Sunday, May 10/2020

We came to North Cyprus for two weeks. It’s been two months today. We have been incredibly lucky. No idea what’s next. Most guesses we might have made in the recent past would have been wrong. Lockdown relaxation began on Monday, but doesn’t include  late evenings and Sundays, explicitly because the authorities are aware that evenings and Sundays are the times when there would be the most temptation to break social distancing regulations and they would be the hardest to enforce. But there have been no new cases here since April 20.

Saturday, May 9/2020

Hard to draw a line between feral and non-feral cats here. The climate is such that living outdoors is easy year round and probably none of the cats around here sleep inside, even in winter. Not sure that the ones the neighbours feed are “their” cats or just ones with which they have a friendly relationship. And they know better than to feed them right on the doorstep. So now does J, after the black cat he fed curled up on the doormat. Still gets our scraps but not in our little garden

The city walls are about two miles in circumference. It’s not circular, so the diameter formula doesn’t work, but still nowhere you might want to go is likely to be as much as a mile away. The heart, although not the geographical centre, is the mosque, originally St Nicholas Cathedral, and the square in front of it. The fig tree in front is believed to be the oldest living thing in Cyprus, its plaque identifying it as dating from 1299. Ground breaking for the cathedral was in 1298 and it was finished about a century later.

It became a mosque after the Ottoman conquest in 1571 - not ancient history as timelines in the Middle East go.

Friday, May 8/2020

More or less in the non-news department, the UN Peace Keeping Force in Cyprus is prepared to assist North and South in opening border crossing points “when the situation allows”. Headline reads:

UNFICYP ready to facilitate sides with efforts to ease restrictions at crossing points

This was not a grand announcement but a response to a question from a reporter. The surprise would have been if they had said they had no interest in North/South relations and would not help if asked. In no way informative re any actual plans or even discussions regarding reopening crossing points.

Thursday, May 7/2020

The call to prayer -  that long, haunting chant - draws in more than human interest. Yesterday on our walk we passed a dog just as the ezan began, and the dog joined in. Today at the noon call the dogs in the kennel next door added their voices in a howl.

J cuts his own hair most times anyway, settling for an annual professional cut, usually in Larnaca, so no enormous difference doing it here - and the weather is getting warm. Barbers and hairdresser not yet open for business so imperfect scissors pressed into service and excess locks hit the floor.

Wednesday, May 6/2020

Middle of the day not ideal for walking unless it’s overcast. Official shade temperature in the 20’s but moving J’s little magnetic thermometer into full sun yields a reading of 40. There’s a breeze, though, and an afternoon walk is really pleasant. Our road  curves north, and following it to the end brings us to St George the Greek Church, or at least ruins of same. It was built around 1300 in mixed  Byzantine and Gothic styles in what was then the Greek quarter of the city. Not that the city was short of churches. At one point the story was that there was one for every day of the year, though that can never have been more than joking exaggeration or pious wish. There are still remaining cannon balls from the Ottoman siege of 1571.

Pass later another St George Church - St George Xorinos. This one rather more intact, although inaccessible,  also 14th century. It is less ambitious, but St George Xorinos - St George the Exiler - comes with an interesting curse. And no, we didn’t collect any soil.

Tuesday, May 5/2020

Have determined (we think) that the produce truck comes on Tuesday and Friday mornings. So postpone mini trip out to grocery store in order not to miss it, despite also thinking that it is possible to trigger truck arrival by first buying groceries. Noon comes and no truck. Eat lunch. Go to shop to buy water, bread, cheese, eggs, olives, wine (their second last bottle) and minimal veg. Come back and begin cleaning purchases. Produce truck arrives. Questions: a) could truck have been triggered earlier by earlier shopping trip, and b) is there a minimum purchase  of unnecessary fruit and veg that must be acquired at the grocery store in order to have the truck arrive with duplicates? Truck’s offerings usually both cheaper and nicer.

Discussing our perception that the twilight period here seems shorter than it does at home, and decide it must be down to two factors. One is our assumption that when the temperatures are consistently in the twenties the days will be much longer. The other is that the more northern latitudes do, of course, have longer days as the solstice approaches. But how much more twilight? Fortunately, it’s easy to tell, as the second last Muslim prayers of the day are at sunset and the last ones when the last bit of light disappears from the sky. And it’s possible to look up prayer times for virtually any location in the world. So today the relevant times for Famagusta are 7:33 and 9:02 PM - an hour and 29 minutes. In Sioux Lookout the times are 8:34 and 10:29 - an hour and 55 minutes. So not only is the twilight period longer at higher latitudes, but it ends, of course, much later. Hence our frequent observation that we’ve barely finished eating and already it’s getting dark.

Current read aloud book (well, one of them) is Defying Hitler, a truly remarkable memoir of life in Germany between early childhood at the beginning of World War I and young adulthood in the 1930’s. It’s an insightful and compelling view of German society in a tumultuous period written entirely from a civilian point of view. 

Monday, May 4/2020

Liberation day. Now permitted, during the day time Monday to Saturday, to walk more or less where we wish. Some shops open. Masks to be worn everywhere, and social distancing unchanged. Banks and pharmacies to follow regular hours. First destination is the bank. Have not gone previously as the nearest not our preferred. However this has left us using euros to buy food and during our time here the exchange rate has gone from 7 Turkish lira to the euro to 7.7 TL to the euro. Corner shop still working on 7 and hard to blame them as they will have paid for their supplies at old rates. Our bank a short walk outside the walled city. We reach it and find a queue of several carefully spaced people waiting outside. But J points to the cash point, where there is no queue. And no problem.

Back via the main square. A number of shops open, some pretty optimistically, as they are meant for tourists and carry jewellery or designer clothes and handbags. There really are virtually no tourists here, and it’s not the kind of souvenir buying we go in for. Do stop at a store we went to when we first arrived. It’s aimed at tourists as well, but of a different sort. Shampoo, souvenirs, some food basics, soft drinks, and quite an impressive array of booze - floor to ceiling along one whole wall and spilling over into the next aisle. Whisky prices not bad. Wine prices not exactly bad but mostly what they think tourists might recognise and want, like standard South Cyprus wines at higher than South Cyprus prices. Turkish wine a much better buy but not much in evidence. 

J does buy ground coffee and - interesting find - peanut butter at a much better price than the corner shop. Check the contents and find 90% peanuts and 10% carob powder. Tastes quite good, and seems to be a Cypriot product, which accounts for the price. Overall our corner shop is a better place to buy food, which is nice as it’s also handy. 

Sunday, May 3/2020

Eight new cases of coronavirus in the South, bringing their total to 872, or 556 active. Doesn’t really bode particularly well for any re-opening of the border. North now at one active case and not likely to wish to open its only land border to a country with many more. And not as if the South is pushing for an opening. They acknowledge that there is little threat from Turkish Cypriots but point out, fairly enough, that Turkey has a large number of active cases, currently over 59,000 and there are many Turks in the TRNC. There are, but none are free to enter now and those few who entered after the middle of March have done fourteen days isolation. This should make it a non-issue, although that would depend on the actors on both sides genuinely wanting solutions.

Saturday, May 2/2020

Don’t really need food, but bottled water a constant on the list, so I go to the corner shop. Regardless of what other grocery sources we discover next week, we’ll always get water from the closest place because it’s heavy. Old lady passing the house as I leave. Well, I think of her as old, anyway. Could conceivably be my age, or possibly younger but walks so slowly I have to make an effort not to trip over her. Tempted to do an end run and be back home already by the time she reaches the shop, but instead trail along behind, leaving decently well over a metre as it’s an empty street. Made more embarrassing by the fact that she keeps stopping to look at me. No language in common - just keep moving, lady, or I’ll be walking on the spot. Store busier than usual, probably because it was closed yesterday for the holiday. Metre distance would require some choreography, though usually no problem here. Just grab the water container, pay and leave. Do, however, note out the corner of my eye that the wine shelf, well thinned out on the last trip, seems to have disappeared. Someone else must have been drinking our wine.

There is now only one remaining active Covid-19 case in the TRNC, but the government is being cautious in the relaxation of the lockdown. The deputy prime minister warns that the epidemic is not over, and specifically the current ban on going anywhere in the evening is extended and going anywhere except grocery stores, pharmacies and banks on a Sunday is still forbidden (in any case banks, most pharmacies and many grocery stores are closed on Sunday):

WE SHOULD NOT COME TOGETHER WITH FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND DO NOT HAVE FAMILY MEETINGS. We should know that if we do this, we will also endanger our loved ones, family, and friends beside ourselves.

The curfew in the evening has been EXTENDED for this reason. In other words, there is a curfew in the evening so that there are no family Gatherings, home visits and so on. 

There are also those who ask why there will be a partial curfew on Sundays but not Saturday. The reason is this: The traditionally BBQs, visiting Family and Friends, gathering together are very common. For this reason, although this is forbidden for every day, there is a partial curfew on Sundays to CONTROL this, since it is more frequent on Sundays.

Friday, May 1/2020

May Day. As quiet as one would expect in a locked down country. And today the little store must be closed, as we would normally see the occasional person walking past with a bag of groceries. We do have a delivery, though. The lovely lady across the road comes over with a gift - four of her beautiful pastries, still warm. 

Sent a message to Air Canada two weeks ago, pointing out that they had changed our return itinerary so that the flight from Toronto to Winnipeg left before the one from London to Toronto had arrived. Their online options not designed to fix it. They would allow a one time only free change, which shouldn’t be wasted rectifying an error they had made, and which I referred to politely as a glitch. So today a reply: “Unfortunately we are unable to assist you with this matter”. Thought this might be the end point, but hardly the start of our discussion. They do suggest the same unsuitable online possibilities that did not deal with the problem two weeks ago. Or telephoning, which is not impossible but easier said than done. Actually, AC has made a change, though not necessarily in response to the problem they created. On Wednesday they were pleased to send us confirmation of our bookings that listed the connecting flight as leaving two days after our arrival in Toronto, a rather loose connection. Should really pursue this except that 1) have no clear method yet of making the London to Toronto flight, and 2) probable quarantine in Toronto is likely to mean changes to or abandonment of the Toronto to Winnipeg flight anyway. So remains a work in progress.

Thursday, April 30/2020

More details emerge on the lockdown changes for next week. We are going into a long weekend as TRNC, along with most of the rest of the world, observes May Day. Makes one wonder why North Americans have chosen September for a holiday recognising labour. Chosen by Americans because it was midway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving. Did May 1 just seem too socialist? Anyway, the three day weekend creates a pause before the lockdown relaxation begins. 

Some changes take effect on Monday. Interestingly, Sundays remain as they are now, with the same limited destinations. However, on other days we will be able to walk where we like while still wearing masks and observing social distancing. No group gatherings. Restaurant takeaways from May 11 after each restaurant wishing to be included has satisfied the authorities regarding their hygiene provisions. Gradual increases in the types of services provided. It’s been a very strict lockdown, and there have been violations - and fines - but overall seems to have worked well. Now down to three active covid-19 cases in the country. 

Wednesday, April 29/2020

The cannon signals the time for the fast breaking meal to begin. The time from sunrise to sunset is long enough here but must be significantly longer at higher latitudes. So check Inuvik. Yes, sunset today at 23:50 followed by sunrise tomorrow morning at 5:52. But this is early in the Islamic (lunar) month. Fast forward to the end of Ramadan and the last night is a mere hour and thirteen minutes long. Probably few observant Muslims living in Inuvik, but fair deterrent for any thinking of moving there. Turns out I am not the first to spot the difficulty. Wikipedia is pleased to explain: “Although fatwas have been issued declaring that Muslims who live in regions with a midnight sun or polar night should follow the timetable of Mecca, it is common practice to follow the timetable of the closest country in which night can be distinguished from day”. A fatwa, despite ominous shades of death threats to the likes of Rushdie, being merely a legal opinion.

Becoming informed here is not a passive process, particularly for those who don’t speak Turkish. The government is fairly good at providing information, but naturally their releases are in Turkish. So the first attempts at translation we are treated to are often a bit of a mystery. Thus today we get the announcement regarding changes to the lockdown, still most often translated as curfew. “The meeting of the Council of Ministers is over. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kurdistan Region announced the decisions”. Sounds official enough. But the Kurdistan Region?! Have we wandered into a press release from the wrong country entirely? And what to make of this: “Failure to leave during the night until 15 o’clock was extended”? There’s also a list of “places that will be closed for up to 15 months” including, improbably, kindergartens, hairdresser, and picnic area parks”. 

As with most ministerial announcements in translation, one might as well enjoy the humour and exercise patience. Better translations will follow along with glosses, accurate and otherwise. So in the next translation the Kurdistan reference has disappeared. The 15 o’clock night bit seems to have been a very strange attempt at saying there will still be a nine o’clock curfew. And the list of places closed for up to 15 months is the easiest to solve - read “up to [until] the fifteenth of the month [May]. Press releases like cryptic crossword clues.

Tuesday, April 28/2020

First time J and I have gone out at the same time - to pick up groceries - since the compulsory mask in public policy. So J with coffee filter device and I with scarf. No photos available. Will really have to acquire something better if we try to use them long distance. These would do the basic catch-a-sneeze though, which is the point of them.

There are quite a lot - over 1500 anyway - of people who live in the North and work in the South who, like everyone else, are unable to cross the border. Many have workplaces that are closed at present, but this is likely to change as restrictions are relaxed. Their hope is that they will be permitted to cross for work, or even to live temporarily in the South. However, the indications from the South are that relaxing the borders will be among the final phases, fearing people may enter from Turkey where infected numbers are high (although not as high as the US, Spain, Italy France, Germany or the UK, even in terms of percentage of the population). The fear is probably exaggerated, or even simply politically motivated, as the only people who have been allowed entry to the North from Turkey are Turkish Cypriot citizens being repatriated and they have been collected at the airport and placed in government supervised quarantine.

Monday, April 27/2020

Apparently there is to be some relaxation of the lockdown provisions beginning next week. High class rumour source. What we most want, of course, is to be allowed to go for a walk, though J developing a tan just from exposure on the steps. Masks, social distancing fine. Though those who live here permanently would be pleased to be able to pick up from a wider range of businesses, such as hardware stores.

Since Ramadan began there is a cannon fired after sunset. A common signal in the Middle East that it  now time to break the day’s fast.

Now down to 5 active covid-19 cases in North Cyprus.

Sunday, April 26/2020

Day three of compulsory face mask wearing outside. Have noticed most passing the door are wearing masks. Entirely possible that those not doing so have masks with them but feel that there is no point wearing them when alone on the street and will slide them on when they reach a shop. Not technically legal but short of highly dangerous behaviour. The police do regularly arrest and charge people for violations of this and other coronavirus regulations though, and issue daily reports. Today’s Cyprus Mail (South) refers to 12 fines yesterday here in the North for failure to wear masks in public. Probably accurate, but the accompanying photo can’t have been from anywhere in the North in the last few weeks. Can’t identify the location. Possibly Lefkoşa covered market? But as we are only permitted to go to grocery stores, banks and pharmacies the photo is probably file and most likely from the South. A detail unlikely to have disturbed the Cyprus Mail.

Saturday, April 25/2020

Cannot imagine having done this ultra strict lockdown in a non-English speaking country in the days before wifi. Or rather can imagine it all too clearly. And Turkish is somewhat beyond non-English. Could make a stab at communicating in French. J could do in Polish and have known him to manage basics in related languages. But the language most closely related to Turkish seems to be Azerbaijani, which is not too helpful. And the lockdown means it is not actually permissible to walk across the lane and, standing two metres plus away from someone else begin attempting a question. Technically ok to shout it from the doorstep. And presumably on the doorstep one would not need to be impeded by a face mask, for what that would be worth.

Our Turkish English dictionary is on the ipad but does work offline, which might be handy if we were out and about. But really everything we do, from reading books, listening to music, getting local information, corresponding, and learning world news is internet dependent. Both wonderful and a little scary.

Active coronavirus cases in North Cyprus now down to 12.

Friday April 24/2020

Beginning of Ramadan. Have no idea whether the neighbours observe the fast or not. Actually Cypriot Muslims are pretty relaxed in their religious observance. And in any case fasting is not really the essence of Ramadan. It’s a spiritual discipline but not a heavily penitential one. After dusk families and friends gather to enjoy a shared meal (curtailed, obviously, this year) which may include special foods and sweets. Further, Ramadan is also a time for charity, and as well as donations of money and food communal meals are often prepared for the homeless, the poor, and even those would be alone and wish to eat in the company of others.

Surprised to hear the produce truck as it was here only three days ago. Had by then thought that it might have been ordered to stop but equally possible that we may have missed it on occasion. This time none of the women opposite come out but I put on my mask (required as of today) and collect bags of oranges, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, peppers and onions. As much a sensual pleasure to look at as to eat.

Thursday, April 23/2020

April 23. St George’s Day. Should note that St George, despite being patron saint of England - and other places - was actually born in what is now Turkey, Cappadocia to be precise.  Not a holiday in England, though pubs are often happy to make it an occasion. Not this year, obviously. Also traditionally celebrated as Shakespeare’s birthday, and one year that meant we got a free tour of the Globe Theatre. And a holiday here, as well as in Turkey, commemorating the inauguration of the Turkish parliament. Commonly known as Children’s Day, as Ataturk gave the day to the children of the world because they are the future. So today grocery stores are open, banks and pharmacies not.

Totally coincidentally, this is also the beginning of Ramadan. Tomorrow is the first full day, but it starts after dusk tonight. Coincidentally because Ramadan, like Easter, is a moveable feast based on the lunar calendar and doesn’t necessarily begin in April, let alone on this date. Ramadan is best known as the month of fasting, when the observant do not eat between dawn and dusk. It is essentially a month of renewed spirituality, though, with special attention to prayer and acts of charity.

Normally, as in non-pandemic times, there would be children’s parties or parades today and extended family gatherings this evening. We have all been given strict instructions that these things will not happen. However, word has it that the Turkish national anthem will be sung from balconies at nine o’clock in the evening. So we’re interested. Will this really happen in our quiet little corner? Indeed the anthem is played from the mosque and the music draws a half dozen of the neighbours to their windows and front steps. If anyone is singing it must be pretty softly, but there is a little spotty applause at the end.

Wednesday, April 22/2020

Not alone, it seems, in losing track of what time it is. To some extent a common feature of retirement and often reported by those in lockdown. In my case exacerbated by the fact that my watch battery died shortly before we left Canada. Our nearest pound store in London had closed and we found ourselves in lockdown before another opportunity presented itself. Not that there are no other sources. Sunrise now just after 6 AM and sunset getting close to 7:30 PM. But often as little as two degrees difference between low and high temperature. So days feel pretty similar regardless of time. And nowhere to go, of course.

However here there is a second time check of sorts. We are within sight and certainly within hearing of the ezan, or call to prayer, at the Lala Mustafa Mosque in the central square. There are five calls a day, all based on the journey of the sun (not that the word journey comes from old French, as does the word jour - and was originally the distance one could travel in a day). The first call is pre-dawn and we would only hear it by accident, although it does include the phrase prayer is better than sleep. The second call is when the sun has passed the zenith and begun its descent. The third when a shadow is the same length as the object making it. The fourth at sunset and the fifth when the last red glow disappears from the sky. Naturally the times vary with both location and time of year. So at the moment the third call here is about 4:30, though moving a little each day. And today, as I am chopping vegetables for the soup and thinking it is mid-afternoon when I hear the call and ask J who confirms that it is indeed half past four. Have no idea how this would play out in the Arctic, though there are probably few Muslims there.

In the evening word filters through that the council of ministers has decided that everyone must wear masks in public as of Friday. 😷

Tuesday, April 21/2020

To the little shop for eggs and a few other things. Look up the Turkish for eggs, lest asking in English be pointless. Yumurta. Seems to be for both singular and plural, though that may not matter for getting the message across. The audio feature is useful too. Turns out the accent is on the first syllable, and stress is often crucial to communication. Easy to be totally incomprehensible by moving the stress in “hospital” to the second syllable. No eggs in sight for the third time, so I ask. “Ah, eggs?” The owner’s English, while far from fluent, is better than my Turkish - admittedly a very low bar. But ANY amount of a language is better than none. Even the little lists in the back of travel books with yes, no, please, thank you, water, and toilet.

And yes, there are eggs. In a corner we haven’t checked. In North America are eggs refrigerated, and there’s a reason for that. Eggs in much of Europe aren’t.  Most European countries vaccinate egg laying hens against salmonella. North Americans don’t. What they do instead is shampoo the newly laid eggs with soap and hot water. This destroys surface bacteria but also removes the protective coating nature supplies eggs with, making them more vulnerable to later contamination. So now we know where to find the eggs - in our case a small plastic bag with six eggs supplied by a local. Related to the rooster we sometimes hear?

We’re no sooner home with eggs, water, wine, aubergines, carrots, bread, and toilet paper, than J spots the elusive produce truck with its smiling driver. Had begun to think it had been banned. So oranges, apples, spinach, potatoes, coriander, and garlic.

And, re eggs, J spots a cat on the roof tiles opposite eating something. We’re hoping not a coal tit egg, but.... 

Monday, April 20/2020

Mid twenties and light breeze.

We get morning sun and afternoon shade, for which we may be grateful later in the spring. Between the living quarters and the road there is a small ivied courtyard. At night we can lock the outer door, which is only garage style metal and could do with some paint. Even less prepossessing than the entries to many Italian houses that seem to have no virtues at all from the street - until a door opens and the passerby has a brief glimpse of charming inner courtyard. Ours stays open during the day so we can sit on the steps with coffee or a drink, but there is always the option of inner shade - or sun. The roof is open but the walls are about twenty-five feet high.

Big fuss amongst the coal tits about supper time. J goes to investigate. A cat walking on the roof tiles opposite, the same tiles that form apartments for at least two nesting couples. Birds agitated and noisy. The cat leaves, whether intimidated or indifferent, and birds retire to sit on a nearby wire. Silence returns. The mini dramas of lockdown. Death always a risk in their world as well.

Sunday, April 19/2020

High today 27 with usual comment re higher in the sun. So far stone walls inside are cool and would be for temperatures a fair bit higher. J has put out an improvised bird bath drinking spot a bit away from the steps for the two coal tit families in the tiles opposite. So far no takers, at least not when we’ve been out on the steps observing. 

South of the (Cyprus) border there’s often a comic twist to the news. So a number of prisoners have been released in the interest of protecting them from Coronavirus. Only to have three of them back in court, charged with break-ins and multiple thefts. Talking to Maggi who lives in a village just south of Larnaca. It’s only 65 km away, but the other side of a border that’s pretty firmly closed at the moment. Locked down south of the border too, though not quite as tightly. There you apply for permission to go out for a specific purpose, e.g. dog walking or grocery shopping, and are texted  - one permission per day. ID registered with the authorities. If you’re under 65 there is no provision for your not possessing a smart phone. Possibly fairly enough.

Saturday, April 18/2020

Saturday trip to the corner shop. Not easy maintaining a journal when life consists of buying and cooking food, reading and listening to music, and small bits of bird watching. Pleasant enough existence, but hardly worth commentary. But more than blog it’s our record for better or for duller. And there are always the small oddities of travel. As today we note that a bottle of perfectly drinkable Turkish Cabernet Sauvignon costs less than a 400 gm jar of peanut butter. Not that we can really see ourselves having bread and wine for breakfast. Not, at least, without reaching the point of not giving a damn about the bread.

Friday, April 17/2020

At least one coal tit nest in the roof tiles opposite, possibly two. There are enough tiles for a whole apartment complex, but perhaps they don’t like crowding. The group exhibition seems to be over, but J does spot a couple mating. Apparently they lay several eggs.  

Takes until supper time to find out, but the lockdown has been extended to April 30. Don’t think anyone wanted it to be lifted, just eased a little. Keeping most closures and two metre social distancing but allowing people some time to go for walks and possibly permitting restaurants to deliver or allowing pick up from restaurants and hardware stores. Not likely to use the restaurant delivery ourselves, but would be pleased to see walks reinstated. On the other hand, everybody seems pretty pleased that the government seems to have a pretty good handle on the situation. Active cases are down to 23 and quarantines appear to have been effective.

Meanwhile email from UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which has, in fairness been quite good about timely info and has been very helpful in getting its citizens across the border to get flights leaving from the South. It reads: 

Update on GOV.​UK.

Cyprus travel advice

Change made
Removal of information on 15 April Cyprus Airways flight (‘Return to the UK’ pages)

Time updated
6:29pm, 17 April 2020

Bottom line of the email reads « Is this email useful? »

Well no, not overwhelmingly, since you ask. This is April 17, and the flight in question left - or actually in this case did not leave - two days ago. But have no intention at all of saying so and discouraging them from performing a service that they do infinitely better than Canada, though they also have no diplomatic relations with the TRNC. To be fair, though, they do have a larger number of citizens here.

Thursday, April 16/2020

Cyprus coal tits in full acrobatic display this morning. About a dozen of the swirling and swooping daringly above the lane, over the roofs and then back down in the narrow area between the houses. Pretty skilful performance. Would have thought it too late for mating exhibition. Just freewheeling entertainment? And when I take the rubbish over to the bin after dinner a couple of them are still at it, swooping in the early dusk.

Procrastination has some merits. Had not yet drawn the impossibility of the connections of the flight back to Air Canada’s attention, given the unsatisfactory nature of the links provided when they changed the departure time from London. No problem with that (minor) change, but doesn’t solve the difficulty of having to leave Toronto before we arrive there. There used to be a complaints link where you could write in words - as opposed to ticking boxes - what you wished to explain. Once used it for what I told them was not a complaint but an attempt to draw their attention to an oversight. Very happily resolved by a human that one was. However, the complaints section seems to have been replaced, rather optimistically, by a compliments section. So, needs must. Explain the difficulty and press submit. Email of acknowledgment points out that they are very busy and may take four weeks to respond. No doubt. It’s not that they have a surplus of alternative flights. The only real solution probably is to move the flight to the following day. Let’s call the whole thing off?

Wednesday, April 15/2020

Wednesday, midweek lottery of the shopping trip. Long sweet red peppers are in, a definite buy. No eggs, but we’re good until Saturday. We’re not out of crunchy peanut butter but they’re down to one jar so we get it. We probably already ate the others, although their initial supply can’t have been in anticipation of our arrival. Acquire a litre of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. More than we would have paid in Canada but that’s always true in Cyprus. Possibly less likely to have lied about the provenance? The treat - a bottle of gin. Pay a bit more than the sale sign round its neck but quite a lot less than we would have done in Canada. Paid in euros today as we don’t have many Turkish lira left. The official exchange rate (the one no one ever actually gets) is now 7.49 to the euro. But only three weeks ago it was 6.99. So the shop is working on 7 TL to the euro as it was then, and hard to blame them. They’ve scarcely paid for their stock when the currency devalues. Bread at the shop pretty good, and no mistakes now I know how to read whole wheat in Turkish. Not nearly as good as the lovely warm, fragrant round loaf of olive bread that the kind neighbour across the road gave us, though!

Two of the people under observation in the TRNC following return flights have developed covid-19. On the other hand eight of those who were infected have recovered and were released today. This brings the country total of active cases down to 27, so the strictness of the lockdown may be having an effect. 

No earthshaking events during lockdown. Though actually three earthquakes today - 4.2, 4.7 and 4.4 magnitude. Actually 10 km depth just off the coast of Syria, near Latakia, but the distance between Latakia and the Karpas peninsula is only about 110 km. Didn’t feel anything here though.

Tuesday, April 14/2020

Our corner of the walled city would probably feel like a village without the quiet of the lockdown, but even more with it. Occasional crowing of a rooster. Children seldom visible. Just an older demographic or are they inside? Hear what sounds like a lawnmower. Close - it’s a weed trimmer. A man is cutting the long grass that grows on the inside of the Venetian wall at the end of our road. Interesting. He’s working alone, so plenty of social distance, but doesn’t seem to meet any of the very few criteria for being outside. Presumably a municipal worker rather than a public spirited volunteer but this can’t be a matter of urgence, and almost all public employees who can’t work from home are on administrative leave.

Should be making more effort to pick up a little Turkish, but mostly limit it to individual words that I may need to know. Sometimes, helpfully, the Turkish word has been borrowed. For example it turns out that disinfectant is dezanfectan. But the Turkish language resembles little else. Closest is Azerbaijani. 

Monday, April 13/2020

Well, long weekend - for what it’s worth. Don’t suppose it’s a long weekend here. This is a secular country, but the overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim, whether observant or not. Certainly busier than yesterday and small shop obviously open as some foot traffic to and fro with bags. 

Morning email brings regular letter from BBC Good Food. Today’s seasonal suggestions  entitled 20 Ways With Easter Leftovers. Had not hitherto considered the remainder of our chicken and roast carrots as a problem to be solved but a delight to be anticipated. Think BBC Good Food editor has lost touch with reality. Using Up Easter Chocolate indeed! Have precisely four squares of dark chocolate saved from London and no assistance required in making use of them. Like social media hints on what to do with leftover wine.

Interested to learn that J, when reading my Facebook news feed, is not presented with the same sponsor cooking posts. Bon Appétit recipe for baked caramelised cabbage with spiced tomato sauce. today and, unusually, have all ingredients - or near enough. Right down to the suggestion to serve with strained yoghurt. Though they do say Greek yoghurt. Would have assumed that there would be no difference between Greek and Turkish yoghurt, particularly on the island of Cyprus, but find Turkish much nicer. Subtler somehow. First experienced yoghurt as a side with meat or vegetables in Turkey and liked it. Then gave it up as no Canadian yoghurt seemed similar. We eat yoghurt in Canada, and in Greek Cyprus, but had forgotten what we were missing. So caramelised cabbage added to tonight’s leftovers.

Sunday, April 12/2020

Easter Sunday, and appropriately we wake to sun. Today is actually quieter than any other day. Lockdown here is stricter than most other places. Doesn’t include going out for exercise. No restaurant delivery and certainly no pick up. And the little grocery shop is not open on Sundays nor are most pharmacies, so the few people walking past our door could only legitimately be going to a bank cash point and then only if it were a direct route from their residence to the nearest bank. Needless to say virtually no one passes. 

Lovely warm day, though. Cyprus coal tits busy with their nesting materials, appearing to worry about being observed as they deposit the bits in their roof tile. The pigeons that we assumed were going to nest on the roof above us seem to have moved next door. Same roof but further down. They may be thinking that it’s quieter there, and during the lockdown this is true because no one comes in, but normally it’s a heavy duty workshop so they could be in for a surprise. Fewer pigeon droppings for us though.

Roast a chicken for dinner and comment as usual on the difference in flavour in chickens in Europe. Not actually entirely a difference in location. North American chickens that have been raised with some time outdoors and not murdered at the earliest opportunity also have mature flavour and texture. May also be partly the feed.

Saturday, April 11/2020

Saturday. Our biweekly outing - round the corner to the grocery store. Valued as much for the change in stimulation as for the actual provisions. And then there’s the serendipitous nature of what’s available. So today, for the first time, mushrooms and cabbage, which we buy, and beets, which we don’t. None of the lovely red peppers, but beautiful small deeply purple aubergines. Feast for the eyes first before we take it home to cook. 

Helicopter flies overhead as we’re sunning ourselves on the steps. Looking for those violating the lockdown by enjoying the good weather beyond their steps? In the UK drones have been used to broadcast messages over telling people that they must stop congregating in public spaces: « You are putting lives at risk. Please disperse immediately and return home ». UK lockdown nowhere near as strict as here, though. People are allowed out for daily exercise while maintaining social distancing though not, for the most part supposed to drive to a different location for said exercise. Here going for a short walk, even alone, is strictly forbidden.

In the South even the Orthodox Church has been forced to make concessions to covid-19. Larnaca is home to St Lazarus Church, believed by the faithful to have been built over the crypt of the Biblical Lazarus who is said to have come to Cyprus and become bishop before dying and being buried for the second time. He doesn’t seem to have enjoyed his Cypriot life much if the legend is to be believed, as he is said only to have smiled once in the years before his death. A rather poor advertisement for Christianity one would have thought. The church itself is ninth century with later modifications, but the crypt is much older. Had understood the remains to have been removed to Constantinople centuries ago - from whence they seem to have disappeared - but apparently some were retained in a silver casket and are carried in procession through the town eight days before (Orthodox) Easter every year. Have no memory of this occurring, but we’re usually in London by Easter, and Orthodox Easter often later than Western, as it is this year by a week. So today the priests have settled for walking round the church rather than processing through the town.

Friday, April 10/2020

Email from Air Canada with notice of flight change. Every year they make some changes to our return booking, usually without offering any excuse. Best was the time a snippy AC rep at Heathrow told us that (naturally) schedules changed in the spring when the clocks changed. Perhaps that would have been hard for them to anticipate. Today’s email shows a time change on the May 26 booking from Heathrow to Winnipeg. Original (well actually original that they have already made a minor change to) has us arriving in Toronto at 16:50 and departing for Winnipeg at 20:30. New booking (due they say to government advisory) has us arriving in Toronto at 16:50 and leaving for Winnipeg at 10:10 the same day. Am tempted to congratulate them on impressive time travel breakthrough but find that link for making alternative arrangements does not work. Find AC web page that does work but offers only alternatives that do not apply. Will pursue, but don’t imagine this is the last schedule rearrangement of the season.

Thursday, April 9/2020

Curious to know the ratio of the population in the North to that in the South. One would have supposed the info would have been easy to find, but it isn’t, largely because of the North’s anomalous position as a country recognised only by Turkey. So there are population estimates of roughly 1.2 million for the whole island with bizarre bits of side commentary like: 

Of the 1.16 million people in Cyprus, about 300,000 live in the north, although it's believed this number has climbed to 500,000, half of whom are Turkish settlers or Cypriot-born children of settlers. [worldpopulationreview.com]

Doesn’t say believed by whom, and the difference between 300,000 and 500,000 is substantial. If the higher figure is correct presumably the total (somewhat outdated anyway) would change accordingly. Makes calculation of percentages of Northern and Southern residents pretty well meaningless. Does indirectly refer to a problem area, though. In the period following the conflict in 1974, a large number of mainland Turks have settled in the TRNC. This is perceived, probably unnecessarily, by the South as a threat. In the North, it is not a threat, but there are cultural differences - not only a different history and traditions but a more laid back culture and a much more relaxed relationship to Islam. In general a more liberal ethos. The mainlanders are considerably more conservative.

Regardless of how the above figures are interpreted, the North is doing well to keep the covid-19 actively infected numbers at about one tenth the total in the South. Currently 49 compared to 498. It seems the latest victim here is a returning citizen who had been quarantined. As one commentator observed that is not a case of the lockdown failing to work but rather a case of the government policy working as it should. And in that case there will be no contacts here to trace. The government has decided, however, to extend the present lockdown for another week.

Wednesday, April 8/2020

It seems that some supermarkets in the TRNC are requiring customers to wear gloves. Some point to that if they are supplying new ones at the door, though not much if everybody wearing their own worn wherever. Actually simpler to wash hands well before and after and treat purchases as potentially contaminated, as other customers merely the end of what might be a very long chain. In any case our little shop isn’t a glove supplier. Home with the goods, wash produce and clean packaging. 

Obviously it would be a good time to be learning Turkish, and good internet support. Brain plasticity not what it once was. Well, memory not what it once was. Took a summer course many years ago on teaching English as a foreign language. As it happened I had taught an ESL class before taking the course but never did after. Usual irony. One point someone made in the course was that people learn best if you give them the vocabulary they need. Indeed a disproportionate number of the Polish words I know are food words. And can see that the same may prove to be the case here. As in many countries, I want to be able to identify whole grains (though the print on packaging gets smaller every year). And now know that  tam buğday means whole wheat. The ğ in Turkish words ıs normally silent but lengthens the preceding vowel, as in Prime Minister Erdoğan. Not the only non-intuitive Turkish  pronunciation, though they’re probably less of a nightmare than the English irregulars. But mispronouncing a word can easily make it totally unintelligible to native speakers. As when our erstwhile Peruvian boarder came to me with the one word fla-tee-ron. Accent on the second syllable. And eventually produced his Spanish-English dictionary showing the word flatiron. 

Day ends with one more covid-19 test coming back positive. According to the Health Minister this case was down to a contact abroad. Returning student? There are several in quarantine. If so, this doesn’t involve trying to trace community contacts, which is good.

Tuesday, April 7/2020

Occasional loudspeaker messages, in Turkish obviously, which are incomprehensible to us. Assumed at first that they were government or police announcements relating to changes in lockdown regulations or reminding us to follow the rules. Not particularly worrying, as we do seem to keep up with the relevant information. However an online comment by an expat referred to the imam’s speech being impossible to hear on a windy day. And on reconsideration the messages do seem to follow the call to prayer, so may be exhortations to the faithful.

A third covid-19 death today. This, for the first time a Turkish Cypriot. Active cases remain at 47, as the death and a recovery are balanced by two new positives.

Monday, April 6/2020

Spot more than one flock of birds flying south. Think that there’s no need for seasonal migration here and one swallow doth not a summer make, etc. But actually there are migratory touch downs in Cyprus. The flamingos, for example, spend time in the salt lakes near Larnaka every year as they travel between Europe and Africa. Seems to be nesting time here as well. A great deal of cooing from the pigeons early this morning. Two of them desporting themselves at length yesterday on our roof, the roof opposite and the wires in between. And this morning both male and female of the tiny birds with a nest in the roof tile across the road were bringing tiny strands to the nest. Don’t know which is which. They’re smaller than a sparrow and with slimmer lines. Tentatively identified as Cyprus coal tits. Still pretty cautious about being followed, although the opening they use is very small. A mouse could get in - where can’t they? - but would probably regret the attempt.

Mildly good news on the covid-19 front. The number of active cases in the TRNC has dropped from 53 to 47. Not huge, but the right direction. The current curfew/lockdown is supposed to last until April 10, which is this Friday. Only uninformed speculation re extensions. However Coronavirus no respecter of persons. Boris Johnson admitted to ICU at St Thomas Hospital tonight.

Sunday, April 5/2020

The number of active cases of covid-19 in TRNC has dropped from 57 to 54 in the daily count. Actually the total number of cases has always been under a hundred, about a third of whom were German tourists, who also account for the two deaths. But good to see the number dropping. There may be an end in sight for the lockdown - or not. The country has played it exactly opposite to the US, working on the theory of a strict lockdown before the numbers rise rather than deciding on lockdowns if the rising numbers warrant it. 

Saturday, April 4/2020

The tiny bird, which we still can’t identify comes back to the roof tiles with wisps of nest building material in its beak, but doesn’t head straight to the home tile. Instead it makes a pretence of investigating other tiles and showing no interest in the home one for some time before heading inside to the nest. Interesting, as few would be predators could fit through the tiny opening anyway.

Quick trip to the little shop. Lots of eggs this time, some in cartons and others loose in a pail, as was sometimes the case in the South, usually at very small shops or markets. Much more fragile to carry, though - loose in a plastic bag - so we choose a carton of six, an option more common in Europe than North America, where the price would usually be well over half that for a dozen if it were available at all.

Pick up a bottle of Moldovan Cabernet Sauvignon. Pretty cheap and still not worth it. Hard to predict, though. The Turkish cabernet that was in the fridge when we arrived was quite nice. Remember being in a supermarket in Turkey about twenty years ago. We were astonished to find that the prices on the shelf were all electronic. You could actually watch a price change as you stood there. Turned out the reason was not an addiction to high tech but a currency that was devaluing so quickly that it was impossible to keep up by changing price signs manually. Not a lot better now. When we arrived three and a half weeks ago the exchange rate was 6.97 Turkish lira to a euro. Now 7.28. The shop will take either and is fair about the exchange. Change in lira.

Friday, April 3/2020

Our indoor life (apart from sitting in the the sunlight on the front steps) is still within the embrace of the walled city of Famagusta. We can hear the muezzin’s ezan, or call to prayer five times a day. At least theoretically that is, as the first two chanted calls are before we’re usually up. We can’t see the beautiful parts of the city, or pretty well can’t. 

Lala Pasha Mustafa Mosque - taken on an earlier visit

Actually, from the bottom of our steps we can see the very top of the Lala Pasha Mustafa Mosque, the view almost completely blocked by the corrugated metal roof and parked cars next to our building. The mosque began life as St Nicholas Cathedral when the Lusignans (French) controlled the island. Was finished about 1400 - though there was an excuse for missed deadlines in those days before power tools. It became a mosque in 1571 under the Ottomans although the Rheims Cathedral style still predominates. And after the lockdown we’ll be back enjoying sitting in the large square in front, by the oldest tree in Cyprus.

Thursday, April 2/2020

Mediterranean temperature spread. Today’s forecast high of 17 (though much warmer in the sun or next to a sunny window of course)  and low of 16. Always seems surprising after half a year of mid-continent weather.

Would be easier to become Cypriot bird watchers if we were better at identifying what we see. Definitely magpies, but they don’t linger and we’re not really generating enough leftovers to lure them into friendship, and if we were the feral cats would probably take over. Spotted a very small bird head

ing into a roof tile in the house directly opposite us, which is unoccupied. One of the small metal pieces forming a miniature grate in front of the tiles is missing so there is now a protected spot for a little nest.

Quite a bit of pigeon cooing as well, leading to the suspicion that there is a nest on our roof. Much too high to check it out. Better there than the one they built on our balcony in Paphos a few years back. There were eggs in it before we could dismantle it and discourage them. Fine as long as we were there, but doubt that the hotel staff and the next occupants of the flat were as tolerant after we left.

BBC World radio has a weekly half hour program called The Food Chain. Today literally about the food chain. Everything from just in time delivery to the supermarket shelves back to who is - or in this case probably is not - going to pick the ripening fruit and vegetables usually taken care of by Central European workers. At this point the asparagus should be ready in Germany and as borders close there are fears that crops may be left to rot. Think that this may be less problem with food sourced from TRNC and Turkey. 

There is some discussion of people stocking up because of covid-19 and a spokeswoman from Unilever is asked to comment. Apparently there are national differences here. Americans stock up on ice cream and the British on alcohol. The Netherlands has people buying peanut butter and sausages. She laughs and says not particularly healthy there either. I’m curious enough to pursue this. All right, the sausages are probably a source of salt and nitrates and nitrites as well as red meat - fair enough. But we regard peanut butter as a pretty healthy staple and one which keeps well, but then ours usually contains only peanuts. Turns out that Unilever sells Skippy (nuff said?) and Calvé, more common in Europe but also containing sugar, salt and unideal fats. The stockpiling of pasta, rice and beans seems pretty well universal.

Wednesday, April 1/2020

Our weekly outing to the grocery store. May become biweekly as the produce truck seems to have stopped its rounds. Biweekly probably also simpler if we switch to bottled water. We have been boiling water and have had no problems, but locals seem to feel bottled is safer, though without being able to point to any specific toxin that would not be removed by boiling. 

Not much of an outing either as it’s only a three minute walk. One of the ex-pats reports being stopped by police and told she had to go to her nearest supermarket rather than the larger one she was heading for. She not best pleased as her local didn’t have many of the things she wanted.  

Ours not the widest range of choice either, but certainly possible. Maybe a question of reduced expectations. Last time the veg and oranges were loose but now in bags. Sizes vary a bit - from fewer carrots and onions than we might have chosen to family size bags of potatoes - well probably no more than five kilos so they will get eaten. As always in Cyprus local, with the earth still on them.

The remaining German in intensive care has died. Now down to 46 active cases in the TRNC; 45 Turkish Cypriots and 1 unspecified “other”. Not a tourist, either, as that would have been specified. Possibly a foreign worker or student.

Could take the rubbish and throw it in the skip a few metres down the lane, but why not save some of the outside excitement for another day.

Tuesday, March 31/2020

Full version of yesterday’s extended curfew as well as government measures in place now published. Actually surprisingly informative re numbers treated, locations, etc. Nice tone, very serious but positive. And, happily for us, published in English as well as Turkish. The report says that there are three in intensive care, including the one remaining German in the country, 18 others in hospital, 12 being treated in a quarantine hotel and 5 being treated in in-home quarantine. Also the decision was made to gather supplies such as masks and gloves in a central government location.

Monday, March 30/2020

Well, no produce truck again today, so guessing that it is no more. Not like we’re running out of food, but the veggies on the truck were fresher and nicer than the ones at the little shop. A bit pathetic when life gets reduced to food and reading material on our desert island, although obviously this is the case with much of the world’s population. And the internet makes both contact and reading news and books much easier than it would have been just a few years ago.

We’ve been lucky in that there was an excellent supply of staples when we first arrived including not only pasta but things like dried chickpeas and hulled barley. And, less familiar to us, a large packet of hemp seeds. Beautiful nutty aroma when toasted in the frying pan and nice sprinkled on peanut butter or humus.

J takes apart the insert in the mouth of the first vodka bottle and extracts a small glass marble designed to make pouring slower and more controllable. Presume that there is a similar device in the current bottle. Looks like a long time before the marbles add up to a viable game though.

It seems that we have a new curfew, this time in the ordinary sense of the word. We are not supposed to go out between 9 PM and 6 AM and supermarkets are to close at 8 PM. Can’t see this as making any difference at all, although possibly there are places where supermarkets and petrol stations were open later than nine and subject to traffic. For the most part the legitimate trips to bank, grocery store and pharmacy would have been accomplished in daylight hours anyway.

Sunday, March 30/2020

Summer time begins today, as in most of the rest of Europe, leading to my annual query: is there any compelling reason why those countries that adopt summer time, aka daylight saving, could not all do so on the same date?  Not a huge problem, and in any case all our devices permanently set to London time, requiring minimal mental adjustments as we travel, lest mathematical skills disappear entirely, and these reset themselves automatically.

It seems that the current terms of the lockdown are to be extended until the end of April 10. Though not very likely to match the American all over by Easter projection. Sunday even quieter than the rest of the week here. The corner shop presumably closed as even the occasional person carrying a plastic bag or two not in evidence.

Saturday, March 28/2020

Saturday. Interesting how little difference it makes what day of the week it is. But that’s not unique to lockdown; it’s true of retirement in general. Noted some time ago that it is unwise to say “oh, is this a long weekend” to someone in regular employment.

One death now in TRNC - a German tourist. Apparently had high blood pressure and COPD. “They say”. Rumours here spread as in a village, with some hesitation over translation.  It seems, unsurprisingly, that COPD runs under slightly different initials in Turkish. And it would seem we all know the medical background of the German patient but there is some uncertainty about his age.  Of the 31 German tourists who were affected 29 have been flown home and one remains in hospital.

The police have been busy. We have only once seen a patrol car in our quiet, law-abiding little backwater but the report is that eighteen people were arrested yesterday, one charged with violating quarantine regulations and the rest with being outside unnecessarily (and the criteria for necessary outdoor activity are pretty stringent).

Our lives are pretty simple. Good food to cook, plenty of reading material and the internet.  

Friday, March 27/2020

Note a complaint from a TRNC expat that a fish truck has appeared near their home: “who knows where it’s been and where it’s going?” Not sure whether this is more or less hazardous than our produce truck - which actually hasn’t been by today so may not have been legal, or simply not on a regular schedule. Considered the produce truck no more dangerous than a grocery store. Someone has to stock it and take the payment but few customers at a time and they space themselves well. Probably less handling of items not purchased. Possible to wear gloves but probably best to simply wash hands well. Also, everything we saw on the produce truck (well, except for the almost inevitably Chinese garlic)  likely to have been grown locally, so presumably handled by a relatively small number of people.

One would have supposed that economists would be the least inclined to overdramatising of all professions but they often don’t seem to be, or maybe it’s only that the journalists who report on them compensate for their disappointment at not being given more glamorous front line assignments. Thus “COVID-19 to send almost all G20 countries into a recession” from The Economist has an apocalyptic ring to it, but considering that the definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters with a drop in GDP, and that the drop could, presumably, be a very small one, this dire pronouncement seems pretty obvious and something any layperson might have guessed.

Thursday, March 26/2020

Would say that Google Translate is useless, except that it isn’t quite. It is pretty hopeless with long passages, and bravely invites the user to rate the translation at the end of an incomprehensible attempt. Have given up looking for translation of posts of any length by Turkish friends, though short comments often doable. Oddly enough sometimes reminds me of interchanges in my childhood between my parents which we were not meant to understand. In the earliest days these were in French, but soon my French was better than my mother’s, although never better than my father’s. And so they resorted to German, where once again my father’s vocabulary was much larger than my mother’s, leading to funny sentences where the little words were in German but a couple of the most important ones were in English and the meaning completely undisguised. Reminded of this when Google Translate appears to resort to the same method: “ This serzenis is right; we have done all our vecibelerimizi against the EU, but the EU did not fulfill its vecibelerini to us”. Made only slightly worse by GT not making use of a Turkish keyboard for the undigested bits, so the diacritical marks disappear. However, what GT does do is provide audio pronunciation of words, which can be very helpful.

Bread rationing over. We were never short of food at all, but in common with much of the world short of particular items,  in our case bread. And somehow being able to substitute bowls of barley or rice didn’t seem satisfactory. This not because there is a shortage locally but because we went to the shop too late in the day for our initial provisioning. So breakfast has meant one slice each, and of a plain white bread such as we have not bought in memory. Happy to know now that our shop has plenty and much better. Just necessary to go earlier in the day. At home I would just have made the bread. Here the oven is actually better than ours but our pantry here less, and differently, stocked. Just as long as the global supply chains hold out....It’s a very long time since most people ate only what grows in their own country, and much of that still involved preserving for out of season use.

Birds outside in the early afternoon making an enormous fuss, a couple of dozen of them, black and smaller than crows, swirling overhead repeatedly and prophesying disaster. I suggest it’s a little like what they do when fireworks start and J says it’s more like Hitchcock. He’s right, they’re not escaping, they’re warning and at some length.

We live in a pretty quiet backwater here. Have only once seen a police car drive slowly past. There are reports, though, of police stopping people on their way back from the grocery store and asking to see their receipts. Have no idea how they would prove they were on their way TO the grocery store. In any case ours is about a three minute walk so we’re unlikely to be questioned.

Wednesday, March 25/2020

Lovely day, partly sunny. Now clearly past fourteen days from arrival, so we venture out to the little grocery shop round the corner. Only a couple of other shoppers and we’re all careful to give each other space, but nobody seems unduly afraid. Most are probably regulars and, interestingly, there are no wire shopping baskets (and certainly no room for trolleys). People buy a few items, no hoarding. So when we see there are two plastic egg cartons, each containing six eggs, we take one of them. We can come back when they’re gone. This time we’re earlier and there is more bread and, happily, whole grain bread. Peanut butter is expensive, but a litre of Turkish vodka is 44.50 TL (€6.36, £5.79, $9.85 CAD). Also buy a packet of dried white beans. And more biscuits. Does seem a bit treat laden but we’re trusting to the produce cart for fruit and veg.

We do wear gloves, although probably more as virtue signalling than anything else. It’s easier to wash hands well than gloves and there isn’t an infinite supply to discard. In the same vein J has, despite my scepticism, made me a mask that will actually stay on. Again, the chief benefit of non quality PPE masks is to signal serious intent - I am being responsible. He started with a paper coffee filter and in fact it would pretty well  catch a sneeze, not that we’re sneezing, and does stay on well. I take it along, but don’t actually wear it as nobody else is. The proprieter has one around his neck as well - though his does not appear to have begun life as a coffee filter.

Home to sample the bread with the lemony humus we were given yesterday. Have just finished lunch when we are given- same source - a container of Turkish tabouleh salad. Will have to reciprocate when this is all over.