Friday, January 30/2015

Out of raisins. Well, time to take the plunge and go redeem our winning ticket at Smart stores. Can't help thinking how much more an extrovert would enjoy the process, happily explaining to anyone who cared to listen. So we start at the drygoods part of Smart, acquiring a ceramic frying pan and a cafetière (French coffee press, depends what country you're in - the French don't call it French). That's the treat part. Although much of the grocery store things could quite reasonably be considered treats - whisky, gin, wine. Well aware that any similar draw in Canada would exclude these from our haul. And that they would have cost more in Canada to begin with. Estimate the liquor and wine at $360 Canadian, using LCBO as the standard, although sizes have to be adjusted to European (litres) and some things like Cyprus brandy, have no exact equivalent. Everything else is just a prudent restock of staples (well, wine is a staple) that can reasonably be expected to be finished by the time we leave. Some of the liquor won't be finished and will get stored here for next year. Between weight of luggage and Canada customs, that's the unfortunate reality.

Have reckoned without the enthusiasm of Smart employees, who are happy not only to congratulate us but to take a photo. Could nicely have washed my hair this morning but was waiting until afternoon just before I got it cut. But can't imagine anyone caring to look at the pic anyway - certainly not anyone I know. And, very kindly, they offer to drive us the four blocks home, saving about four trips - some of it is pretty heavy!

Ocean Basket with M for dinner. Very busy. Interesting - Friday night and some waterfront places full while others are nearly empty. 

Thursday, January 29/2015

Coffee with M, who suggests we go back to hers for lunch. And very nice too. Homemade tzatziki and guacamole as well as humus. Next door neighbour has given M homemade olive bread and, as we're finishing, leans over from her balcony with a small plate of glyka, traditional pieces of fruit preserved fruit, the preserving done in a sugar syrup over a period of days. They're sometimes known as spoon fruit because the result is a beautiful but insanely sweet piece of fruit (or fruit peel, or walnut or other nut) suitable for serving to a guest in a teaspoon.

Photo not of our fruit today - but ours just as nice!

Wednesday, January 28/2015

Walk up to the shuttle-to-Paphos-airport place sort of near Phaneromeni Church to check out the service for Monday. They cut it a little finer than our natural caution would, but should be ok. Fifteen euros each way. Bus back on Friday is at eleven and our plane due in at 10:30, but no, Despina assures us, they wait for the plane. So that's all right. Walk will be chilly at 6:15 AM, but all to the good because we need to take warmer clothes for Italy so might as well wear them. Won't be chilly coming back Friday afternoon though.

Tuesday, January 27/2015

In the little periptero (corner shop) beside the hotel buying a litre of milk. Ahead of me at the counter is a young woman, blonde hair contrasting with tan of a depth available only in the most carcinogenic of tanning salons, giving the effect of a photographic negative. Very brief black shorts and tiny strapless black top, covering not very much. Shoulder decorated with large butterfly tattoo, though. It's early evening - temperature in the mid teens. Make up definitely not designed for daytime, or civilian life in general. Large patches of very deep rouge and enormous kohled eyes with arcs of blue and silver eyeshadow reaching the brows. Unable to decide whether likely break is from stage, night club or brothel. Perhaps local pubs much racier than we knew.

Jane and I, rather more decorously attired, off to a U3A club sponsored dinner at Bennigan's. About thirty people there. Friendly, relaxed, and chatty. Ribs with Guinness sauce, melting off the bone, go nicely with pint of same - or in Jane's case wine. German and then British football games on the screens.  Meet couple from Canada - he from Alberta? and she, Leslie, forcibly removed from England to Weyburn area at age 13 when family emigrated, as she recalls it. Now retired and living in Cyprus. 

Monday, January 26/2015

And the banks drag their feet on non-performing loans: "As of late November 2014, only 11.1 per cent of NPLs, equating to loans worth €3.1bn, had been restructured," says the Cyprus Mail. Bad enough, you would think, but then comes the definition of restructuring: "Loan restructuring refers mainly to the extension of their repayment periods, and/or ‘temporarily’ decreasing monthly instalments. In some cases, restructuring involves decreasing interest rates or waiving part of the capital and/or the interest due." Nothing extreme that might involve getting assets in return for bad debts.

Sunday, January 25/2015

Greek election the big event of the day, and by bedtime we have presumably reliable results. Tsipras and the Syriza win big. Just short of a majority with 149/300 seats, but in Europe's patchwork coalitions pretty impressive. Ran on an anti-austerity platform that was highly popular. No doubt that Greece had been doing many things wrong and no doubt also that the most vulnerable paid the highest price. But how much debt relief would be possible, even if the creditors were so inclined, with Spain and Italy looking on and Ireland huffing indignantly. Will be interesting.

Saturday, January 24/2015

Hotel much fuller, although two of the Norwegian couples not here this year. One has moved to a slightly more central spot due to the wife's disability - now in a wheelchair. The other couple, our next door neighbours, Arvid and Eva, aren't here this year but are expected back next. Lots of young people round though, and as a result they seem to have turned up the thermostat on the water heater. It's almost reliable now, in the mornings at least.

Friday, January 23/2015

Three petrol station owners arrested over arson attacks last summer. The target: a fellow petrol station owner who had failed, even after threatening texts, to raise his prices in accordance with the others. In retaliation, his house and his wife's car were subjected to arson attacks. So, while Cyprus can be violent, tourists are seldom at risk - unless, of course, they're young, male, and hitting on Cypriot blokes' girlfriends. In which case little sympathy due.

Thursday, January 22/2015

Brief winter seems well and truly over. Short sleeve shirt weather now - and head for the shady side of the street.

Over to Smart to see what the procedure is re our draw ticket. There are actually two Smart stores side by side, one that has mainly non-perishable food - coffee, tinned veg, pasta, cereal, nuts, dried fruit, olive oil, etc - as well as things like shampoo and toothpaste, and the other a sort of dry goods cum general store place with pots and pans, towels, light bulbs, candles, toys, and such. They're both discounters with prices usually, but not always, better than the supermarkets. The dry goods place is much less busy and one of the two women working there speaks very good English. Yes, just use it as a voucher. No cash back but you can ask for things from the dry goods store to be taken over and rung up with your order. Then use the ticket to pay. Rather exciting, and requires a little thought first. We're only here for a couple of months so no point in stashing away enough tins for a siege. Still less point in acquiring heavy things to take with us when we leave. The young assistant is gratifyingly pleased for us, saying Bravo.

Pink grapefruit from Prinos so succulent. Bag of 18 for €2 (£1.52, $2.82 CAD).

Wednesday, January 21/2015

Before meeting J, who is walking morning laps on the beach, for coffee, I check our lottery ticket from the Christmas period draw. Tickets come free with a purchase of some minimum (€25 or some other amount we don't usually spend at once since we have to carry everything) from the Smart discount store near us. The draw was January 14, so I'm not as late as it might seem. Last four digits must match (heaven knows what the first two digits are meant for). Had in fact got as far as taking a photo of the winning ticket list the other day with the ipad mini, which is better than with the occasional previous tickets we've had that were probably just forgotten until we cleared out the drawers on leaving Cyprus. And, there it is - our number at the top of the list. Entitling us, it would appear, to €200 worth of purchases. Take photo of numbers and ticket to show J, who, somewhat to the surprise of both of us, reads it the same way.

Tuesday, January 20/2015

Remember that we are only 120 miles or so from Syria, usually an impossible distance in these days of war, but in peace time less than an hour's flight, most of which is ascent and descent. Were the distance filled with land instead of water, everything would be different. As today, when the Cyprus Mail reports that a 39 year old woman (why do newspaper reports always regard precise age as so important?) is arrested for attempting to sell her daughter's passport, having previously succeeded in selling her own passport to a Syrian woman for €2500.

Monday, January 19/2015

Coffee with M. Then we check out a couple of charity shops. J always looking for a 6 volt charger to use with radio that took batteries. Everything but 6v always on offer. Then stop at M's for nibbles and brandy. She has both south and west facing balconies, so always sun.

Come home to find that the sheets have been changed. Can hardly object, but the theory is that it's done weekly. Last time it went to 12 days before I finally got tired of letting lethargy take its course and asked. Recognising that Venera is overworked - but all the same. This time it's only been five days. Suspect them of keeping no records at all. Certainly you never see the girls with any notes. Only Kiki, in afternoon and evening reception, writes things down. And it's no surprise that she follows up what she writes down.

Sunday, January 18/2015

Playbooks still behaving oddly, though not quite bricked, as we first feared. (For non geeks, bricked as in made as useless as a brick, of value as paperweight only). Upsetting in a number of ways, but particularly annoying as we have 6 days left on ebook library version of Party of One, and it's much handier if we can each read it on a separate tablet. Ipad mini still ok.

Beautiful herb crusted salmon fillet for dinner. Lidl may be discounter but some of its food is prime.

Saturday, January 17/2015

Bit damp for outdoor coffee, having rained in the night, so we don't. M stops in for a drink in the pm, though. All of us prefer the cheaper type of Cyprus brandy to themore expensive - less refined means more flavour, like the difference between light and dark rum.

Efforts by management and a techie, who speaks too little English to question, a mixed  blessing. Router moved and presumably otherwise altered. Can now receive signal in flat without benefit of microwave antenna but tendency of wifi to cut out frequently without apparent reason. AND both Blackberry Playbooks developed simultaneous severe neurological problems at the same time as the change. Coincidentally? One was turned on at the time the new regime began but the other was off. Sibling sympathy? Ipad mini unaffected.

Friday, January 16/2015

Phone call from Maria at the travel agency while we're having coffee with M. She's found us a four night (meaning 3day) break in Rome for €210 (£161, $292 CAD) each, which is cheaper than we could go to Egypt, an hour's flight away, or Lebanon, even closer. From Paphos, which is awkward, and with Ryan Air, one of the nastier cheapie airlines, but we go for it anyway. Visa extension would be nice but we have little faith in it actually happening in time. Cypriot bureaucracy is legendary.

Thursday, January 15/2015

Spot some fairly attractive offers in a travel agency window. Maria, the only employee in, is about to go for lunch but stops to talk to us, and is not only pleasant but remarkably quick about picking up what we are looking for - which is basically a cheap but interesting visa run before mid-February. Cairo is possible, or Rome. She'll check more prices and call.

Dinner at Vlachos with Jane and Bill, Ailsa and Harry. First visit this year and always a pleasure. Best part is we're treated like Cypriots, welcome friends to be well fed. Very good food and lots of meze style starter dishes. I have moussaka and J lamb kleftiko. Actually mine alone would have done both of us. As usual, A&H have brought little plastic bags for leftovers for their numerous pets, six dogs plus cats. A Noah's ark of rescued animals. And, as with all Cypriot restaurants, there's no hurry - a meal is an occasion.

Jane and Bill get serious with the menu before the taverna fills up

Wednesday, January 14/2015

Suspect that, given that we have less than five weeks left to extend the visas or leave the country, we're going to have to opt for leaving the country, temporarily at least. Last year Mr Andreas said confidently that he could get us an extension with immigration if he had a month's notice, so this year we brought up the subject a week before Christmas, complete with all the documentation, thinking nothing to lose. And also expecting nothing much. But Mr Andreas has apparently visited immigration, telling us at the beginning of the week that he had been and that we would need to go to Nicosia. We assumed this would be the bureaucratic run around and were dismissive, but he looked so crestfallen that we asked if he really thought it would work. Yes, yes, just that the office is in Nicosia. So in a couple of days, when the weather is nicer....

Does he plan to come with us, I ask J. Otherwise why worry on our behalf about the weather? But more probably he is buying time to write a required letter.

Tuesday, January 13/2015

Aerial? For whatever reason, the tablets all work better on top of the (non-operating-at-the-time) microwave when we're in the flat. Not nearly as well as they work in reception, where any serious use takes place, but better than anywhere else in the flat. Closer to the router - which it is, very slightly? Obvious electronic answer or just mystery?

Monday, January 12/2015

J sitting next to me in reception reading, online, Cypriot financial newspaper, The Financial Mirror, with the following indicators of the country's financial distress:

➡️Cyprus Airways closed down on Saturday after the troubled national carrier's last flight was operated from Athens to Larnaca on midnight Friday, ending decades of squandering public money and abusing EU aid. 

➡️The Registrar of Companies and Official Receiver has struck off 84,780 companies to date due to lack of reporting or wilful liquidation as some were dormant and had no directors. [The decision is probably the result of the EUR 300 annual tax levied on all companies in recent years, as part of the cash-strapped government’s efforts to find additional sources of revenue, following the EUR 10 bln bailout plan imposed by the Troika of international lenders.]

➡️Deposit rates in Cyprus remained the highest within the Eurozone in November, with lending rates the sixth lowest among the Euro member state, according to Central Bank of Cyprus data. [The interest rate for household deposits of up to one year decreased to 2.59% compared with 2.67% in the previous month, compared to the average Eurozone rate of 1.05%. The interest rate for non-financial companies rose to 2.53% compared with 2.49% in the previous month, the highest in the euro area, while the corresponding average of the Eurozone was 0.41%]

.➡️..according to Eurostat, Cyprus’ rate of unemployment marginally rose to 16.8% in 

November compared to 16.5% in October "1.81% m-o-m) and 16.6% in November 2013 (1.21% y-o-y). 

The age group most affected was the under-25 (at 34.8%), while the Eurozone and EU unemployment remained unchanged on a monthly basis at 11.5% and 10%, respectively. 

Cyprus ranked third amongst all EU counties, while the highest joblessness rates were observed in Greece (25.7%) and Spain (23.9%). 

Of course the interest rates are not distressing to the population, but may be a part of the problem. And the Cyprus Mail columnist who goes by the name of Patroclos is scornful on the topic of Cyprus Airways' demise:

➡️We believe it would be better to celebrate its 68-year life during which it made quite a few of our countrymen very rich, provided well-paid, unproductive employment to thousands of losers who could command only the minimum wage in the open market, gave social standing to countless nobodies appointed to its board and allowed union bosses to secure privileges for their members that would have been unheard of in any sane country.

It was very successful as an employment agency even though it cost the taxpayer in excess of €100 million to keep going in the last few years, not to mention the rip-off air-fares we were forced to pay in the pre-open-skies days when it engaged in price collusion, as a matter of policy, with other airlines. But the Cypriot taxpayer has always been stupidly generous and feels no resentment over his money being wasted on one of the world’s most badly-managed airlines.

Meanwhile our own financial obligations are remembered. The month's rent was is due, entailing a stop at a bank willing to dispense at least €500 in one go, thus limiting the access charges. Fortunately there is one, the Hellenic Bank, down the road. Some give as little as €200, and running out of money at the cash points is not unknown. But we're in luck.

Sunday, January 11/2015

Maggi has invited us to the Sunday buffet at the Flamingo, and arranged to collect us after she has been to "Sunday meeting" - about 12:30. Single slice of toast for breakfast as this seems very early for the main meal of the day, but need not have worried about our ability to engage in indecent amount of consumption when confronted with buffet which exceeds the laudatory descriptions people have given of it. The food we skip looks  as good as that we choose, but it's obvious we can't hold everything - soup (delicious), salad, four kinds of meat at the carvery, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and seven different kinds of vegetable, all in large round silver coloured tureens with lids keeping them piping hot. So we're selective but not delicate eaters. And there's a choice of desserts, which we should be unable to hold but aren't, all of us opting for apple crumble with lavish amounts of warm custard. We keep expecting hordes of people to join us, but the largish dining room remains nearly empty. Does this go on for hours and are we extremely early? If not, what on earth happens to all the leftovers? Have visions of their being incorporated one way and another into meals for the hotel's half board guests for the remainder of the week, although surely with some diminishment of quality. Brussel sprouts reincarnated with a Polish butter and toasted crumb sauce or incorporated in bubble and squeak?

Then to M's for a Cyprus brandy. Fruit cake and chocolate on offer but totally impossible.  Could in theory fast for the next three days, but know it won't happen!