. It shows the price per gram. GRAMS of whisky? And furthermore it says that the litre costs €3.25 per 100 grams while the 70 cl bottle is €1.43 per 100 grams. Go figure!

Friday, January 15/2016

Decide on booking Athens instead of Sofia. An unnerving experience with hotel wifi speeds, although safe enough with a VPN. Constant finger crossing that the system won't crash mid payment. Aegean's site works so badly that in the end I switch to Expedia which, oddly enough, is cheaper even with the booking fee than Aegean's own non-functional site. Then have the good luck to think of Expedia.ca, so no change of currency as well.  Book hotel separately, the same one we stayed at two years ago - quite adequate but definitely not the kind of luxury that attracts hostage takers. Whole procedure invollves switching to the reception area for better internet connection. Feel thoroughly entitled to the small whiskey J pours on my return.

Thursday, January 14/2016

Meet at the waterfront for coffee. No rain, but a dark cloud forms. Still warm though, with people on the beach, some swimmers, and sailboats on the horizon. Stop on the way back at Top Kinesis, the travel agency that sold us the Nile cruise all those years ago. The girl we talk to totally gets the idea of the visa run. We have to go somewhere by mid-February. Preferably reasonably cheaply. Sofia? Yes, maybe.

Wednesday, January 13/2016

Tree planting day. Bill has two trees started in pots that need to be transplanted and they're big enough that moving them has become a two-person job. They pick us up after Jane's physio appointment and we head out to the British base for fish and chips. Stunning warm, sunny day. The restaurant is on the edge of the sea. See-through plastic windows still in place, so the view is a bit hazy, but in the summer they'll be removed and the breeze will flow through. J and Bill transplant a young grapefruit tree and one other. J says the soil is extremely dry when they dig down but the trees get a good watering. Home with a beautifully marbled. 

Thick slice of Bill's latest culinary production, rabbit terrine. Light supper after lunchtime fish and chips. Light maybe, but with terrine and marinated olives from Jane and Bill's tree indecently luxurious.

Tuesday, January 12/2016

Bus out to Vlachos where we're meeting Jane and Bill for dinner. Last visit there was mid-December when Jane was in hospital. We're early so go for a short walk and return as Jane and Bill are arriving - Jane for the first time using elbow crutches instead of the walking frame and moving fairly smoothly. Excellent meal as always. I order moussaka and J a mixture of chicken kebab and sheftalia sausages (a Cypriot specialty made with ground pork or lamb mixed with onion and parsley and grilled). Practically a meal's worth of leftovers to take home.

Monday, January 11/2016

Radio four interrupted with the news that David Bowie has died. Presenters clearly stunned by completely unexpected news, though it emerges that he had been suffering from cancer for the last year and a half. Tributes and reminiscences for the rest of the day. By evening the Cyprus Mail online has struggled to find a local angle, a little reminiscent of the apocryphal story about the Aberdeen paper that was supposed to have reported the sinking of the Titanic under the headline "North-east man dies at sea". The CM's heading is "David Bowie: Cyprus is my Island (Updated)" and the story mainly refers to the fondness Bowie's first wife had for Cyprus where she was born while her father was here working as a mining engineer. Clearly pulled out of the archives to meet the occasion.

Sunday, January 10/2016

Cambanella's for Sunday roast again. Or choice of roasts. The staff are all, or mostly family (apparently the daughter is a lawyer who still cooks at the restaurant on weekends). The woman who carves the meet seems terribly disappointed when one says no to a third slice. Maureen here as well as Jane and Bill. Bill fills a plate at the carvery cum buffet for Jane and she says, mildly, that she had specified thin slices. But we're all agreed - the woman doesn't do thin. 

Saturday, January 9/2016

Lovely weather again. Some tourists wearing shorts. Some locals wearing sweaters and coats. Speculate, not for the first time, on the rôle of culture and human physiology in establishing comfort norms re temperature. And surely perspiration is independent of cultural conditioning?

Friday, January 8/2016

Threatens rain but more or less doesn't. That is it rains, but only while we're having coffee and sheltered by the restaurant patio roof. Windy but not cold at all. Some people in swimming and the sea probably warmer than Ontario lakes in summer. Stop at the animal shelter charity shop on the way back, where the Thai woman that works there on Fridays tells us that she and her husband stayed home on New Year's Eve because the celebrations aren't what they were. No music this year, she says. Timed the fireworks from our window, I say - three minutes. Glad we celebrated chez nous, although a little nostalgia for the days when we'd take a bottle of sparkling wine and a couple of glasses out into the throng along the beach and join the ooohs and aaahs.

Thursday, January 7/2016

Jane has a physio appointment, after which she and Bill pick us up and we go for lunch at Cessac, at the Dekhelia base (British). It's more or less cafeteria style, but famous for its fish and chips, which live up to the reputation. Jane manages the walk from the parking lot with her walker, and observes that a disabled parking spot would be handy but would undoubtedly be used by the wrong people. Back to J and B's where we're given oranges from their tree. Bus home.

Wednesday, January 6/2016

Winter over! Seems like it anyway, and nice timing as today is a holiday. The Feast of Epiphany always seems like a bigger event than Christmas in Cyprus, although it may only be that Christmas is more familial and celebrated in the home whereas Epiphany involves public events and parades. Super day - sunny and a high around 20 in the shade. Some in swimming and quite a few tourists around. Not as crowded on the waterfront as on previous years, though there are a number of booths selling everything from cotton candy and roast chestnuts and corn cobs to cheap jewellery and religious items. When we arrive the (arch?)bishop is still on the pier. There has been a procession from St Lazarus Church, ending with the bishop throwing the cross in the water and young men diving for the honour of retrieving it. Retrieval always successful as it's tied to a cord. We do see the procession heading back. It's always a little disturbing as a symbol of non-separation of Church and state. Large numbers of cadets bearing a large cross, soldiers with unpleasant looking automatic weapons, a military band, and heavily vested Church dignitaries. Nationalism, religious loyalties and a certain amount of xenophobia heavily combined. 

Harry's café open and along with our Cyprus coffee we're served two small lokoumades, round honey soaked doughnuts that are traditional on this day.  Back on the beach carnival atmosphere continues and we stop for our annual ice cream cone. Home with sprigs of eucalyptus leaves from the pier, left after the parade. Beautiful scent in the flat.

Tuesday, January 5/2016

Rain and cold. What passes in Cyprus for winter. The newspaper reports that police on Sunday wrote up 136 businesses for continuing to trade on Sundays while forbidden to do so. There's a continuing dispute over whether Sunday trading should be determined by executive decision or parliamentary legislation. Pending a supreme court decision stores should remain closed, with the exception of small corner shop types. One reader is enraged, writing: 

"So the police have lots of time to issue notices to shops staying open on a Sunday. Why don't the police stop all those driving whilst using a mobile phone, going over red lights, parking and blocking pedestrians on pavements, parking on zebra crossings, double parking outside schools, driving with children in their cars who have no seat belts, stopping motorcyclists who have no number plates or helmets on, stopping the many, many vehicles belching smoke out of their exhausts,..." Fair point as all of the above are huge problems, with people using wheelchairs or pushing prams forced out onto the road as the sidewalks are blocked by parked cars.

Monday, January 4/2016

Photo courtesy of Cyprus Mail

Winter. Cold and rainy and a good day to be inside. But a good day, it would seem for the birds. According to the newspapers they're back - the flamingos that winter at the 2.2 square kilometre salt lake near the airport. There were some there in December but they've been joined by many more - the estimate is 10,000. The salt lake was, until the 1980's, a source of salt for export, taken by donkeys down to the harbour. When we stayed at the Athene it was walking distance. It's not really now, although might be possible using the bus one way. The flamingos are a bit unpredictable, though. Not easy to tell which side of the lake they'd be on.

Sunday, January 3/2016

(Maureen and Jane. Bill's beer seems to have wandered into the photo too)

Sunny, and much less windy than yesterday. Buses on the Sunday schedule less frequent, but the 425 along Dekhelia Road goes every half hour seven days a week. Take it out to Cambanella's Restaurant. Have memorised the landmarks and do know where to get off, but the driver, rather sweetly, is concerned on our behalf. Another passenger (young Philippino woman, the only other passenger at this point) kindly puts him straight, as she's getting off at the same spot. Arrive just as Jane and Bill and neighbours Iris and Maureen are going in. Jane's first physio appointment has clearly made a lot of difference, and three more scheduled this week. Cambanella's usual Sunday roast. Starters, choice of four roasts - beef, pork, lamb, and chicken (or all four if anyone wanted and could hold it), roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding and veg. Apple pie, cheesecake or crème caramel for dessert. Always the same, but always good. Maureen turns out to be, originally, from Kilburn, home of our favourite London café.

Saturday, January 2/2016

Jane messages to say "have not used W /C all day today.......improving.

So am now able to stand & walk but still need Zimmer to rest on." I read this with the traditional use of WC, meaning loo or toilet and am puzzled. Surely not having used it all day can't be good news. And this is improvement?! Read the rest of the message, which refers to our meeting tomorrow at a restaurant for a Sunday meal: "We are leaving w/c at home so it'll be a v slow arrival". Slowly the penny drops. W/C in this case is wheelchair!

Friday, January 1/2016

New Year's Day. Winter, or what passes for it here. Not wet, but chilly enough to wear J's windproof shell over my blazer. We're invited to Bill and Jane's for dinner. Bill's doing the cooking, as he often does even when Jane isn't incapacitated. It's fairly impressive, too. The soup is a venison purée and it's followed by duck breasts with orange. Unusually, we eat inside. Without the wind it would be ok in the sun. Sunday schedule for the buses, so we get on as the bus heads into Pyla to check the route and timing. Timing always a bit problematic in Cyprus. Drivers quite considerate about letting you off at a convenient spot or waiting for a mother struggling with toddlers, but have no problem running ahead of schedule to allow for coffee at the end of the run, and quite likely to, totally illegally, use the phone while driving.

Thursday, December 31/2015

New Year's Eve, and for once we don't even really give lip service to the possibility of going down to the waterfront. Free wine and beer with the fireworks and probably a young and festive atmosphere. But better quality drink here, and quite cosy. The clincher is that the fireworks - which we can see from our sitting room (although not quite as well as if we were able to remove one particular building from the line of sight) - are shorter every year. So online greeting exchanges as the new year moves west from Australia. Midnight North American central time 8 AM here. Time the fireworks. Right- only three minutes so much better here - and raise a glass.

Wednesday, December 30/2015

Bus to Pyla. Jane in wheelchair, but we go out for a walk around the neighbourhood. Meet Bulgarian neighbour with small dog. Neighbour as affectionate, voluble - and totally incomprehensible as ever. Identify (tentatively) one word. Może, same as Polish for maybe, and accompanied by "who knows" gesture. Wheelchair significantly heavier than it looks.

Tuesday, December 29/2015

M

J and I take the 8:20 bus to Bill and Jane's to help transfer Jane to the hospital for doctor's appointment, removal of staples. Chief problem being that it's necessary for Bill to unload Jane and wheelchair and then find parking spot.

Appointment theoretically at ten, by which time parking lot, disabled parking, no parking areas always full, sometimes by cars double parked in no parking zones. Today no exception, so Bill heads off for distant on street parking while the three of us begin the bizarrely inefficient outpatient process. There's a longish queue to register, but this we actually get to skip, as a man mid-queue kindly indicates that wheelchairs are allowed to go to the head of the line. (Actually seems to make limited sense, as those in wheelchairs are seated whereas some in the queue may find standing painful or tiring, but we don't protest). The woman at the wicket says that Jane's files will be sent over to the consulting room and that she is to buy a 50 cent stamp (the standard method of co-payment for services or medication. System beginning to remind both J and me of making purchases in Soviet Russian shops. No queue at all at the stamp window. 

 However there's a mass of people outside the three consulting rooms (two orthopaedic and one gynaecological). It appears Jane's ten o'clock advice was less an appointment time than a suggestion that it fell within consulting time parameters, with similar info having been given to everyone else, some of the others no doubt being experienced enough in the process to arrive early - and possibly score a parking spot as a bonus. There is not enough seating to go round, even given that the few in wheelchairs have brought their own. No one seems to have any idea where in the list they come, leading to shouted inquiries each time one of the consulting room door opens and a nurse (well, woman in white anyway - who knows) emerges to call a name. Can't help thinking that even a non-electronic version of the butcher's take-a-number system would be better. As it is there's a fair bit of palpable hostility in the herd, as people feel frustrated and clearly suspect that they're being treated unfairly. We wait about an hour, eying the others and trying to assess how many are actually patients and how many friends, relatives, drivers, etc. Can't identify anyone clearly pregnant for the other side. Crutches and plaster much in evidence, as well, of course, as many people with no obvious malady. At one point a woman knocks against the little Christmas tree and is unable ti right it, forced in the end to lay it on the floor, with the little nativity scene ending up on top of one of it's unhappy animals.   Jane's turn is quite quick - doctor happy, staples removed. 

Bill off for the car, and we stop for lunch at an outside table at the little café by Smart.

Monday, December 28/2015

I Take bus out to visit Jane. Take her out for a walk in the wheelchair, which is heavier than it looks like to tilt when going down a step. On the way back meet up with the Bulgarian woman next door, who is out with her little dog. The dog is delighted to see Jane, who usually takes it for walks. Hugs (for Jane, not me) from Bulgarian neighbour, and, as always, streams of cheerful but utterly incomprehensible Bulgarian. It's a southern Slav language, apparently similar to Macedonian - which nobody I know speaks - but none of it sounds much like Polish. The only two words I identify are może - Polish for maybe - and da, same as the Russian for yes. Have had similar experience with girl at the East European shop. Thank you, for example, transliterates as blagodaryu (Cyrillic letters used by Bulgarians), resembling neither Polish or Russian at all. 

Sunday, December 27/2015

Sunday. Feels like the third Sunday in a row, as it follows Christmas and Boxing Day. Ordinary time struggling back to life. Go to the shop round the corner for our usual Cypriot Sunday Mail and find there isn't one. It's taking a holiday, probably announced in Saturday's paper, which we never buy, and no doubt accompanied by the weekly tv guide (not all that useful) and the puzzle page (quite a good one).

 Lidl open. Mother and two children singing Christmas songs outside the entrance, not especially well, and collecting money for same. Probably East European of some description, as they're all fair haired. It's a fairly common occurrence here, not really talented enough to qualify as busking but a very slight cut above simple begging. Rather shamefully cubs and cadets also engage in this form of Christmas fund raising, so it's not unusual to see groups of five or six of them engaged in half-hearted off-key carol singing, collecting tin in the face of each exiting shopper, rather than providing an actual service like car washing or selling cookies.

Saturday, December 26/2015

Boxing Day. Officially a holiday here, and most places other than restaurants and bars are closed. Lots of people down at the waterfront - kids with Christmas presents, tourists, foreign students, lots of locals. There's a little train that takes people along the waterfront and up past St Lazarus. Booths along the beach selling balloons, popcorn, ice cream, nuts, inexpensive jewellery. Actually, though, not as much as on other years, or maybe just not as much as at Epiphany. At Europa Square, though, there is a set of trampolines for harnessed kids to bounce on. J and I over to Harry's by St Lazarus for coffee. Almost too hot in the sun, but at noon there's not much in the way of shade. Cyprus coffee at Harry's always accompanied not only by the obligatory glass of water but also by a treat of some kind. Today it's melomakarona, the little soft, honey soaked spice biscuits that are traditional at this time of year. Not that we're running short of calories.

Friday, December 25/2015

Christmas Day, and stunning weather again. Was to have been in Kyrenia, but with Jane's accident we settle for a local restaurant, Cambanella's on Dekhelia Road. We've been before, for Sunday roast, and the food is good and family that run it very friendly and helpful. Take Jane in the wheelchair and meet up with B and J's friends, Hazel and Bob. Bob sporting tie that lights up and plays Christmas music. Christmas crackers on table, contents of which Hazel takes "for the refugees." Rather sad to think that these very cheap trifles and paper hats (unworn by us) are desirable acquisitions anywhere. Meal good as ever - turkey, lamb, beef and pork at the carvery as well as roast potatoes and Yorkshire pudding. Quite sure none of us did take all four kinds of meat, though we certainly could have done, and when J, having been asked whether he wanted ice cream or custard on his Christmas puddind, asked if he could have both, he was told, laughingly, that he certainly could. By the time Bill runs us home after leisurely meal it's sunset, not long after the solstice.

Take Cyprus brandy and Bailey's bottles down to reception and have a drink and a chat with Kiki and Mr Andreas' cousin, who is watching tv with her. Kiki doesn't get much in the way of time off, working afternoon/evening shift six days a week, holidays included.

Thursday, December 24/2015

Christmas Eve. Lovely weather. This will be our sixteenth Christmas in Cyprus. The first one in two thousand almost accidental, but we've been back every year since, and for longer than the first year's four weeks. Perfect winter climate, and better this year than most, possibly (one hates to think) down to global warning. Walk along the beach, where there are additional tourists for the holiday. Quite decent swimming weather. Average sea temperature in December in Larnaca is about 13, though this year may be more than average. Today's high is about 20, but that's in the shade of course. In the sun on the beach it would be much hotter.

Before coffee at Harry's go through the market. There's always a Christmas Eve market here. More necessary, maybe, because Saturday, the usual day, is Boxing Day, but in any case all Cypriots would want fresh produce for Christmas.

Sent from my iPad

Wednesday, December 23/2015

Jane being released from hospital and Bill has been told to to be there between 8:00 and 8:30 AM. Picks us up to help. Parking lot largely full when we arrive at 8, but B, who has brought the wheelchair with him parks in disabled parking, pointing out that sticker or not Jane qualifies. Staff on ward say that Jane will simply have to wait her turn. Can't leave until the doctor has seen her, which will be some time after 9, which naturally annoys B, given the earlier info they gave him. Actually all care after surgery itself has seemed rather lacking in Standing Operating Procedure. Eventually doctors make rounds in a small gaggle, only previously experienced by me in films rather than during actual hospital stays. One four bed ward at a time. By this time Jane is in the corridor in the wheelchair, possibly regretting her decision to turn down the breakfast - slice of bread, hard boiled egg, triangle of processed cheese and tea. There is actually no final examination, discussion, instructions, but she is presented with a paper to sign, B pointing out that we don't actually know what the Greek says, though by this time he probably doesn't wish to pursue it. So by ten o'clock we're away. Regrettably passenger door not removable as with jaws of life in last night's accident. Jane manoeuvred into car (like royalty - sit first and then move your legs round, graceful even with miniskirts). Wheelchair in back and walking frame between Joe and me in back seat. 

At home Jane delighted to see B has decorated - fairy lights, gold tinsel, small tree with baubles. Even the ceiling fans sporting Christmas trim. Lunch outside and a friend, Katherine, from Jane's art group, drops by with treats from their Christmas meeting. Wine for those of us not driving, and K kindly drops us off near Lidl, walking distance from home.

Tuesday, December 22/215

We're reading in the evening when there's a metallic crash sound, not entirely unlike the emptying of a skip full of tins and glass or perhaps a skip being tipped over. We go back to our book. About ten minutes later We hear sirens, growing louder and then stopping outside our building. Out to the balcony, where we can see a car in the middle of Makarios Avenue flipped over on its roof. Fire engine, ambulance, several police, traffic diverted, fair sized crowd of onlookers. It takes about half an hour to extricate the single occupant. No sign of other cars involved, except that one of the three cars parked outside the Chinese restaurant opposite us has its back end pretty far out from the curb. Once the driver is on the stretcher it must be another twenty minutes before they put him in the ambulance and drive off, leaving the police to proceed with notes and measurements on the upside down car and the badly parked black one. Discuss with Kiki from reception who has gone outside to observe. It seems that the driver - possibly drunk and almost certainly speeding - has sideswiped a number of cars, beginning with the black one (which may have had its rear end far enough into traffic to be an obstruction and part of the cause of the accident. After the sideswipes he lost control and the car flipped. Rumour has it that the man worked at a service station down the road, but the car had rental plates, which is unusual for a local. Kiki also says that he was moving his arms after being placed on the stretcher, so obviously alive.

Monday, December 21/2015

J and I by bus to the new hospital to see Jane. A young Sikh man (student?) is also looking for the hospital. Fortunately for him we can point the way from the bus stop, because the hospital, though several storeys tall, is not visible behind the overgrown greenery, some of which J acquires for Christmas decoration. Genuinely in need of trimming anyway, and only bordering the muddy, overcrowded hospital parking lot. Jane up as far as a chair, but rather down re lack of progress. Meet Catherine, also visiting. She's well versed in the ways of the hospital, having spent time here with a broken back, and brings bottles of water and wipes. Home on a bus that hurtles through a red light, the woman driving continuing to talk non-stop in a high pitched rapid fire staccato. Bill over later, after his visit with Jane, to have spaghetti with us.

Sunday, December 20/2015

Buy the Cyprus Mail on Sunday. It's never quite sure  whether it is a national or parochial paper. Hence the headline - "Big Strides in Cutting NPLs [non performing loans]: Bank of Cyprus reaches deal with three of its largest debtors" - just above the other front page story, "Document shows Hitler only had one testicle."

Saturday, December 19/2015

Skies clear and I walk down to join J at the waterfront. Coffee, then to the bakery. For the first time they're out of our favourite large loves of sesame studded rye bread. And we have a translation problem. They will undoubtedly be resupplied, but when? Avrio, I ask. Tomorrow. No, it seems maybe in one hour. Too long. So we rethink. There's another loaf that I think is whole grain. Mavros? Means black, but also dark. Suspect no one cares about 100%. Yes, yes. Pick it up to put into a paper bag and discover the bonus - it's still warm! Reach Smart Store, four short blocks from home, as it begins to rain. Only need tomato paste, but also acquire tinned mackerel and peas - and emerge into downpour. The sort where each time one thinks it couldn't rain harder it does. Drainless roads fill up almost instantly but not far to go, and inside cosy. Bread even warm still.

Friday, December 18/2015

Thunder storms in the night and still rainy and windy in the morning. Clears close to noon though winds are still high. Even the trunk of the palm tree outside the window is bending in the wind. I take bus 427 from round the corner to the hospital after lunch. Ask the driver if he goes to the new hospital. Eventually. This proves to be the case. Definitely the grand tour, in a large figure 8, including hurtling through back streets in the old Turkish area behind the Makenzy waterfront, at which point the driver mutters that he has to drive fast because he's late. It's not from picking up passengers, as much of the time I'm getting solitary limo service, but the traffic is verging on gridlock at times. Arrive at the hospital after a three-quarters of an hour ride just as theoretical visiting hour finishes. The ward door is locked, but they let me in. Overlap with Harry and Ailsa who are about to leave. Mindful of the limited diet I've brought grapes, though we do speculate on whether wine would be allowed and guess it probably would. Catch same bus and driver on subsequent circuit for return trip.

Wednesday, December 16/2015

J and I off by bus to visit Jane in hospital. Know that one of the bus routes goes past the General Hospital (known locally and also on bus timetables as the new hospital - though it opened in 1984 - as opposed to the old hospital which functions as a clinic) as well as the port, which is near us. Stop at the tourist office where girl supplies schedules for what she says are the only two buses that go to the new hospital. Neither goes to the port. Know for a fact that several buses go to new hospital and one of them also goes to the port, but can see that I am dangerously close to being asked what I am doing inquiring if I know so much about it, and can also see that she has a life - and a friend on the other end of the telephone line - so meekly accept the two printed schedules. 

Take number 423 from opposite St Helena's. Not the shortest route, but the most ride for the fare, with us the only passengers for much of the time. At one point the driver calls loudly out the window to three black people, a woman and two children: Chocolat! [French pronunciation]. We're stunned. He sounds cheerful, even friendly. Could there be an innocent explanation? It sounded like one of the group had yelled something first. Maybe they know each other and there's a running joke, where they exchange epithets every time they meet. Vanilla! Chocolat! Maybe. 

The "new" hospital looking distinctly down at heel. Not bad at a distance, but showing grubby signs of wear on closer acquaintance, possibly made worse by our entering through the outpatients door, since the only other obvious entry is emergency. Nothing resembling a main desk that we can see. Most signs are in Greek and most people seem to understand the routine, which includes small co-payments for services for which the procedure is to buy a stamp and hand it in at point of delivery. Which goes some way to explain a small sign reading "Here are sold only stamps For Blood Tests Behind The Elevator." The initial image coming to mind being of a seedy trench coated figure with a syringe plying his trade in a corner back of the lift. 

Jane in good spirits and looking amazing for someone who has spent the last forty hours lying in one position with a broken hip. They're waiting for the warfarin to be largely out of the blood and are tentatively planning to operate tomorrow. Both Jane and Bill have been pleased with the treatment, though the hospital does seem to be short of funds. The food is adequate but just. Meat and potatoes but J now craving salad. Bottled water, towels, and even soap are supplied by the patient's family or friends. Joe jokes that it sounds like a Mexican jail. 

Take bus 427 back to the centre and find that it goes via the Cineplex. File for future reference.

Thursday, December 17/2015

Rainy day, though J finds a clearish period to nip down to Lidl for provisions. Jane calls later in the morning to say she's had the op, but we get cut off so I text to wish her well. Late afternoon Bill calls from the hospital. He's rethinking coming out to dinner with us. So he comes over and fills us in. Three titanium pins and seems to be doing well. 

Out to Vlachos where we meet up with Ailsa and Harry for dinner. We're early enough that there are still portions of lamb and chicken in the oven, so that's what we opt for, preceded by a village salad and vegetable meze and followed by fruit and small Greek pastries and coffee. Drink to Jane's health and recovery. One of the nicest things about Cypriot - and possibly all Mediterranean - restaurants is the lack of hurry. No one is in a hurry to hand us the bill after two hours. We'd have been welcome to sit there till midnight.

Tuesday, December 15/2015

J off for his morning walk. I opt not to meet him as mobile charging - not that we're overwhelmed by phone calls. Leaving me home when reception calls to say, with surprising protectiveness, that there is a gentleman who wants to see me, and is it all right to send him up. Turns out to be Bill, with bad news. Jane has fallen and broken her hip, badly it seems. Happened last night and she's in hospital, of course. He's unsure what course they're going to take, but impossible to operate until she's stabilised and blood pressure lowered. Also, she takes warfarin (blood thinner) so she needs to get that out of her system before surgery. The doctor B saw wants a consultation with his preferred cardiologist today. B mentions our Christmas plans being in abeyance - the four of us having booked a week at a hotel in Kyrenia - but that, of course, is the least important worry. 

J takes the chicken bits of fat with him when we go to Carrefour, as we pass a skip on the way where feral cats congregate. They're very nervous, especially about sudden movements, but come running when they realise what's on offer. 

Call Bill after dinner. Jane somewhat better and surgery now expected Thursday. In the evening J plays Polish Christmas carols on the Playbook.

Monday, December 14/2015

BBC continues. Permanent? Fingers crossed. Fairly repetitive news on weekdays but quite good weekend programming. Sunday dinner on Monday, sort of, as J simmers a whole chicken in the big pot, leaving tons of leftovers as well as stock for soup.

Sunday, December 13/2015

Sun back. Cancer society having a Christmas fair in the parking lot where the weekly  market is held so we wander down. Ailsa there with a neighbour, Georgina, so we stop at a café round the corner for coffee. Georgina, J and I have Cyprus (Greek, Turkish - the particular designation is political not epicurean) coffee. Ailsa orders what  most North Americans would simply regard as regular coffee. It comes in its own small cafetière, ready to let her press it down when brewed.

 BBC appears on a hitherto unused channel slot on the tv. Will it last? And at what stage in the broadcast process was it acquired?

Saturday, December 12/2015

First rain day since we arrived three and a half weeks ago. No doubt rain needed. J goes down to walk lengths of the beach as usual but takes an umbrella. We actually have FOUR. Two mini ones we travel with and two larger ones acquired en route - last year not this - one in London and one in Rome. J finds them abandoned, sometimes in the middle of the road, wherever the original owner has given up as one blew inside out. He's very good at repairing them, which is convenient because we do have a history of leaving them on buses or in the tube. Jane messages that she has driven on flooded roads to the British base at Dhekelia to get a newspaper: "drains unheard of in Cyprus". In the evening the rain gets serious, with thunder and lightning, but cosy inside, where we're reading aloud from Events, Dear Boy, Events - a collection of excerpts from (mostly political) British diaries spanning the twentieth century.

Friday, December 11/2015

Stop at the animal charity shop and, while we're there, ask about John, whom we haven't seen since our return but who used to be the mainstay of the shop. The Thai woman, who often works Fridays, tells us that he died fairly suddenly in June. Rather upsetting, especially as there is a suggestion that the local hospital was a little short on effort in diagnosing the problem. We didn't know him well but used to chat quite regularly, if briefly. Actually, have just read an article about micro-interactions: A  2014 study...found that our daily interactions with “weak ties” (people we don’t know very well) have a positive correlation with our happiness and feelings of belonging. In other words, the more micro-interactions we have, the better we feel. The researchers also found this impact wasn’t limited to extroverts. On the contrary, they concluded it might be “especially beneficial” for introverts...." John was a part of our world.

In the evening with Jane and Bill to Kazani, a little traditional restaurant in Aradippou, greater Larnaca. Accessed by a tangle of dimly lit roads, many too narrow to allow two cars to pass. It's seven o'clock but has been dark since before 5. The restaurant name comes from the Greek for cauldron and refers to the distilling of zivania on the premises for many years. It's a family enterprise, and much of the food is from the family farm. Warm, very traditional, and friendly.

Thursday, December 10/2015

Email from M asking if it would be convenient if she stopped for an hour about 7 pm between Greek class and an overnight visit with a friend. Reply of course she can. Acquire shortbread as a suitable accompaniment to coffee and/or brandy and then eat somewhat earlier than usual in order to avoid awkwardness of meal conflicting with visit. M arrives cheerfully on time and we offer coffee or tea or brandy. Oh no, says M - I shouldn't drink as I haven't eaten. At which point we begin to realise that we've been a bit slow on the uptake. Emailing in the morning was expected to trigger a supper invitation, rather than our eating early. Confirmed when M says innocently that she had thought we usually ate about seven. Redeem ourselves somewhat by reheating a bowl of yesterday's pea soup to precede the shortbread. After which the Cypriot brandy appears to be an acceptable complement to the coffee. M herself amused, though mildly embarrassed: "And don't laugh at me after I've gone."

Wednesday, December 9/2015

English language daily Cyprus Mail concentrates on the insular - well, the word does come from insula, Latin for island. So pride of place to anything connected to the talks on reunification of the Turkish north and Greek south of the island. Seems to be more serious than in most previous years, and it's possible that President Anastasiades is not in the mold of previous leaders who won elections by telling southerners that no possible solution was as good as they deserved. Still there is a pathological attachment to past grievances and a great deal of denial of any conceivable responsibility. The whole issue even has a familial nickname - Cyprob. So despite posturing, talks, press releases, it's all too easy to believe Anastasiades when he says the thought of a solution by March is "overly optimistic" - or by March of the following year either. There is apparently no agreement yet on the questions of territory, property and guarantees. Which does leave one wondering what has been agreed. The committee's lunch menus?

Tuesday, December 8/2015

Tuesday. Haircut day. Have been waiting for a day when there was hot shower water in the morning, as opposed to late afternoon. Give up and wash hair under tepid water. J and I conveniently go to the same place, and the same man has been cutting our hair for over ten years, and doing a pretty good job of it for the most part. No appointments so it's luck of the draw on wait times, but not bad today. 

Monday, December 7/2015

Meet with Maggi and friend Jean for coffee at Harry's-by-St-Lazarus, as opposed to Harry's Bar, where M went last week when we had arranged to meet only at Harry's. Always nice and sunny, especially as global warming (for which, obviously, one should not be grateful) has been providing temperatures almost consistently in the 20's. Contrasting a little with the Christmas tree between us and St Lazarus.

Sunday, December 6/2015

Jane and I to Kristingle service at St Helena's. Baking, second hand books and clothes for sale in the courtyard first, along with mince pies and mulled wine. Jane wins a bottle of olive oil with herbs inside. Bit coals to Newcastle that. Kristingles at the end of service - oranges with red ribbon around their equators, a candle and foil imbedded in the top, and 4 toothpicks with sweets. These are symbolically the earth, Christ's blood, the light of the world, the four seasons, and the fruits of the seasons. 

Saturday, December 5/2015

Bakeries and supermarkets here still reminiscent of the village market square. Few Cypriot women can resist squeezing every loaf on the shelf, despite signs decrying the practice in English (and presumably same in Greek) before leaving with one, or perhaps none. Lidl, with Germanic cleanliness and order, supplies disposable gloves as well as metal tongs but no polizisten, so normal Cypriot practice prevails. At the Discount grocery, where there are no concessions to hygiene on the bread racks but scoops in the fruit and nut bins, J expresses his displeasure to a middle-aged woman who is taking handfuls of dried cranberries, ramming fist into mouth, and returning for more. Not only unabashed, she seems to have no idea what is distressing him. A problem no doubt compounded by lack of a common language.

Friday, December 4/2015

To Xylotymvou in the evening with Jane and Bill. It's a village east of Pyla, where they live, and noted for a friendly restaurant which holds a buffet on Thursdays and Fridays. Very busy, and Jane has wisely chosen a table near the (not burning at the moment) fireplace. It's far from the buffet tables and from the wildly noisy Cypriot family gatherings, so conversation is possible. Excellent salad buffet and the second plate of hot foods uneven but not at all bad. Company, as always, super.

Thursday, December 3/2015

Vote in British House last night, predictably, in favour of bombing ISIS in Syria. So by the time we wake this morning two Tornadoes have returned to the British base at Akrotiri, 84 km southwest of us, mission accomplished. No time wasted there. Announcement says what they bombed is an oil field. 

Sun loungers and umbrellas still up and last week there were quite a few sunbathers and still a number of people in the sea. Today in the high teens - higher in the sun - but the wind makes it too chilly for sunning.

Stop at a little second hand shop where we previously looked at the portable stereos (sounds a bit prim but less un pc than ghetto blaster - go with boombox?). This time we're equipped with a cd and a tape to test with. Unnecessary, as the owner announces that he has had an electronics friend test the one we were interested in. The cd doesn't work. Mysteriously though, the price has risen from €10 when we thought it might be working to €20 (£14, $28.60 CAD) now that we know it isn't. €50 if we want the friend to fix it. No sale.

Wednesday, December 2/2015

Drop in to the charity shop run by volunteers at St Joseph's Convent three mornings a week. Not much of interest but very crowded. An elderly nun and two other ladies sit on hard backed chairs opposite the used book shelves, almost certainly oblivious to the presence on the top shelf of three copies of Fifty Shades of Gray.

Stop at the food store which we still know by its previous name as the Elephant store. The best pears we've ever tasted and pink grapefruit at 38 euro cents a kilo ($0.54 CAD, £0.27). Huge and fresh and juicy. 

 

Tuesday, December 1/2015

Follow debate in British parliament on whether to bomb ISIS/Daesh in Syria. Struck by the (mostly) informed, articulate, and civil nature of the debate, despite the passionate opinions held. Have seen no (was going to say few but that would be inaccurate) debates in the Canadian House of equal caliber. Particularly good to see that speeches were largely without benefit of notes, the theory but not the practice in Canada where head down muttering into a sheaf of script prevails. Genuine debate. Able to watch streamed on ipad until wifi proves unequal to the effort.

Monday, November 30/2015

Back to Harry's Café near St Lazarus Church for coffee in the sun. Prefer McDonald's filter coffee, but Harry's Cypriot (=Greek, =Turkish) good, and the nice lady always provides a free - and in our case totally unneeded - bite of something sweet, in this case a small slice of cake. Much nicer atmosphere with outside tables and chairs, but the immediate impetus was the noise, reminiscent of giant dentist's drill, near McD's from the renovations taking place on an old building next door. 

Cyprus Mail reports 80 year old woman killed while walking along the street in the town of Protaras in the morning. She has a fractured skull and police are investigating, which is more than they are doing for a 77 year old friend of Bill and Jane, killed while he was cycling in a village. Driving standards here are shocking, with tailgating especially prevalent.