Sunday, October 25/2025

October 26/25 16:00

Daylight savings time in Cyprus, North and South, ended in the wee small hours of this morning, as it did in most of Europe. And twice a year I lament the inability of two sides of the Atlantic to agree on a date for the change. Can’t be a substantive problem as they’re only a week apart. Must be more like why should we change - why not you. Doesn’t really give one much hope for negotiations on more serious matters like world peace.

Easier to understand why whole countries adopt one time zone regardless of the number of degrees of longitude. Think Türkiye, for instance. Or more strikingly China, a huge country where everyone is on Beijing time - very convenient for the capital. And why some countries opt against seasonal change. After all you get the same number of hours of daylight regardless. 

As Saskatchewan has sensibly realised. Although Saskatchewan is an interesting case. Germany is often cited as being the first country to adopt daylight savings in 1916 as a war measure. But nearly eight years before that, on July 1, 1908, Port Arthur Ontario became the first municipality in the world to declare daylight savings time. The second Canadian city to do this was Regina, Saskatchewan, on April 23, 1914. Saskatchewan as a pioneer of daylight savings? It’s the province that never moves to daylight savings. Well, sort of. Geographically Saskatchewan falls under Mountain Time, so it could be said to be permanently on Mountain Daylight Savings. (And yes, I do understand that Saskatchewan is more complicated than that!)

And speaking of mountains, the effect of daylight savings is fairly dramatic here as we live on the side of a mountain. In theory sunset in Lapta today should be 16:59, and maybe at sea level it is, But at 16:00 the sun disappears behind the mountain, an hour earlier than yesterday.

Saturday, October 25/2025

Market day today. Lambousa market is not primarily - or even reliably - fruit and vegetables . Does have clothing, both new and used, as well as inexpensive jewellery, craft items, used books. General rummage sale mixture, some things sold by entrepreneurs and others to raise funds for charities, especially cancer patient support and animal rescue.

A large man in a pink shirt strolls through the market singing. Occasionally happens in Mediterranean countries, exciting no particular comment but never seems to occur in northern lands except with small children.

Collect a bottle of olive oil that Karen, from Kyrenia Animal Rescue bookstall, has brought for us. Oil from her own trees which she watched being cold pressed at a local press. Also pick up a book, Unreliable Sources. Written by veteran international journalist John Simpson. A book about how journalists reported the major events of the twentieth century. To no one’s surprise bias, political pressure and self censorship are not new. Looks like a good read - his previous books were. Also acquire a dozen free range eggs from Tina’s husband. Ninety Turkish lira ($3.00 CAD, £1.61).

Back home J makes humus. Have no lemons. The tree across the road doesn’t seem to have been prolific this year but there are a couple of small ones this side of the fence. Looks like we’ll be buying them for the first time - though they’re not expensive.

Friday, October 24/2025

Drinking coffee and reading the morning news when I spot a notice advising of a power cut between 10:00 and 13:00. Current time 9:50. Notice somewhat confusing - apparently correct in the original Turkish, slightly mistranslated into English by the municipality, and finally corrected by Ralph. So yes, today, and yes between ten and one - more or less that is, as is the way with maintenance. The question is precisely where. A scattering of locations mentioned with some east of us and some west, some at higher altitude than us and some on the seafront. So assume fair likelihood that we’re in the target area. But so far so good, although a couple of people in Lapta report they have already lost power.

Not exactly a problem, but unwilling to begin a shower if sudden loss of electric pump may result in hair shampooed but not rinsed. Opt to head out to regular Friday gathering at the Blue Song unshowered. Actually, sun hot enough that sweat would have nullified shower effects anyway. 

Spot Criegan when we walk in, with others overlooking the sea. The smokers group - though not all are. Usually outside unless it’s broiling or raining. John and Beverley join us shortly. Happy catch up.

Power cut never happens.

 

Power outage?

Thursday, October 23/2025

 One of the pleasures of Cyprus is the variety of flowering plants and trees. Most become somewhat less showy in winter but it isn’t winter yet. We pass this bougainvillea on the way to the dolmuş. No scent, but plenty of flair.

Ralph reports that Customs and Excise in Famagusta has arrested the driver of a truck who has entered the country “from abroad” [Turkey?] with 7600 kilos of tomatoes “hidden and not declared”. He wants to know how on earth one could hide that quantity of tomatoes. Some comment re this being predictable in times of escalating produce prices - and, they say, deteriorating quality. 

Stop at Credit West to get Turkish lira. J points out that we have, in the sterling acquired in the UK, two King Charles III five pound notes. And also observes that they are noticeably smaller than previous £5 notes. Less immediately obvious as British notes, like euros and unlike Canadian bills, are different sizes for different denominations. Helpful for the visually impaired if less neat in the wallet. Google confirms. The new £5 notes are fifteen percent smaller than past ones.

Courtesy of Bank of England

Wednesday, October 22

 

A bit too early in the season for oranges. May have been too dry as well. There are quite a few on the tree next to the patio but they’re very small as well as being not quite ripe. None in our supermarket yet either. 

There is a fig tree across the road from us. Goes some way toward blocking the view of the Mediterranean but actually that is somehow less annoying than new construction doing the same. Lots of figs on it but far from ripe yet. Most of the branches, and therefore figs are behind the orchard fence but those overhanging the road are considered legitimately public property. Though there unripeness doesn’t seem to deter elderly passersby much - woman in photo only one of a number - so by the time they’re ready there probably won’t be any left within reach.

The goat seems still to be in residence in its shed just inside the orchard fence, as we occasionally hear it. Doesn’t seem to have become the entrée at any of the holiday feasts so maybe it’s being kept for milk.

Turns out the estimable Mehmet, who delivers the gas cylinders, also delivers bottled water. Nineteen litre bottles. Much handier than carrying home five litre bottles. Reachable on WhatsApp with a slight mixture of English and Turkish.

Tuesday, October 21/2025

 

Photo posted mid-afternoon by fellow North Cypriot. 

Not sure of her location but wake up this morning saying “it’s not sunny”. Unusual enough to require comment, despite the fact that there have been dust warnings (usual culprit the Sahara) so haze not surprising. Although J points out in response to my exclamation that our floor to ceiling windows could use a good wash. And indeed sliding a window open does reveal if not bright sky at least noticeably less dust. And in compensation temperature is about twenty-five and the breeze as we drink our coffee on the patio is quite pleasant. 

First grocery shop. Sheep’s milk yoghurt (difficult to find in London and virtually unobtainable in most of Canada), sour dough bread baked - though undoubtedly not fermented - on the premises, and a bottle of Spanish Tempranillo. Onions, red peppers, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and sun dried olives and small slim aubergines become tonight’s pasta sauce.

Snails are popular with Cypriots on both sides of the border and are often gathered in the fields to cook with olive oil and garlic. This little one won’t become our appetiser. Discovered not on the patio - where they often appear - but affixed to a wall inside the flat. Not much more than a centimetre in diameter.

Monday, October 20/2025

 

Well, after ten days of warmer than average weather and no rain, it does rain ☔️ this morning as we leave - at six - for the airport. But not heavily, and after the fifteen minute walk to the tube station we’re not in the open. Tube surprisingly full for this early in the morning and most on the Piccadilly line not going to the airport. One woman asleep for a solid half hour. If this were a mystery story it would turn out that she’d been dead and no one noticed, but she revives shortly before her stop.

Arrive at the airport at twenty past seven and all goes well at the check in kiosk except that the seats assigned are not the ones we paid for and they’re not together. Looks like the kind of digital screw up humans will deny all responsibility for but actually the nice young man on the desk tears up the newly dispensed boarding passes and gives us ones with the seats we booked.

Istanbul transfer probably the fastest we’ve experienced anywhere. Flight to North Cyprus a little over an hour and a half but includes a hot toasted chicken and cheese sandwich and red wine - perfectly drinkable despite being in a paper cup. Hard to complain about free meals.

Met by Ozzie’s taxi as promised and home.

Sunday, October 19/2025

 Last day on our street. Actually slightly drizzly, although this is the first rain we’ve seen since we arrived. For which we should take credit as we’ve remembered umbrellas. The one year we didn’t it rained copiously.

Flat has been excellent - with the exception of the day a mouse invaded. Not an unknown event in our summertime existence, of course. And when we awoke to a rustling sound we were just relieved to find it was caused by a mouse and not a rat. The saying that one is never more than six feet from a rat in London is almost certainly exaggeration ( and think I first heard it as ten feet anyway). But there are many rats. Plenty of mice as well. The prime minister’s residence at 10 Downing Street has Larry the Cat, official mouser who has outlasted several prime ministers - not all that difficult in recent years.

And with a high street full of restaurants and pubs and associated refuse no intelligent rat would trek three blocks over to investigate us.

Saturday, October 18/2025

 

To Green Park. An astonishing forty-seven percent of London is green space, much of it open to the public.  Green Park itself is forty-seven acres of green space and is linked to St James’s Park and Hyde Park. It’s an inviting park, with green lawns and towering plane trees well over a hundred years old. 

Plenty of space for walking or kicking a ball and also some quieter activities. We pass a young father and baby engrossed in a story book as well as families with small children. How many are tourists? Very hard to tell and certainly not by language. My guess is that most aren’t - except at the end of the park by Buckingham Palace. His majesty, unsurprisingly, is not in residence, as the royal standard has been replaced by the Union Jack. 

J interested in seeing the Canadian Veterans Memorial. We’ve been here before. It had deteriorated at one point, and at another time Conrad Black was reportedly maintaining it. Now an attractive fountain with bronze maple leaves under the running water. 

And now in the autumn falling leaves from the plane trees have joined the memorial. They’re often larger than maple leaves, and they’re brown rather than red, but they’re the same shape.

Back on Kilburn High Road we pick up a couple of small lamb burgers and a small chips for £3.  Works out equivalent to $5 CAD plus Ontario tax. Surprising find here too, but very tasty.

Friday, October 17/2025

Meet up with Jenny for coffee at the Victoria and Albert museum. Not the only museum or gallery with a café but undoubtedly the most impressive - and said to be the world’s first museum café. An aesthetic experience in its own right. 

Long unhurried chat, and a little time at the end to admire some of the sculptures in this end of the building. Other treasures reserved for another occasion.

Both of us moved by a statue by Aimé-Jules Dalou - not only the subject but also the warmth of the terracotta. Dates to 1873. Dalou was forced into exile by the overthrow of the Paris commune but continued to choose appropriately socialist working class themes.

More modern commentary on display as well. Beside the pool in the inner courtyard is a large installation by Polish artist Alicja Patanowska. Materials were sourced from one of the largest mining waste reservoirs in Europe and we are asked to reflect on the implications of waste and consumption of resources. We’re permitted to sit on the edge and touch gently but not to climb on the structure.

Visit with Jenny too short, as always. Though there’s always next April.

Thursday, October 16/2025

 

Kilburn is very old. Well, not surprising as London itself is old. Though not much there before the Roman conquest. That was two thousand and change years ago but recent by European standards. The Romans, like the accomplished colonisers they were, chose a good shipping spot and set to work. Kilburn High Road is an extension of the Edgware Road, a long straight road leading north from London and in fact part of Watling Street, the route the Romans built, or rebuilt on various earlier tracks, from Dover to north Wales.

At a much later point, as in the twelfth century, Kilburn became the site of an Augustinian Priory where a community of canonesses (no, spellcheck, I was not trying to write Cantonese’s, whatever that might be) who provided accommodation for travellers. This was located by a well, and Kilburn Wells became known for its waters and by the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries became a popular recreational area within walking distance of London proper, the priory having long ago fallen victim to Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries. 

Also in the 18th and 19th centuries noted for boxing matches - no rounds and could last two hours until the final knockout. And duels, still legal at that time, including, apparently, one on July 2, 1792 involving Benedict Arnold. Arnold missed and his opponent refused to fire back so no great drama.

Kilburn has always sounded Irish, and there are Kilburns in Ireland but that’s not the origin of the name of the London Kilburn. The “burn” part, historians agree, means stream - and refers to a stream now non-existent - or more accurately now underground. A term still in common use in Scotland. “Kil” is less clear, but possibly refers to cattle. 

Not that there have not been - and still are - Irish in Kilburn. “ For years, this corner of northwest London…was known as the 33rd county of Ireland, such was the size of its Irish community. At one point in the 1950s and ’60s, it felt like “17 out of every 18 people” in the area were Irish, as one Irish Times article put it. To this day, it still has the largest Irish community in London.” [Andrew Kersley, The Londoner, April 19/25]

They came as laborers and developed a close-knit community. There were Irish churches and pubs and butchers and newsagents. And there was music. Not only Irish but, in the seventies, The Who, Black Sabbath, David Bowie. One man remembers seeing the Pogues in pubs with only fifty or sixty people in them.

But as with many immigrant communities many of the younger generation have moved on and there are now large numbers of Asian, Turkish and Arab people. Though still, it seems, at least three Irish pubs and a newsagent’s carrying several Irish newspapers - and somebody must be reading them.

So today we follow Kilburn High Road down to the Old Bell. There’s been a pub by that name on this spot for centuries. Pretty close to the location of the original Kilburn well. This iteration dates from 1863 as its predecessor was demolished and rebuilt. We have had a pint here in the past - long before we knew its history - but don’t today. We have, appropriately, Guinness waiting at home. And across the road (Belsize Avenue) was once the rest of the priory grounds and the well itself. Now the location of a Franca Manca pizza restaurant it does have a stone plaque identifying it as the site of Kilburn Wells.

HSBC acct notices mine only

Wednesday, October 15/2025

Our semi-annual visit to my old friend Jean who lives in West Harrow, a reasonably short tube ride away from us. Old friend in more than one sense of the word. We must have met in 1965, taking the same university class - Shakespeare? So sixty years ago. And she was ninety last birthday. (And no, I’m not). She’s Canadian but has lived in London for fifty years or more and we always visit in autumn and spring.

The neighbourhood hasn’t changed a lot but there are some innovations. New this year are on-street electric vehicle charging ports. About as convenient and unobtrusive as they come. Fairly impressive.

Jean’s house is terraced and over a hundred years old. Solid brick with a little garden behind with flowers and frequent visiting birds, which she feeds. We share a bottle of wine and crisps and custard tarts as well as lots of reminiscences and information on family and friends. Gone are the days of late night curries and the last train home, but she’s grateful to be in her own home and we’re happy to be able to visit.

Pick up a book at a little free book exchange shelf at the tube station. Author is Swedish and apparently well known and much translated. Haven’t heard of her but couldn’t resist the title: The Little Old Lady Behaving Badly.

Tuesday, October 14/2025

“We’re keeping our doors closed to save money and stay warm” - except we’re not. Used to find it quite shocking that London shops left the door open all winter because it encouraged business and that outweighed any losses from the cost of heating, even with charity shops like the one in the photo. Of course London temperatures are more temperate than many Canadian ones - mid-afternoon ones now about seventeen and we haven’t turned the heat on in the flat. we’re staying in. And winter may see more shop doors closed - already most are. Rising energy prices have been a serious concern here. They’re also almost impossible to compare internationally. As indeed they are across Canada. 

Price comparisons are interesting, though. Other than accommodation, we could live more cheaply in London than in Sioux Lookout, and with a far greater variety of products. But this would not be true in a village in the north of England and we would find life different in Toronto, though it doesn’t tempt us. So we enjoy each place as it is.

Pick up shampoo at the Pound shop. Pound now equal to $1.87 CAD. Not that pound shops sell everything for a pound any more than dollar stores sell everything for a dollar, though the shampoo was a pound. 

Supper is a happy combination of the maqloub that Jenny kindly sent us home with on Sunday and the last of the rotisserie chicken, along with a French Malbec - which is indeed, at £4.69, less than it would be in Canada, despite Brexit. 

Monday, October 13/2025

Could live a lifetime on Kilburn High Road and be supplied with all the necessities of life plus entertainment - and that’s not even counting the vibrant and innovative Kiln Theatre and associated cinema, located just round the corner from us, or the sports pubs. It’s the street theatre tragi-comic at times but never ending.

We go down to the HSBC at the bottom of the road to sort out winter finances - primarily withdrawing more from our account than the cash points seem prepared to dispense and persuading the teller to exchange the tens and twenties that the ATMs deal in for equivalent value in fifties which fit a wallet better. HSBC, like other major banks, has been closing branches - over a hundred in the last two years - and full service branches extremely thin on the ground. An elderly woman in queue ahead of us says that she lives in Golders Green and has a choice of this location or Wembly if she needs to deal with a human banker and both involve long bus rides. 

Pass a young man hoping to provide us with mobile services. Are we local? No. American? No. Ah, Canadian. So is he! Where are we from? J says Sioux Lookout, signalling eye roll from me. Who has heard of Sioux Lookout? Well, apparently this man - his mother once worked there as a relief nurse!

Pavement shopping long gone in many parts of London but alive and well in Kilburn. Easier and usually cheaper to buy basics from soap to biscuits without having to go into a shop. Usually acceptable quality as well. Most things a pound or two and always busy.

J points out that it’s Canadian Thanksgiving. Not much observed here, but a good time, he suggests, to go out for a celebratory meal.

So we head for Roses, conveniently located round the corner. Its busiest times are earlier in the day and it closes at eight but one of its more endearing features is that it clearly serves as a comfortable venue for a number of middle aged and older single men. They’re obviously regulars and usually come in alone. Two might share a table but more often each sits by himself but close enough to engage in bits of conversation with one or more blokes nearby. Can expand to a whole conversation or - without offence - simply be silence punctuated with the odd observation. A warm and undemanding base with well cooked food. In a sense a home.

Sunday, October 12/2025

Summer in London has been as reluctant to give way to autumn as it is in Canada. And the tree outside the window of our flat is still heavily laden with dark red apples, many of which have splatted onto a roof below us. Totally inaccessible by us, and have no way of knowing if they would be good eating apples in any case. Think it must be the same tree we saw in blossom from the window of our previous flat in April.

Up early and out to spend the day with Jenny and Doug in Thames Ditton. Other guests arrive later but this gives us time for a cup of coffee and a quiet chat with Doug first. And a tour of their extremely impressive new campervan. Jenny warns D that I should be given the five minute tour as the full catastrophe can take an hour, but really there is a lot to wax eloquent about. The cooker has two gas burners and an electric one as it’s equipped with both electric and propane power source capacity. And not too intimidatingly big to drive.

Were joined in stages by Doug’s sister Kathleen and her husband Allen as well as by Laura and Emma and their families and Lucinda, a family friend we’ve met before. Fourteen of us in all. And we do more than justice to the meal a lovely spread of Middle Eastern food from a local place. And I realise slightly too late that I should have photographed the table before we began. Including the enormous maqluba that Jenny has made, a dish that her Palestinian born late father taught me how to make.

As always, talk so long and happily we barely catch the 19:37 train which we know will, unlike VIA, not be as much as a minute late.

Saturday, October 11/2025

 March in support of Palestinians in central London today. Wildly different estimates as to the number of demonstrators, as is usual. Organisers claiming 500,000 or more while it is said police estimate thirty to forty thousand. Would think that likely to be low and the Met do have some history of minimising crowd size in political demonstrations (footnotes available on request). Though of course organisers have reason to wish to inflate numbers. We arrive early, having skipped the march proper and headed for the finish spot on Whitehall near 10 Downing Street where the speeches are meant to be.

Speeches should begin at two and at first the main body of the demo has not yet arrived and there is a relaxed almost country fair feeling, with music, and Palestinian food and clothing and pins on sale and people staking out seating on convenient curbs. By two-thirty the marchers begin arriving - and arriving and arriving. The crowd is dense but harmonious. The audio system pretty unclear but the people friendly and co-operative. Not quite cheerful. Everyone well aware that while there is a peace agreement to be celebrated there have been  cease fires before. And there are many thousands of dead Palestinian children. And families and homes destroyed. And more bodies waiting beneath the rubble. There have been civilians killed by the IDF since the ceasefire. Not bombed but targeted. There is hope here but not joy. And there is a profound need to make clear that ordinary people will not accept a resumption of the genocide.

By three the speeches are over. Jeremy Corbyn, Zarah Sultana and others. It’s actually so tightly packed that it’s difficult to leave but we start to thread our way slowly toward Trafalgar Square.

But more music with drums and tambourines - and we suddenly realise that not only is it  not over but marchers are still steadily arriving. And they keep coming until four o’clock.

And they’re from everywhere. Banners proclaiming their identities, their boroughs and villages and universities. Their trade unions and professions, their nationality. One man is wearing a kilt. There are families and there are dogs. And there is no possibility that the prime minister - who is almost certainly not home - or politicians here or abroad - 

will suppose that this is of concern only to Palestinians or only to Muslims. That no one else recognises genocide and no one else cares.

Friday, October 10/2025

Autumn 2025. Began our retirement travels twenty-five years and a slightly smaller font ago. Not all equipment quite as originally issued and somewhat less inclined to stay at youth hostels (which never did stress the youth bit and where we were never the oldest guests). 

Much more highly digital than in the early days. We used to book the train online - since even in the days when the Sioux Lookout station still admitted to being a station and not a request stop you couldn’t actually do stationy things like buy tickets there, though you could use the loo. But until a couple of years ago the stewards would eyeball the assorted bodies in the day coach and, following an educated guess, cross your name off a typed list. Followed in the last year or two by scanning the QR codes on downloaded boarding passes after everyone was settled. This year a first - polite request for the digital boarding passes before climbing aboard. Leaving me turning on my phone and searching for the rarely used digital wallet. Fortunately no queue behind us. The nice young man says that actually he doesn’t need to see our boarding passes; just ID that matches the purchased tickets on record, as they need better security these days. So passports displayed and we’re on. Though hard not to think that if one were entering a career as a terrorist one might prefer to adopt means of transportation that did not frequently run several hours late.

Though in fact we arrive early. And spend a day with family before heading off to the airport. Only a minor glitch. Electronic visa waiver, known as ETA, now required for entry to UK. Costs £10, lasts for two years, and is not intended to be accompanied by any paperwork or passport stamps as it is by some digital magic scannable in your passport. Which it is, in the UK at least and presumably in Istanbul where it has performed its duties earlier this year. But not it seems by Air Canada. Do we have any written proof? We provide screenshots of UK government emails from last March confirming our ETA approvals, prudently scanned last night, and discreetly do not call the nice man’s attention to the last line, which reads “You do not need to print or show this confirmation email”. Only in Canada.

So Winnipeg to Toronto followed by the midnight flight to London. Meal offering significantly worse than usual, but in compensation the French red wine now available free on both domestic and international flights perfectly drinkable.

And noon arrival cunningly planned so that with a bit of dallying we will reach our Airbnb at check in time. Though somewhat harder to dally now that entering the UK has become so much faster with digitalisation. Passport and ETA scan instantly. As previously.

Airbnb the same building we stayed in last April. Different flat with somewhat inferior layout - but greatly superior WiFi. Fair trade.

So spend Friday leaving for Kilburn High Road when hunger dictates. And delighting again in one of our favourite roads, vibrant with people, street corner vegetable markets, charity shops, cafés, and hundreds of people. And home with the basics plus a rotisserie chicken from the Arab shop and a bottle of Malbec. Good beginning.

Saturday, May 3/2025

Well, the rotary end of winter barrel sank through the softening ice on the lake in Sioux Lookout so it’s time to pack up and go back. Have been spoiled with warm temperatures not only in Cyprus but with gloriously warm and sunny weather in London - significantly better than King Charles was able to command for his coronation at this time two years ago.

The current Airbnb one of the best combinations of location and facilities we’ve had. Well, OK, it’s 39 steps up - a literary cum cinematic ring to that - but the view behind is out over rooftops and trees, some still in flower, and you can hear the doves cooing.

Plus - returning from poetry to prose -  microwave, kettle, toaster all good quality and working - and there is actually a washing machine. All in a surprisingly small space. We may be back.

Friday, May 2/2025

Sunset over the chimneys

It was Dr Johnson who said ‘When a man is tired of London he is tired of life’. So we choose where to go this afternoon. And settle on the Tate Modern gallery, hoping for something dramatic in its Turbine Hall (3300 square meters, twenty-six metres high). Home to some of our favourite past exhibits. 

But not to be. We reach the platform at Kilburn Station just as a train is pulling in on the southbound Jubilee line. The carriages fill up but the train doesn't start. Then the announcement. Due to a fire on the track, there will be a delay of fifteen minutes or more. The carriages empty onto the platform as people start rethinking their plans. 

This is not exactly unprecedented. Coming back from the Saatchi yesterday there was a delay of about fifteen minutes caused, apparently, by a fire at West Hampstead Station, but service resumed and there was nothing to be seen passing West Hampstead Station. So we decide to sit down and see what transpires. 

At which point a short man with a high-vis vest and a megaphone voice begins shouting that the station is being evacuated and everyone must leave. We do, with something less than fire drill precision, a couple of hundred people navigating a double staircase, some hampered by suitcases or small children. No sign of fire, but megaphone voice is persistent, and he does succeed in opening the exit gates which frees the bottleneck caused by people attempting to touch the electronic button with their cards to exit. No panic, probably because we don’t quite believe in the reality of the emergency. No sign of smoke or fire. No official activity other than megaphone voice’s repeated calls to evacuate.

Do have a couple of fire engines pass us headed toward the station as we start down Kilburn High Road. Bit late for a plan B that doesn’t involve leaving from Kilburn underground station, but it’s a balmy day and we do have minor errands along one of our favourite roads.

Thursday, May 1/2025

 May 1. May Day. Traditional day for honouring workers, and celebrated as such in many, possibly most, countries. Not a public holiday in the UK though. 

J suggests we check out the  Saatchi Gallery. It’s on our regular beat and often features modern international artists, with most exhibits being free. 

It’s a hot day, actually reaches a May 1 record temperature of 29.3, according to the Met office.

There’s a playing field and track next to the Saatchi, much enjoyed by nearby schools. The children are all wearing sun hats, but they’re not sneaking off looking for peripheral shade. Bouncy as puppies despite the heat.

The most interesting displays feature works by Anne von Freiburg from the Netherlands. Her work is referred to as textile paintings, as good a description as any. Textile, patchwork and stitching. Strong colours and 3D effect very much in your face.

Wednesday, April 30/2025

Thames Ditton to see Jenny and Doug, with the date chosen this time so that Elaine and Hugh could come as well. Always enjoy visiting with them. Archetypically beautiful summer day. So Prosecco in the garden and happy conversation. Laura drops by with her two little dogs so we get to see her as well. 

Jenny has made maqloub for lunch (spellings vary, presumably because it’s transliterated from Arabic). It’s a traditional rice, vegetable and meat dish. It’s cooked layered in a pot, which is flipped upside down to serve. Sometimes considered Palestine’s national dish, but eaten throughout the Middle East. Jenny’s father, who was Palestinian born, taught me how to make it, so it evokes good memories for us as well as for Jenny and Elaine.

And back outside for a lovely strawberry cake and tea and more talk, lunch having lasted, as a perfect lunch should, all afternoon.

Tuesday, April 29/2025

Love Kilburn High Road. Vibrant, multi-ethnic, All colour and movement. Babies in push chairs; old people with canes; children in school uniforms, ties hanging loose at the end of the day. Street corner markets; shop goods spilling out onto the pavements; scent of coffee and Middle East cooking; sim sales and mobile unlocking; a man handing out appetizer size bits of deep fried shrimp; golden chickens turning on rotisseries.

We pick up seeded bread, yoghurt, peanut butter, wine. Then stop at Roses, unable to resist the last lamb kleftiko of the season. The owner, a Turkish Kurd who has known us for years, comes over to shake hands. Are we coming or going? Coming back this time. Business was very difficult during Covid, but this is the most serious we’ve seen him. Save your money, he says. Times may be bad.

Check online re the current verboten list for foods coming into Canada with snacks in a carry on in mind. Meat - no. Cheese - OK. Walnuts? Refer to AIRS, i.e. ‘Automated Import Reference System - Canadian Food Inspection Agency’. So dutifully google “AIRS” and “nuts”. And hit “Mexican TV outlet accidentally airs man’s testicles during solar eclipse coverage”. Well, fair enough, I guess.

Monday, April 28/2025

Photo from October 2023 visit

Out to West Harrow to see Jean.  She turned ninety on New Year’s Eve. Did try phoning her at the time but had been unable to get through.  Tease her about being out celebrating and that was probably true, although not with the champagne I suggest. Her nephew and nieces came over from Canada and the US and they did go out for a meal.

We’ve known each other for sixty years this fall and it will be over thirty years since I first brought J out here - numbers that just seem ridiculous.  Good to share a glass of wine and a chat on another sunny, warm day.

Back at our Airbnb J cooks us a lovely tuna steak. We’d been walking past it in Sainsbury just as the man marked it down - from £7.95 ($14.77) to 69p ($1.28). Perfect timing, and, as it turns out, a perfect piece of fish at the end of the day.

Sunday, April 27/2025

London in flower. Always arrive too late for daffodils, though there might still be some in the north. Pass this wisteria on our way down to the high road and Jenny also has a lovely one in her front garden. 

Kilburn High Road bustling today. Temperature about twenty and Saturday shoppers everywhere. We’re renewing acquaintance with the road and picking up a few things - oatcakes, streaky bacon.

Election day in Canada tomorrow. First time not to have voted but too difficult to get a ballot and return it in time, Did have them couriered to Larnaca in the South of Cyprus for the January 2006 election but both courier and postal services somewhat simpler there. Just as easy to follow news almost anywhere in the world, though, barring the inconvenience of time zone changes. Which reminds us of the “olden days” when Canadian election results were blacked out for regions where the polls had not yet closed, so you could not see results in time zones to the east of you before the polls closed in your region. The system didn’t survive the coming of the internet for long.

But we’re prepped. We’ve watched the This Hour has 22 Minutes Election Special.

Saturday, April 26/2025

To Thames Ditton to see Jenny and Doug, among our very favourite people to visit. Exceptionally good connections via Jubilee and a lovely day for sitting in the garden. J&D recently back from a relaxing Caribbean cruise and Doug pleased to demonstrate his newfound expertise in preparing aperol spritzes, the temperature providing good reason for summer drinks.

Emma drops by with Jasmine and Noah, whom we’ve known since birth. Jasmine preparing to write her GCSE exams in a couple of weeks. She’ll probably do brilliantly despite her worries.

Before they leave Jenny brings out a trifle - quite the nicest I’ve had, although failed to get it to pose for a photo op before we had made significant inroads.

Slightly surprised to see our leisurely luncheon visit has stretched nearly to seven. Jenny walks down to the station with us. Cheerful goodbyes as this time we’ll be back soon.

Friday, April 25/2025

 

Had not been overly optimistic re the WiFi but, happily, the girl in charge of the bnb does follow up. Texts that someone will be round in an hour and is promptly with us, cheerful young woman, quick on the uptake, and technically good. I tell her I’d choose WiFi over a fridge and she says ‘Oh so would I - you can always go out to eat”. And we have WiFi. Without which it’s becoming impossible to function. Want to check a train time? It’s online. Could call the station. Where do you get the number? Call the operator? You’re joking. Take a bus to the station and inquire. They will tell you - but no longer hand out the convenient little pamphlets with train times. You can get the info online.

Down to Aldi for basic food and then across to a street corner market for oranges, grapes, bananas and peppers. But we pass Roses, now a five minute walk from our new flat, and inquire. Yes, the kleftiko we have been eating there for the past fifteen years is no longer a weekly special. It has a regular slot on the menu. The best we’ve eaten anywhere, including Cyprus.

So back at dinner. And it’s still a winner. A couple of regulars also in the restaurant but it’s nearly empty. As are the neighbouring establishments. Can only hope they stay in business but the economy is in trouble. People are hurting and eating out is one of the first things to go. Sixth largest economy in the world, but not very evenly distributed.

Kleftiko, as always, butter soft, and too much to finish in a single sitting. £ 14.95 ($27.60 CAD). Includes tax, so equivalent to $24.40  plus tax.

Thursday, April 24/2025

Moving day. Ozy’s taxi prompt as always at six AM. Not much traffic on the road this early and a spectacular sunrise over the Mediterranean, which we usually contrive to miss, in part because we don’t have any view to the east.

Turkish Airways desk not yet open. However the scales at the check in desks are operational and there are a few people weighing their suitcases. Including one family engaged in much repacking as brightly coloured clothing repeatedly transferred from one overflowing case to another.

Istanbul is one of the world’s largest airports. Memo to self to download map of same. Enormous distances and also has no apparent means of keeping those with connecting flights airside, thus duplicating passport control, security checks, etc. One employee puts it down to being the main transfer point for the Middle East and getting passengers from troubled countries. J more than dubious that this accounts for all inefficiencies. Can at least say that this means that flight days are not days of no exercise.

Heathrow, by comparison, spectacularly quick - at least for those with chipped passports. Tube predictably crowded in late afternoon but then ten minute walk to Airbnb. Spot street sign despite obvious deficiencies. Location super. Flat ok. And then - no working wifi. Text manager. As yet unresolved….

Wednesday, April 23/2025

 

Wind up time always strangely fragmented. 

Doors are open in the flat, as the temperature is mid-twenties. So J discovers an unknown cat lying on the bed - and in no particular hurry to leave. Later seen on the patio staring at the window.

Flat seems a repository for items of unknown provenance and no probable use. Why do we have a wet wipe packet from Egyptair? Last flew Egyptair in, I think, 2009. Wet wipe has not apparently come in handy since and is undoubtedly not still wet.

Meanwhile my orange comb, which would come in handy has disappeared. OK, it was old and missing a couple of teeth but it was also the only one that would actually go through my hair.

And why are customs regulations so wildly different? Could take four litres of spirits PLUS eighteen litres of wine PLUS forty-two litres of beer EACH into UK from wherever. Clearly expecting van and not suitcase bearer. But into Canada 1.5 litres of wine OR 8.5 litres of beer OR 1.14 litres of spirits each. Not that anyone actually sells 1.14 litre bottles of alcohol abroad. And no, buying a 700 ml bottle of whisky plus miniatures will never work out to 1.14 either. You’ll just be cheated out of the .14. And limited point to taking eight litres of spirits to the UK and drinking like crazy to get it down to two litres before heading for Canada. 

The pleasures of multiculturalism.

Tuesday, April 23/2025

Courtesy Itour

“Doubtless God could have made a better berry, but doubtless God never did”. Attributed to Dr William Butler, 17th century English writer and quoted by my father every strawberry season. Not usually called to mind when eating strawberries shipped in from Mexico or other distant parts. But fresh picked local strawberries….The ones I used to eat in Nova Scotia or the ones we were surprised to find at a farmhouse lane in Alberta once in late summer. 

In North Cyprus there are two strawberry seasons. One in the spring - April and May - and  one in the autumn. You can pick your own at a strawberry farm. But at the supermarket you can often choose your own one at a time from the large flat, not an unripe one in the lot and the scent an aphrodisiac. Which we did today.