March 16/2024

Seems like our fruit and nut man has left the Saturday market for good - not that it’s good from our point of view, though the raw peanuts that we bought at the supermarket and J roasted were much nicer than commercially roasted. And we didn’t have to clean off the salt. Sadder, the fruit and veg man was there - rearranging the strawberries, J points out, with maximum hands on - and he didn’t have local garlic either, though he usually does. So garlic from the supermarket it will have to be. It’s not from China though appears as travel weary as if it were. In the end we only buy eggs from the friendly egg and honey lady. She’s also selling hand woven baskets this week. Very attractive and sparking nursery rhyme illustration images of self going to market with basket on arm rather than sturdy plasticised bags from Sainsbury’s and Aldi’s. But wouldn’t fold away nicely for travel. Sunny morning and large dog napping peacefully on the market tiles.

J notes that friendly orchard owner across the road from us has his beehive shaped outdoor oven operating. Kleftiko? And we haven’t heard the two goats he keeps in the tiny shed next to the oven today. Have always thought their quarters too small for happy living, but at least they were living. Recognise that most Cypriots, and indeed most farmers everywhere, take a pretty unsentimental view of animals. The best that could have been hoped for from the goats’ point of view is that they were being kept for dairy and not meat. And in fact we’ve eaten goat kleftiko - pretty well indistinguishable from lamb and very nice so who are we to criticise?

Do remember being in Tunisia at Eid and seeing the street gutters running with sheep’s blood just before the feast day. And friendly neighbour seems pretty handy and quite possibly up to doing his own butchering. But this is early in Ramadan - an odd time for dispatching a largish animal. Try not to think about it until, as we’re preparing our own evening meal we hear the familiar sound of bleating goat. The inevitable postponed.

Friday, March 15/2024

 Beware the Ides of March. Thunder and rain in the night and wake to dark clouds. Repair to usual sources for further information. Usual sources as unsatisfactory as usual, with varying projections.

Can only think that there is something peculiar about our little corner of the Mediterranean, tucked up snug against Turkey a few kilometres to the north and Syria a few kilometres to the east. European by political definition but Asian geographically. Live representations of the wind usually show it moving in from the west, passing the island on the south coast, hitting the shore of Syria and bouncing back to pass Cyprus on the north, heading east this time. Hard not to imagine a massive cliff face on the Syrian coast deflecting it, whilst knowing that there’s a perfectly normal shoreline suitable for docking boats.

However, skies clear and it’s sunny. Not cold, though very windy. Pretty sheltered and definitely shirtsleeves in the sun beside the Blue Song when we stop for our regular Friday afternoon draft and chat. And special treat on the way home. Our usual store has sesame flat bread for the first time since last winter. Still hot! 

Thursday, March 14/2024

The price of petrol at the pumps has just increased slightly today. It’s government controlled and there are two grades. The lower one is now 34.95 Turkish lira a litre ($1.47 CAD, €1, £0.85) and the higher one 35.95 tl ($1.51 CAD, €1.03, £0.88). Diesel is priced the same as the higher grade petrol.The interesting bit from a Canadian viewpoint is that the octane ratings are much higher here in North Cyprus. The lower grade is 95 and the higher 98. In Canada regular gasoline has an octane rating of 87 and premium 91. 

Having said which, nothing is quite as simple as it sounds. Well, the currency conversions are. That bit is pretty accurate, for today at least. Watch the lira and hold onto your hat. Octane is more complicated. North America and Europe don’t use the same system to measure it and unfortunately there isn’t a conversion scale. There are actually advantages to both systems, but they are different. And higher octane numbers aren’t better under all circumstances. If you are nerdy enough to want to pursue this, the following explanation isn’t bad:

https://www.autotrader.ca/editorial/20171117/fuel-octane-numbers-explained/

 

Wednesday, March 13/2024

 Dolmuş down to the bank to change euros to Turkish lira. Have not been changing them ahead of necessity as the lira continues to fall, although not precipitously so if you wait you get more lira per euro. More or less balanced by prices creeping up. Don’t think our Italian wine is actually any more expensive in euros - or for that matter other major currencies - than when we came, but it does cost a few more lira. 

Stop on the way back to buy whole wheat flour, which our supermarket seems to have run out of. Also raw peanuts and beautifully ripe strawberries. Attracted by the scent before we actually see them in the bin.

Second stop at Altınbaşak, little family run restaurant. They have both chicken and lamb doner kabobs, but it’s the lamb we’ve come for. If it were any later than lunch time there’d be none left. May of course help that it’s Ramadan and less busy. We like to eat outside - half a dozen small tables on the front veranda, immediately outside the window to the kitchen and a couple of feet away from the passing world. Accompanied on the deck by three small cats who give up hoping we’re about to share our lunch and head off to nap under a nearby table.

Meanwhile, in an interesting case, the Republic of Turkey has just been fined €9,000 by the European Court of Human Rights for the imprisonment of a Turkish Cypriot conscientious objector. The ECHR ruled that Turkey had violated the objector’s “freedom of thought and conscience”. Not the same young man as the one who was jailed here in January for refusing on conscientious grounds to report for military service, but presumably there is a precedent that may apply in his case as well. This objector, Murat Kanatli, has refused to report for military service in the North since 2009, and was sentenced to 10 days in prison by a military court. He applied to the ECHR  citing Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights re freedom of conscience. The interesting bit is that the court agreed that the case could be taken against Turkey as the TRNC could be considered a sub-administration of Turkey, despite North Cyprus acting as an independent entity. It’s unlikely to result in large numbers of conscientious objectors in future, but who knows where else it may lead. 

 

Tuesday, March 12/2024

Courtesy of vesselfinder.org

Well, Open Arms, the Gaza bound humanitarian ship, finally left Larnaca this morning on its mission.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen noted  that this is the first time a ship has been authorised to deliver aid to Gaza since 2005, but added that providing humanitarian aid was not enough and that a ceasefire was necessary. She discreetly refrained from referring to the Israeli attack on a Free Gaza flotilla ship in international waters in 2010 that killed nine civilians. And naturally no mention of EU arms sales to Israel.

Monday, March 11/2024

 Ramadan has begun. The actual beginning varies geographically as it starts with the first sighting of the crescent moon in the lunar month of Ramadan and lasts for just about a calendar month. The tradition is to fast between sunrise and sunset each day during the month, and at a time of year when the days are getting longer.

Fasting for Moslems means no food or drink, not even water, during the daytime hours. It also means no smoking, no sex, no music during the day. But the focus is not entirely on abstinence. There is also an emphasis on kindness and charity as well as prayer. And iftar, the evening meal after sunset, is a happy time of family sharing.

Meanwhile, unhappily if unsurprisingly, Open Arms, the rescue ship intended for Gaza, remains in harbour in Larnaca. Its barge is fully loaded with food but there is some delay. Most sources cite “technical reasons” - a phrase that could cover a multitude of political sins. Euronews - less diplomatic? - says “as Israeli authorities requested to inspect it”.

Sunday, March 10/2024

Courtesy of Cyprus Mail

 Trying to make sense of press releases seeming to imply that humanitarian aid is about to leave Cyprus for Israel. Except, except….

We’ve been hearing since November that aid could be sent from Cyprus. Just that there were a few caveats. The article in Saturday’s Cyprus Mail - a publication never noted for clarity - is a masterpiece of obscurantism. Full of official statements like “There is optimism that over the weekend the operation will be activated…these works should be done as quickly as possible, but the aim is ‘not for the speed to affect efficiency, to have a balance’”.

It appears the Open Arms, “a vessel owned by a Spanish NGO and more accustomed to rescuing migrants at sea”, was expected to be deployed in the first mission. It was still at the port of Larnaca in Cyprus on Saturday afternoon, [and Sunday] and “authorities could not give a precise departure time”.

The photo of the valiant little ship does little to encourage one to think it will have a significant effect on mass starvation. And then there is the pier  that the Americans are about to build to receive aid ships. Projected to be completed in May?

“Biden said in his State of the Union speech on Thursday that he was directing the military to set up a pier off Gaza’s Mediterranean coast to receive ships carrying food, water, medicine and temporary shelters as Gaza has no functioning port infrastructure. Construction of the pier and causeway connecting it to land will take as long as 60 days and require about 1,000 US troops, Pentagon Press Secretary Patrick Ryder said on Friday. The soldiers will remain offshore.”  [Al Jazeera]

Would it be overwhelmingly cynical to suppose that if the pier is too late too prevent deaths by starvation it might still be convenient for exploiting Gaza’s offshore gas reserves?

Saturday, March9/2024

CM File photo: Ayios Dhometios checkpoint

The Cyprus Mail reports that a 61 year old man [there’s the age obsession again, but at least they didn’t call him elderly] was fined after attempting to smuggle 143 kilograms of red meat, a combination of lamb and beef, from the Republic into the North.

They note that “meat prices in the north are considerably higher than in the Republic, leading Turkish Cypriot consumers to buy meat products south of the Green Line and, occasionally, illegally take it back to the north.” 

They’re right about the price of beef - exorbitant - and lamb scarcely appears in supermarkets here any more. Chicken, though, is reasonable, and much nicer than we’ve bought commercially at home for years. And fortunately we don’t eat much red meat. Cypriot lamb, though, never cheap but always very good.

Cypriots from the South do cross the border to save money in the North as well, particularly on petrol and, I suspect cigarettes and some liquor. We’ve never had the border guards do more than a cursory check - but then we’ve never tried to smuggle either. And recent fines have been for quantities clearly not intended for personal use.

Friday, March 8/2024

 

From the only in Cyprus department. This time only in the South, as the scandal is entirely Orthodox - though sounds anything but orthodox.  Shouldn’t be funny, and is not quite a victimless crime, but very nearly.

It would seem that two of the Greek Orthodox monks have been accused of “having sexual relations with each other and gaining €800,000 for fake miracles and holy myrrh”. Sadly, this constitutes straight reporting (or more accurately gay reporting?) by the Cyprus Mail rather than click bait, so impossible to click through to determine what fake miracles were involved and who stumped up the €800,000. Imagination can run riot. And was the holy myrrh fake as well? Non-existent or simply not holy? Definitely not wise men, these monks. Although they are alleged to have signed confessions after fourteen hours of interrogation by a bishop. Third degree? Their lawyers say signed under duress, and add that “the sex scandal has nothing to do with the two men, but with a third former cleric of the same monastery, for whom individuals had filed a sexual abuse claim”. In any case, the two were summoned three times to attend an emergency ecclesiastical session today but did not show up. 

The justice ministry claims to be discreetly monitoring the situation. Good to know that discretion is being practised somewhere.

The story has, of course, excited more than the usual amount of commentary on the CM’s online edition:

“They could face defrocking. They should face decocking, dirty gits.”

“It’s not the bad deeds that count now but the correct and hard actions required.”

“They already have had Hard actions.”

To be continued, no doubt.

Meanwhile, in the sober North of the island, the most excitement is a quiet acknowledgment of Women’s Day. We’re down at the Blue Song for our usual Friday afternoon drink and chat and the waiter comes outside to our table and silently hands each of the women a long stemmed carnation. Very nice.

Thursday, March 7/2024

 Intrigued by a set of flags we can see from our patio. Not the Turkish Cypriot and Turkish pair on the mountainside, our weather vanes. But looking uphill in the other direction, to our left, are a set of three flags - Turkish Cypriot, Turkish, and, in the central position, Swedish. So presumably we have Swedish neighbours, or possibly part time neighbours. Much harder than one might suppose to establish what building the flags belong to, as they’re in a large area full of luxuriant growth, and walking round by the road doesn’t give particularly good lines of sight to the centre.

But we’re out walking anyway so try to calculate the flag’s home, only managing to narrow it down to half a dozen possibilities. Lots not always regular in shape and short of walking down long, steep drives and demanding to view corresponding gardens it’s impossible to tell who owns the Swedish flag. No convenient little sign proclaiming Johansson or Larsson - or for that matter Yilmas or Demir, for purposes of elimination.

Past our home from last year. No cats in sight. The almond tree by the parking lot, which was in exuberant bloom at this time a year ago, is flowering but it’s no better than the ones that are near us now. Portending a poor nut harvest or just a bit slow this year?

Circle round and downhill and pass the field where the goats hang out - as opposed to the orchard across from us where goats do live but seem to be permanently shut away. These are busy eating, trimming the leaves from a pile of branches. They’re highly curious, and some of them come over to the fence to say hello. We’re still in the old village and their paddock backs onto houses and small apartment buildings. But Lapta is good at sharing space.

Wednesday, March 6/2024

Courtesy of LGC

 Another death in traffic, down to stupidly careless driving. Probably because this country is so small virtually all traffic fatalities are reported in the news. Have absolutely no desire to drive here, and not primarily because it’s drive on the left hand side of the road territory - although that does make a difference because in an emergency your knowledge has to outweigh your instincts. Though we have occasionally hired cars in South Cyprus and in the UK.  

Today’s report refers to the death of a pensioner. Not that the man was responsible for the accident. To be fair, no suggestion of an old bloke wandering haplessly across the road heedless of traffic lights, spectacles in pocket. “Pensioner victim of careless driving incident” reads the headline. All the same, what is the obsession with reporting the age of every victim or perpetrator of crime or catastrophe? 

Unless, of course, there is a particular relevance or human interest aspect. As there was, sadly, in the recent death of a boy from the Güzelyurt district in western TRNC. The fourteen year old was  driving (illegally, obviously) and speeding in the early hours of the morning.  He lost control of the vehicle on a left hand bend and crashed the car, which veered off the road, ploughed through a garden wall and struck the side of a house. The boy died at the scene of the accident. Subsequent reports invariably referred to the him as having died in a traffic accident. While there is no point in laying blame posthumously or in further distressing his family, referring to the incident as a traffic accident is somewhat misleading.

First noticed the age factor when, some years ago there was a short item in the Cyprus Mail regarding the death of an elderly pedestrian , then citing his age - in the mid sixties. So no  doubt I find mentions of “elderly victims” and “pensioners” jarring because frequently they are references to worthy people younger than- sometimes considerably younger than - our good selves.

Tuesday, March 5/2024

 

Spring has arrived. The flowers along the patio - which never quite disappeared in winter but had begun looking distinctly seedy - literally and otherwise - are beginning to flower. The mock orange not quite in bloom but bursting with promise  and the cape honeysuckle sporting elegant blossoms.

The gold buddleia is living up to its name - butterfly bush - and attracting a series of butterflies. And the bougainvillea is producing a few new blossoms as well.

Monday, March 4/2024

 The Cyprus Mail notes that the Green Party has included a Turkish Cypriot on the ballot for May’s elections to the EU parliament in Strasbourg.  This introduces yet one more anomaly to the already unique Cypriot political scene. Introduces it to me, that is. There is already a Turkish Cypriot Member of the European Parliament, Niyazi Kızılyürek, elected under the AKEL Party banner.

“Turkish Cypriots are regarded as EU citizens by virtue of the Greek Cypriot side’s accession to the bloc in 2004, meaning they have the right to vote in the European elections and be elected as MEPs. However, they can only cast their vote at a limited number of special polling stations set up by the Greek Cypriot authorities on the southern side of the island’s border.” [Cyprus Mail].

Would be MEPs are required to register with the South’s Central Electoral Service to be included on the ballot. And, for what it’s worth, do not have the blessing of political parties in the North. So the plot grows ever thicker.

Sunday, March 3/2024

 As with most countries, inflation continues to have its wicked way with North Cyprus. Currently there are 39.7 Turkish lira to a pound sterling. 34 to a euro and 23 to a Canadian dollar. That’s some level of edging up since we arrived here. But, much more striking, there were 8.2 lira to the euro when we were living in Famagusta  in August of 2020. Not so bad for people whose income is entirely in other currencies but pretty difficult for people being paid in lira. 

The problem is not entirely new. The first year we were retired we were staying in Marmaris, Turkey in the winter of 2001 and visited a supermarket. The prices on the shelves were digital, which initially seemed pretty high tech. Until we realised that they were changing so rapidly that replacing price tags manually was becoming too difficult. It was literally possible to pick up a loaf of bread and find by the time one reached the till the price had gone up.

The Turkish bills are in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, and 200 lira. There are coins but they’re actually a nuisance - heavy in the pocket but never seem to add up to enough to buy as much as a candy bar. Shops end up needing them for change but most people simply don’t want them. Haven’t tried them on the dolmuş drivers but shouldn’t be at all surprised if they refused to take them. One lira coins and the lesser 25 and 50 kurus are quite common. Apparently 10, 5, and even 1 kurus coins exist, though they’re rare and we haven’t seen them. Can’t imagine any point to minting them. If one lira is worth 3 euro cents and a 25 kurus coin is worth a quarter of that….

And J did discover in his pocket a 5 lira coin. Not nearly as useless though just about as rare, so we had to look it up to be sure what it was.

Saturday, March 2/2024

Chateau Lambousa Hotel

Lovely sunny day for market. There’s a larger market on Wednesdays in Girne, and we could go, but the Lambousa market is in the grounds of the colonial style Chateau Lambousa Hotel, a little over a kilometre away so it’s a nice walk. Have a chat with the woman who sells honey and fresh eggs and buy another jar of her beautiful honey.

Local paper reports that four teenagers have appeared in court charged with stealing 1.4 million Turkish lira worth of car parts. The million bit is eye catching, although Turkish lira numbers do tend to be large, though not as large as they were before 2005 when, after many years of hyperinflation, the Old Turkish Lira (TRL) was replaced by the New Turkish Lira (YTL) at a rate of 1 Million old Lira to 1 new Lira. And the boys’ theft translates to €41,176 (£35,000, $59,705 CAD). Not trivial but not high finance.

In other news, it is reported that North Cyprus authorities declared 14 people banned immigrants, including ten Nigerians for cult activities. Am curious about what the cult activities might be. Voodoo dolls? Strange rituals of witchcraft? The article supplies no gory details at all and am forced to conclude that “cult” is simply a poor translation for something relatively innocuous.

And, south of the border we read yesterday that a young woman arrived at the Larnaca airport carrying €420,000 in cash. She declared it at customs as is required with amounts over €10,000 and then took a taxi to Limassol. But when she got out of the taxi she was robbed by youths who ran away with the money. The whole thing did sound rather unlikely, despite her explanation that she had brought the money to buy an apartment. 

And apparently it sounded unlikely to the police as well. Hence a follow up story today saying that the woman, a Ukrainian, has in fact brought over €6 million into Cyprus in the last few months and has now been arrested for money laundering.

Friday, March 1/2024

Courtesy LGC News

The price of bread will rise tomorrow from 13.5 lira to 15 (€0.44, £0.38, $0.68 CAD). It’s government controlled and applies to the most basic loaf of (white) bread available. The olive sourdough baguettes and whole wheat with rye loaves we buy would be between three and four times that price and are not subject to government controls. Ten kilo cylinders of gas for cooking, also government regulated, have just gone up from 390 lira to 415 lira (€12.20, £10.45, $17.93 CAD), the second increase in three weeks. Don’t know how long a cylinder lasts, but must be quite a while because we have been using our present one since we came here 

and last year we didn’t in two and a half months finish the one that was in place when we arrived. 

In the afternoon our regular stroll down to the Blue Song. Warm enough for short sleeves sitting outside, but windy, especially by the sea.