Tuesday, January 7/2014

M and I drive down to the waterfront to meet J for coffee. M is so busy trying to see where the traffic lights got knocked down by the police station that she starts through the red light. Two policemen are standing outside counting cars or something but not interested in us.

Monday, January 6/2014

Epiphany. Couldn't for years figure out why the feast that I had thought was all about the three wise men should here seem to refer to the baptism of Christ. The answer is in the word itself, ephiphaneia, or appearing., better translated as "striking manifestation" - and therefore the manifestation of Jesus as divine. Clumsy, but with some logic to it. Also known in Greek as fota, or light, day. Candles are lit at church and take home to burn in front of icons for the next forty days. There's a parade from the church to the waterfront where the bishop throws in a cross and the young men dive to retrieve it. It's never lost as it's prudently tied to the end of a string. We don't go down in time for the parade (which always seems pretty militaristic, with cadets and soldiers actually carrying weapons) but do go down later to enjoy the crowds and collect some of the aromatic branches strewn on the pier. The road is blocked to traffic and it's all festive, families strolling and booths selling everything from icons to helium balloons to hot dogs. Lovely warm day and we buy ice creams - J's caramel and mine lemon.

Sunday, January 5/2014

Wake up as J puts on Everly Brothers cd in honour of Phil, who died Friday. Elizabeth Jane Howard died on Thursday, just after I finished reading All Change, the fifth (and now obviously last) volume of the Cazalet Chronicles. I had been saying to J, that I thought her a much better writer than Kingsley Amis, to whom she was at one point married, and that perhaps, as she was now 90, I should not delay over writing to tell her so. Well, of course I did, and there's not much point now in saying that she was interviewed only two weeks ago. She was talking to James Naughtie, and sounded pretty feisty. Still writing (well, All Change was published only two months ago) and saying that writing was what gave her reason to get up in the morning.

Saturday, January 4/2014

Beginning of a long weekend, with Epiphany celebrated on Monday. Walk down to the waterfront and find that the sidewalk immediately in front of the police station has been,  rather inconveniently, cordoned off, forcing us into the road at the corner where we turn down to the pier. Then we see why. Someone has crashed through the metal barrier and come across the pavement, knocking down a traffic light on its standard and damaging the tall artificial Christmas tree. An awkward place to have that sort of accident, although we joke that the police must have a hard time if they followed their usual practice of ignoring Cypriot lawbreakers in case they should prove to be influential or relatives of friends. They should adopt the three monkeys as their logo: see no crime, hear no reports, make no charges.

Friday, January 3/2014

Another reminder of Cyprus's financial woes. As of January 13 VAT will move from 18 to 19 percent. A pretty hefty tax rate. Some significant reductions and exemptions though. Food is taxed, but at 8% (not including alcohol which is the regular) as are books and newspapers. Assumed that the increase would be effective January 1, but it seems not. Some truly ugly measures as well, though. Foreign domestic workers, who had their salary reduced by 5% from €484 to €460 are going to see it reduced again as part of the austerity plan. From this is deducted an employment tax and their room and board. And a depressing number of them have difficulty in collecting even what they're owed by comparatively affluent employers. A Sri Lankan friend of Maggi's has just had to threaten to quit if she was not paid, as she had not been for the whole time she had worked for the family, looking after an elderly woman with dementia. She was alone in the flat with the woman so got no time off and the family kept fobbing her off, saying that it was inconvenient or they were saving the money to give her later. Like most of these women M's friend relied on the money to send home to her family. 

Thursday, January 2/2014

Venera comes to clean the flat a little earlier than usual, though still close to noon. It's a job that usually takes her less than five minutes, and consists mainly of emptying the garbage, cleaning the toilet and sink and washing bathroom and kitchen floors. We're sitting about reading the papers electronically when, instead of leaving, she comes through to say something that sounds like cravat. We follow her through to the bedroom where she is pointing at the unmade beds, obviously asking if we want them made. No, no.  Usually I have them done earlier and usually she comes later. Maggi later identifies the word, transcribed more or less as krevvati. 

M has invited us out to dinner at the Ocean Basket. Was meant to be New Year's Day but they weren't open then so we all settled for the 2nd.  Joined by her friends Pat and Andrea, both retired to Cyprus and both dog lovers/walkers. The restaurant is a chain, originally started in South Africa. Specialty is kingklip. It's actually a form of eel, which sounds offputting but turns out to be moist white fillets, available either dreaded and fried or grilled and very nice. Nice getting to know M's other friends as well. She and Andrea have a cruise in the far east planned for March.

After the meal we take the enormous bag of leftovers that Pat has persuaded the waiter to retrieve from the next table and head off to feed the harbour cats, a regular task that Pat has set herself. Calling would be closer to the mark than task, for it brings her here more than once a day and there is more than one feeding station. And she's out of pocket on a fair scale for cat food. So down we go to the end of the pier, opposite Europa Square where the Christmas tree is, and the buildings picked out with Christmas lights. When they hear (smell?) her coming the cats appear out of the darkness, squeezing through the marina fence to share the bounty. Six here and more will be waiting by the tourist office. The town used to be willing to neuter them but that service fell victim to budget cuts.

Wednesday, January 1/2014

New Year's Day. Temperature in Sioux Lookout -41. No windchill involved, just the ugly basic official Environment Canada temperature. Unpleasant storm warnings in the UK as well. Seems indecent us luxuriating with coffee in the sun with Maggi and dog down on the waterfront. M has forgotten her house key and is hoping the next door neighbours return soon so she can climb in from their flat. As today is as important a feast as Christmas (perhaps more so as we got maid service on Christmas but not today) we can only hope that M's neighbours won't be out visiting until midnight.

Day ends happily. We make a spaghetti with shrimp in the sauce and Maggi messages to say that her neighbours returned as she got back.

Tuesday, December 31/2013

New Year's Eve. Already. In the morning to visit Betty and John, whom we met Friday. After retirement they lived for some time on their boat, now sold. Then in Cyprus and now in Turkey. They're making a Christmas visit to Cyprus, where they've kept a house and car. The house is tiny but stunning. It was originally a disused end unit in an old traditional Cypriot building, with thick stone walls and had been used for storage. No indoor kitchen or loo. John and Betty, with help from a son, have turned it into a little jewel of a place. There's a small sitting room with high ceiling and a loft with fitted bedroom and loo. Small kitchen added behind the sitting room. It's all beautifully done with glowing woodwork and indirect lighting, a tribute to John's skill in previous careers as electrical and building contractors.

Nice visit as we sip tea, sample the holiday goodies and talk about their life in England and East Africa and. Friday they're off back to Turkey.

It's New Year's Eve and for us a quiet one. We do watch the fireworks from our sitting room. A pretty good view but they don't last more than a couple of minutes. Wouldn't have been worth walking down for, though as J says it's about more than the fireworks - there's also the festive crowd, and he's right. There's also free wine, though it's not a patch on the wee dram of whisky with which we welcome in the new year.

Monday, December 30/2013

Usual problem with Cyprus booze buying. Good sales (although not quite up to standard this year) from a little before Christmas until New Year's, or maybe Epiphany. Good enough that it would be best to buy the supply until mid-March now, if only one could estimate it accurately. Brand name whiskey blends for as little as €8 (£6.65, $11.60 CAD) a bottle. So how often will we entertain, who will it be and what will they drink? Our own needs a little easier to predict. Would be lovely to take lots with us but between weight and Canadian customs not highly practical. Lidl has quite good sales on young but perfectly drinkable French and Italian wines at under €2 a bottle (£1.66, $2.90 CAD). And their sales, happily, not limited to Christmas run-up. Their liquor is another matter. Tends toward Brand X - names along the lines Glen Tartan, aged 3 years. And not even desperately cheap. 

Sunday, December 29/2013

Rainy, windy day. But we're retired. Plenty to read. Alternating, in the read-aloud department, Lillian Beckwith's fictionalised memoirs of life as an Englishwoman relocated to the Hebrides (1950s) and Alan Clarke's political diary, or one volume thereof. Both very funny, in entirely different ways. Clarke is the man who came up with the 4 I's of the (would be published) diarist:

You need to make your diary immediate; write it on the day, because even on the day after you begin to think, "I can improve history a bit." Be indiscreet; as Chips Channon said, there's nothing more dull than a discreet diary; you might as well have a dull or discreet soul. Be intimate; those intimate details are very important. And make your diary indecipherable, so that if somebody chances upon it, they cannot quite read what you have said.

Clarke is indiscreet, both about colleagues and about his eye for women, but he's also quite funny, with adolescent ego and quite a lot of charm mixed in with his insider view of the Thatcher era Tory party and the downfall of Thatcher.

Saturday, December 28/2013

Sky alternately overcast and various apps providing differing estimates of when there will be rain. Start with 11 o'clock coffee with Maggi and Maxi. Maxi nervous about the busyness of central Larnaca but pleased to be included, happy to have J pat her as she sits by Maggi's chair. Then minor shopping. Carrefour out of the advertised 2 for 1 special on packaged bacon, as is often the case with sale imports. And no such thing as rainchecks, or even minimal regret on the part of supermarket staff. We keep reminding ourselves that 'this is China' - a reference to our time in China, when we were told that if we saw something we wanted we should buy it on the spot as it was unlikely to appear elsewhere.

Thunderstorm in the afternoon. The rain is needed and the view of the storm quite good from our fourth floor flat. Then, at 17:21 an earthquake. Quite unmistakeable, the tremors continuing for two minutes. It's definitely an earthquake, as we confirm by googling. Centred 127 miles northwest of us, off the coast of Turkey, and measuring 5.8. Not of dish breaking magnitude here, although we do wonder, as the building shakes, whether the correct procedure is to go evacuate, deterred by the prospect of unnecessarily standing outside in a thunder storm. But it ends with us still safely ensconced with our whisky and our cosy view of the thunderstorm.

Facetime with James, Raye, Malcolm and Tess from the (fortunately empty) lobby, as signal not good enough in the flat. Kids still enthusiastic about Christmas and no school. Everyone holiday relaxed, so nice.

Friday, December 27/2013

Dinner at Vlachos with Jane and Bill as well as John and Betty, friends from their yachting days. An interesting couple. They live now in Turkey but keep a small place in central Larnaca, as well as a car here, as they used to live in Cyprus when not at sea. Lovely meal at Vlachos with the usual over-abundance. The starters could easily be a meal in themselves. J has the moussaka, which we particularly like here, and I the spicy chicken, and as usual we trade portions, eat enormously, and then resort to having them pack up the last of the chicken. As always in Cyprus there's no hurry - two hours is an appropriate length of time for a meal. 

Thursday, December 26/2013

Boxing Day and lovely. Down at the waterfront the little kiosks are up with animal-shaped balloons, nuts, sweets, ice cream, roast chestnuts, and grilled corn on the cob for sale. An orthodox priest in black cassock sits by a booth selling religious articles. Children are showing off or trying out their new Christmas presents, from bubble-gum-pink roller skates to bikes. The sun is out and it isn't cold but it is windy. The water is rough and there are no swimmers, though there are families walking along the beach and one small boy who has dug himself into a hole almost as big as he is. Near us a woman fills helium balloons with a machine, bursting several in a row as she does so, the others whipping in the wind.

Wednesday, December 25/2013

Christmas Day. And laid back as it can only be for retired people in a foreign country. We have two electric burners (pretty cheaply made in China and therefore a bit unreliable for temperature, even heating, etc - in fact in two previous years the whole unit blew more or less as we finished cooking Christmas dinner, exhausted by the unaccustomed effort).  Also a microwave bought by us about ten years ago and stored here in our off-season. So fairly creative cooking called for as well as quite a number of cook early and reheat at the last minute dishes, soup bowls called into heavy use for the reheat bit. So happily slow day beginning by making cranberry sauce and working through to braised chicken and gravy. Maggi here for dinner as she has been for most of the fourteen Christmases we've spent in Cyprus. We've had stuffed mushroom starters and chicken (with potatoes, leeks, carrots and red cabbage) and wine and I'm just making the brandy sauce for the Christmas pudding J has been injecting with brandy for the last two weeks when we realise that the reheated stuffing is still hiding in the microwave. Oh well, must have been a good meal if it wasn't missed until we were looking for the bowl in which it reposed.

Tuesday, December 24/2013

Christmas Eve and a glorious, sunny day with warm ocean breezes. We go down to the promenade for coffee, it's surprisingly quiet. Most winter tourists don't come until after Christmas and presumably the locals are busy with Christmas preparations. It's lovely though. Even someone in swimming. Actually the average sea temperature here in January is 19.5. Then home to g&t on the balcony.

Christmas films on Cypriot tv are a pretty sad lot. Bulk purchase of B double minus movies? Maybe we're just too old, as we started lamenting the golden oldies that are never on any more. Then inspiration strikes and we watch It's a Wonderful Life on the internet. Wifi's a little shaky on the fourth floor, but there's a minimum of buffering and a maximum of nostalgia.

Monday, December 23/2013

Shopping for Christmas dinner. Chicken and most of the veg from Prinos greengrocer. It's predictably busy and the queues long, but tomorrow will be even crazier. A grossly overweight boy of about twelve, accompanying his mother, eats his way through the store, using both hands as he goes. As he redips his hand into the walnuts an elderly woman queuing next to us says quietly 'It does rather put you off'. Although 'sampling' on a scale equivalent to theft is not particularly unusual in Cypriot stores. Most often by Cypriots, although a post on one of the expat forums describes a British tourist going through a supermarket opening up aftershave to try out, following this up by spraying on deodorant, and digging into a tub of hair gel as well as breaking open a pack to get a comb to apply it with. 

Sunday, December 22/2013

Lazy Cyprus morning in standard bacon-coffee-newspaper (and ok, a little chocolate) mode.  Walk down to St Helena's Anglican for the annual service of the nine lessons and carols. Still light jacket weather, and barely that. Streets very busy as most shops seem still to be open and everyone in holiday spirits. St Helena's not full and no choir this year. Maybe as the older members die off or move they're simply not replaced. Realise it's probably been three years, maybe four, since we've been, as we're a little earlier arriving in Larnaca this year.

Afterward we skip the mulled wine and mince pies and head over to Luv Souvlaki with Jane and Bill (who has been hanging about outside and in the car waiting for us, not being of a churchly persuasion). Finikoudes promenade the most crowded we've ever seen it, and all the Christmas lights and decorations out. Hard to move, let alone walk abreast. Park at the marina, as J&B paid up until April despite having sold the boat. We eat at Luv Souvlaki, and are lucky there's room. Enormous plates with mixed gyros, chips and salad. Nice to hear a bit about their Galapagos cruise, too.  They had a great time.  The waterfront just abuzz as we leave.

Saturday, December 21/2013

In Cyprus one can have the view from the fourth floor - as we do - or the water pressure in the shower provided by the first floor. Not both. Shower (eventually) hot and not just tepid, but pretty feeble.

Meet Maggi for coffee at Harry's, with bike but sans dog. She's been delayed by having the bedroom door handle come off in her hand, leaving her outside an inaccessible room, fortunately with mobile phone on her side. Nice that Harry's is open again. We used to have coffee here two years ago and then it closed for a year. Now pretty good Cyprus (read Greek, or for that matter Turkish) coffee, and even a biscuit on the side. And in Cyprus no one ever, even indirectly, suggests that you've occupied your chair long enough if you're not continuing to order.

Friday, December 20/2013

(Photo Larnaca Tourism Board)

Glorious day. Temperature 18 officially, but clearly much warmer in the sun despite bits of ocean breeze. Choose to sit in the shade for coffee as full sun is too hot and bright.

We're now at Harry's coffee shop just east of St Lazarus Church. Yes, the Biblical Lazarus, said to have become bishop here and later buried in the crypt. Actually presumed remains removed to Istanbul. Church then built over the earlier burial place, where the remains had been found and identified by an inscription saying 'Lazarus friend of Jesus'. So the church itself is 9th century, with later modifications, including lovely Venetian style tower added in the mid-19th century. Remains no longer in Istanbul. Removed by crusaders - and taken to Marseilles? This is the Greek Church story, and if it sounds a little hazy there is an alternate Western (Roman) Church account, which is extremely thin. In this version Lazarus and his two sisters were pushed off the coast of Palestine in a boat without mast or oars and ended up, miraculously, in Marseilles. But the church is beautiful: It is old, and the crypt older, and this is a lovely place to have coffee.

Thursday, December 19/2013

Mr Andreas has invited us to lunch in the attached restaurant. Actually it seems to be the staff Christmas lunch plus us. Seems we're now part of the tribe. Barbecued pork and chicken, salads and potatoes and village bread. With beer or ouzo (or softer) and Greek coffee. Nice meal but not too heavy to go back to work after (them, not us). Kind of them, and those sitting closest, mainly Mr Kikkis and his cousin make periodic conversation in English on our behalf. We're the only guests at the table. Presumably the only long term guests here, as the Norwegians don't come until after Christmas.