Tuesday, June 30/2020

Well, drama continues. A Syrian man was arrested after arriving in the North on a jet ski  from Turkey on Saturday. He appears to have paid €5000 - not, precisely for the unusual transport but to be taken across the border to the Republic of Cyprus. But that, of course, didn’t happen. Meanwhile the story yesterday about the ferry passenger who was said to have tested positive, then said to have tested negative seems to have disappeared, presumably just inaccurate rumour.

Not in the rumour category is the Turkish Medical Association demanding via a lawsuit that the Council of Ministers‘ decision to open the borders without quarantine in some cases be cancelled, and that the health system be made more robust before anybody - particularly read Turkish residents - be allowed to enter without going into quarantine. Have no idea how much clout the Association has, but we may find out.

Drop round to the dental surgery and have a visit with Fehmi, Always a pleasure. We’re in the house he was born in and his memories of childhood and the later conflicts are interesting, but so equally are his intelligent and humanistic philosophical reflections.

Monday, June 29/2020

Ferry arrived today from Turkey and apparently a two year old child on it tested negative but the parent tested positive. Story not easy to untangle. Not even clear whether the adult was the child’s mother or father. This, actually, a common problem with texts translated from Turkish to English because the possessive pronoun in Turkish isn’t gender specific, so can be translated correctly as either his or her. Much anger online as people ask how the person could have boarded without a negative certificate, have the other passengers been quarantined, many etceteras. However by evening there are reports that the first rumours were wrong and the person in question tested negative on arrival.  Presumably more clarity by tomorrow.

In the evening we go round the corner to our local restaurant and find that they do, finally, have sheftalia sausages. So our running joke, like Alice in Wonderland’s jam yesterday and jam tomorrow but never jam today is over. Sheftalia today.

*Sheftalia, are a Cypriot sausage. Name sounds the same in both North and South, although the spelling is, obviously, quite different in Turkish. They’re made from ground pork or lamb, or possibly beef, mixed with finely chopped onion and parsley, salt, and pepper. The filling is formed into small balls which are then placed on spread out caul, which is transparent and naturally fatty. Squares of caul (thin lacy membrane surrounding internal organs) are cut around them and wrapped, making little sausages which are put on skewers and then grilled, preferably on charcoal, until golden brown. In the process of cooking the caul fat melts and drips off, leaving just the  browned sausages. sounds rather off-putting, but completely delicious.  [Taken from my blog of March 9/2019]

Photo: Cyprusisland.net

Sunday, June 28/2020

And in the list of daily changes are the flights out of Ercan Airport (Nicosia, North Cyprus). Airlines, which basically means Turkish Airlines and Pegasus, have been told that they will each be limited to one flight a day in. And, obviously, one flight in means one return flight. The reason is that the TRNC has decided to require PCR tests of passengers before they board flights to North Cyprus AND after they arrive, and can see that the need for testing on arrival is going to overwhelm their test and lab facilities. The good thing from our point of view, should we decide to burn our bridges with the South and leave from Ercan, is that flights leaving are much less likely to be full. And presumably tests aren’t required to leave the country, although that would depend on requirements at the destination point - which could be subject to change. The pandemic has created as much administrative chaos in sophisticated countries as in the tiny outliers, and as many decisions made in response to ego, personal profit and confusion.

Saturday, June 27/2020

“The UK is looking to include Cyprus on a list of countries to be announced next week from where travellers will have unrestricted access to the country, while head of the hotels association Pasyxe said the UK’s decision to lift quarantine restrictions is “important” for Cyprus”. This from the Cyprus Mail Saturday afternoon. It’s understandable, as the UK is a primary source of tourists for the Cyprus Republic, probably followed by Russia and Scandinavia. 

The reciprocal aspect would obviously benefit us. Once air traffic is well established all planes from the UK that land will clearly return. At the moment Wizz Air is probably the only airline regularly flying between Larnaca and London, and they fly to Luton not Heathrow. 

British Airways purports to be doing so as of July, but many complaints from expats in the North that every flight they have booked for July or August has then been cancelled. The purchasers have been given credit, of course, but are then locked in to British Airways or they lose their money. Some have had several BA flights cancelled. Despite what is hard not to regard as duplicitous greed, BA remains our first choice. A) They fly to Heathrow and not one of the less convenient airports, and B) Their flyer points scheme is more useful than most and we have made use of it.

Friday, June 26/2020

UK looking to build air bridges - reciprocal arrangements with a number of European countries whereby their residents will be allowed free access without quarantine. ITV reports:

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said air bridges would only be agreed with countries which have a coronavirus test and trace system of the same standard as that used in Britain.

Rather brave of him, considering that the UK test and trace efforts have been an utter fiasco - too little, too late, and contracts given to the wrong people. Not expected to be functional before September, and government announcements alternate between non-credible numbers and frank admissions that the government has no idea how many people have been tested. While the trace half of the equation is sheer fantasyland. 

One would have thought, under the circumstances, that Shapps might have wished to qualify his statement by saying that air bridges would only be agreed with countries that have a coronavirus test and trace system of the same standard OR BETTER than that used in Britain. In any case the difficulty is going to be finding countries desperate enough for tourists that they agree to pair with a country whose current rate of infection is far higher than any of the EU countries.

The real reason for the eagerness to pair is not that the UK sees itself as desirable holiday territory at the moment. Rather that UK (well, mostly English - but that’s another story) citizens are hoping to holiday in Mediterranean countries without having to go into quarantine when they return. Many of the sort who crowded Bournemouth Beach this weekend simply want the old life back at any price.

*Note: have been complaints that photo used compressed lens. Photo credit to the Telegraph. Not a tabloid and usually only guilty of right wing bias. 🤔

Thursday, June 25/2020

Ambitiously, for us, we leave for market at 7:30 and are rewarded with a light breeze that’s almost cool. Strawberries almost finished but lots of cherries, though they’re a bit uneven in ripeness. Cherry tomatoes, peaches, pears, aubergines and more sesame bread. We even remember to get triple A batteries for the little flashlights.

We’re planning to look at a studio flat a few blocks away for after the end of the month, and have booked to go look at it at four. A few minutes before we leave Aysel texts after her oncologist’s appointment to say that her doctor wants her to continue living at her mother’s place until September, so if we want to stay where we are longer we can. 

We go to the studio anyway, but explain to the lovely young woman there that we were definitely looking to book until a few minutes ago, but....She’s understanding and cheerful. Well, now you have options. People are not booking now? They are - but then they cancel. It’s understandable. So not totally settled. It’s less money, but smaller. Nice location, though what in the old city isn’t.

Wednesday, June 24/2020

Our lives only or is there a dark comedy aspect to everyone’s script? Phone call at breakfast from the nice lady with whom we have been corresponding at the Canadian Honorary Consulate in Nicosia. Clear from the beginning that as well as touching base she is eager to get off the phone. 

I, however, slowly waking up and asking questions re border crossing. NL points out that I can ask these questions in an email. True, and I am too polite to say that she has not been particularly good at reading previous emails, to the point at which I have wondered whether her written English is not as fluent as it might be. Though some of it may be down to excessive Greek politeness. So, more than one email from her has begun with “we are glad that you are well”. And indeed we are well, but it seems odd that she should comment when we have not expressly said that we were all right. But have observed that the Turkish are even more effusive. No doubt many in the eastern Mediterranean consider all Anglos blunt to the point of rudeness. 

I’m not reluctant to ask questions by email. They just never seem to  quite get answered. But we soon get to the point of NL’s wish to end the call as she says that she has to go as she is using her own personal mobile. What she doesn’t say is that she is making a long distance call to a Turkish number, which is expensive. And unnecessarily expensive as the actual distance between us is a little more than 30 miles - much less than the distance across London. The expense is not NL’s fault of course. But it is down to the Cypriot Republic’s refusal to make communication easy. So why on earth did she phone instead of emailing? Can only guess that she has end of month reports to fill out - emails sent, phone calls made, etc - and the phone call section looking a little thin. But surely they give her a budget?

And so I do email and ask my questions. If we cross the border with consular assistance do we require a PCR test? If we have a negative test can we stay in the South and make our flight reservations from there? And, somewhat wickedly, can resist adding that unfortunately the simplest solution for us would be to fly home from the North, though after twenty years of visiting the Republic we would not like to create difficulties. 

Takes only a matter of hours to receive an answer. Blood test required. All booking must be done and registered before consular assistance in crossing (and within 72 hours of negative test results, which may not be provided on the day of testing and can only be obtained from a hospital 30 miles away). After crossing required to go straight to airport. NL does sound slightly sympathetic, though. Says she can understand if we prefer to wait as border crossing requirements change daily. 

Not surprisingly, no reference to implied threat re flying from North. And none expected. But barely possible that some hint may filter through to those in power in the Republic that difficulties at the border discourage tourists as well as attempting to intimidate officialdom in the North.

Tuesday, June 23/2020

Looking for information on the ever changing border requirements. Published info is never, of course, directed at Canadians, but much of that aimed at British expats is of interest. Not so much the helpful advertisements. “Here’s a warning for UK expats. Smart Brits Abroad Are Saving Thousands On Funeral Costs Using This Funeral Plan”. Something they know that I don’t, or is it just the demographic?

Meanwhile the border situation still lacks clarity. Read online that the crossing to the South will be open only to Turkish Cypriot citizens and permanent residents. That’s obviously not us, but is it accurate, and if so will it change without notice? 

Sometimes categories that aren’t covered are simply omitted inadvertently as regulations are drawn up in haste. So, for example, our dentist has been open for five weeks now. But the dentists never got official notice that they could reopen. They simply observed that everyone in similar categories had been given the green light and followed suit. This is a small enough country that it worked. 

On the other hand rumour has it tonight that some of the residents who have just arrived on flights home here are apparently being sent back to the UK because their residence permits had expired when they were not here to renew them. General understanding had been that they would be permitted to renew late as they had no way of returning to do so on time. And that may yet prove to be the case. It may all be a misunderstanding that gets sorted, but not without tears.

Monday, June 22/2019

Reading aloud to J an article in which the words “my husband” appear. Interruption from Siri on other iPad, currently charging nearby: “What’s your husband’s name?” Taken aback I ask “Why do you want to know?” But Siri is not about to be drawn: “You have to unlock your iPad.” But I don’t, and that ends it.

Wait until evening when there’s a cool breeze to go for a walk. Cafés and small restaurants spring up from nowhere and spill into the streets as people enjoy coffee or beer. One popular spot always has music as well, though J points out how young the patrons are. And they are - much closer to the age of our grandchildren than our children. Just after the longest day of the year but not nearly as long here as at higher latitudes. Sun rose at 5:30 this morning and set at 20:01 - fourteen hours and thirty-one minutes of daylight. So darkness comes quite early.

Sunday, June 21/2020

Reliable reports that the tourism minister has lost his job over the scandal of the private plane arriving from Turkey bearing Turkish men and Russian women bound for gambling rather than technical consulting. The sin being not the gambling but the fact that they didn’t go through the normal two week quarantine. As of July1 the TRNC will be admitting tourists with negative coronavirus tests although those from all but a select few countries will be required to quarantine for fourteen days which will keep away most casual holiday makers.

Saturday, June 20/2020

As well as low humidity - so far, knock on wood, etc - Famagusta usually has a breeze, so sitting out on our front steps is often very pleasant. It’s also as close to the road as many old Scottish houses, that is no distance at all. Handy when the fruit and veg truck comes twice a week. And, separate from that there’s a watermelon truck. Haven’t figured out its schedule, if there is one. 

Plenty of foot traffic as well, and most people say hello, either in Turkish or in English. And cars. Over the nearly twenty years we’ve been coming here the number and quality of cars has increased enormously. Japanese cars seem to predominate, especially Toyota, though there are a fair number of Hondas. Also quite a lot of German cars - Fords, but also a surprising number of Mercedes and BMW. And in the public parking lot around the corner yesterday there was even, most surprisingly, a Hummer, though goodness only knows what the need for it would be. It’s not a rich country and no doubt there are people who can’t afford cars at all but if vehicles are any indication, and they must be, things have improved for residents over the last twenty years. And this despite the fact that the Turkish lira is a pretty weak currency and constantly dropping. When we arrived on March 10 it took 6.97 Turkish lira to buy a euro. It’s now 7.66. It’s a complaint somewhat familiar to Canadians but here the additional problem is that large purchases like cars or houses have to be paid for in euros or pounds whereas salaries and payments from locals are normally in lira. 

Friday,, June 19/2020

Start the morning with coffee in our little walled courtyard garden. As long as the doors are shut it’s not necessary to wear more than night attire. The passion flower vine is beginning to grow across the open non-roof and will eventually cover it, making shade whether the doors are open or shut. Can hear the pigeons cooing and also, a little more distantly, a rooster - possibly related to the source of the local eggs sold by the shop owner round the corner. More distantly than that - although not half a mile away - the deep tone of a ship in the harbour.

Supper On the deck at Fa Kebab round the corner. Would like to have şeftali, the grilled Cypriot sausages that seem to appear nowhere else (Greek sheftalia). My Turkish dictionary has never heard of it. It’s becoming a running joke at the restaurant as the few times we’ve eaten there we’ve tried to order it and always been told that it’s “finished“. So I tease the man a little. But if we came earlier we could have it? Oh yes. Can’t pin him down on how early. Suspect that they haven’t had any for weeks. Reminder of the Polish menu. In Poland it is quite common for a menu - printed, or even handwritten on the wall - to list everything that might ever be on offer, and we learned to ask at the outset what was available before wasting time and optimism on impossible choices.

Thursday, June 18/2020

Thursday is market day in Famagusta. The other centres have different days. Nicosia used to have a permanent covered market open daily. Well, still does but it’s changed. Some time between the time we went there with Darryl and Donna in 2017 and our previous visit, which could have been two or three years earlier, the market stopped being where you could buy carrots and potatoes and almonds from mostly open stalls and became small Mostly enclosed boutiques with jewellery and non-local clothing and such. More attractive in a way, but hard not to regret the loss of the old. And, of course, no longer full of old women in long skirts buying onions and fruit. 

The weekly market in Famagusta has everything - well, nearly. Couldn’t find the old man who sold batteries in with bits of minor hardware. But local fruit and veg, a bit of home baking, dried and fresh olives, eggs in flats of 30, still wet helim (halloumi) cheese, dried fruit, sacks of nuts (quite likely to be from California rather than Cyprus or Turkey), inexpensive clothing, handmade jewellery, towels and linen. And outside the trucks selling fish and the one with ice cream, as well as a garden area with plants and young trees. You probably couldn’t live by buying things only at the market, but you could come close.

Wednesday, June 17/2020

Pick up a copy of Cyprus Today, the TRNC English weekly newspaper. Or at least it used to be English language. Probably three years since we’ve bought it, and in the interim it has acquired a six page section of news in Russian. And am reminded that the local private hospital has information pamphlets in Turkish and Russian, but not English. Which is itself a reminder that one of the chief favours that Kemal Ataturk, founder and first president of the Republic of Turkey, did the Turkish people was to replace the old Arabic style Turkish script with a Latin-based Turkish alphabet. Which means that we are better off using a Turkish pamphlet where we can look up the words, unfamiliar though they all are, in a Turkish English dictionary, than we are using a Russian pamphlet where many of the words are probably similar to the Polish but the letters are Cyrillic. And the final reminder in this bit of free association is that one of the many famous guests of the Baron Hotel in Aleppo, Syria, where we stayed several years ago, was Ataturk, who is said to have mounted machine guns on the roof during the First World War to ward off attacks by the British or Arab Legions.

Tuesday, June 16/2020

Political scandal. It was reported a couple of days ago that a private plane with thirteen passengers arrived at Ercan airport here in the TRNC from Turkey and the passengers were not quarantined as others are required to be. Soothing official explanation: they were here to complete technical studies for the planned Lapta marina.They had separate accommodation and did not mix with local people. There was no danger of infection. Actually complainants were divided between those objecting to the risk of infection and those objecting to the unfairness of some being spared a quarantine period that everyone else is required to complete. 

Then comes the scandal as it is revealed that the technical studies story is untrue. The Turkish men were here to gamble at one of the casinos and, it is said, brought three Russian girls with them. They are also believed to have made a shopping expedition to Girne (Kyrenia). So much indignation, particularly as the consensus is that this could not have occurred without the connivance of one or more politicians.

The council of ministers has been meeting today but no apparent word regarding the border - of more concern to us than the scandal. Actually the council of ministers has an interesting way of developing policy. It meets and then releases information (normally the information is in fact released rather than leaked). However, the information released is almost always incomplete and flawed. People raise inquiries and complaints. Clarifications and modifications follow. These too may be incomplete and subject to revision. Presumably the way it goes when the focus is not on parliamentary debate, committee scrutiny, and a competent professional civil service. And not completely unknown with executive decision making in more established governments, especially during the pandemic.

Monday, June 15/2020

Can’t decide whether I will miss fresh oranges or Turkish yoghurt more. The oranges are beautiful. The yoghurt should be just as easy to acquire in Canada as here. Not short of dairy cows. You can buy sheep yoghurt here but our favourite is actually a strained yoghurt made from cow’s milk. Never sweetened and often eaten on the side of the plate along with meat, vegetables and salad. Only very slightly acidic - really more like sour cream than like most Canadian yoghurt, though lower in fat than full fat sour cream. Lovely subtle flavour - and thick enough to stand a spoon in it.

Sunday, June 14/2020

The Health Ministry in the South has announced no new coronavirus cases for the second consecutive day, which is encouraging in terms of hopes for border opening July 1, although not as reassuring as the North’s eight weeks. The Canadian honorary consulate would make an effort, they say, to assist Canadians needing to cross the border to take specific flights in advance of the official border opening. Well, actually they say “we will do our best to assist you secure a permission to cross”  to what they can’t resist referring to “the free part of the Republic of Cyprus”, a reminder that honorary consular staff  is local. This assistance, in the absence of an open border, is dependent on prior acquisition of airline tickets. However, it seems clear that should their best prove not quite good enough, the tickets would be a write off. Not so bad if they were one way tickets to London or Athens, say, but tickets out of Larnaca would have to be co-ordinated with tickets from a European centre to Canada, a much greater potential loss. So best to wait for a genuinely open border.

Tourism is not the only sector in economic difficulty in the South. The wine industry is also suffering. Lack of tourists and closing of restaurants, hotels, and tavernas has been a disaster, compounded somewhat by limited export possibilities and tighter family budgets.

Saturday, June 13/2020

The first covid-19 case in Cyprus was confirmed March 10, the day we arrived. It was a German tourist, one of 750. There were ultimately 108 cases including four deaths, two German tourists and two resident. The lockdown was very strict. Initially only possible to leave the house in order to go to the grocery store, pharmacy or bank, as well as petrol station or hospital. Furthermore the grocery store, pharmacy or bank were supposed to be the nearest. Anything else, e.g. delivering food to an elderly neighbour required specific police permission. There was a curfew from 8 pm to 6 am. Very exciting when that was relaxed enough to allow going for a walk. But now it is over eight weeks since the last new case and the last patient has been released. Yes, it’s a very small country, but the country is essentially covid-19 free. Tourism will, cautiously, reopen next month amid arrangements for testing, possible quarantine and restrictions on countries of origin. Nobody supposes there will never be another case, but the whole test, trace and isolate procedure is totally possible here.

Friday, June 12/2020

Final dental appointments. Only thirteen and a half weeks after we arrived in Cyprus. And arrived pleased that we had two weeks in the North. Long enough to get the dental work done. And it was, but....And we are pleased.

And, also in the health field, last covid-19 patient discharged in the North. We’ll be leaving one of the safest places in the world.

Thursday, June 11/2020

Jaworski - file photo

Market day. We go early, to avoid the heat. Well, early by our standards, as in 8:30. Think the market opens at 6:30 but gave no thought at all to going then. Fairly cool at the market itself, as there is a high roof but partially open sides so it’s both shaded and airy. It’s maybe a kilometre from our place so not a long walk, but better to bring home strawberries than watermelon. So we do. And fresh ground coffee as well as sesame bread, tiny tomatoes, long red peppers, and a half kilo of freshly ground coffee. Accidentally overpay the young man who grinds the coffee by 50 kuruş, half a Turkish lira (10 cents CAD, 7 Euro cents, 6p GBP). He immediately returns the extra coin, refusing J’s offer to let him keep it. And this is not unusual here. Run into Fehmi’s wife Filiz. Interesting to meet someone we know in a city in which we know so very few people.

Have bought also 4 cobs of corn. Turn out to be edible but disappointing. Well, wrong country. Just as anyone who has eaten oranges in Cyprus will never want to buy them in Canada, maybe anyone who has eaten corn in Alberta, or southern Ontario, or from my dad’s garden in Quebec decades ago should not bother buying it in Cyprus. Suspect it of not being fresh enough, but that is unlikely - or at least not at all typical of this market where all the fruit and veg are usually at peak. More likely it’s not really bred for corn on the cob, and in fact Canadian corn has, over time, been made both sweeter and longer lasting. I used to say that corn that had reached the supermarket was already too old - much the way people in Sioux Lookout would think pickerel in a supermarket too old (to say nothing of too expensive) to consider, but it does last a bit better than it did in my childhood. 

And there’s a family story, dating back to well before the war. Relatives who moved to Canada from Scotland encountered corn on the cob for the first time and were impressed enough to send some back to the family in Scotland - surface mail. Needless to say the Scots side of the family  were unimpressed. No better than the cattle maize they were familiar with.