Since returning from UK, December was a busy month. I was busy preparing for St Andrew's Christmas Bazaar. I'd been given a kit to sew together to make a crib scene and I had promised the organiser I would also make some calendars for them to sell. Sourcing materials took some time but I managed to complete the crib and made them about two dozen calendars illustrated with scenes of Cyprus.
On the day, I was asked to help on the Bric-a-Brac stall and we had plenty of customers. The various stalls occupied both the church and the church hall, there was a Father Christmas as well as seasonal mince pies and mulled wine. Quite a good sum was raised from all our efforts besides it being good fun too.
My first Sunday back and the sun was still shining, so after church we joined our friends for a relaxing meal at the Kozan restaurant up in the mountain above our house. What better place on a lovely day than a restaurant with a view, run by a local family who cook everything by BBQ or in clay ovens.
It is quite a drive up through the village via a very steep and twisty road, but once there the views are beautiful. Down to the Mediterranean on one side and up to the tree covered peaks on the other. A great lunch of kleftiko done in the clay oven or shish from the grill and we all sat out until gone 3pm when the sun started to go behind the mountain and it got a little chilly.
We enjoyed a concert of Baroque Christmas music and readings one night in the church, again followed by mulled wine and mince pies. The British Residents' Society hosted a lunchtime gathering with more mw and mp .
We continued try and test the "Sunday Lunch" at various restaurants with our friends. When catering for just 2 people, buying a decent sized joint is rather an extravegance. The first place we tried at the end of November was LDs and if you remember it was such a good meal it was going to be hard to beat. This month we tried Cousins Brasserie, located a little nearer to home. The meal was equally as good but not such a cozey atmosphere, a little more formal and no brandy at the end, so perhaps we shall only give them 7 out of 10. With the various Christmas activities on us we didn't get to try any more Sunday Lunches in December.
One amusing and very typical incident took place just before Christmas when the Ministry of the Interior, responsible for our residency permits etc, moved to new offices. All well and good but they forgot to let anyone know, including their own staff. People going to conduct business were running around like headless chickens, just like the staff. The local newspaper contacted the Ministry but no official was able to give them the address of the new offices! Only in the TRNC could such chaos reign!
By Mid December we had brought out our Christmas decorations,
so we invited some of our Lapta friends around for an evening of Christmas nibbles and drinks which was jolly successful, some of them were going to be spending the holiday in the UK and some had already gone. I had made them all a little Christmas gift of calendars, each month illustrated with a picture of something they had been involved in during the year, pictures of boat trips we'd done, meals we'd had out, parties in gardens and that kind of thing.
A few days later we repeated the evening with our immediate neighbours. Nice company and it got the Christmas season nicely started.
Most Fridays we continue to join our friends "The Lapta Layabouts" at the Stumble Inn for a nogging or two and catch up on everyone's news. Mind I shall be happier when the weather warms and we can sit out again as it can get very smokey inside.
As Christmas itself approached the socialising intensified. As a few more of our crowd were heading off to UK the Layabouts decided that they needed a Saturday evening dinner together, so we all went to The Saffron, one of our smarter restaurants. This meant a detailed study of the menu:
We all have our favourites there and having chosen we soon got down to doing what we do best - enjoying good food in good company. The following day was to be Barbara Smith's 70th birthday and she had been cooking all day in preparation for us all going for dinner so she wanted an excuse not to cook this evening.
We had a service of Nine Lessons and Carols to go to prior to Barbara's dinner party. This was extremely well done and standing in our little church of St Andrew's that evening singing familiar carols really did seem to generate the right Christmas atmosphere.
Barbara's speciality is her Lamb Kidney Casserole which she served to us to celebrate her 70th birthday. We had all gathered to drink a few toasts and enjoy her wonderful dinner. I must say she doesn't look 70 at all.
Earlier in the month Jeff had gone to watch a Rugby match on a big screen in one of the nearby hotels that has a massive satellite dish. While there he thought one of his fellow viewers looked familiar - from his Army days? The following week, the same face was there again and they made contact with each other. A face from the 70's, Taff and Jeff had worked together in Duisburg '75 -'77 and Taff Rogers was living in the same village as we were. Small world! He and his wife Dot invited us to join their guests for lunch-time drinks as part of their Christmas celebrations and there we met up with another face from those times - Margaret Farr! Sadly her husband had since died but she was now living in N Cyprus with her new partner. She recalled fond memories of when Jeff and I ran the Cubs in Duisburg and how much her son Martin had loved it. We had a lovely afternoon with them and spent most of it outside as the sun was shining beautifully.
On the 22nd the Mayor of Kyrenia invited all the foreign residents to a Christmas party at the Dome Hotel. Plenty to eat and drink accompanied by folk dancers and music and of course the obligatory speech from the mayor, but nevertheless a very nice occasion on a grey day when the waves were crashing over the rocks.
As we were leaving The Dome Hotel a detachment of the Turkish Army were marching down the road to form up for a ceremony at the Ataturk Memorial on the seafront. We watched for a little while but the chilly wind was still blowing strongly so we made our way home.
Christmas itself was to be spent quite differently this year - we were to move into one of the smart hotels - The Merit - with 4 of our friends, to be wined and dined for 3 days.
