Friday, April 4/2025

 

Pass the donkey on its own, though presumably tethered, on our way down to the Blue Song. Last week it was in the same field but accompanied by its owner who was picking wild herbs. Stopped for a chat. Like many people around here he was happy to engage, though with very limited English (albeit significantly better than our Turkish). He was gathering fennel, accompanied by a fair number of small snails. Said he didn’t eat the snails although people in the south did. As they certainly do. But does that mean that he personally doesn’t happen to like snails or that they’re not normally eaten in the north? And if so, why not? There was an occasion a few years ago when a Turkish Cypriot citizen was apprehended crossing the border to the South with a sack containing ten kilos of snails. He was fined a hundred euros and the snails were destroyed - or so the customs inspectors claimed. But on what grounds? Were they considered live animals or uninspected meat and fish?

We collected a little fennel of our own. Not the roots - just the feathery bits. Minimal research establishes that wild fennel likes to grow in disturbed fields. Love the phrasing. Does the attention of a placid donkey qualify as disturbed? Seemed pretty peaceful.

Thursday, April 3/2025

Currently three books in our read aloud shelf. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. Extremely well documented, with origins going back to the beginning of the state, including minutes from meetings with Ben Gurion. Very good background but heavy reading in more than one way. We’ll finish, but slowly. Digital, so it comes with us.

Still in non-fiction, but a “real” book, is Aprons and Silver Spoons by Mollie Moran. It’s the fascinating reminiscences of a woman who was born in 1916 and at fourteen became an understairs kitchen maid at a grand house in London. She lived to be 96 and the memoir follows her life through to after the end of the war.

And book number three is fiction - The Bastard of Istanbul, written in English by Turkish British novelist Elif Shafak and translated into Turkish and a number of other languages. Uneven, but the best bits are very good. And of political interest as well. The family history of the main characters deals with the Turkish massacre of Armenians in 1915. A touchy subject at best in Türkiye and one that led to Shafak being charged with “insulting Turkishness”. The charge was dismissed due to “lack of insult” but conviction could have meant a three year prison sentence.

Wednesday, April 2/2025

 

More Sahara dust. Not the thickest we’ve ever seen but the most dense this year. Photo from our patio this afternoon is unedited.

We retired in 2000 and began travelling in December of that year. The biggest change in what is approaching a quarter century 😳 is in communication. 

Initially we were pleased to have begun our travels in the days of the internet. Huge step up from our honeymoon days in 1993 when we carried a little short wave radio and hoped amidst the crackle to find news in English. Then hoped it wasn’t Voice of America - slow reading for foreign language students and pretty CIA approved slant. Often it was hard to guess the language of a broadcast let alone decipher content. But the internet! Meant we could, in urban areas, find internet cafés and catch up on anything critical. That was how we found out that grandchild number four had been born (the others were either before retirement or during non travel season).  The first internet cafés were crowded, with grubby keyboards and often poor connections, but they seemed like a miracle. Sometimes the keyboards were unfamiliar, producing odd looking characters even when I abandoned touch typing and tried to focus on their alphabets.

Company varied. Our usual spot in Earl’s Court London full of Australian backpackers and foreign students, for whom it conveniently provided pay phones. Our first booking at a hotel in Cyprus was made from a pay phone at an Earl’s Court internet café. Other locations - for example North Cyprus later that same year - were full of young teenage boys playing online games and shouting encouragement at each other over my head as I crouched over the keyboard. 

Larnaca offered a more sedate café. And in order to attract more girls - who would in turn attract more boys - it offered a lower half hourly rate “for girls”. Have no idea what the law was before Cyprus joined the EU, but was pretty sure that after it would have been violating some regulation to advertise different rates by gender. But rather than dispute the principle I used to primly hand them the “girl” amount, knowing that I was not their target demographic - and that they would be unwilling to say so.

Maggi was responsible for finding us a free internet service in Larnaca. It was a student facility but didn’t require student cards for access. The downside - or one of them - was unbelievably slow computers, not all of which were operational on any given occasion. Oddly, they routinely ignored the posted age requirement - something like sixteen to twenty- five - but were brutally strict about the time limit. Half an hour max even if there were no other would be users in the building. And it was quite easy to use the first fifteen minutes merely getting online. Some censorship involved as well. Newspapers were verboten because they carried sports reports, on which students ought not to be wasting their time. Or gathering info to be used in placing bets? 

The Sunflower was the first place we stayed that boasted free WiFi, although at first only in the reception area. It wasn’t exactly high speed either - though better - and there was a certain low key humour to be had from listening to fellow residents loudly communicating with their relatives in other countries. The most amusing though was when Mr Andreas, the proprietor, asked me if I knew the password. Assuming he was being helpful, I said I did. Well, would I mind telling him what it was? And then in later years each flat had its own access. Though not always with ideal reception. 

Meanwhile in London we had graduated from the internet cafés, which were disappearing in any case. For a while we could drop in to the Canadian consulate, conveniently located in latter years off  Trafalgar Square. Long past the days when one’s embassy was a home away from home, willing to serve as a post restante address for travellers as well as dispense tea and advice. But it was prepared in the early days to allow use of a couple of computers for Canadians to check their email and ran to only slightly out of date copies of The Globe and Mail. And, somewhat surprisingly, when the Icelandic volcano of 2010 closed the skies the Canadian consulate played host to stranded - or in our case not particularly stranded - Canadians, allowing us to make phone calls as well as use the internet and actually serving coffee and quite decent biscuits. Have no idea whether they were shamed into this unprecedented hospitality by rumours of the generosity of other embassies and consulates but in subsequent years it was hard even to persuade them to allow one to come in and view their current art show - if indeed they still run to one. But by then we had graduated to the City of London Library at the Barbican. Where we took our first iPad mini (though not our first tablet) looking for a safe and quiet place to set it up. And that was followed by our Starbucks office. Internet free with the coffee and, at the Queensway location anyway, no need to hurry.

And now here we are in North Cyprus. Internet not at all bad, though trying to use it for VOIP has its limitations and there are occasional power cuts. But most of our books now digital and ones we’ve chosen rather than whatever a second hand book shop could provide in English. No more knocking the bottom out of suitcases hauling a library around. Plenty of news. Analysis from suitably non-mainstream sources. Even humour.

And communication. Before getting out of bed in the morning have WhatsApp messaged the man who delivers gas cylinders. (Everyone here has WhatsApp, including outfits like Turkish Airlines). Yes, he can deliver. Confirm price. Send small map along with address. By the time I have finished messaging to inquire about approximate delivery time, and before I have even considered combing my hair, his truck is outside.

A very different world. Though a tiny bit of regret for the days we spent wandering the globe as anonymous nomads. We wouldn’t have known if World War III had broken out. And there was something to be said for that.

Tuesday, April 1/2025

Online weather info:

‘Last night, a heavy desert dust cloud from Egypt entered Turkey, with Fethiye and its surroundings being among the first areas affected.’

There has been a fair bit of Saharan dust in the air lately but this graphic suggests it’s approaching with malice aforethought.

Meanwhile a second map also showing Rhodes (Rodos) and Fethiye - this time correctly positioned on land and not in the sea - shows rain, approaching Cyprus as is, no doubt, the thick dust. Can only hope that the resulting precipitation is not in the form of mud.

Temps still in the twenties so no complaints.

Monday, March 31/2025

 Honeysuckle threads its way through the lower branches of the orange tree on the edge of the patio.

Second day of Bayram celebrations. Think that banks and government offices remain closed tomorrow as well, Bayram having fallen on a Sunday this year. 

No real holiday from world tension of course. The Republic of Cyprus (South) delighted to announce that schools in Greece will be celebrating EOKA Day on April 1. EOKA was the guerilla organisation that fought not only for Cypriot independence from Britain but for political union with Greece. To quote from my blog of March 2/23:

EOKA was a terrorist organisation active from the fifties to the seventies whose aim was political union with Greece, pitting it against the British, Turkish Cypriots, and many fellow Greek Cypriots. While many independence movements have involved violence, EOKA was not an independence movement and did mean death for Turkish Cypriots. Independence was granted by the British in 1960, and the government of the Republic later outlawed the organisation, which had been responsible for civilian deaths and involved with the assassination of the American ambassador. 

The Americans may have forgiven or forgotten the indignities but Turks and Turkish Cypriots - many of whom were killed by EOKA - have not. Taking the celebration into the schools for the next generation seems unnecessarily provocative. 

So it seemed rather refreshing to see  headline in the TRNC’s Cyprus Mirror (North) reading ‘Erdoğan Vows Accountability for “Sabotaging” Economy’. Humility has never been his strong point and his unusual fiscal policies have seen the Turkish lira fall from seven to the euro three years ago to forty-one to the euro now. Making the Canadian dollar look like an investor’s dream. Takes only a few seconds though to realise that the accountability Erdoğan is vowing is not on his own behalf but a threat to the opposition. Sigh.

As journalist Robin Lustig put it the other day:

‘It was as long ago as 1996, nearly thirty years ago, that the then mayor of Istanbul, a certain Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said this: “Democracy is like a tram. You ride it until you arrive at your destination, then you get off”. He stayed on that tram for a long time, but now he has jumped off. He has reached his destination.’

Sunday, March 30/2025

 

Promised/threatened rain - depending on point of view doesn’t arrive so a small friend takes advantage of the sunshine and poses on the back of a deck chair on the patio.

Meanwhile, a new twist on the usual local explanation for accidents - lost control of the steering wheel. A man driving a rental car in Lefkoşa crashed into the wall of a house (though not at right angles as I first imagined it). His first words as he emerged from the car were ‘They’ve built a house in the road!’ 

Eyewitnesses said that the driver claimed to have lost his sense of direction on the street and to have been surprised to find that the house was so close. Well, it’s not easy to play the roles of driver, navigator and map reader all at the same time.

Not that we’ve been especially tempted but it is against the law here to insult Turkish presidents, and they don’t have to be present or even living to qualify. A man was just arrested for insulting Ataturk, founder of the modern Turkish nation. Actual insult not included in English translation but the offence took place in a gym and not on a soapbox. 

Assume that the applicability of the law is limited to Turkish leaders, and would never in any case have been inclined to say bad things about Ataturk, for whom I have some admiration. And a certain affinity as we once stayed in a hotel in Aleppo where Ataturk had, many years earlier, made his Syrian headquarters. 

There are, however, presidents of some other countries where I might feel insult was called for.

Saturday, March 29/2025

 It’s not Saskatchewan big sky country but the sky here is fascinating. The mountain range is immediately to the south of us  - in fact we’re on the northern slope of the mountains. So weather changes blowing in from the south can suddenly shroud the peak with mist. The photo on the left was taken this afternoon, about three and immediately after several hours of full sun. Taken looking southwest

The sun did return though in time for more drama at sunset.

Second photo taken about three hours later looking pretty well due west. Despite the red sky there are possible rainstorms predicted for tomorrow afternoon. Although apparently the wisdom is that it’s always fine weather for Bayram and Beverley says that was indeed the case during the twenty years she lived in Istanbul.

We can’t see the skies very far to the east but north is a different matter. A kilometre below us is the Mediterranean and then nothing but sea and sky all the way to Türkiye. It’s about a hundred kilometres and on a clear day you can see Türkiye from our north facing window.

Tomorrow is both Bayram, sometimes referred to as Şeker (sugar) Bayram and also the day the clocks go forward for summer time everywhere except North America, where the date for the time change is slightly different. 

Friday, March 28/2025

The weather seems to have a split personality. Begins very warm. Sliding doors open to the patio. Scent of flowers fills the room. (Unfairly, the shrubs overhanging Alexander’s patio next door are in much fuller bloom than ours while Alexander himself is in Russia - but we get to enjoy them in his absence). Lovely walk back after visiting with friends at the Blue Song. Then the wind picks up and gets wildly strong though evening temperatures still close to twenty. A bit eerie once it’s dark listening to odd bits and pieces blowing about. Don’t think there’s much out there other than a couple of small plastic containers swirling around and bumping into the table or the wall but it sounds weird.

This is the beginning of a long weekend as tomorrow is the last day of Ramazan. Sunday should be Eid al-Fitr, most commonly known in Turkish speaking areas as Bayram, Eid being an Arabic term for holiday and Bayram the Turkish, though the word has Persian origins. There is always a little uncertainty on the date as there is at the beginning of Ramazan as the precise moment depends on the official sighting of the new moon. So, like the official first day of spring, it may be a day later in one time zone than in another.

In any case Monday and Tuesday will be civic holidays and the children are off school for ten days. While most shops don’t close for long and supermarkets may not close at all it’s a bit like the time between Christmas and New Year’s in Canada in that some businesses may just shut down for the whole week.Turkish family next door seem to have friends or relatives visiting as they did at this time last year. Much cheery chatter from their garden.

Thursday, March 27/2024

 

Courtesy Cyprus Mail

Protests in the Republic of Cyprus (South) against the use of the sovereign bases in support of Israel as the massacres of civilians in Gaza continue. The bases are UK sovereign territory dating back to the terms of Cypriot independence. How they are used - and this has included flights identifying targets in Gaza as well as allowing military access to the US - is not up to the government of Cyprus. However the Cypriot government has fallen considerably short of bitter protest, and not because they have no proven ability to engage in same.

Meanwhile Amnesty International is warning that states “like the UK” that provide arms to Israel are deepening their complicity in genocide.

Busy times for Amnesty International as they are also monitoring and speaking out on lack of freedom of speech in Türkiye as Erdoğan’s arrests of protestors passes a thousand. 

And presumably Amnesty is now gearing up to criticise ICE in the US for inhumane, racist and illegal treatment of immigrants and visitors. Complaints that Amnesty has had about the US and ICE for some time. 

The weather is lovely, the food is good, the view is spectacular. The world is a mess.

Wednesday, March 26/2025

Sunny and warm. And we look up to find that we’re not the only ones enjoying it. On the patio wall behind J is a cat lying companionably near us, chin resting on the upturned broom. Not a cat we’re familiar with but not looking for an adoptive family either. Unusually, this cat is sporting a collar so it’s definitely not a stray, though apparently not neutered.

The prime minister of Greece has postponed a meeting with Turkish President Erdogan. A spokesperson for Kyriakos Mitsotakis responded to the arrest of Mayor İmamoğlu saying “Our stance on İmamoğlu has not changed. Concessions [compromises] on the rule of law and political freedoms are unacceptable, and convincing answers are needed for any concessions made.” 

An uncompromising statement. Until one notes that Mitsotakis intends to meet on the weekend with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Accusations of genocide understandable, but jailing an opponent a step too far? 

But politics is complicated it seems. During yesterday’s Independence Day celebrations in Greece naval cadets were heard chanting “Cyprus is Greek. F*ck Turkey”. Ankara complained and the Greek government agreed that the behaviour was inappropriate and said the cadets would be disciplined.

Tuesday, March 25/2025

Kazasi means accident. Trafik an obvious loan word. It often seems like there are a disproportionate number of traffic accidents here and maybe there are. On the other hand we do hear about every accident in the  country. Comparable to living in - say - Halifax and reading reports of every traffic incident including ones with no injuries. 

Actually the style of the commentary is more interesting than the forensic details. And that may be in part, though not entirely, a matter of translation. “Lost control of the steering wheel” is frequently cited as the cause of an accident but the authorities do recognise that this only the proximate cause and the phrase is often followed by “due to his [or presumably her, but in fact usually his] carelessness. So one can assume that steering wheels here are no more refractory than in most places. The licence plate numbers of offending - and innocent vehicles often included. And, as in other jurisdictions, gender and age of those involved. 

Today’s accident report also gives the name of the man who “lost control of the steering wheel due to his carelessness” and the fact that the car stopped after hitting an electric pole. No injuries. However here the astonishing information is the ultimate cause of the accident and the reason for the fifty-five year old man’s arrest. He was “under the influence of 425 milligrams of alcohol”. In Canadian terms a blood alcohol concentration of 4.25! Surprising he could find the ignition. For the record, the legal limit here is .05 - sometimes exceeded by drivers but not normally by near lethal amounts.

Monday, March 24/2025

Major protests continue in Istanbul. Protests clearly forbidden by President Erdoğan on social media but mixed reports on whether X - and therefore Musk - acceded to his demands. Probably yes but not on the scale Erdoğan would have preferred. Meanwhile in TRNC over 6000 signatures were gathered in a matter of hours in support of jailed Istanbul mayor and opposition presidential candidate Ekrem Imamoğlu, preferred candidate of the Republican People’s Party (CHP).

Apply for ETA electronic permissions for entry to UK. The app is actually quite good - apparently better than Canada’s. Short number of questions followed by scans and photo on the mobile. Efficient at taking the £10 payment as well. They want to know if we’ve been involved in or suspected of war crimes, genocide, terrorism or support of extremist groups. No, obviously. But extremist groups? One man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter as the saying goes. And suspected by whom? Will our answers change if the US attempts to annex us? Interesting that they include support for genocide. I can answer no, but think it’s lucky for Keir Starmer that he’s already a UK citizen and doesn’t have to apply to enter.

Sunday, March 23/2025

 

Supermarket sales here are often on weekends. Produce easy enough to identify visually in advertisements. Types of cheese, sausage, etc can be trickier. Google translate of limited help, although sometimes contributes to the day’s entertainment. 

Have figured out, accurately, that hindi is Turkish for turkey. Well, hardly surprising that the Turks don’t refer to the birds they eat as turkey. Nor do most other countries, it seems. The French call it dinde - literally ‘from India’. In Polish it’s similar - indyk. And when you look up turkey the first Turkish translation given is hindi but this is followed by fiyasko and bașarasız [unsuccessful] film. Fair enough. 

And Șokmar supermarket is advertising what it describes as Dana füme kimliki. Translates as smoked meat with bones. Sounds considerably less appetising than accompanying photo would suggest. Presumably refers to smoked meat on the bone.

Meanwhile in Istanbul the clash between Erdoğan and supporters of Mayor Imamoğlu continues with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators in the streets as Imamoğlu is jailed. The opposition CHP party has said it will nominate him as a presidential candidate regardless. Interestingly Erdoğan himself was jailed during the 1990’s but emerged to become president. Charges and countercharges with malice aforethought not especially unusual. The situation as potentially hazardous for Erdoğan as for Imamoğlu though. The lira plunged as the conflict began. It was promptly propped up but at a cost of twelve billion dollars.

Saturday, MARCH 22/2025

Spring again - de jure and de facto. All kinds of flowering shrubs and trees coming into brilliant and aromatic life. Orange wattles along the lane leading into the Saturday market. Lovely yellow blossoms cascading down like weeping willow branches. They’re an acacia and originally Australian. Sadly regarded as an invasive species, not simply because they originated in another continent but because they greedily take more than their fair share of water in a country where water is in short supply.

Unable to resist the fresh strawberries at market. Assuming greenhouse grown, as it’s early but they’re lovely. The scent alone is worth the price. 

Stop and chat with Creigan, who often enjoys a Saturday breakfast at the market. And also with our friends at the bookstall. Beverley has saved us a selection of books by prize winning Turkish  British novelist Elif Șafak. Daphne had had one of her other books in German translation yesterday and B had said that the animal charity bookstall would have some as well. We choose The Bastard of Istanbul for a read aloud. Looks promising.

Friday, March 21/2025

Meet with friends at the Blue Song for our regular Friday afternoon drink. Several of them - particularly Beverley, John, Caroline and Creigan - have lived in Turkey and are interested in the protests. But no particular insider information. Thousands more out on the streets of Istanbul today. But this has happened in the past with nothing resembling civil war resulting. Can be difficult to judge President Erdoğan’s  support by looking at activity in the cities as his real strength is in the rural areas.

Interestingly there was a protest today in Lefkoșa in response to the TRNC government’s recent decision to permit female students to wear a hijab if they choose. The complaint is that North Cypriot state school dress codes have not included head coverings and that the change may be presumed to be in response to pressure from the more conservative and religious elements in Türkiye. TRNC schools are secular by choice and should remain so.

Thursday, March 20/2025

 Not nearly as windy as it was landside, but clearly rough at sea. What I grew up - like most Northern Americans - calling whitecaps, the British usually refer to as white horses. And New Zealanders call sheep. As do the French - in French obviously - moutons. Can see why they might resemble sheep in a distant field but rearing stallions seems more appropriate for a tumultuous sea. Photo from our flat not ideal, but unwilling to walk a kilometre down to the shore to get a better shot.

The Turkish lira fell sharply yesterday, against all other currencies, but partially recovered almost immediately - not quite back to original values but approaching them. The reason is obvious but a bit difficult to get accurate detailed information on. President Erdoğan has had the Mayor of Istanbul and about a hundred protesters arrested. Mayor Imamoğlu was apparently about to be nominated to run for the presidency, although that of course is not the reason given. He has been accused of corruption - a standard charge among warring factions. Also his university degree has been revoked on the grounds that he began it in the TRNC before transferring to the University of Istanbul. (So we have the local angle).  This is particularly serious because it is necessary to have a university degree in order to become president in Türkiye.

After years of the revoking of university degrees being extremely rare it seems that the procedure has become a weapon of choice, and not only in countries with a dodgy history of democracy. In the past revoking a degree would have happened only if it had been obtained by false pretences - cheating on exams, plagiarising theses, altering transcripts. Now it seems that engaging in political protests not in line with the financial sponsors of an Ivy League university can put a well earned degree at risk. As governments and policies change different graduate demographics could be at risk. Will succeeding governments restore degrees revoked by their predecessors? How far back will they go? Those who have had or performed abortions? Draft dodgers? I had ancestors on both sides of the American Revolution. Does that mean protection or extreme risk?

Wednesday, March 19/2025

 

Rain, promised or threatened - actually more promised as it’s been a dry year and the crops need it - arrives in the afternoon. Temperatures expected to drop to the mid teens for the next couple of days and then return to the twenties. Tomorrow the first day of spring. 

Some dispute over search and rescue efforts regarding would be refugees from Syria. There have been three separate events during the last week, the most recent being on Monday when Republic of Cyprus (South) patrols recovered two survivors and seven bodies about sixty miles off Cape Greco as a result of the collapse of a boatload reportedly carrying twenty-one refugees from Syria. The distance would have put it roughly half way between Cyprus and Syria.

UNHRCA, the UN refugee agency says that there have been accounts of Cypriot authorities forcibly returning would be refugees to Syria in defiance of international law.  The Republic of Cyprus denies the allegations of pushbacks.

Tuesday, March 18/2025

Make lemon curd this morning. The deep colour comes from the egg yolks. The contribution of the lemons and butter is pretty light. But the taste is rich, sweet and pure lemon. Some people spread it on toast. We tend to put a large spoonful on top of thick plain yoghurt. 

Day starts out breezy and then gets truly windy. A young cat takes a run for the patio door which is still slightly open as it’s not cold. Probably just trying to get out of the wind but we’re not running a shelter. Warnings out on gale force winds and the sea definitely looks rough. Laura and Nayım’s fence has blown down, Laura reports. 

But cozy inside. Borscht in the pot. Plenty of good reading.

Monday, March 17/2025

Cats occasionally trek across our patio. Some feral and some obviously from homes. Recognise this one as the cat Alexander, our Russian next door neighbour befriended. Alexander hasn’t been here since November, but the cat no doubt checking things out on the off chance. No missing ear tip, so not neutered. And certainly doesn’t look as if it’s been going hungry. May in fact belong to someone. Wouldn’t mind having a cat if we didn’t split our year between two - and sometimes more - places. Apart from the legalities, the last time I moved with a cat - from Regina to Winnipeg - was definitely not a pleasure. For either of us.

Sunday, March 16/2025

 Lovely weather continues. And we keep the doors to the patio wide open as the scent of the flowers is intoxicating. 

Meet up with John and Beverley and their friends Wendy as well as Karen from the animal rescue bookstall at the Saturday market, who we have met and her husband Errol, whom we hadn’t. For Sunday dinner as held every second Sunday at The Black Olive Café, location of the twice yearly - or thereabouts - drama productions. Very friendly spot - almost as difficult to hear as in a Greek Cypriot restaurant!

Saturday, March 15/2025

 The Ides of March. Not much to beware here. The air heavily scented by emerging flowers as we walk ddown to the Saturday market. For the first time since Christmas we head out a little earlier because the temperature, heading for the high twenties, will be hotter in the midday sun.

The reckoning - perhaps the beware part - is for late next week when there is a projected high on Thursday of fifteen. Lamb and lion? But that chill, if it happens, is not expected  to stay long.

Friday, March 14/2025

 

Walking up the hill from the Blue Song, we meet some young girls with a donkey. J asks does the donkey live with you. No, in the garden. Well, fair enough. And probably some loss in translation.

The price of cigarettes is going up in the TRNC. Bringing them to between 80 and 85 lira a pack ($3.13 to $3.33 CAD, £1.69 to £1.79). Remarkably inexpensive. Think that they are sold in packs of twenty, although not positive as we’ve never bought any. 

Smoking while driving is illegal here, as is eating or drinking - even water. Now the penalty for smoking while driving is about to increase to five percent of the monthly minimum wage. Part of an attempt to discourage distracted driving. Much needed considering the number of accidents that are reportedly due to the driver “losing control of the steering wheel”. 🙄

Thursday, March 13/2025

 

Orange buds turning into blossoms. The scent in the air is lovely - and now warm enough for early morning coffee on the patio.

And from the only in Cyprus department a patient at one of the Girne hospitals arrived at the hospital around midnight and was discharged at 4 AM. As he was leaving he stole an ambulance from the hospital premises. Caught on CCTV and apprehended by the police, who say his motive is unknown. Well, it’s difficult to find a taxi in this country, especially at four in the morning.

Wednesday, March 12/2025

To The Three Bears Drink House (pub, no idea how it got its name) where Caroline is giving a talk and slide presentation to the foreigners on her recent trip to Serbia. Bit too much light in the room for ideal presentation of the slides but the talk more than makes up for it. Fair bit of history and social commentary and her archaeologist’s view of the oldest village discovered in Europe.

Lipinski Vir (various spellings) was a village on the right bank of the Danube, dating back as far as the tenth millennium BCE. Well into pre-history. Even pictographs go back only about five thousand years and script a little less. For truly ancient history the story is in the archaeological sites.

Very moving to see reconstructions of the little trapezoid homes. Reminded us of Choirokitia, the Neolithic site we visited west of Larnaca. It was first settled in the seventh millennium BCE and some of the round huts have been recreated.

The dwelling places of Lipinski Vir are not intact either, of course, but a number of red sandstone piscine sculptures are. Strange little fish faced creatures. Presumably associated  with worship and the creation of a people who depended on the river for sustenance.

Dolmuş back from nearby Dima, a supermarket much bigger than our local and with some - but not all - prices better than our little one. Home with some fruit and veg and our favourite Malbec.

Tuesday, March 11/2025

 More Saharan dust in the air, with meteorological notices suggesting the small particulate matter will be with us for the next three days. The mountains are topped with a shroud of mist this morning but the haze looks more like fog than like dust filled air.  In the foreground the neighbours’ fig tree is in full bloom. And the air is heavily scented as blossoms emerge on the orange tree and the shrubs.

And keeping our eyes on the Canadian electoral scene. Carney, of course, not technically prime minister yet, though obviously he will be. First Trudeau formally resigns and then the governor general is permitted to determine whether his successor will have the confidence of the House. It is clearly desirable but not formally necessary for the prime minister to have a seat in parliament. In less fraught times one would expect a co-operative MP in a safe seat to resign, thereby triggering a by-election. However this would presumably have the effect of postponing the expected general election. Alternatively, Carney could call an election and run for parliament, although even contesting a safe seat would presumably be a significant distraction from party/government policy in time of tariff war. Also, the present government is a minority one, so having the confidence of the House not as clear as it might be. Assuming election sooner rather than later. This will be one for the history books and I should really have prevailed upon J to write today’s blog, this being his area of expertise not mine.

The election is likely to pose a specific problem for us. The shortest time between issuing the writ and election day (normally a Monday) is thirty-seven days. That would be likely to mean an election before we return to Canada. It is possible to have a mail in ballot sent to another country and we did in fact do this once before following a government defeat in the House. Applying is easy and can now be done electronically. The ballot itself is paper and we are currently in a country recognised only by Turkey and, therefore not well served by couriers. Mailing it back to Canada perhaps less difficult as possible to ask someone to send it from UK. Our constituency in the provincial election was clearly going to be NDP with or without our vote. The federal riding less obvious. It and its predecessor constituency has been Liberal, Conservative, and - going farther back - NDP. Interesting times.

Monday, March 10/2025

Courtesy Gadara Medya

Technically Monday by the time the Liberal leadership results are announced, though we’re awake. Not surprised that Carney won, although impressed by the 86% of the vote he received. 

Locally, donkeys are in the news again, and from a different perspective. The mukhtar (word is of Arabic derivation - means roughly village chief and is, surprisingly, used by both Turkish and Greek Cypriots) of a village in the Karpaz area has stated publicly that he would be pleased to get rid of all the wild donkeys. In the aftermath of the shooting of more than a a dozen donkeys and the attendant public outrage this seemed a distressingly cruel pronouncement.

However, he did elaborate. Donkeys are protected and their numbers are growing as is the area of territory that they roam. They are making serious inroads into grain crops on which local farmers depend for a living. Cypriots and tourists alike are happy to see them and offer them a snack but don’t pay the price for their growing numbers. And, like the deer in the gardens along the Assiniboine River in west Winnipeg, they’re attractive but do significantly damage. If the crops were being eaten by rats there would be no sympathy at all for the intruders, and even crows are not welcomed by many farmers. Though no one thinks the solution should be unlicensed shooting.

Sunday, March 9/2025

Anti genocide protest slated for this afternoon at the British airbase at Akrotiri, Republic of Cyprus (South). This is British sovereign base territory so decisions are made by the UK and not by the government of Cyprus. Throughout the current attack on Palestine British planes have provided support to Israel including identifying targets in Gaza - not that there can be many left to identify. Conservative estimates of Palestinian deaths are running at over 50,000 with about 70% of them being women and children. The Geneva Convention forbids the targeting of civilians.

Meanwhile in neighbouring Syria Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) is the theoretical government in charge in Syria, welcomed by Western countries that seemed content to forget its ISIS origins and its leader’s awkward presence on international terrorist lists. Latest news is that hundreds of Alawites and Christians are being killed by the regime. Not that the regime is in sole charge as Turkish troops move south and Israelis have moved in to occupy the area south of Damascus, where Netanyahu says they have no plans to leave. All of which has been massively funded by the US.

These countries are our neighbours, and even if they weren’t it’s a small world. Too small, one would have thought, to ignore genocide.

Saturday, March 8/2025

Seems to be definitely spring. The sign is dogs heading for shade rather than sun. At the market - where someone has kindly left out a couple of handfuls of dog kibble on the tiles - and on the sidewalk as we head down. And we find ourselves thinking that we will soon want to go earlier rather than later so the sun won’t be too hot. 

Actual high today about twenty-three, though hotter than that in the direct sun, of course. Crazy strong winds later in the afternoon.

Friday, March 7/2025

 

Daphne kindly gives us a lift to the Lodge Bar in Çatalköy, far side of Girne. Actually not much more than twenty kilometres from here but takes a ridiculously long time (about three quarters of an hour) to get there, largely down to Friday supper time traffic. 

Nice friendly pub though. Eating area booked for the early evening by the Kyrenia Animal Rescue association (KAR), which also runs the used book stall at the Saturday market. Beverley and Criegan have driven with Pat. Good to see Criegan looking in fine form after getting his new stent. And seems it’s his lucky night. He wins a cash prize for being first up with the name of a song and kindly donates it back to KAR. 

And good meal. Particularly the sticky toffee pudding for dessert.

Traffic less congested going back, but crazier. No regrets at all over not driving a car here. Lovely evening though.

Thursday, March 6/2025

Red sky at night promises well for another lovely day tomorrow. Palm tree belongs to next door neighbour but vantage point our deck.

Customs and immigration have a new story. This time a man entering the country was arrested at Ercan airport. Was a citizen but had been missing for nearly ten months. Not that anyone other than his mother had been particularly worried about his well being. Sıtkı Akargöl and another man had set out from a fishing shelter - not an authorised port of departure - for what purported to be a fishing trip but had not returned. Several days of searching failed to find them and police announced that they had fled illegally. Fled? Seems they were being investigated regarding human trafficking. So presumably more gory details to follow. Or possibly not.

Also on the sordid side are claims that North Cyprus has higher than average rates of gambling addiction. Nine percent of the population was cited. Seems improbably high, especially given that citizens are not allowed in the casinos, which specialise in attracting foreigners, reportedly particularly Turks and Israelis. There have been warnings recently about counterfeit hundred dollar US bills in circulation associated with the casinos. Local businesses are used to accepting payment from tourists in sterling or euros more or less at par but American dollars would be considerably less common. Of course - re the addiction - there are plenty of ways of becoming addicted to gambling without patronising casinos.

We’re reminded of a case in the Republic of Cyprus (South) in 2012:

“Report on the Cypriot news tonight of a court case regarding gambling, which is illegal in the Republic of Cyprus. The accused are all women aged between 70 and 99, and they’re accused of playing cards for five and ten euro stakes in a private residence in Limassol. A group thinned out somewhat since the original charges were laid, as two have died and another two lost their memories due to Alzheimer’s.”

Wednesday. March 5/2025

Guess life isn’t always dull for customs officials. Officers at Famagusta Port, just down the road from where we stayed during the lockdown, have seized a large shipment of sexual enhancement gel. Referred to as 4200 bottles of illegal sexual enhancement gel (leaving it unclear whether legal sexual enhancement gel exists, but this apparently violates the Medicines Law). Hidden in a truck that arrived by ship. The driver has been taken into custody.

Remember being in the souq (no, damn it, predictive text - not in the soup) in Tunisia when a furtive would be seller with everything but the trench coat tried to peddle viagra. Told him indignantly ‘Pas nécessaire’.

Also in the line of undesirable imports were being visited by dust from North Africa, as happens periodically. Pretty hazy over the sea this morning but not oppressive. Also gale force winds in the early hours that drop later in the day.

Tuesday, March 4/2025

Courtesy of Wikipedia 

Seymour Hersh, American investigative journalist who first came to prominence for uncovering and exposing the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War. Older now - eighty-seven actually - but no less brave. Most recently he has written about how America took out the NordStream pipeline. We had the pleasure of hearing him interviewed at a gathering in London in 2016. 

Reminded of this when I come across a post from 2019 just after finishing Hersh’s memoir Reporter.

“Hersh is not an elegant writer, and there are times I’d like to tweak a phrase, but the material is fascinating, detailed, and frequently horrific. He made a specialty of careful research and revelation involving some of the dirtiest political secrets of the last sixty years, and that is the essence of the book. 

Few of the public figures come out looking good, although there are some admirable exceptions, mostly not from positions of real power. And the material is there for yet another book, a biography of Dick Cheney, if it can be made watertight and not betray vulnerable sources.

For example, almost all recent presidents seem to have approved political assassinations to deal with « enemy «  foreign leaders, sometimes to an extent deplored by the CIA, not usually noted for reluctance to engage in violence and deceit. Nothing actionable from the presidential side, simply a little commentary along the old « will no one rid me of this troublesome priest « lines, and no direct orders needed. Elections and individuals frequently bought, foreign countries destabilised, official statements blatant lies. Not nearly as much as one might wish to choose between parties, either. 

Depressing really, as it’s so obvious that Trump is only less subtle, not more ethical than many of his predecessors - while the last days of Nixon were at least as bizarre. And JFK more sexually reckless and no more moral. If anything has changed, it is the perceived need to conceal such behaviour and the willingness of Congress to condone it. Leaving one with the bizarre feeling that there is something to be said for hypocrisy. It at least acknowledges that there is such a thing as behaviour too shameful to admit to.”

Monday, March 3/2025

Stop in at Şokmar, which has a good bulk fruit, nut and spice section. Also a counter that sells cigarettes and - more importantly - cigars. Buy walnuts, dried cranberries, unsalted peanuts, and raisins. Well, assuming on the raisins. And, yes, a packet of cigars.

Walk up to the foto shop where we need to make some photocopies. The man who runs it is lovely. Speaks not much more English than we do Turkish but communication seems to work through sheer force of good will. Black and white photocopies 10 lira each (0.40 CAD, 21p).

Dolmuş back to Laptamar (seems many supermarkets end in ‘mar’. And yes, the Ramadan bread is there. Multiple signs proclaiming Ramazan Pidesi for 40 lira. No idea whether this is for the whole of Ramadan or a starting special, but it’s still hot.

So home with the purchases. Nuts and cranberries very good. Raisins a bit iffy. Well, they were large enough that we had tried asking if they were raisins but the girl didn’t recognise the word raisin and we didn’t know the Turkish. Turns out it’s kuru üzüm - literally dried grape. Of course English pretty inconsistent. We say grapes and prunes but dried apricots and dried cranberries. These are raisins but seems like they’re very large dried grapes, with seeds to match. Oh well. The Ramazan bread, which we have been looking forward to, is ever so slightly disappointing. Not that it isn’t as good as previously, and it’s still warm. It’s just that it’s a yeast bread and we’ve been spoiled lately. Any bread we’ve bought other than whole grain has been freshly baked sourdough, covered with more seeds and also frequently still warm. It’s a tough life.

And in the South today is Green Monday, the first day of Lent. Not particularly penitential. Meat and fish and dairy aren’t eaten but salads and seafood are and people flock to the countryside to fly kites.

Sunday, March 2/2025

 Buddleia beginning to bud. They’re known to attract butterflies, and they do, but butterflies not always willing to stop and pose for a photo op.

Small earthquake today in the early afternoon, reportedly 3.0 on the Richter scale. Will have been about thirty km south of us but no one hereabouts seems to have felt it.

But a man in North Cyprus did get seriously shaken up. First report said that he had fallen off a cliff from a height of fifty-five metres “while sleeping in his car”. Sounds more or less impossible, so first suspected an inaccurate translation.

Courtesy gadaramedya.com

Had he perhaps been sleeping in his car and then got out to answer a call of nature and become confused in the dark? A later photo removes doubt. He did indeed fall off a cliff while sleeping in his car - although it might perhaps have been better worded. No further explanation available yet.

Saturday, March 1/2025

 Orange trees don’t seem to get much time to rest. The season is drawing to an end but there are still remaining oranges on the trees. Including a lone one on the next door neighbour’s tree which I covet and could reach from our deck - but don’t. Our tree finished producing oranges a short time ago but is now, J noticed, covered with new, white buds.

Lovely day for a walk down to the Lambousa market. Beverley at the animal rescue book stall. Says Criegan expecting to come home today. Pacing the floor - or rather exploring all floors of the Lefkoşa hospital. Sounds like Daphne will not be called upon to accommodate him in her tiny ground floor flat.

Ramadan (known as Ramazan in countries where Arabic is not spoken, such as Türkiye, Pakistan and India) began last night, with today being the first of the dawn to sundown fasts. First encountered by us in 2020 when we were locked down in Gazimağusa, when I wrote:

“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.”

Many don’t observe the fasting - rather like Christians during Lent - but are usually respectful of those who do. Fear that J and I have been looking forward to Ramazan for a somewhat unworthy reason. It’s the only time of year when Ramazan pide, a delicious seeded flatbread is available - baked daily. Realise that this is a bit like looking forward to Lent because chocolate Easter eggs will be back in the stores.