Thursday, April 30/2020

More details emerge on the lockdown changes for next week. We are going into a long weekend as TRNC, along with most of the rest of the world, observes May Day. Makes one wonder why North Americans have chosen September for a holiday recognising labour. Chosen by Americans because it was midway between Independence Day and Thanksgiving. Did May 1 just seem too socialist? Anyway, the three day weekend creates a pause before the lockdown relaxation begins. 

Some changes take effect on Monday. Interestingly, Sundays remain as they are now, with the same limited destinations. However, on other days we will be able to walk where we like while still wearing masks and observing social distancing. No group gatherings. Restaurant takeaways from May 11 after each restaurant wishing to be included has satisfied the authorities regarding their hygiene provisions. Gradual increases in the types of services provided. It’s been a very strict lockdown, and there have been violations - and fines - but overall seems to have worked well. Now down to three active covid-19 cases in the country. 

Wednesday, April 29/2020

The cannon signals the time for the fast breaking meal to begin. The time from sunrise to sunset is long enough here but must be significantly longer at higher latitudes. So check Inuvik. Yes, sunset today at 23:50 followed by sunrise tomorrow morning at 5:52. But this is early in the Islamic (lunar) month. Fast forward to the end of Ramadan and the last night is a mere hour and thirteen minutes long. Probably few observant Muslims living in Inuvik, but fair deterrent for any thinking of moving there. Turns out I am not the first to spot the difficulty. Wikipedia is pleased to explain: “Although fatwas have been issued declaring that Muslims who live in regions with a midnight sun or polar night should follow the timetable of Mecca, it is common practice to follow the timetable of the closest country in which night can be distinguished from day”. A fatwa, despite ominous shades of death threats to the likes of Rushdie, being merely a legal opinion.

Becoming informed here is not a passive process, particularly for those who don’t speak Turkish. The government is fairly good at providing information, but naturally their releases are in Turkish. So the first attempts at translation we are treated to are often a bit of a mystery. Thus today we get the announcement regarding changes to the lockdown, still most often translated as curfew. “The meeting of the Council of Ministers is over. The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kurdistan Region announced the decisions”. Sounds official enough. But the Kurdistan Region?! Have we wandered into a press release from the wrong country entirely? And what to make of this: “Failure to leave during the night until 15 o’clock was extended”? There’s also a list of “places that will be closed for up to 15 months” including, improbably, kindergartens, hairdresser, and picnic area parks”. 

As with most ministerial announcements in translation, one might as well enjoy the humour and exercise patience. Better translations will follow along with glosses, accurate and otherwise. So in the next translation the Kurdistan reference has disappeared. The 15 o’clock night bit seems to have been a very strange attempt at saying there will still be a nine o’clock curfew. And the list of places closed for up to 15 months is the easiest to solve - read “up to [until] the fifteenth of the month [May]. Press releases like cryptic crossword clues.

Tuesday, April 28/2020

First time J and I have gone out at the same time - to pick up groceries - since the compulsory mask in public policy. So J with coffee filter device and I with scarf. No photos available. Will really have to acquire something better if we try to use them long distance. These would do the basic catch-a-sneeze though, which is the point of them.

There are quite a lot - over 1500 anyway - of people who live in the North and work in the South who, like everyone else, are unable to cross the border. Many have workplaces that are closed at present, but this is likely to change as restrictions are relaxed. Their hope is that they will be permitted to cross for work, or even to live temporarily in the South. However, the indications from the South are that relaxing the borders will be among the final phases, fearing people may enter from Turkey where infected numbers are high (although not as high as the US, Spain, Italy France, Germany or the UK, even in terms of percentage of the population). The fear is probably exaggerated, or even simply politically motivated, as the only people who have been allowed entry to the North from Turkey are Turkish Cypriot citizens being repatriated and they have been collected at the airport and placed in government supervised quarantine.

Monday, April 27/2020

Apparently there is to be some relaxation of the lockdown provisions beginning next week. High class rumour source. What we most want, of course, is to be allowed to go for a walk, though J developing a tan just from exposure on the steps. Masks, social distancing fine. Though those who live here permanently would be pleased to be able to pick up from a wider range of businesses, such as hardware stores.

Since Ramadan began there is a cannon fired after sunset. A common signal in the Middle East that it  now time to break the day’s fast.

Now down to 5 active covid-19 cases in North Cyprus.

Sunday, April 26/2020

Day three of compulsory face mask wearing outside. Have noticed most passing the door are wearing masks. Entirely possible that those not doing so have masks with them but feel that there is no point wearing them when alone on the street and will slide them on when they reach a shop. Not technically legal but short of highly dangerous behaviour. The police do regularly arrest and charge people for violations of this and other coronavirus regulations though, and issue daily reports. Today’s Cyprus Mail (South) refers to 12 fines yesterday here in the North for failure to wear masks in public. Probably accurate, but the accompanying photo can’t have been from anywhere in the North in the last few weeks. Can’t identify the location. Possibly Lefkoşa covered market? But as we are only permitted to go to grocery stores, banks and pharmacies the photo is probably file and most likely from the South. A detail unlikely to have disturbed the Cyprus Mail.

Saturday, April 25/2020

Cannot imagine having done this ultra strict lockdown in a non-English speaking country in the days before wifi. Or rather can imagine it all too clearly. And Turkish is somewhat beyond non-English. Could make a stab at communicating in French. J could do in Polish and have known him to manage basics in related languages. But the language most closely related to Turkish seems to be Azerbaijani, which is not too helpful. And the lockdown means it is not actually permissible to walk across the lane and, standing two metres plus away from someone else begin attempting a question. Technically ok to shout it from the doorstep. And presumably on the doorstep one would not need to be impeded by a face mask, for what that would be worth.

Our Turkish English dictionary is on the ipad but does work offline, which might be handy if we were out and about. But really everything we do, from reading books, listening to music, getting local information, corresponding, and learning world news is internet dependent. Both wonderful and a little scary.

Active coronavirus cases in North Cyprus now down to 12.

Friday April 24/2020

Beginning of Ramadan. Have no idea whether the neighbours observe the fast or not. 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.

Surprised to hear the produce truck as it was here only three days ago. Had by then thought that it might have been ordered to stop but equally possible that we may have missed it on occasion. This time none of the women opposite come out but I put on my mask (required as of today) and collect bags of oranges, cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, peppers and onions. As much a sensual pleasure to look at as to eat.

Thursday, April 23/2020

April 23. St George’s Day. Should note that St George, despite being patron saint of England - and other places - was actually born in what is now Turkey, Cappadocia to be precise.  Not a holiday in England, though pubs are often happy to make it an occasion. Not this year, obviously. Also traditionally celebrated as Shakespeare’s birthday, and one year that meant we got a free tour of the Globe Theatre. And a holiday here, as well as in Turkey, commemorating the inauguration of the Turkish parliament. Commonly known as Children’s Day, as Ataturk gave the day to the children of the world because they are the future. So today grocery stores are open, banks and pharmacies not.

Totally coincidentally, this is also the beginning of Ramadan. Tomorrow is the first full day, but it starts after dusk tonight. Coincidentally because Ramadan, like Easter, is a moveable feast based on the lunar calendar and doesn’t necessarily begin in April, let alone on this date. Ramadan is best known as the month of fasting, when the observant do not eat between dawn and dusk. It is essentially a month of renewed spirituality, though, with special attention to prayer and acts of charity.

Normally, as in non-pandemic times, there would be children’s parties or parades today and extended family gatherings this evening. We have all been given strict instructions that these things will not happen. However, word has it that the Turkish national anthem will be sung from balconies at nine o’clock in the evening. So we’re interested. Will this really happen in our quiet little corner? Indeed the anthem is played from the mosque and the music draws a half dozen of the neighbours to their windows and front steps. If anyone is singing it must be pretty softly, but there is a little spotty applause at the end.

Wednesday, April 22/2020

Not alone, it seems, in losing track of what time it is. To some extent a common feature of retirement and often reported by those in lockdown. In my case exacerbated by the fact that my watch battery died shortly before we left Canada. Our nearest pound store in London had closed and we found ourselves in lockdown before another opportunity presented itself. Not that there are no other sources. Sunrise now just after 6 AM and sunset getting close to 7:30 PM. But often as little as two degrees difference between low and high temperature. So days feel pretty similar regardless of time. And nowhere to go, of course.

However here there is a second time check of sorts. We are within sight and certainly within hearing of the ezan, or call to prayer, at the Lala Mustafa Mosque in the central square. There are five calls a day, all based on the journey of the sun (not that the word journey comes from old French, as does the word jour - and was originally the distance one could travel in a day). The first call is pre-dawn and we would only hear it by accident, although it does include the phrase prayer is better than sleep. The second call is when the sun has passed the zenith and begun its descent. The third when a shadow is the same length as the object making it. The fourth at sunset and the fifth when the last red glow disappears from the sky. Naturally the times vary with both location and time of year. So at the moment the third call here is about 4:30, though moving a little each day. And today, as I am chopping vegetables for the soup and thinking it is mid-afternoon when I hear the call and ask J who confirms that it is indeed half past four. Have no idea how this would play out in the Arctic, though there are probably few Muslims there.

In the evening word filters through that the council of ministers has decided that everyone must wear masks in public as of Friday. 😷

Tuesday, April 21/2020

To the little shop for eggs and a few other things. Look up the Turkish for eggs, lest asking in English be pointless. Yumurta. Seems to be for both singular and plural, though that may not matter for getting the message across. The audio feature is useful too. Turns out the accent is on the first syllable, and stress is often crucial to communication. Easy to be totally incomprehensible by moving the stress in “hospital” to the second syllable. No eggs in sight for the third time, so I ask. “Ah, eggs?” The owner’s English, while far from fluent, is better than my Turkish - admittedly a very low bar. But ANY amount of a language is better than none. Even the little lists in the back of travel books with yes, no, please, thank you, water, and toilet.

And yes, there are eggs. In a corner we haven’t checked. In North America are eggs refrigerated, and there’s a reason for that. Eggs in much of Europe aren’t.  Most European countries vaccinate egg laying hens against salmonella. North Americans don’t. What they do instead is shampoo the newly laid eggs with soap and hot water. This destroys surface bacteria but also removes the protective coating nature supplies eggs with, making them more vulnerable to later contamination. So now we know where to find the eggs - in our case a small plastic bag with six eggs supplied by a local. Related to the rooster we sometimes hear?

We’re no sooner home with eggs, water, wine, aubergines, carrots, bread, and toilet paper, than J spots the elusive produce truck with its smiling driver. Had begun to think it had been banned. So oranges, apples, spinach, potatoes, coriander, and garlic.

And, re eggs, J spots a cat on the roof tiles opposite eating something. We’re hoping not a coal tit egg, but.... 

Monday, April 20/2020

Mid twenties and light breeze.

We get morning sun and afternoon shade, for which we may be grateful later in the spring. Between the living quarters and the road there is a small ivied courtyard. At night we can lock the outer door, which is only garage style metal and could do with some paint. Even less prepossessing than the entries to many Italian houses that seem to have no virtues at all from the street - until a door opens and the passerby has a brief glimpse of charming inner courtyard. Ours stays open during the day so we can sit on the steps with coffee or a drink, but there is always the option of inner shade - or sun. The roof is open but the walls are about twenty-five feet high.

Big fuss amongst the coal tits about supper time. J goes to investigate. A cat walking on the roof tiles opposite, the same tiles that form apartments for at least two nesting couples. Birds agitated and noisy. The cat leaves, whether intimidated or indifferent, and birds retire to sit on a nearby wire. Silence returns. The mini dramas of lockdown. Death always a risk in their world as well.

Sunday, April 19/2020

High today 27 with usual comment re higher in the sun. So far stone walls inside are cool and would be for temperatures a fair bit higher. J has put out an improvised bird bath drinking spot a bit away from the steps for the two coal tit families in the tiles opposite. So far no takers, at least not when we’ve been out on the steps observing. 

South of the (Cyprus) border there’s often a comic twist to the news. So a number of prisoners have been released in the interest of protecting them from Coronavirus. Only to have three of them back in court, charged with break-ins and multiple thefts. Talking to Maggi who lives in a village just south of Larnaca. It’s only 65 km away, but the other side of a border that’s pretty firmly closed at the moment. Locked down south of the border too, though not quite as tightly. There you apply for permission to go out for a specific purpose, e.g. dog walking or grocery shopping, and are texted  - one permission per day. ID registered with the authorities. If you’re under 65 there is no provision for your not possessing a smart phone. Possibly fairly enough.

Saturday, April 18/2020

Saturday trip to the corner shop. Not easy maintaining a journal when life consists of buying and cooking food, reading and listening to music, and small bits of bird watching. Pleasant enough existence, but hardly worth commentary. But more than blog it’s our record for better or for duller. And there are always the small oddities of travel. As today we note that a bottle of perfectly drinkable Turkish Cabernet Sauvignon costs less than a 400 gm jar of peanut butter. Not that we can really see ourselves having bread and wine for breakfast. Not, at least, without reaching the point of not giving a damn about the bread.

Friday, April 17/2020

At least one coal tit nest in the roof tiles opposite, possibly two. There are enough tiles for a whole apartment complex, but perhaps they don’t like crowding. The group exhibition seems to be over, but J does spot a couple mating. Apparently they lay several eggs.  

Takes until supper time to find out, but the lockdown has been extended to April 30. Don’t think anyone wanted it to be lifted, just eased a little. Keeping most closures and two metre social distancing but allowing people some time to go for walks and possibly permitting restaurants to deliver or allowing pick up from restaurants and hardware stores. Not likely to use the restaurant delivery ourselves, but would be pleased to see walks reinstated. On the other hand, everybody seems pretty pleased that the government seems to have a pretty good handle on the situation. Active cases are down to 23 and quarantines appear to have been effective.

Meanwhile email from UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which has, in fairness been quite good about timely info and has been very helpful in getting its citizens across the border to get flights leaving from the South. It reads: 

Update on GOV.​UK.

Cyprus travel advice

Change made
Removal of information on 15 April Cyprus Airways flight (‘Return to the UK’ pages)

Time updated
6:29pm, 17 April 2020

Bottom line of the email reads « Is this email useful? »

Well no, not overwhelmingly, since you ask. This is April 17, and the flight in question left - or actually in this case did not leave - two days ago. But have no intention at all of saying so and discouraging them from performing a service that they do infinitely better than Canada, though they also have no diplomatic relations with the TRNC. To be fair, though, they do have a larger number of citizens here.

Thursday, April 16/2020

Cyprus coal tits in full acrobatic display this morning. About a dozen of the swirling and swooping daringly above the lane, over the roofs and then back down in the narrow area between the houses. Pretty skilful performance. Would have thought it too late for mating exhibition. Just freewheeling entertainment? And when I take the rubbish over to the bin after dinner a couple of them are still at it, swooping in the early dusk.

Procrastination has some merits. Had not yet drawn the impossibility of the connections of the flight back to Air Canada’s attention, given the unsatisfactory nature of the links provided when they changed the departure time from London. No problem with that (minor) change, but doesn’t solve the difficulty of having to leave Toronto before we arrive there. There used to be a complaints link where you could write in words - as opposed to ticking boxes - what you wished to explain. Once used it for what I told them was not a complaint but an attempt to draw their attention to an oversight. Very happily resolved by a human that one was. However, the complaints section seems to have been replaced, rather optimistically, by a compliments section. So, needs must. Explain the difficulty and press submit. Email of acknowledgment points out that they are very busy and may take four weeks to respond. No doubt. It’s not that they have a surplus of alternative flights. The only real solution probably is to move the flight to the following day. Let’s call the whole thing off?

Wednesday, April 15/2020

Wednesday, midweek lottery of the shopping trip. Long sweet red peppers are in, a definite buy. No eggs, but we’re good until Saturday. We’re not out of crunchy peanut butter but they’re down to one jar so we get it. We probably already ate the others, although their initial supply can’t have been in anticipation of our arrival. Acquire a litre of cold pressed extra virgin olive oil. More than we would have paid in Canada but that’s always true in Cyprus. Possibly less likely to have lied about the provenance? The treat - a bottle of gin. Pay a bit more than the sale sign round its neck but quite a lot less than we would have done in Canada. Paid in euros today as we don’t have many Turkish lira left. The official exchange rate (the one no one ever actually gets) is now 7.49 to the euro. But only three weeks ago it was 6.99. So the shop is working on 7 TL to the euro as it was then, and hard to blame them. They’ve scarcely paid for their stock when the currency devalues. Bread at the shop pretty good, and no mistakes now I know how to read whole wheat in Turkish. Not nearly as good as the lovely warm, fragrant round loaf of olive bread that the kind neighbour across the road gave us, though!

Two of the people under observation in the TRNC following return flights have developed covid-19. On the other hand eight of those who were infected have recovered and were released today. This brings the country total of active cases down to 27, so the strictness of the lockdown may be having an effect. 

No earthshaking events during lockdown. Though actually three earthquakes today - 4.2, 4.7 and 4.4 magnitude. Actually 10 km depth just off the coast of Syria, near Latakia, but the distance between Latakia and the Karpas peninsula is only about 110 km. Didn’t feel anything here though.

Tuesday, April 14/2020

Our corner of the walled city would probably feel like a village without the quiet of the lockdown, but even more with it. Occasional crowing of a rooster. Children seldom visible. Just an older demographic or are they inside? Hear what sounds like a lawnmower. Close - it’s a weed trimmer. A man is cutting the long grass that grows on the inside of the Venetian wall at the end of our road. Interesting. He’s working alone, so plenty of social distance, but doesn’t seem to meet any of the very few criteria for being outside. Presumably a municipal worker rather than a public spirited volunteer but this can’t be a matter of urgence, and almost all public employees who can’t work from home are on administrative leave.

Should be making more effort to pick up a little Turkish, but mostly limit it to individual words that I may need to know. Sometimes, helpfully, the Turkish word has been borrowed. For example it turns out that disinfectant is dezanfectan. But the Turkish language resembles little else. Closest is Azerbaijani. 

Monday, April 13/2020

Well, long weekend - for what it’s worth. Don’t suppose it’s a long weekend here. This is a secular country, but the overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim, whether observant or not. Certainly busier than yesterday and small shop obviously open as some foot traffic to and fro with bags. 

Morning email brings regular letter from BBC Good Food. Today’s seasonal suggestions  entitled 20 Ways With Easter Leftovers. Had not hitherto considered the remainder of our chicken and roast carrots as a problem to be solved but a delight to be anticipated. Think BBC Good Food editor has lost touch with reality. Using Up Easter Chocolate indeed! Have precisely four squares of dark chocolate saved from London and no assistance required in making use of them. Like social media hints on what to do with leftover wine.

Interested to learn that J, when reading my Facebook news feed, is not presented with the same sponsor cooking posts. Bon Appétit recipe for baked caramelised cabbage with spiced tomato sauce. today and, unusually, have all ingredients - or near enough. Right down to the suggestion to serve with strained yoghurt. Though they do say Greek yoghurt. Would have assumed that there would be no difference between Greek and Turkish yoghurt, particularly on the island of Cyprus, but find Turkish much nicer. Subtler somehow. First experienced yoghurt as a side with meat or vegetables in Turkey and liked it. Then gave it up as no Canadian yoghurt seemed similar. We eat yoghurt in Canada, and in Greek Cyprus, but had forgotten what we were missing. So caramelised cabbage added to tonight’s leftovers.

Sunday, April 12/2020

Easter Sunday, and appropriately we wake to sun. Today is actually quieter than any other day. Lockdown here is stricter than most other places. Doesn’t include going out for exercise. No restaurant delivery and certainly no pick up. And the little grocery shop is not open on Sundays nor are most pharmacies, so the few people walking past our door could only legitimately be going to a bank cash point and then only if it were a direct route from their residence to the nearest bank. Needless to say virtually no one passes. 

Lovely warm day, though. Cyprus coal tits busy with their nesting materials, appearing to worry about being observed as they deposit the bits in their roof tile. The pigeons that we assumed were going to nest on the roof above us seem to have moved next door. Same roof but further down. They may be thinking that it’s quieter there, and during the lockdown this is true because no one comes in, but normally it’s a heavy duty workshop so they could be in for a surprise. Fewer pigeon droppings for us though.

Roast a chicken for dinner and comment as usual on the difference in flavour in chickens in Europe. Not actually entirely a difference in location. North American chickens that have been raised with some time outdoors and not murdered at the earliest opportunity also have mature flavour and texture. May also be partly the feed.

Saturday, April 11/2020

Saturday. Our biweekly outing - round the corner to the grocery store. Valued as much for the change in stimulation as for the actual provisions. And then there’s the serendipitous nature of what’s available. So today, for the first time, mushrooms and cabbage, which we buy, and beets, which we don’t. None of the lovely red peppers, but beautiful small deeply purple aubergines. Feast for the eyes first before we take it home to cook. 

Helicopter flies overhead as we’re sunning ourselves on the steps. Looking for those violating the lockdown by enjoying the good weather beyond their steps? In the UK drones have been used to broadcast messages over telling people that they must stop congregating in public spaces: « You are putting lives at risk. Please disperse immediately and return home ». UK lockdown nowhere near as strict as here, though. People are allowed out for daily exercise while maintaining social distancing though not, for the most part supposed to drive to a different location for said exercise. Here going for a short walk, even alone, is strictly forbidden.

In the South even the Orthodox Church has been forced to make concessions to covid-19. Larnaca is home to St Lazarus Church, believed by the faithful to have been built over the crypt of the Biblical Lazarus who is said to have come to Cyprus and become bishop before dying and being buried for the second time. He doesn’t seem to have enjoyed his Cypriot life much if the legend is to be believed, as he is said only to have smiled once in the years before his death. A rather poor advertisement for Christianity one would have thought. The church itself is ninth century with later modifications, but the crypt is much older. Had understood the remains to have been removed to Constantinople centuries ago - from whence they seem to have disappeared - but apparently some were retained in a silver casket and are carried in procession through the town eight days before (Orthodox) Easter every year. Have no memory of this occurring, but we’re usually in London by Easter, and Orthodox Easter often later than Western, as it is this year by a week. So today the priests have settled for walking round the church rather than processing through the town.