Freezing February

Feb 2nd
This month started really cold, so the heating has been installed just intime. We still havn't got a regular gas supply (waiting for a supply of tanks to be delivered to the island) so we are managing with the kind of cylinders you use for a gas bbq. This gives us about 12 hours use, but it is better than not having it at all!

Feb 3rd
What a wet day. It has poured down all day long backed up with a driving wind, really awful weather. The wind was blowing hard up against our front door, which leaks like a sieve! This meant we had a mop and bucket on standby and one of us had to mop up the puddles every 20mins or so. We eventually plan to do away with this door, but until that we hope that the wind doesn't blow in that direction very often.

Jeff went to the Celebrity Hotel late in the afternoon to watch the England play rugby and apparently putting on a stunning performance.

Feb 5th
It was an awful day, torrential rain caused flooding in areas of Nicosia and Famagusta. There has been work going on laying new storm drains but it takes time and there has been little maintenance on the old drains which have silted up. Often when out in the car during these huge downpours, we are very often end up driving through mini lakes. That said, we had to go to Limassol as Jeff had arranged for the Kia garage there to look at a couple of problems we had with the car, particularly the ignition.

Feb 7th
I suggested to the Layabout Ladies that we occasionally have a "girlie" lunch together and today we met at Sirin Yali's. We had a lovely lazy lunch of mezes followed by grilled sea bream and the sun shone on us. Definitely something to be repeated in the future.

Feb 8th
After attending the Ladies Group today I went to Ankara Travel to get them to organise flights for us to go to Egypt next month to meet up with the RAMASES group from Kent. We can only fly into Cairo from Larnaca, so we will be spending a couple of nights each end of the holiday visiting parts of Cairo, then we are planning to travel down to Luxor using the overnight train. Anadan, the lady who works at Ankara Travel has been most helpful in meeting our request.

Feb 12th
More heavy rain today and much more forecast for this week. Not that I mind too much as I am off to UK tomorrow. I am so looking forward to seeing all the boys, but particularly Joe, who I imagine will have changed so much.

Feb 13th
After lunch we set off for Larnaca as I was going back to UK. It was the Half-Term holiday and a good chance to spend some time with the boys. Larnaca airport was a bit chaotic due to refurbishment taking place. Andrew met me at Heathrow and it lashed it down all the way to Chatham - a really filthy night on the M25 but oh so lovely to see Debi again.

Feb 14th
Rain,rain go away, except of course we all really need it in both countries to fill the reservoirs. The boys woke me at 7am by leaping onto my bed and shouting "Gran, Gran, wake up". It was so lovely to see them again and they all have their own little quirks and endearments that I miss so much. Another lovely thing that happened that day was a surprise bunch of flowers that were delivered for me - from my Valentine, Jeff! Impressed, he's not often that organised. Anyway they were gorgeous and a lovely reminder of him. Little Joe is obviously not big enough yet to leap on my bed, so I couldn't wait to see him.


I couldn't believe how much he had grown in 3 months, he is no longer a baby but a little character in the making. Quite a personality. I also met Laura, Debi's live-in au pair. A very competant young lady. I am sure she will cope with them all very well.

Today is also Stella's birthday and I managed to go over and see her and catch up on their news. We do miss Stella and Rod very much - he just needs to retire and then they can come over and stay with us a month at a time.

I also managed to see Veronica who was just out of hospital having had a masectomy. She was in great spirits and it was so encouraging to see her doing so well.

Feb 15th
Pottered around and enjoyed the company of Debi and the boys. In the evening I went to have supper with Mike and Roni and they had Donna and Drew staying with them. Donna was over to get the "all clear" from all the chemo and radiotherapy she had been having over the last year. This was really good news.

Feb 17th
I left Debi's just after 7.30am and caught the train up to London and then went across to Euston where I caught a train up country to Stoke-on-Trent. Jen and Ian were there to meet me and I had a lovely surprise - lunch at my cousin Kath's home. It was great catching up on all their news and sitting in Kath's dining room reminded me that the last time I was there was for Aunty Betty's 80th Birthday party, not long before we left for Cyprus. Later that afternoon, we went to visit Aunty Betty in the Care Home not far from Kath's. It was wonderful to find her looking so much better than how I saw her last October. She had regained some of her old spirit and her speech was a little better, although she was still unable to do very much with her right hand. I was really encouraged by her disposition, who knows what she may be able to do in the future? I had a good journey back to Chatham and was with Debi just after 8pm! We had a lovely evening together.

Feb 18th
An exciting day today as the Lloyd contingent were coming up from Wiltshire and all 6 grandsons were going to be together.
I know Jeff envied me this opportunity. The day was fine albeit a bit cold, but we took them all to the park so they could run and shout together.

Debi was working until mid afternoon, but Andy and I managed to do a Sunday roast for them all. It was great to see them all together, including little Ross who wanted to be included in everything.

Feb 19th
It was back to school today and Debi was keen to see that the "Walking Bus" was operating properly.

She is Chair of the PTA and this is one of the innovations she is very proud of. The children wear bright tabards, sponsored by a local newspaper and little groups are collected from the various housing areas and led along designated walking routes by a couple of adults. The children can join the crocodile as it passes their nearest point. This way, parents don't have to walk every day and the children are safely escorted to school.

Debi put her car in for a service today as she was anxious about it getting me to the airport on Friday! I spent the day sorting out some of our things and seeing how much was going back with me.

Josh went to his karate class during the evening and he was very proud of having been awarded his first belt.




Feb 20th
Debi's car was still at the garage, so Stella kindly loaned me her car as we needed to get things for Josh's birthday party tomorrow. So it was trips to the Sava Centre and Toys r Us.


Feb 21st
There was a very excited boy around the house today. It was hard to believe Josh was already 6. He went off to school with sweets to share with his class mates.

He had a fabulous birthday cake made completely of sweets.


After school it was time for the party.



Debi had hired a room in the Community Centre along with a disco and about 35 - 40 kids danced and ran around for a couple of hours and had a wonderful time. As a result of having all these people at the party Josh received a whole stack of presents, it was like Christmas all over again. It took him 2 days to open them all!

After the party Debi got them all into bed and almost collapsed there herself as she was so exhausted (and full of cold). I had arranged a night out with the girls and Stella came to pick me up. Debi took a rain-check on this one.
To make things easier for Veronica we met at The Manor Farm in Rainham. We, included Mary, Lynda, Angie and Stella and we were all delighted that Veronica had been able to join us. We had a great evening swopping news about each others families to say nothing of a very nice meal. It was nice to know I would be seeing Angie and Lynda in Egypt but we would miss Veronica like mad.

Feb 22nd
Debi still didn't have her car back from the garage. Apart from it having a regular servicin, we later learnt that it had been a victim of the contaminated fuel that had been distributed to some garages in the south of England. Anyway I decided to take the stress out of the airport run by booking a taxi to take me to Heathrow and I checked in to a hotel for the night as it was to be an early start the next day. I had really enjoyed my visit to them all very much, and as usual I was going back with a bulging bag!

Feb 23rd
Uneventful flight back apart from a short delay on take-off. It was great to see Jeff again and once I had "sort-of" unpacked my bags and put the Staffordshire Oatcakes, pates and ham away we went up into Karsiyaka village and had some 'Shish' (skewered meat) for supper. It had been a great trip and I shall miss this little chap like mad.

Feb 24th
The gang were going to a Pantomine tonight, put on by KADS, the Kyrenia Amateur Dramatic Society. Aladdin and the Lamp has never been so funny. They had us in stitches with a clever script and some excellent performances. The cast included a duck called "Quack Quack, who had us all laughing fit too burst. Several characters, the duck included, enticed some good witticisms from the audience. It was really great fun, must be on the list to do every year.

Feb 25th
We received a definite NO from the UK government on direct flights to TRNC because the Greek Cypriot government refused to recognise Ercan as an international airport. That does not surprise us too much. So the TRNC President has ordered a top legal team to challenge the British government's decision. We are not holding our breath on this one.

We have a stand-in chaplin at church while a new incumbent is chosen, the previous one has moved south to take on responsibility for some churches in Paphos. Derek and Val Taylor are both a real breath of fresh air and there has been a new atmosphere created in church which is very welcome.

Jeff had managed to collect my North Cyprus driving license while I was away so I have been spared another trip up to Lefkosa to get it.

I am pleased to say I have come back to some sunny weather too.