A & J's Info from the Island

2009-03-10T09:38:00.004+01:00

I've just seen that the last time I posted any news here was in July 2007. My life began to turn upside down around that time as Jeff was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. After various tests and consultations his prognosis was not good but we hoped for at least a few more years together and so I chose to be silent on this Blog while we dealt with this blow.

We had just a further year together as things turned out, and the diary of that year will make a whole other story, too painful to write for the moment. Jeff's fight ended in August 2008 and he is buried out here in Cyprus so at least we are still near to one another. I have spent the past 6 months trying to come to terms with just being me and not "us". It is hard. However, last month I went away on holiday to India and Nepal with a group of ex-pats from here and since returning I have decided that it would be a good point to pick up the threads again.

2007-07-04T20:56:00.000+01:00

Our 40th Anniversary
Sunday 25th March 2007

We started the day extremely early (4.14am!) thanks to our alarm clocks. The reason - we were to be picked up by minibus and taken to the river where we would board a boat. Why? We were crossing the river to the west bank where we were to go up in a hot air balloon. Yes, I had finally persuaded Jeff to have a go. Angie came with us to make sure Jeff wouldn't have a change of heart and Captain Bob was our pilot. Unlike my previous flights when only 8 or 10 of us flew there was a real crowd of us going aloft and Bob had now got a huge balloon and basket that would carry 32!

I think the easiest way to show you what a wonderful time we had is to just show you a series of photographs..............

1. Crossing the river in the early morning.

2. Well, we now have Jeff in the basket!

3. Infact, all 3 of us were there.

4. Bob, an old friend, was our pilot for the trip - but I don't think Jeff and I were the attraction for him.....

5. We were soon flying over the mortuary temple of

Seti I.

6. And peering into the local houses.

7. Bob decides its time to get Angie into his section of the basket in order to learn to fly ..... of course!

8. All too soon it is time to land. We had actually been airborne for almost an hour and when Bob landed the balloon on this narrow track between the sugar cane fields there was hardly a shudder to indicate we were back on terra firma.

9. Of course, a true captain gets his reward!

10. Now it was actions stations for the ground crew to deflate the balloon.

11. Can you believe they get it all into this bag?

12. We were delighted to have enjoyed another successful trip....... and Jeff admitted he'd enjoyed it too.

13. We travelled back across the river, this time sailing past the Winter Palace (which we would visit later in the day) and the cruise boats, to be landed at the jetty for our hotel.

14. Then time to continue the celebrations of our special day with a Bucks Fizz in our room before going for breakfast.

What a great start to a memorable day.

After a lazy breakfast we boarded a caleche and went to Karnak Temple. We explored the Open Air Museum, a place where there are little gems of reliefs and small temples on display. We particularly enjoy looking at Hatshepsut's Red Temple.

Then on to Jeff's favourite place. the hypostyle hall, where one can literally loose oneself in the enormity of it all.

Once we had seen all that we wished we made our way back to our hotel for lunch and a brief chill-out moment before joining Veronica and co. We climbed on board a caleche and headed for The Winter Palace and 'Afternoon Tea'.

Before going out that evening Jeff and I went to collect a beautiful ruby and diamond ring that he had bought for me to mark our anniversary. It is really lovely and will bring back many of these happy memories each time I look at it.

Later we joined the others as we had decided to try and have a meal over on the West Bank. Our minibus driver we had befriended earlier in the week took us over, it was a bit fraught finding the hotel we had in mind but once there, shall we say the menu and the drinks were a bit limited for such an auspicious evening! So back into the minibus and onto the familiar territory of the east bank where we had a meal at Jems, the restaurant that is part of Cap'n Bob's family business.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next morning the RAMASES group joined the convoy out of town again, this time heading for Abydos, another Seti I temple located north of Luxor. This temple has some of the most beautiful reliefs.

As much as we have always enjoyed visiting Abydos it was made even more enjoyable when John Dewey and Jocelyn Gohary, our Egyptologists, took us across the desert behind the temple to a little visited gem of Ramses II. A wonderful temple which gave a home to some wonderful and unusual scenes both inside and outside its walls.

A watchful eye was kept on us during our explorations.

There were many interesting scenes of rural Egyptian life as we made our journey back to Luxor. The use of the little trains to move the sugar cane through the fields gave things a 'Noddy-like' quality.

As if we hadn't enjoyed enough treats on this holiday but the next day we were to have a special opportunity of visiting the tomb of Nefetari, a most exquisite tomb, currently closed to the general public in order to conserve its contents. However, Lynda, on behalf of RAMASES, had applied for us to visit this tomb over a year previously and on payment of sufficient funds per person we had a special permit to do so albeit for only 15 minutes. Even though I had visited this tomb some years previously it is still breathtaking when you see the most beautiful scenes depicted inside.
It was also a good opportunity for a group photograph outside the tomb.

The next stop was the mortuary temple of Seti I that we had previously flown over in the balloon. We were pleased to see all the improvements that were being made to this little visited site.

Then we were left to our own devices, so a lunch stop was the unanimous decision of our group and we headed for the small hotel we had tried the previous evening. They had no difficulty coping with our lunchtime requests and we enjoyed a really great meal in simple surroundings.

A couple of us had a guided tour around the hotel which overlooks Medinet Habu. Clean, simple accommodation which we thought worthy of a try on a future visit to Luxor at £10 per person per night for bed and breakfast.

This picture speaks volumes about how well
Veronica was doing after her ordeal!!!!

After lunch we had one final visit to make before saying goodbye to the West Bank. A visit to Ay's tomb in the Western Valley. The location of the tomb was in an area that looked like a mini Grand Canyon.

The tomb was located deep in the rock and had some interesting features - a very satisfying conclusion to this West Bank visit.

Wednesday 28 March was the final day of the RAMASES tour but as they were not to leave for the airport until late afternoon there was time for a last look at a few favourite places such as Karnak - here are a few farewell shots........

Bottoms up seems to be the theme!

I think you should click on this one in order to see why it amused us so much.

Au revoir... Luxor.

As our friends returned to Kent, Jeff and I headed for the railway station and caught the train down to Aswan where we were to spend a few days before taking a 4-day cruise on Lake Nasser.

2007-05-15T08:39:00.000+01:00

The RAMASES Study Tour

The first night we had a meal together at a favourite place called The King's Head, but this was not dedicated to an English king but a great take-off using the enigmatic pharaoh, Akenaten. We had a lovely evening and a great opportunity to catch up on our news and get to know Bernard, Lynda's brother who lives in Mykonos. Sadly, Angie didn't join us as she was feeling out of sorts and the journey had knocked her for six!

The first day of the RAMASES itinerary was one of acclimatisation. We wandered into town and saw all the improvements they were making around town particularly in the area of Luxor Temple and the Bazaar.

They are making wonderful progress excavating the Avenue of Sphinxes between the Temple and Karnak. I feel sure it will look most impressive once it is completed.

It was lovely to be with our old friends again and most evening we spent in the company of Angie, Veronica, Lynda and Bernard. Some of the others joined us from time to time and we had some brilliant times together.

One thing for certain was that we had very many enjoyable hours with them all.

The following day we drove to El-Toud, a village located 20 kilometers south of Luxor. In the centre of the village are the remains of a temple dedicated to the god Montu.
These were excavated in 1934 by a French archeological team. In 1936 the French Egyptologist Dr. Bison De La Roque found 4 boxes of copper with the cartouch of the pharaoh Ahmenhotep of the 12th Dynasty. Tuthmosis III established part of the temple and the god Montu in his sacred barque is shown in a nice relief.

There were many broken stones carefully arranged by today's archeologists which showed some typical scenes of fine quality and there were some unusual carvings which intriqued me, as I had not seen their like in Egypt before.

This reminds me of sculptures I've seen in South America.

On leaving the site we were able to get some super pictures of life in an Egyptian village.

All mod coms - well, maybe! This guy looks content with his lot.

The following day was to be a rest day on the itinerary and it fortunately coincided with our 40th Wedding Anniversary.

2007-05-11T21:28:00.000+01:00

Our trip to Egypt.
We left Larnaca at 18.30 for the short flight to Cairo. 50 minutes later we were on the ground dealing with visas and luggage and looking for our Ground Agent. We were eventually taken to our overnight hotel in the Giza area, located very near to the Pyramids. That sounds good but we were very disappointed. It was located on a very busy street that was used by traffic all through the night, horns and brakes disturbing our sleep. The hotel, The Delta Pyramids, was rather tired and offered nowhere to relax and have a drink. We walked outside for a while but it was a very poor area and not a place for wandering.

The next morning we met our guide, Ahmed and headed out to Memphis and Saqqara. All places that Jeff had not been to before.

We stopped for lunch at a tourist restaurant where we had a very nice meal served with some wonderful bread - hence posing for this photograph.

Afterwards we headed for the Giza Plateau and the pyramids.
Jeff and I were both impressed by all the work that had been done to tidy up the area but our objective was the Boat Museum as Jeff had not seen this before.
He was suitably impressed by the boat that had been buried in the ground at the foot of the great pyramid at the time of Cheop's death over 4,500 years ago and has now been rebuilt and is on display in a special museum.

We paid an expected visit to a perfumery where I bought some essence and a couple of bottles then it was a ride through Cairo to the station for our overnight train to Luxor. Everything went find, we easily found our carriage and seats, got ourselves comfortable and had a couple of G&Ts we had prepared earlier in a water bottle, a snack and then it was not long before the train was on the way and we had reclined our seats and had nodded off for a few hours.

We arrived in Luxor at approximately 7am, this was rather early to check-in to our hotel, The Sonnesta St George, but the staff were not phased about that but they did stuggle to find our booking. I had booked our accommodation over the Internet and the poor girl could only find a reservations for Lloyd A and there was nothing for Anne Lloyd. She searched and searched, asked us to wait a while and eventually called her line manager. They finally decided that they would continue to hold the room they had for Lloyd A (just in case they turned up later) and they would allocate Anne Lloyd another room. However, they were almost fully booked and the only room they could offer us would be a Junior Suite - and there would be no additional charge - so they hoped we would accept .......... yes please. We had a cracking room with Nile views, street balcony and sitting room area. As we were to stay for a week it was a great result.

We unpacked and had a wander down into Luxor. On the way there, even after all these years of visiting Egypt, I managed to get taken advantage of by a "chancer". We had a snack lunch and then visited The Sunshine Home orphanage where I sponsor a little girl, Selwa.

Seeing the children and how they are progressing was so rewarding. We had brought a doll for Selwa which we thought was rather tacky as it had flashing earrings which were activated by squeezing its hand. Anyway it was a great success with all the children. These children have literally been thrown out onto the streets, some at a matter of only days old mainly for reasons of illegitemacy. They have a rather bleak future in terms of acceptance into the community.

We went back to the hotel for a nap prior to awaiting the arrival of our RAMASES friends from Kent who were to stay in the hotel next door, the Nile Palace. We watched for their coach arriving from the airport and dashed downstairs and into their lobby to say hello. It was quite an emotional time as all these lovely friends arrived, but I could not contain my excitement when who walked through the door but Veronica Brill. There was no way she was coming to Egypt because she had just had a mastectomy but a last minute cancellation had given Veronica the opportunity to ask her doctor if she could come on this trip. I couldn't contain my excitement when I saw her - this was going to be a great week.

2007-04-13T21:51:00.000+01:00

At the beginning of March the "ladies" associated with St Andrew's Church

took part in the Womens World Day of Prayer. The "ladies" from the church in Famagusta joined us along with some of our menfolk and we experienced a very special service that had been devised by women in Paraguay. The theme was uniting "Under God's Tent". A bring and share afternoon tea was included making it a memorable occasion.

On March 3rd the "Layabouts" decided to try a relatively new Chinese restaurant that had opened in Kyrenia called Chopsticks.

A total of sixteen of us took over the upstairs gallery eating area of this not very big place. The food was very good. Definitely worth another visit.

The following day there was a horrible crash on the road coming down to Kyrenia from Five Finger mountain. A lorry carrying rebar lost its brakes and scrunched a stretched Mercedes taxi and its seven passengers into a truck full of sand. All seven from the taxi were killed, this included the five-year old son of the taxi driver. The driver of the truck whose brakes failed ran away from the scene but was apprehended later. Now questions are being asked about heavy goods vehicle safety checks and the fact there is no weighbridge here to check loads.

11th March - Joan's birthday.
Unusually there had been a warning in the paper that we would have a power cut between 6am and 2pm. It actually lasted until 4pm but at least it didn't spoil a really lovely afternoon at Frank and Joan's house to help Joan celebrate her Birthday.
We were all well fed and watered of course. Fourteen of us had gathered for a lunch in the sun.

It was another very enjoyable day, one of many that helps us to have such a great life over here.

The following week turned out to be quite wet, we had some much needed rain. On Thursday I went to the inaugural meeting of the Gardening Forum over in Ozankoy. A great idea whereby we can swop questions, information and experiences and enjoy talks and garden visits. On this occasion a lady from the south of the island, Patricia Jordan, who has enjoyed some success as an authoress, came and gave an illustrated talk on gardening here that was most interesting. However on the way home there was such a hailstorm which turned everything white in no time at all. The hailstones were very large and bounced off the roads quite spectacularly.

On the following evening Jeff and I returned to Karaman, the little village half way up the mountain, where we enjoyed a great evening of live jazz in a small restaurant there. There was a terrific atmosphere and the trio was extremely talented. An excellent evening that I cannot wait for them to repeat.

There was an awful incident in a local bar, The Turks Head, Alsancak. A young lady who had been sitting at the bar, suffered really serious injuries when part of the finale to an Elvis impersonator's act went spectacularly wrong. Alcohol was poured onto the bar and lit, however, this time it ignited the girl's hair and then her face and clothes were covered in burning alcohol. She lost one layer of skin from her face and two from her arm. She has a long period of recovery ahead requiring some expensive treatment, whilst the bar is denying any responsibilty and has no insurance to cover to cover such eventualities.

Monday 19th March saw us packing for our trip to Egypt.

2007-04-13T21:31:00.000+01:00

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.

2007-04-13T21:08:00.000+01:00

What did we do in January?

We started the New Year by having lunch time drinks and nibbles at Sandy and John's. The sun shone as we mingled in their garden with a lot of new people as well as the Layabouts. It was a really lovely occasion and as it was also Pat's birthday our gang decided to have dinner together at Hachi Ali's restaurant to help Pat celebrate.

The following day there was a gunfight, not at the OK Coral, but in one of the Casinos in Lapta which has resulted in closure of two of the Casinos and a lot of deportations back to Turkey. Seemingly it was all to do with known mainland mafia members getting greedy but you have to wonder how come they had been awarded casino operating licences here! Say no more!

It was back to normal after the long Bayram holiday. It had become quite cold during these early days of January so it was evenings spent snuggled in front of the gas heater. There was an 18 hour power cut one day which was not a lot of fun, particularly as it had poured with rain. Unusually they had pre-warned us of this one! Jeff is beginning to think seriously of having the central heating radiators and boiler installed.

At the weekend we went up the mountain with my SSAFA colleague Sue, to the little community of Karmi where they were holding a concert of Baroque Music in the old village church. There was a virtuoso oboist from the Paris Conservatoire, a Bulgarian cellist and a very talented Polish young lady playing the cymbalum. Being the post Christmas season, the atmosphere in the church, lit by candles which made the icons glow, was quite magical. It was a most enjoyable and so different an evening for us.

There was a big article in Cyprus Today about the Xmas power cuts and the fact that the cause seemed to be the failure of the overhead power lines which are in urgent need of replacement. The new power lines should have been in place by June 2006 but due to disagreements, to be settled in court, about the location of the new pylons, this has delayed the improvements. One day the infrastructure might catch up.

There was high praise in the paper for Ankara Travel, an Agency in Kyrenia. They had worked long and hard to keep their passengers informed about the delays and cancellations the fog in UK was causing and they managed to get many customers off to UK in time for Xmas. We have previously used them and have been very impressed by the service they offer.

After church we decided to visit Sirin Yali restaurant down by the sea. It was pleasant watching the waves.

Jan 9
Jeff and I went out for a drive through Kyrenia towards Lefkosa (Nicosia). On the way we witnessed the first of the new power generating units being transferred to the Teknecik plant from Famagusta Docks to Alagadi (via Kyrenia) on a 128 wheel low loader. There was some chaos on the roads as this thing travelled very slowly and had to be proceeded by a team of Teknecik workers who went ahead lifting the electricity cables that ran across the roads in order that this huge unit could pass underneath. There are three more of these units to come from Sweden and hopefully the power problems on this part of the island will be a thing of the past.

Jan 11
I went to my usual Ladies Group to discover that we had been tasked with making 2,000 palm crosses for the Exeter Diocese which St Andrew's has an association with. We all fumbled and struggled with the first couple we made but then we soon got the hang of it and soon put quite a number together. Prior to this I hadn't given a lot of thought as to where the palm crosses came from when I had received one on Palm Sunday in the past - now I know. People like me, living in countries where there is an abundance of palm trees, make them!

Jan 12
Jeff and I had a ride across the border today and did a little shopping. Later, as some more of the Layabouts (George and Susan) had returned from their UK trip, there was a good gathering of The Layabouts at The Stumble Inn. However, Pat & Bryan were missing with bad colds.

The weather had turned extremely cold again and the temperatures indoors can be lower than outside. This is because the houses are designed to keep out the summer heat, so a little bit of winter sun doesn't really penetrate. The forecast for the coming week promised midday temperatures of up to 17 degrees, but down to 1 degree at night! Jeff went to visit a local plumber to discuss installing a central heating system! We had the pipes laid when the bungalow was being built so half the job was already done.

Jan 13
There has been a major set back to the request for the direct flights. It appears that in a House of Lords debate, Lord Triesman, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the FCO, told the house that there were legal obstacles to the CTA bid for direct flights, which could only be resolved if the Greek Cypriot government recognised Ercan as an international airport. Now we can all see that happening, can't we.

Jan 14 was a superb day, the temperature went up to 21 degrees during the early afternoon and it was a chance to do some work in the garden.

It was George's birthday and Susan prepared a super dinner for us all. We had a very enjoyable evening together but when it came to leaving we had a problem with the car in that it didn't want to start. We had to abandon it at George's and get him to run us home! Sod's law - wouldn't you know it started at the first turn of the key the next morning!!

At least it meant we could get little Kedi to the vet for her worming tablet!

Jan 16
Interesting news in the paper this weekend in that reports say that Germany has started working on the lifting some of the trade isolation on North Cyprus in its capacity of leaders of the European Union.

Jan 17
Well its Sunday so what better time could there be for Mr Gargari to bring his heavy machinery down onto the field opposite us and start some digging!

He dug a great hole in the area where a road is to be located and started burying the concrete foundations he had dug up before Christmas.

Now we look out on a landscape of soil mini mountains - will it ever look less like a tip again?

Jan 18
We had another session at the Ladies Group making the palm crosses and managed to achieve our quota of 2,000. Afterwards I visited a couple of fabric shops to look for some lining material for some curtains. One shop provided me with a sample which was what I was looking for and promised to get the right quantity the following day.

Jan 20
Jeff came with me to collect the material and ended up getting measured up for a new blazer!
We went to Sevener's restaurant for dinner. This a typical taverna type place located in Alsancak. It was nice and warm and served a good meal.

Jan 21
Yesterday it absolutely poured down all day long but today dawned bright and clear and we could clearly see the coastline and snow lying on the top of the Taurus mountains of Turkey, just 40 miles away.

Continuing our quest for a nice Sunday Roast, a crowd of us went to a small restaurant in Kyrenia "old town" known as Sele. They produced a really good dinner, pate to start with then a roast beef with all the trimmings. There was a nice atmosphere and everyone agreed it was very good.

There are great fears of a summer water crisis in North Cyprus unless we get lots of rain between now and the end of March. We currently have only one third of the capacity of the reservoirs. Usually the heaviest rainfall is between January and March but so far we have had very little. But this is a familiar story to those of you living in the south of England.

Jan 23

We had several nice days now and awoke to another lovely day and on going onto the front terrace saw this unusual sight in the sky. A gyroscope!

I watched it flying over the village for a while and then it turned and came right over the house.

He flew around for a while and then headed off back up the coast towards Kyrenia. We haven't seen him since!

We went to Lefkosa later to go through the procedure of getting our North Cyprus driving licences. Once we found the office it was a case of completing forms that were all in Turkish. Fortunately, a very kind Cypriot lady came to our rescue and helped us to sort it out. We've to go back in 3 weeks to collect our licences.

Jan 24
Jeff's new blazer was ready for collection today and I must say they had made a very nice jacket, lovely material and made-to-measure. Cost - about £100.

Jan 26
All the radiators have now been installed and we are just waiting for the large gas tank to be delivered and fitted. Meanwhile we are managing by using the small bbq cylinders. They last for a day, so we are frequently getting them replaced but it is just for the short term.

Jan 27
Jeff and I are members of the British Residents Society and they have an annual lunch for new members every year. We went with the usual crowd to The Pia Bella hotel in Kyrenia for a very good buffet lunch. One of the items they announced was a new deal for a form of medical insurance for ex-pats. This was obviously of interest to us.

During the last 12 months a brand new private hospital facility has opened in Nicosia, Cyprus Life Hospital. Apart from a round-the-clock Accident and Emergency department they are equipped with 2 operating theatres, radiology departments, laboratories, 20 well equipped patient bedrooms and specialist doctors running extensive outpatients unit. They have set up a financial agreement with BRS members offering discounts on their usual charges. As it will probably be 2008 at best before we ex-pats are included in the proposed National Health type scheme here, this gives us food for thought.

After George's birthday party Susan discovered she had an excess of cheeses so they decided to have The Layabouts round for a cheese and wine party. Any old excuse suits us! We enjoyed another great evening at their house.

Jan 28
We have had some very warm weather for the time of the year
- not bad for the end of January is it.

We had noticed some patches of damp on one of our bedroom ceilings and decided that our roof terrace was not water-tight. While the weather was so good Jeff decided to get some sealant and see whether we could improve the situation. We could cover most areas using a squeezey mop but there were parts where we had to get down on our knees and didn't we know we'd done it later that day. We were hobbling around like a couple of old crocks!

It became very cold at the end of the month so despite the sun shining I was glad we had decided to go ahead with the central heating. The house is snug, we have constant hot water without resorting to the immersion heater and we don't have to think about it - it comes on and off just as we were used to in the UK. Jeff says we've worked hard all our lives, now is the time for some comfort. It's great!

2007-02-13T09:05:00.000+01:00

HOW DOES OUR GARDEN GROW

I thought it might be interesting to show you how some of the plants in our garden were shaping up before some of the heavy storms hit us.

This plant is simply amazing. It one of the Datura family and sometimes has 3 trumpets, one inside each other as in the picture on the right and on other blooms I have seen the centre trumpet look like a corkscrew inside the flower. I think you'll agree with me its a fascinating plant and we are lucky enough to have 2 of them.

This Pointsetta is about 3 foot high and given time (like a few years) it should grow into small tree!

Of course it was important that I have a Papyrus plant too.

The tomato plant was grown accidentally, the pips from a tomato must have been in some waste water I put onto my plant container when I was watering one time and low and behold we have enjoyed a really good crop of tomatoes from it.

This was our first Mandarin orange - hope we get lots more as it was lovely.

There are some really unusual looking plants that I just wonder what they will turn out like!

We are now looking forward to the spring to see it all coming alive again. I have already noticed the fruit trees begining to bud and some of the neighbouring almond trees are already in blossom.

2007-02-12T23:46:00.000+01:00

THE END OF 2006

Between Christmas and New Year we had endured some very cold, wet and windy weather. It was all we could do to keep the lounge warm when the winds were strong. We began to think that perhaps we should install a central heating system, but then I began to think I was going soft - we had hardly experienced winter at all! We continued to huddle around the gas heater and borrowed a second one from our absent next-door neighbours.

Another new experience we had was the hunting prowess of Kedi. We had been the recipients of several little geckos (lizards) which she would bring in, chop off their tails and then chase them under the carpets, tormenting them until they died of exhaustion! But now she had moved on to bigger stakes. Just before New Year's Eve she dragged in a shrew she'd caught. This was a bit too big for my liking and I made Jeff take it out while I kept Kedi occupied. His instructions were to throw it as far as he could across the field!

Another event that amuses us is our local shepherd's daily trips up and down our lane as he moved his flock to fresh fields of grass.It is such a shame that our little boys wont be able to see this when they come in the summer, but the grass will have all shrivelled up by then.

Our friends Frank and Joan were now back from their UK trip and had invited a few of us to spend New Year's Eve at their house, with the stipulation that we should bring food, drink and a game that did not involve cards!

So New Year's eve saw 8 of us join Frank and Joan at their villa. The games were great fun.

We started with a whole pyramid of champagne glasses

and the object was to remove the glasses one by one without toppling the pyramid. Jeff was the ultimate loser at this one, lucky that the glasses were all plastic.

Sandy had also brought along her game of Tumble which involves adding and removing blocks of wood without collapsing the tower of wood blocks.
As you can see in the pic it needs a steady hand towards the end.

Pat & Bryan had brought along a great game of racing turtles.

We had three heats, followed by the finale. Joan won overall and was rewarded with a bottle of wine, not really such a surprise knowing the Layabouts.

At midnight we went outside to watch for the fireworks and raise our glasses and sing Auld Lang Syne of course, we had a few more drinks and then got out came the loo rolls to play the Mummy game. Sandy and Barbara complained that the loo paper quality was too good as it kept separating, but some of us can wrap a better parcel than others. Jeff and I were declared to be the winners, could it be that I've had previous experience?

A good evening was enjoyed by us all and nice to bring in 2007 with friends.

The following day Sandy and John had invited us to their New Year lunch time drinks. The sun shone as we mingled with a lot of new people as well as old friends.

Not a bad conclusion to our first 6 months in our new life - I think we are going to be alright.................

2007-02-12T17:42:00.000+01:00

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES

We all moved into the Merit Crystal Cove Hotel (to give it its full title) on Christmas Eve afternoon, that is Barbara and Michael, Pat and Brian and Jeff and me. We had left extra food to keep Kedi going until morning so with a clear conscience we checked in. We were given a lovely large bedroom, warm and comfortable, sea views

and a real novelty for us - a telly, as we don't have one. The deal we had signed up to was for Full Board from Christmas Eve afternoon until after lunch on Boxing Day to include Christmas Day traditional lunch, a Christmas Day Dinner Dance and all local drinks throughout, costing - wait for it - £80 per person. We couldn't lose.

Once we'd unpacked and joined our friends in the lounge area we did a recce of the public areas and very nice they were too. That evening we enjoyed a very nice Buffet dinner - all the food you could wish for, both hot and cold presented so well. There was a duo to entertain us and a free bar that went on long after we had given up.

We awoke to a cloudy Christmas morning but nevertheless we were looking out over the Mediterranean sea. We had a scrumtious breakfast from so many choices of food you couldn't be disappointed. We did a quick dash home to give Kedi her breakfast and open some of the Christmas presents we had been sent from UK, lovely surprises. We had a great thermometer from Debi that as well as giving the temperature it had suitable comments alongside like "Nice Day", "Time for a beer", "Too hot to work" etc. Sharon must have sensed that it might get a bit chilly as I had a wonderful cosey wrap from them and our friends the Smiths sent a great outdoor garden clock.

Jeff and I then went on to church

and as we came out the sun shone and stayed with us throughout the day.

View from church over Kyrenia Harbour

on Christmas morning.

Back to the Merit for our Christmas lunch. They provided a traditional Christmas lunch plus all the trimmings (the only thing it lacked was crackers) and there were a multitude of Mezes and salads to choose from. Well, the only thing to do in the spirit of entente cordial was to have some of each.

After such a feast it was time for a walk to shake it down and while we were out we discovered the hotel had their generators running. We later learnt there had been a power cut from 12 noon Christmas Day until 7pm, difficult for anyone trying to cook dinner at home but that is par for the course in NC.
Our walk was followed by 40 winks and a bit of TV. I even managed to catch the Queen's Speech.

Then it was time for some titivation as we preened ready for the evening's Christmas Ball.
We met up in the lounge and checked out the rest of the frocks and outfits.
Everyone had certainly made an effort,

some in their own special way.

We enjoyed a lovely champagne reception followed by a silver service 5-course dinner with musical entertainment, cabaret and dancing. A great evening by any standard.

Boxing Day morning dawned with storms on the horizon. We went home and topped up Kedi's food and made sure all was well, then back to the Merit for a leisurely buffet breakfast. Before the weather broke we went for a short walk but it was not long before the wind whipped up and the rain lashed down. We enjoyed another superb lunch and dawdled over coffee and brandy before packing and making our way back to Karsiyaka and our gas heaters.

The general consensus was that it had been an excellent Christmas and one to be repeated in the future.

2007-01-15T17:27:00.000+01:00

It is a fact that the longer you put off doing something, the more difficult it is to start again. That we had an extremely busy December is part of my excuse for the delay in updating the diary and now that it is actually very cold, makes me want to stay infront of the fire.

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.

2006-12-30T23:04:00.000+01:00

My last report was some time ago. It ended with Ian, Sharon and the boys returning to UK at the very beginning of November. So what has happened since then.
We continued to go to the Wednesday night quizzes at the Chiswick, not very successfully but a friendly evening out.

The British Residents Society (BRS) organised a day out to the Karpaz for the 7th Nov. The weather was cooler but fine and two coach loads of members set off from Kyrenia just after 9am. The first stop was at Bogaz, just north of Famagusta, for coffee. However, no sooner had we got back on the coach then we stopped again, this time at Kumyali, 15 mins further on. This was to be the furthest point of our journey. While it was a very pleasant little harbour the majority of us had anticipated going further along the peninsular. Ah, well, the lunch was very nice but the after-lunch speaker was fraught with problems. The PA system wasn't working very well, his laptop wouldn't talk to a screen to show his slides and what's more - he couldn't give a presentation to save his life. We went for a walk. Bit disappointing as regards seeing the Karpaz but enjoyable with friends nevertheless.

The following weekend was Rememberance Sunday and the BRS had arrange for members to go to Waynes Keep - a UN Post along the Green Line that protected an old UK Military Cemetary. We had to get ourselves across the Green Line at the Ledra Palace where we boarded a coach that took us there. It was a beautiful clear day - unlike that at Whitehall, but the service and ceremony were similar.

We had representatives from the various countries with an Embassy or Consulate in the south laying wreaths. It was a very dignified service albeit we were watched by Turkish troops monitoring from the north. Afterwards we were bused back to the Ledra Palace (a UN post) and enjoyed the traditional military hospitality of a Curry Lunch and accompanying drinks. It was a journey down memory lane to be back in the Mess again. Definitely an event to put on the calendar for next year.

The next week was full of social events, George and Susan celebrated their wedding anniversary, we went with the "girls" to the Chiswick for their last Quiz Night before they returned to UK. All the resident neighbours got together for an evening at the new Haci Ali Hotel and had a very nice meal but while this was going on I needed to address was a letter that had been forwarded from the Breast Screening Unit in Chatham.

I had been for a screening in September when I was doing Music on Fire etc. This letter was a request that I make a further appointment as a result of that scan. It had arrived while the family were staying with us and it had got put on one side, but now I had time to think about it I thought I should contact the clinic. Perhaps I could delay an appointment until my next UK visit. I spoke to a nurse on the telephone who said she would speak to the doctor who'd requested I attend for another consultation and get back to me. Well the upshot was that the doctor preferred that I didn't wait if I could afford to get back to UK in the following couple of weeks, so a few phone calls later had me on a flight and an appointment at the clinic. Yes, it was an anxious time; lovely to have an unexpected chance to see the family, but what might they find at the hospital.....? So on the Saturday I went up the mountain to Edremit to do a bit of Christmas shopping at a store that has some lovely traditional Cypriot items. Sunday I joined our usual gang for "Sunday Lunch" at LDs (which was excellent), great food and a jug of coffee and a bottle of brandy on the table at the end of our meal to help ourselves to.

On Monday morning we were up early to catch the 10am flight from Ercan to Heathrow. We stopped enroute in Izmir for about an hour and once at Heathrow there was another hours delay while we waited for the luggage to appear. By 6pm I had arrived at Debi's and it was so lovely to see them all again, particularly little Joe who had grown so much.

While I was in UK Jeff took Kedi to the vets for another jab

and painted the outside of the bungalow. I did a bit of Christmas shopping, visited friends and went to my appointment at the hospital. The clinic staff were brilliant at making one feel at ease and after another mamogram I met the Consultant. She gave me an Ultrascan and soon discovered a cyst. Nothing threatening but she wanted to remove it. Local anesthetic, needle and drain brought everything to a happy conclusion. What a relief! The next priority was to get a flight back to Cyprus which I achieved on the Sunday, which meant that I was around for RAMASES Wine and Wisdom evening.

I went with Rod and Stella and surprised a lot of people with my presence. A good evening and lovely to see so many old friends.

I arrived in Larnaca on Sunday afternoon about 4.30pm. An uneventful trip back over the Green Line got me back in time to go to supper at Barbara and Stewart's that evening. Met some interesting new people and had a nice evening but, boy, was I on my chin strap by about 10.30pm. While I had been away Jeff had booked us in to the Merit Crystal Cove hotel for Christmas with 4 of our friends. So the build up to the festive season begins in ernest.

2006-11-11T15:46:00.000+01:00

Despite the damp weather our social life continues to be lively. A few weeks back Jeff and I were asked to dinner by Patrick and Mary, the couple who live the furthest away from us on our patch. They are lovely people, big hearts when needed, but live a quiet life. They have a little dog called Mitzie, a yappy little terrier and they have shown TLC to a "bondu dog" who has now adopted our patch as his territory. As a consequence whenever strangers arrive he goes into frantic barking mode and chases the cars! He has been named Hobbo, but I have kept him at bay because I eventually want to have a cat. To his credit he is very obedient, and a sharp "go home Hobbo" sends him down the road to Mary's with his tale wagging.

Anyway, back to the dinner invitation. As is the way out here, half an hour before we were summoned to arrive the power went off! So torches out and pre-dinner drinks on their patio were shared with Peter, Mary's brother-in-law Ray (wife couldn't come as not well) and Ray's friend Jim. Patrick and Mary had done Sterling work coping with the power cut and set up a beautiful dinner table indoors and presented us with a most delicious and bountiful Prawn Cocktail starter. We then had a superb Roast Lamb dinner with everything you could wish to accompany it. There was plenty of wine and brandy flowing and very convivial company. Infact it flowed so well that at the end of the evening, when Ray got up to leave .... he just slid under the table! He'd seemed fine up until then, however, the men managed to pour him into Jim's car to Mary's cries of "Mind my pots!" (large urns she has located each side of her front door). We had enjoyed a great evening, enjoyed meeting some new people in Ray and Jim and been well fed in the process. Of course the lights came on as we were leaving!

More rain the following day and Jeff took Steph's relatives back to Larnaca airport for their return journey to UK.

Monday, 16 October

So their visitors gone, Sandy and Steph wanted to take us to meet some friends of theirs, Graham and Steph. They have a house closer into town and while they had been living in Cyprus this summer had been feeding a couple of neighbourhood cats. They were about to go back to UK and were concerned about a kitten that had suddenly appeared around their house. It appeared to have been house trained at some point and had possibly been dumped by someone who no longer wanted it. When we were introduced to "Get Out" (their name for the kitten), we liked her very much. She is definitely a hands-on, people liking cat. So it was down to the pet shop for a cat basket, bit of food etc and back to collect Get Out and bring her home to The Sentry Box. She soon made herself at home and Jeff and I decided to call her "Kedi" rather than Get Out. Kedi is the Turkish word for Cat!

The rest of the week was spent tidying and preparing rooms for Sharon and Ian, Sam and Wills arrival next week. I went to my regular Thursday group at the church where everyone was busy preparing for the Christmas Bazaar in a few weeks time.

I also had my first request to put my SSAFA Caseworker's hat on. "Please visit an ex-service man who is in Girne hospital suffering heart problems, with financial difficulties, on the eve of Bayram (end of Ramadan) which is rather like our Christmas Eve".
I was given quite an elaborate "tale of woe" from his hospital bed. There were many loose ends and enough holes in the story to make a sieve but I was talking to a man in his hospital bed, who had collapsed in the street with heart problems. His wife was having to sleep in an empty bed in the ward because they had been evicted from their hotel. Talk about a baptism by fire! Without going into any more details I was able to help them with a few pounds for food and eventually pay for a modest hospital bill but I still have the feeling that SSAFA (me) has possibly been taken for a ride by this couple. Whatever, it still occupied a fair proportion of my time that weekend.

While I was in Girne on one of my hospital visits I contacted Jim and Michelle who live over in that part of town. Jeff and I went and had coffe at their house and caught up with their news. They were in the middle of having their roof slates replaced because the job hadn't been done properly originally! I was also able to bring a copy of the latest LIONESS (WRAC Magazine) to Michelle along with a letter I had received from a lady in Lordswood, Chatham. This lady had got my address through an article I'd had printed in the mag and she had known Jim and Michelle while she was serving in the WRAC and had lost touch with them.

The Wiltshire Lloyd's Visit

On Monday 23 October, we went to Larnaca to collect Sharon, Ian, Sam and Wills who were to stay with us for 9 days. I had been so worried about the weather during the preceeding week as it had been so wet and cold but the sun had come back and they were to have a wonderful half-term break with us.

There were lots of opportunities for playing in the pool,

on the beach

and generally getting to know our part of the island.

We visited the Sunset Beach Club for lunch and while the boys enjoyed swimming in the pools, we adults rather preferred the sea, which was much warmer! The following day we explored the culinary delights of the Besparnak Restaurant at the top of the mountain pass - the salads that came with the barbarqued meats were sooooo... good.

During this period we had to take our little Kedi to visit the vet to be spayed. The boys were very good and left her alone to recuperate but it meant the bouncy little thing we had laughed at over the previous few days was now very subdued.

On Wednesday, Jeff took them all to Bellapais for a look around the village while I stayed home and caught up with my SSAAFA paperwork. In the evening we took the boys out and had a traditional meal at the Acmenya restaurant in the nearby village of Alsancak.

On Thursday we decided to go to Gazi Magusa (Famagusta) and explore that part of the coast. En route we fell foul of the parade for Turkish Republic Day. Part of the main road from Lefkosa (Nicosia) to Gazi Magusa is taken over to hold the military and political parades. This therefore entailed a very circuitious detour around the outskirts of Lefkosa before we could pick up our route again.

We explored the old city walls of Famagusta and then wandered through the old town towards the cathedral.

They saw the no-mans land of empty hotels that overlook part of the lovely Famagusta beach before we eventually drove to a favourite restaurant near Salamis called Nese.

We had a lovely lunch and finished off the afternoon lazing on the beach and swimming. When we returned to Karsiyaka it was to discover they'd had really heavy rain and thunder during the afternoon.

Our usual routine on a Saturday is to visit Guzelyurt (Morphou) market. So once we were organised we set off and had a great time visiting the dozens of stalls and buying the week's supply of veg for around £5.
After shopping we drove further around the coast to a nice restaurant we'd previously found, located on the beach and under the shadow of an ancient archeological site known as Vouni.

The restaurant is located at the bottom of lovely Morphou bay.

Lunch was simple but good and afterwards Jeff drove us up a winding narrow road to the top of this extremely large hill where the remains of an ancient palace have been excavated along with a temple to Athene. However, much of the excavations merge with the exposed rock and it is rather hard to distinguish very much. Neverthless we enjoyed the many amazing views visible from the top. What a terrific site!

During our journey back the clouds had begun to gather and the sky over Karsiyaka was building up for a serious storm. Not long into the evening and we had the inevitable power cut. Not a problem this time because we had encouraged the boys to have a nap once we got back in order that we could take them out for supper later on.

We went to Shirley Valentines a restaurant which is not too far away from home because not only would we have good food we knew the boys would be comfortable too. Jan and Nasser have been running this restaurant for the past 5 years and typical of her Liverpuddlian nature we were assured of a warm welcome. There was quite an electric storm raging throughout dinner and as the restaurant is beside the sea it made a dramatic backdrop.

We were not long in the restaurant before William spotted an elephant on the wall carrying an "eyeball", which is how the boys referred to the Lucky Charm symbols that are prevelant here.

The idea is that they ward off evil things from entering the home or whatever premises they adorn.

Anyway Jan soon had the elephant and The Eye down from the wall and they passed into William's possesion. A very happy boy went home that night and we all had to remember to put the clocks back an hour just as in UK.

On Sunday we all enjoyed a lazy day.

Just before lunch we moved our swimmers from the pool at home onto the beach at Camelot. We had the beach to ourselves and the sea was quite warm, although the previous nights storm had churned up some debris. After our swim we stayed and had lunch at the restaurant that overlooks the beach. By 2.30pm the clouds had gathered again and it was time to go home. That evening we had yet more storms.

Monday morning was bright and clear.

As the boys would be travelling home on Halloween, we had decorated our living room the night before with paper pumkins, bats and skeletons, so when they got up they had quite a surprise. We got them to dress up and trick and treat our neighbours too.

Later they braved our pool yet again.

The storms had brought a drop in temperature and Daffy Duck, the thermometer in the pool, was only registering 18 degrees centigrade - a bit too cool for Gran and Grandad to take a dip.

Before the boys actually turned blue we took them to visit Girne Castle. It was the first time that Jeff and I had gone inside and we found it most interesting.

The boys thought it great fun exploring around dark corners and into dungeons. There is an excellent Shipwreck Museum that houses the remains of the oldest ship in the world.

It has been established that it sank off the coast of Kyrenia some 2,300 years ago and at that time it had been in service for around 80 years, trading up and down the coast of Anatolia. It had a cargo of stone grain grinders, hundreds of amphorae of wine and large quantities of almonds, which its 5-man crew probably had to exist on along with whatever fish they caught.

Outside we climbed to the top of one of the towers where the views across the two harbours were terrific.

By the time we had left the castle the sky was becoming overcast once more, so we opted to go to Cherinis for lunch, this traditional restaurant overlooks the old harbour, so we could sit, have lunch indoors and still enjoy that lovely view.

As this was the last day of holiday for Sam and Wills we persuaded them to have a nap in the afternoon so that we could take them out for a rather special final meal, with Mum and Dad of course. We went to The Ambience restaurant which also overlooks the sea. The food, as usual, was superb and we had a really lovely evening together.

During Tuesday morning we all pottered about at home, Ian and Sharon packing their things for the flight home later that afternoon. Ian had decided at the beginning of the holiday that he wasn't going to shave, but it only lasted a couple of days before he took himself to a local barber nearby. Here he had the full works: shave with a cut throat razor, ears singeing, face massage and the cologne at the end. He enjoyed it so much that the ritual was repeated every couple of days. Not the singeing though as there was nothing to burn. So just before lunch on Tuesday he went off for his last shave.

While he was doing this, Jeff and I took Sharon and the boys down to Sirin Yali's to watch the sea which was really crashing in. (No-one got their head stuck in the railings this time!

After a quick lunch it was time to load the car and head towards Larnaca airport for their flight home.

It was an uneventful journey until we reached the Salt Flats just outside the airport and there we were lucky enough to see that the Flamingoes had now returned as there was water back in the flats. We made a sad journey home as we reflected on how much we had enjoyed having Ian, Sharon, Sam and Wills with us for a while and wondering when we would be seeing them again.

That evening we went again to Shirley Valentine's. It was to be Jan and Nasser's final night as they were giving up the lease and giving themselves a break from 6-nights a week catering. We had a really good evening - Jan played the good hostess to the very end.

There was a lovely atmosphere and the place was filled to bursting. Infact we had to wait for some guests to leave before she could find a table for us. There was a most terrific storm that night too, the lightning and thunder became very dramatic and the wind got up so much that the plants outside were practically horizontal! As there was such a crush of people extra tables had been squeezed in, which meant it was very easy to get into conversation. We made contact with some really nice people we had not met before.

Jan and Nasser held an auction the following day of all the moveable equipment from the restaurant and pool area, but in the cold light of day everything looked so tired and worn. The only thing I was particularly keen on was a very large ancient pot but I discovered it had a reserve on it of £120 so we left it there!

We didn't stay very long as we had to take Kedi to the vet for an injection. When we got her there the vet decided that her operation wound wasn't healing quickly enough and gave her a staple - which she didn't like.

The following day we returned to Larnaca to collect our friends Renee and Bill who were coming out to their villa for a few more weeks before Christmas. The return journey on this occasion was awful, the storm clouds had gathered once more and the rain poured down making it a really horrible drive back. We managed to make it back in time to go to the Quiz night with the girls but our break from it hadn't improved our brain power - the only thing we won was the prize for the silliest name with a Halloween connection! "Three ghosties and one goolie"!

2006-10-30T08:28:00.000+01:00

October's Events

While I had been away in UK our garden had finally been born. The membranes had been laid, soil and gravel had been spread and the plants were arranged around the garden.

"Bill and Ben", the main workers, had become friends of the family!

When I walked through the gate it was to discover this lovely transformed scene.

Also while I had been away - Steph's parents and sister had arrived for a two week holiday. Prior to collecting them from the airport, Jeff had been to Peter and Avril's house for a farewell drink with Avril's twin sister, Joan and her husband who had been over from Canada for a month. When Jeff arrived back from the airport it was to discover a bit of a commotion taking place around the bungalows. During the time he'd been away, Avril had begun to feel unwell and her husband decided she should be taken to the hospital in Girne. In no time at all they decided to transfer her by ambulance to the main hospital in Lefkosa (Nicosia) and she was in intensive care, having suffered a severe stroke. Sadly, she died at 4am the next morning. Her funeral was held at the British Cemetery, Girne on Wednesday afternoon where we joined a few members of her family who had flown in from UK that morning, along with a goodly number of her local friends. It does concentrate the mind and make one realise how we should "seize the moment".

It was hard to watch Peter over the following days coming to terms with his loss. Four/five weeks on and he is bearing up very well, but I am sure he has some difficult moments.

Although the sun was still shining, the temperature had cooled somewhat. We still continued to swim in our pool each day and enjoy our new garden. Friday we met up with our usual friends for a couple of drinks at The Stumble Inn.

On my first Sunday evening back home we were invited next door to join Sandie and Steph and Steph's family for a lovely Roast Lamb Dinner under the stars. We finished the evening off by playing a new card game to us - UNO. It caused great hilarity as we tried to offload our cards while lumbering someone else! It will be on my shopping list when I next go to UK.

The following day I had a meeting with some of my girl friends to plan what food we were going to take to an Army Benevolent Fund picnic we were going to later in the week. No doubt, like all such occasions we've been to in the past, there will be too much food! As the evening drew in black clouds started to gather - oh, no!

Tuesday night we went for our first visit to a small restaurant called LD's. Frank and Joan, Susan and George plus some of our other friends have used it many times and it turned out to be a great place for an inexpensive mid-week meal out. They laid up a long table outside for us all to sit around, I think there were about 15 of us altogether and we had a great evening.

On Wednesday Peter invited Avril's friends to join him in remembering her life with a celebratory Gin and Tonic. About 20 of us gathered on what she used to refer to as her "Gin and Tonic patio". The occasion was to be videoed for Peter's family and he had written a soliloquy about her life. He found it too difficult to read himself and asked Jeff if he would read it for him. It was a tough task as the sentiments brought a lump to all our throats. We all raised our glasses of G and T and everyone remarked that whenever they think of Avril it will bring happy memories to our minds.

The day finished with our usual Wednesday night visit to the Chiswick for their Quiz Night. Still no great success there!

Thursday 12 October

This was the day of the Army Benevolent Fund Band Concert which was held in the grounds of the British Consulate's Residence. I'd been asked to put a table of 10 together, with hindsight I'm sure I could have filled two tables. I ended up putting names of friends in a hat and getting Barbara and Michael to draw out 10. So I ended up with Frank and Joan, Barbara and Michael, Pat and Brian, Gill and Roger and Jeff and I. We loaded up in 2 cars at 11.30 and set off for Lefkosa. It was a beautiful day and we soon found the Residence. Having parked up and loaded ourselves with our picnics I finally got to meet John Chawner, who I had been liaising with and he directed us to our picnic table.
There was a great crowd of people there and they would have had some difficulty getting many more tables into the garden.

The table was soon groaning with food and we had been asked to try and think of a theme, so we had taken the easy option of a Teddy Bears' Picnic. We had a collection of teddy bears with us and decorated the table with teddy bear paper, however the group next to us had chosen the theme of a Day at the Sea Side, with bucket and spades, saucy postcards, sticks of rock, hankies tied with knots on their heads - a really good effort.
The winning table had the theme of the REME, there couldn't have been any connection with it being the REME Band who were playing. (I'm just a cynic).

As suspected, we had brought far too much food but we did our best and just when we had reached combustion point, the dark clouds that had been gathering over us off-loaded their raindrops onto us. The rain only lasted for about 10 minutes, but sufficient water came down for the band to seek shelter and for us to cover the food and take shelter under the trees for a few minutes. (I thought this only happened to UK events!)

Once the sun returned it was possible to see the steam rising from the audience as the band recommenced their programme!

I met Dick Pearson, the ex Welfare Secretary of the Royal Artillery Benevolent Fund and great friend of George Correa. I had known him in London and he very kindly insisted on introducing me to all the great and the good of the ABF in Cyprus including the High Commissioner himself. I met Geoff Fryatt, the Chairman and Frank Windle, the Secretary and received a great welcome and encouragement to join them at future events.

Despite being full of food we couldn't let the picnic close without bringing out a surprise cake for Roger and Gill - it was their 43rd wedding anniversary, so it was appropriate we should mark the occasion.

A few days after the event I received the following email from John Chawner telling of the days success.

Hello Folks,
Just to thank you all for your support at the recent concert.
£2,500 Cyp was raised including a record £800 Cyp on the raffle, a figure never reached before at an Army Benevolent fund function in Cyprus. How generous. Many thanks.
Hope to see you all again next year at Shakespeare Ave.
Best wishes and many thanks.
John .

The remainder of that week became very wet and miserable and we felt very sorry for Steph's relatives who were trying to enjoy the last few days of their holiday. We saw some terrific cloud formations over our mountain.

On Friday the storm caused sufficient problems for the power to go off at 6.15 pm and it stayed off until early next morning. We got out the candles and the emergency lights and made the best of it while watching a really impressive Electric Storm. It was quite staggering to watch the storm over mainland Turkey, there was absolutely no noise from the thunder and no rain here but constant lightning flashes.

2006-10-30T07:00:00.000+01:00

Weren't we lucky with the weather! Monday morning we awoke to grey skies and as I walked across to the Kaboush I was lucky enough to see a heron diving for fish on one of the lakes. The pods that had protected the Royal Box and the Orchestra were being dismantled - the whole area was beginning to look a little sad.
Breakfast at the Kaboush was eaten under an up and down sort of atmosphere. Relief and sadness mixed together. Half way through the morning I was able to get a lift to the station and was soon up in London - a drizzly miserable day.

I'd hoped to have lunch with my friend Rowena from the Burma Star Association, but she had a lunch appointment - on a Monday for God's sake! Anyway we nattered on the phone for a while and then I found a reasonable place to eat and whiled away some time before I was due to catch a coach from Victoria. An uneventful journey got me into Hanley on time, Frank picked me up and I was soon in the land of "creature comforts" and total relaxation after the past few days. It was so good to see Frank and Maureen and I totally chilled out for a few days there.
However, I needed to see Aunty Betty and with great trepidation the next day I arrived at Bucknall hospital. Yes, it was a shock, and Yes, she has great obstacles to overcome, but Aunty Betty is still with us albeit in a very frail and submissive condition. She cannot move her right arm and leg and control of her mouth is obviously difficult. We had lots of conversations that went nowhere because she couldn't remember the words. We had lots of silly nonsense conversations too, but she did know me and knew we should have been doing something together, however fleetingly. One part of my mind is willing her recovery and the other part is trying to come to terms with her inabilities.
After seeing her I left the hospital and climbed Ash Bank in the autumn sunshine. I thoroughly enjoyed the walk but oh my goodness, once I had the Ash Bank Hotel in my sights all I could think of was a refreshing lager, it had been some walk. So I rang Maureen and we all arranged to meet there before going back to their home.
Great night with them as always.
Jenny arrived the next day and together we explored the delights of Hanley - not much! No desires from either of us to return. After lunch we went and found Aunty Betty again. She had had her hair done and I thought she sounded more coherent. Leaving was very difficult not knowing how soon I would be back or how much she could recall of my visit.
After such a roller coaster of emotions I was very anxious to get back to Kent as a step on the way to getting home. However, little boys soon bring you back down to earth and I had a lovely afternoon with them having a "Take-away" in the Savacentre.

The following day was very much one of total indulgence. I'd booked a Cathioderme Facial and massague for myself with the odd bit of waxing thrown in - oh it was so good. I also visited the Oad Street Craft Centre and bought some wind chimes for our gareden prior to having a most superb lunch. Would have been better if I'd shared it with someone but hey I had a Fish Salad Platter to die for. Mackerel, Prawns, Crab, Smoked Salmon, Fresh Salmon, Salad, Brown Bread, Mayo, Caramelised Onion et al - it was wonderful.

That evening it was 'The girls night out' and we all met up at the Ship and Traders on the Island. The place was very noisey but we had such a great time. It was only a great time because we are such mates because there was such an interchange of news between us all but my God Roni's had the most impact because she had to tell us she had been diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Staggering news, but because of the way she delivered it we were able to react in a positive way. My God she must be so scared, I hope we can help her. She is such a gutsy person but she will still need our help.

Had a wonderful weekend with the Kelseys and managed to catch up with my friend Mary at Goar Farm for Sunday lunch but hey I wanted to go home. Very early on Tuesday morning (5.30am) Andy and I set of for Heathrow for my flight back. I was worried about my excess baggage which actually went through no trouble at all - however the security procedure involved taking off shoes and jewellery before being declared "clean".
It was so good to see Jeff once I had collected all my baggage at Larnaca and within an hour and a half we were home once more.
Now it is time to catch up with life here in NC.

2006-10-19T21:17:00.000+01:00

After much effort I have managed to publish some of the photographs that were taken by Paul Cummings (much superior to mine). I hope they will give you a flavour of what a wonderful evenings entertainment it truly was.

2006-10-19T21:02:00.000+01:00

2006-10-19T20:56:00.000+01:00

2006-10-19T20:47:00.000+01:00

2006-10-08T15:28:00.000+01:00

Two weeks have passed and there has been much activity from the Lloyds both in NC and UK. While waiting for my flight in Larnaca airport, I met up with a colleague from the ABF. Barrie had not enjoyed a successful holiday in NC because the villa he had rented in Ozankoy had been surrounded by ongoing building work, which made relaxing around the pool rather difficult. I had some sympathy for him and his wife but if he had let me check it out before he came over I could have warned him what it was going to be like.

There was some delay while we waited our turn in the stack at Heathrow, but visibility was good so I enjoyed excellent views over the Thames as we came in to land.

I walked to school with the boys next morning, Tom did look grown up in his uniform. Both he and Josh cycle with their friends and little Ross cannot wait to be big enough to join them on a bike. Happily, Joe is thriving now and was approaching 13lbs that week. (Debi: please send pictures for Dad.)
Debi let me use her car that day and I was able to have my hair done and do a bit of shopping in preparation for my trip the next day to Sandhurst.

Meanwhile, back in Karsiyaka, Jeff continued to supervise the garden workers.

The good top soil was distributed
onto the new flower beds.

On Wednesday evening, Jeff went along to the Quiz night at the Chiswick. He joined Rene and Brian, Sandra and Paul which immediately meant they were deducted 5 points as there should only be 4 people in a team! Despite that they managed to win a roll-over prize of 50 YTL each which covered the cost of the evening nicely.

On Thursday I travelled to Sandhurst by train, arriving about 1pm. The lawns infront of the college buildings had the stands ready for the orchestra and choir and the Royal Box was waiting for its VIP occupants.

The Music on Fire office was in the cricket pavillion, known locally as The Kaboush. The 2 girls from Central Office had set up an office in an upstairs room, next-door to the techies who were masterminding the lighting, sound, pyrotechnics etc. Downstairs was where we were fed and watered. I was quickly invited to help with some typing jobs, there was much that had to be done before the Friday show but we struggled against computers that kept crashing and printers that wouldn't print. Barrie was doing his utmost to keep the show going but we really struggled. That first day I worked through until 1am, albeit stopping for some supper served from the hotplates downstairs.

They don’t provide too many creature comforts for the young cadets at Sandhurst. My accommodation was pretty basic to say the least, up on the 3rd floor and my room had just a bed, table, chair, wardrobe and sink. To find the loos took some doing – 50 yds down a corridor through 2 fire doors and the showers were even further on! It wasn’t good to be too desperate to address nature’s call. Then the next surprise was that it was a 15 minute walk from the accommodation to the Kaboush before I could get a hot drink!

Friday morning dawned pretty wet, so it was a case of digging out the brolly and heading over for breakfast when it had eased off a bit. There was a self-service arrangement of hot plates with bacon, sausage, fried and scrambled eggs, plenty of bread and tea and coffee, so we didn’t starve. As soon as I’d eaten around 8.30am it was back to the typing – Philippa and Ruth having been at it since about 5.30am! During the course of the morning one or two people began to arrive from Central Office and it was nice to see old faces again. The rain continued all day until about 4pm when it stopped and the sun came out, but of course the ground was very wet.

We spent the afternoon having various briefings and sorting out our respective tents. I worked in partnership with John Ross, he commanding his troops in the East tent and I in the West. We were responsible for organising the cadets with the sale of programmes and raffle tickets. The raffle prize each evening was a year's supply of hampers (4 - 1 for each season), from Fortnum & Mason. I had the new ABF Director Welfare, Paul Cummings in my team. I had met him before I retired but he didn't take over until the end of May, so it was a nice experience for me to work with him. We got on well. We also had a nice Australian girl in our team, she is currently working as a Temp at the ABF.

Although the gates officially opened at 4pm, people didn't begin to arrive till around 5.30pm. The grass was still very wet but the majority had brought chairs to sit on. We had between 5,000 and 6,000 people there on the first night including the Duke and Duchess of Wessex. The parts of the show I saw were very exciting. The evening followed the theme of War and Peace, using fireworks, music and laser projected scenes onto the college facade, starting with Creation, then came the story of Noah, Romans, Barbarians, the discovery of gunpowder and the Napoleonic war.

After the interval the scenes travelled through the Crimea up to modern times with the dropping of the atomic bomb. The Red Devils Parachute Team did a very spectacular night drop into the arena and then the show took on a macarbre turn illustrating modern warfare, hell and Armageddon. Finally the atmosphere was raised again with the theme of hope and the traditional rendition of Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory.

Back in Karsiyaka Jeff continued to oversee the garden project

and later that evening joined our friends for a beer at the Stumble Inn. On Saturday morning he went to Guzelyurt market to enjoy a trip out on a nice day. There are dozens of stalls selling everything from knickers to knives to nectarines.

This guy thinks he's a fruit tree!

In UK, Saturday was a beautiful day too, clear blue skies and warm sunshine. It was a morning to do the fine tuning as this evening was to be the "biggy". Although there were to be no Royalty attending that night there were to be a lot of celebrities, including such people as Dame Judy Dench, Kate Aide, Honor Blackman and Robert Hardy who had all contributed towards the commentaries that accompanied the scenes projected onto the college facade. In the event around 11,000 people attended on the Saturday night and there was a fantastic atmosphere. They started arriving quite quickly as soon as the gates were opened at 4pm and elaborate picnics appeared all over the lawns. It was obvious that this was a crowd out to enjoy themselves. During the evening Patti Boulaye gave a brilliant rendition of Amazing Grace along with other solos and Mylene Class also contributed to the evening's entertainment.

Sunday was another nice day and I had arranged to take time off over lunch and meet my grandsons. Ian & Sharon drove up from Winterslow and Debi and Andy drove down from Kent. We all met up at an Animal Centre and the boys had an opportunity to run off some energy. We had to keep on eye on Ross however, he was rather too enthusiastic when it came to stroking the animals - the goat nearly lost his beard!

We then found a nice pub in Sandhurst and had lunch together in the garden. It was especially nice as it was Sharon's 40th birthday so I was particularly lucky to be able to share that too.

Meanwhile Jeff took himself out for a meal. He went to a restaurant we have used often, The Silver Grill, but it had been out of action for a while as its previous owner, Ali had decided to sell and retire. We have been waiting for it to re-open and now it has albeit under a new name, My Place. It is now run by a young Scandinavian lady. Jeff's report was that it was very good.

I got back to my duties in the tent in time to organise the evening's programme sellers. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester were among the VIP that night and while I was watching some of the comings and goings I spotted Robert Powell arriving. We were a slick team now and the audience numbers were down to 6,000 again, albeit a jolly crowd. We were all able to see more of the show and take lots of pictures. Paul had managed to take quite a number of pics on Saturday night, he had a very smart camera and tripod and he kindly downloaded some of his photographs onto a CD for me to have. After the show it was big clear-up time and while I was doing this I got a message to say Mike Regan had been hoping to say hello. I went along to the Royal Box and managed to catch up with him and Victoria, who told me they had invited Jeff around to their house for a drink before they came back to UK.
When all the work was done I went back to the Kaboush and joined a small group finishing off a hectic 3 days with a celebratory drink. Sir Evelyn and Lady Ceilia came and joined us but we didn't linger too long as everyone was exhausted - we did drink to Music on Fire 2008 though!

2006-09-17T10:23:00.000+01:00

Torgauh, our overseer of the garden project, was now back from his holiday. Things began to pick up, albeit slowly at first, but workmen began to appear each day.

The frame for the climbing plants was completed but not the gate and a load of good red soil was delivered and distributed around the garden.

I had a surprise phone call from a member of RAMASES. Barbara Graham and Mark were holidaying in Northern Cyprus and she called to see whether we could meet up. We agreed to go to their hotel the following evening.

Next day the gardening guys moved much of the earth that had been extracted from the well and piled against the dividing wall. They spread this over the areas of the garden that are to be gravelled. It now meant that the pipe from the well could be laid and connected to the incoming mains supply and on to the house system. It also meant that we could connect it to next door's water supply too. Mr Divine oversaw this part of the operation and he managed to botch this up also! Jeff had previously measured the distance from the well to the optimum point in the dividing wall where the pipe should go through to supply "the girls" with their water. However, Mr Divine chose his own point where the pipe should go through and of course the length of pipe was too short!!!!! Back up to the shop in Lapta to get another piece of pipe to cope with the change of plan. Eventually all systems were connected, the water flowed freely and everyone was happy.

We went to meet Barbara and Mark at a superbly located holiday complex overlooking Girne called The Onur Holiday Village. The views were staggering (sorry, forgot to take a picture) and the evening breeze delicious. It was lovely to catch up on their news and have a look around somewhere we had not been to before.
Afterwards we went to the Kervan Terrace for a drink as we watched the sun set. We didn't fancy eating there so we moved on to the 5 Mile restaurant, remembering what Joan had told us about how nice the setting was there.

The location was very pretty, on a headland overlooking a bay and a full moon shone over the water. The restaurant area was built on decking, the tables carefully placed around the area so as not to be too close to one's neighbour and here and there were sofas to relax on for either pre-dinner or after dinner drinks. We could have used a torch to help us read the menu under the very dim lights but that aside we had a really delicious meal, made even more pleasurable as we were entertained by a young lady who sang bluesy jazz numbers accompanied by a very good pianist.

Afterwards we headed for the Stumble Inn to meet up with our crowd of mates.

The following week was the big clean up after the summer invasion of visitors. Albeit hard work, it was very satisfying restoring the place to how it suits the two of us. Of course, attacking all the rooms in this really thorough way meant that ...... RED DUDLEY WAS FOUND!!!

On Wednesday, Jeff and I girded our loins and set off for Lefkosa to complete the final part of our Temporary Residency application.
We found the building after a few enquiries and I was appalled at the abysmal state it was in. It was so neglected, scruffy, disheveled and totally inadequate. I have never seen anything more third world than this was and it was a Government establishment. We received excellent service however, but I have now began to realise that anything involving Foreign Nationals takes place on the 3rd floor of whatever building and the lift doesn't usually work! Anyway the formalities didn't take very long and now we are officially here. We have a little pink book and we are legitimate residents until we have to reapply next year.

While we were in Lefkosa we thought we would check up on our "Permission" to buy application. We applied, through our solicitor, in October 2003 as did all our neighbours, they have all received their Permissions but nothing had been granted to us to date. Having found the appropriate office (on the 3rd floor) a very helpful young lady went to find our file. It seems they are still awaiting a report from the military, so can grant no "Permission" yet. We did learn that our solicitor had sat on the application until April 2004 before he submitted it, which hadn't helped at all!

On the way home we went via Horseshoe Bay for lunch. A very simple restaurant in a stunning location. A gentle breeze, blue seas and a warm sun. What more could you ask for. Back home that afternoon we both chilled out. I actually laid on one of our sun loungers and read a magazine.

That evening we went to The Chiswick Quiz Night with Sandie and Steph, had a great time but did very badly in terms of quiz points.

Thursday we took Sandie and Steph down to the Sunset Beach Club to give them a taste of what was on offer there. We had a lovely lunch and but half way through the afternoon, just as we were settling down for a snooze, they decided to play some disco music, so we left.

We still have no shade out back!. Time and again Jeff has tried to contact the metal worker who said he would build a frame for us, to no avail. On Thursday I saw Veli (the pool man) arriving to talk to "the girls" about shade at the back of their house. This was like a red rag to a bull to me after waiting all this time. Jeff was nagged into getting Veli to come and speak to us to about what he could offer and the answer was YES PLEASE, DO IT! WHEN CAN YOU START!! Hopefully work will commence in 10 days.

Our little team of workers in the garden were doing a fine job in this heat but progress was rather slow. Torgauh had told us on Wednesday evening that come Friday his men would come and would not stop! Well he was true to his word, extra men arrived and they worked like demons, digging trenches and sinking tiles to make edgings between the soil and gravelled areas.

Later that morning Jeff and I went to meet two ladies who are the only SSAFA caseworkers in NC. We'd arranged to meet at a small beach cafe on the beach below our house. They were delightful ladies; Jean, who had been coming and going for nearly 30 years but has been a permenant resident for many years now and Sue who had done about 8 years. Their workload is quite extensive and they have a real variety of cases to deal with from Turkish Cypriots who served in the Cyprus Regiment during WW2 to recent dischargees who have come out here on a shoe string and are finding the life difficult to afford.

They welcomed me with open arms based on my past experience, but I felt I had to emphasise that in terms of Northern Cyprus I was very much the greenhorn! Anyway we arranged to meet again once I returned from UK and I would certainly like to get involved with the work here.

After our meeting Jeff and I lingered at the bar and perchance Sandie and Steph arrived, so we had yet another lovely lunch together before leaving them to enjoy the beach and we went home.

Back home, while overseeing what was going on, Jeff noticed a couple of cars showing interest in the land immediately across the road from us. One vehicle contained a young man who Jeff had met before, he had been interested in buying the land. It seems he has now done so and was planning to build a number of bungalows and houses on it. The second car contained prospective buyers - a charming Turkish Cypriot couple who had lived in London since '74 and were now retiring and wanting to come back to the island. It seemed the developer was marketing the "off plan" properties amongst the London Turkish Cypriot community. This could mean we have some interesting neighbours in a couple of years instead of looking at the awful half started foundations opposite us.

As the garden begins to take shape we are beginning to think of what we might plant where. I have been consulting my copy of The Mediterranean Gardener and have produced a Wish List of what would look nice and getting a few more ideas. One idea is to create a typical Cypriot arch between what will be the orchard and the rest of the garden. Jeff liked the idea and the next thing was to have a discussion with Torgauh as to whether this will be possible. Extra cost of course, but Yes, he would do it.

Friday evening we went to the Saffron Restaurant in Lapta with Barbara and Michael and had a superb meal. We joined the rest of the gang later at the Stumble Inn.

Next day Torgauh brought a builder to quote for the arch, bit of serious negotiation here, but the outshot was "yes, the work could go ahead". More soil was delivered and his men beavered on. Slowly, slowly it is coming to shape.
Later in the day a load of rocks were delivered in readiness for the building of my Cypriot stone arch.

Very early on Sunday morning, 7am, we awoke to the sounds of stones being broken. There was a team of 3 men chipping away at the rocks that had been delivered the previous evening. Once they had a suffient number of managable size pieces the building of the arch began. They worked hard at it all day and by 4pm we had a beautiful Cypriot stone arch.

At lunchtime Mike and Victoria Regan came to visit us (he was one of the ABF Controllers when I worked there). It was lovely to see them, they were on a brief visit to their house in Karaoglanoglu. We went to our local fish restaurant for lunch in order to get away from the dust here. Sirin Yali is located in a little cove so we are always sure of a sea breeze there. We all had superbly cooked fish and salad, washed down with the obligatory couple of bottles of cool white wine.

That evening Sandie and Steph came around to share their Ecuador and Galapagos pictures with us. We set them up on the computer and made the study into a little theatre with drinks and nibbles to keep us going. We had a great evening.

On Monday Torgauh's men came to fit the gate and finish off the metal frames with some pretty arches and the edging for the flower beds progressed extremely well.

It is now Tuesday and I should be packing in readiness for my next trip to UK later this afternoon. I shall be getting involved with the ABF's Music on Fire event down at Sandhurst this coming weekend. Before I go, our neighbours invited me onto their roof terrace to have an aerial view of the handywork that has been taking place in our garden.

2006-09-12T22:56:00.000+01:00

Rod and Stella's input just made the last few days for the boys even more special. Overall, they had become used to the heat and the different way of life. I think Ross sums it up for all of us in this photograph of a totally chilled-out way of life.

The saga of the well goes on.

Mr Divine (the water diviner who was overseeing the whole operation) is not to be known for his effiency, each visit seemed to generate numerous gliches. Jeff had begun to mistrust Mr Divine's costings and insisted on purchasing all the various accessories (pipes, connectors, grommits) himself. So now we are into a situation where Mr Divine would say what he needed, Jeff would go off to our local Yapi market (mini B & Q), purchase said items only to discover later that maybe the diameter was wrong or the angle was wrong. I cannot begin to count the number of times Jeff went back and forth to the hardware shop to exchange things. Mr Divine never brings any tools with him either! So it's "maybe we could supply him with this.... this and this!"

Despite everything, the pipe work was eventually connected to the well, albeit we still couldn't connect it to the house water system because a great pile of earth, that had been extracted in the production of the well, was piled up against the wall where the pipe needed to be located. So Jeff wandered around from time to time with this hose over his shoulder, firstly filling the neighbour's water tank and then our's.

Torgauh, our garden contractor was about to go on holiday, but he had his team of men geared up to construct a metal pergola to support climbing plants over a pathway along the side of our garden and to build a small retaining wall where the garden dropped a level, plus fit a gate where the front wall had been knocked down to allow the drilling machine to come in. Two men came for a couple of afternoons and built the retaining wall, two more men came to do the metal work, 7 pairs of posts had to be erected joined by horizontal bars. During the week they only managed to erect 4 of them!

We had some bad news from UK just before the Kelseys left. I heard from my cousin Kath that Aunty Betty had suffered a severe stroke. She'd been found lying in her garden and once in hospital it was some while before she began showing any signs of consciousness. Apparently it is important during these early days that she has plenty of rest but it must be very hard for my cousins to see this lively active lady lying in her bed incapable of anything.

The Kelsey's had their last day at the Beach Club, a brilliant time for everyone. Great weather, good swimming, great diving (little Ross threw himself into the sea from a jetty about 8ft high! I think he surprised himself as well as us).
That evening we took Debi and Andrew to Kyrenia Harbour for a meal at Cherinis, from where there are the most fantastic views over the harbour.

The final day came and it was a difficult time for all of us. We had known for a number of days that Tom's "Red Dudley" was missing, but he was cool about it and was content in the knowledge that he was hiding in Gran's house so that he would be waiting for Tom when he comes back to Cyprus. We couldn't find him anywhere.

There was no room in the car for me to go to the airport, so Rod, Stella and I opted to go to the Beach Club for lunch to get out of the way. It was very hard to leave them all in the house knowing they wouldn't be there when I got back. It has been a joy having them all here, and thanks to Andrew, I have also got some jobs completed.

Jeff took this lovely photograph of them all, smartly spruced up in preparation for their journey.

That evening we took Rod and Stella to The Ambiance Restaurant. This was a bit of a gamble as we hadn't booked and although they found us a table it's location was not as pleasant as when we'd been previously with Debi and Andy. That said, the food was splendid but should we go again at a weekend, we will book.

On Sunday Rod and Stella explored the harbour area and we met up with them after church and took them for a ride across the mountain range from St Hilarion to Karsiyaka.

It was beautiful up among the pines, catching the cooler breezes. We can never tire of seeing these beautiful views.

We did the "tourist thing" and took photographs by the tank that left the road during the 1974 Intervention and has now become a memorial to the lives lost in the area.

A hairy drive down the mountainside brought us to a little restaurant (Korzan) up in the hills, where all you can see are pine trees in every direction. They only have a few tables and it is always peaceful there.

After some kup and shish kebabs and a cool bottle of white wine, we returned to the coast and home for a little snooze in the sun for the rest of the afternoon.

On Monday we took a drive along the coast to the east. There is a lot of building going on along the coastal trip, particularly in the vicinity of the new Golf Club - the opening is yet to be announced, infact all efforts to get information on it get nowhere. We stopped at the Eagle's Nest for a drink and then on and up over the mountain pass near Kantara before driving through the central plain to Bogaz, north of Famagusta. We had a lovely lunch at a fish restaurant on the beach and would you believe there were 4 deckchairs on the beach just inviting us to take a short nap before moving on.

We visited Famagusta and had a wander around the cathedral/mosque area and were pleased to see that the old covered market was being restored. A quick visit to the beach to see the "No Mans Land" before making our way back to Karsiyaka. A very enjoyable day and something we hadn't done for a while.

There was no further progress to report on the garden when we got back!

On Tuesday we decided to get ourselves sorted out reasonably early and go down to the harbour and see if we could get on a boat trip. We made a bee-line for the boat Saarki that we had used before and its captain - Ecevit, saw us and invited us on board. This turned out to be most fortunate, he only had 4 tourists and 2 of his friends booked on so we made up quite a good little party. He was very excited about some special fishing lines he'd just obtained because there were shoals of mackerel not far off shore. As we left the harbour the boat sailed west and the fishing lines were let out. No success however on this leg of our journey.
We moored at first near the Green Coast Holiday resort and the sea was like warm tea. We did a bit of snorkling but there were not many fish to see. Ecevit and Ahmed produced another lovely lunch with chicken, fried fish and salad. Our fellow passengers were very convivial and later in the afternoon we sailed to another bay and moored just off the Camelot Beach. The water had stayed calm which made the swimming (or bobbing about) most enjoyable. On the way back to harbour the fishing lines were put out again and bingo! Several mackerels at a time were being caught on the multi-barbed lines and I think there were over a dozen fish brought on board.

Definitely another great day on the boat.

Ecevit wanted me to bring some of the mackerel home, but we were going to call on our friends Renee and Brian on the way home, so carrying fresh fish in the car was not to be recommended!

That evening, as it was Rod and Stella's last night with us, we went to eat at one of the restaurants in Girne Harbour. We chose one we had not been to before, Kase Bose. It had a roof terrace which allowed us some breeze as well as good views. The menu was a mix of traditional Cypriot food and Italian, and we all opted for the Italian and there were no complaints, the food was delicious, not cheap but we knew we would be paying for the location so we were not surprised.

It was a warm balmy evening, with good company and wonderful food. I hope these elements were a good conclusion to their all too short holiday.

The Horner's flight was from Larnaca in the late afternoon. We left home at lunchtime, stopping at a little cafe in the village of Getikoy, just 10 minutes away where we knew they would get a great lunch. We have been calling at this cafe over the years and in the last 2 years the truck drivers have found it too. Good, cheap pitta, shish and salad is served with all the attention of a top restaurant. It cost us 9 YTL each - approx £3 and this included a beer too!

We had an uneventful journey over the border and once we had dropped Rod and Stella at the airport we decided to have a ride into Larnaca. The Larnaca we remembered was very hard to find in all the development but we eventually found the old Turkish part and had a ride along the front. A much busier world than in the north. We returned home via one of the big supermarkets in the south and began to get used to the quiet in a house where there is now only Jeff and me.

2006-09-10T20:43:00.000+01:00

After the initial flurry of activity in creating the well it has been a case of two steps forward and one step back to get it up and running.

For reasons best known to himself, Mr Water Diviner chose to lower the pump into the well as dusk was falling. The pump looked like a very designer chic guided missile and weighed a ton. This very expensive bit of kit was going to demand Jeff's serious attention, fully supported by Andrew.

However, on the following day Mr Divine checked the amount of water being pumped and was not happy. There should have been much more water coming out and he couldn't fathom out why not.

Meanwhile, our local friends had organised a boat trip for the day, out of Girne (Kyrenia) harbour, a few swims, nice lunch and good company was to be the order of the day. We use the same boat for our trips - Saarki, skipper by Ecevit,who makes us all very welcome each time we use him. We like it because he can only take a small number of people and we can usually fill his complement.
Josh, Tom, Andrew, Jeff and I went aboard that day (poor mummy had to stay home with the tiny ones, Ross and Joe - and wouldn't you know, just as we were leaving the power went off at home!!).

The boys (big and small) had a brillian time, diving into the sea from the boat as we anchored in a cove and swimming in the luke-warm sea. Captain Ecevit even promoted Tom to Skipper and both boys became pirates for the day.

We had a really great time and can only promise mummy that she will go on the next boat trip and I will babysit for her.

The Kelseys spent a fair bit of time down at the Sunset Beach Club where there was plenty for the kids to do, both on land and in the water. We would go and meet them for lunch and have a lazy time before bringing them back home for a snooze.

On 30th August Jeff and I drove to Larnaca to pick up Rod and Stella. It was great to see them, but particularly Stella who had been so influential in helping me with my choice of furniture, curtains etc and now was an opportunity for her to see the completed package. I think she liked what she saw. They fitted in well with the kids and we adults have always got on well together.

The following day it was Tom's Birthday. We had a cake, kindly provided, albeit unknowinglingly by our friends Michelle and Jim (they had left it as a contribution to a party we had a few days before), candles, balloons, fizzy drinks and all sorts of multi e-numbered foods.

So, back to the well.

It was discovered that when the pump was lowered down the shaft it had become lodged on the side of the well, just above the water level, causing the minimal amount of water to be available. Solution - pump has to come out and be re-lowered.

Sounds easy but the pipe that is connected to the pump, albeit its made in rubber, is not very flexible and takes a lot of man-handling. So Mr Divine got his team of strong, virile young men to come and lend some muscle power.

Great entertainment for Debi, Stella and I!!

Once again they waited until dusk was falling but I assume they all had "Day" jobs.
Ho, heave, ho, was the order of the day as this superb pump was lifted sufficiently to lower it again in a perpendicular fashion.

Once it had been re-seated and the electrics connected, they test-drove it by watering the road, washing cars and generally having showers. So there would seem to be plenty of water.

On one of their last trips to the Sunset Beach Club, Andrew persuaded Debi to have a go on one of the jet skis. He had previously taken Josh out, but I think he really wanted to do the equivalent of "burn rubber" and Debi was game.

2006-08-23T14:03:00.000+01:00

It was not until 11am on Monday morning (21st) that the well diggers returned. The machine's corkscrew ground away at the rock below for several more hours before it penetrated and began to pull out earth again. After the initial excitement of watching the machinery the boys took things very nonchalantly and Joe just kept cool.

At 80 feet, just as the Water Diviner predicted, the earth coming out took on a damp appearance. Water had been found, hurray, Jeff heaved a sigh of relief.

A further 10ft was excavated to create a chamber for the water to collect in and the drilling was completed and the huge machine folded down ready for the road.

Then began the process of lowering the concrete lining cylinders into place. They dropped in all the cylinders that had been delivered but more were needed and as it was now 6.30pm they called it a day and the job rolled on into a 3rd day.

Tuesday, at 10am the men returned, along with a lorry carrying more cylinders. The first thing to happened was the junior member of the team being sent down the well shaft on a rope!

This was because the last cylinder placed in shaft had not seated properly and this young man not only had to hang on to the rope with one hand but pull the cylinder into alignment with the other!!

It was not long before this part of the process was completed and we were left with a very crude looking well as the drilling team drove away.

Next to arrive was a lorry load of rocks. These were to be used to dress the well and create some ethnic walls around the garden.

However, they needed to be broken down into smaller pieces before they could be used and in the heat of the day one of the men swung his pick axe and broke these rocks down. He looked as though he a member of the chain gang from the local penitentiary! Very slowly the garden is taking shape.

That evening we had invited friends and neighbours around to meet the Kelseys, so the afternoon was spent preparing salads, shade and seating areas - and once we had all this food in the fridge, the power went off. Hey, this is the TRNC! There were about 20 of us altogether and we had a lovely evening together.

So we were now at the stage where the well looks pretty, but is not functioning yet. A pump and electrics need to be put in place - which I am sure will take time......

2006-08-21T08:04:00.000+01:00

The days are passing very happily in a sunny haze of early morning smiling faces, meals together in the garden, cuddling baby Joe, swimming in the pool and going to the beach.

Then balmy evenings under the stars when the adults can relax over a meal and a drink.

Andrew arrived with us a week ago. He had a fraught time at Heathrow, going through all the heightened check-in procedures. Despite him being at the airport 4 hours prior to his flight he only just caught the plane by running from the final check-in to the plane doors. We were so thankful that it hadn't all happened a week earlier!

The boys were delighted to have their Daddy here to show off their swimming skills to him (and learn some new tricks from him too).
The heat (38 degrees) and humidity (83%) have made the pool an even more attractive place to be. Everyone is coping with it pretty well but I am happy to tell you that today the humidity has dropped to a more manageable 60%. Debi and Joe have had the greatest struggle. Dear little Joe wants his cuddles but we are all too hot and sticky to do it for long. Debi almost melts into a puddle whenever she is feeding him through the day. He spends a lot of time under the air-conditioner and is thriving well despite it all. He is the star attraction whenever we go out - the Cypriots in particular cooing over him.

Andy has been making himself useful by helping Jeff with those jobs he had been somewhat reluctant to tackle before (fitting an outside light and drilling a hole for some cabling).
However, the big project is to create a shady area just outside our rear door, but discussions on this are on-going.

Joshua and Tom play great games together and when it comes to time to be quiet they are content to watch a DVD on my laptop. We have a rule that because of the intense heat everyone has a quiet time between 2 to 4pm. It took some persuading at first but now that we have persevered there is no trouble about them all going to bed in the afternoon and they are much better for it later on. However, Ross is all noise, action and often mischief from the moment he gets up until he goes back to bed. He's great fun that we will definitely miss when they all go home.

We've managed to get Andy and Debi out for a couple of hours in the evening (provided they take Joe with them) and we took them for a nice "grown up" meal to The Veranda restaurant last week. Friends of ours, Jo and Les agreed to babysit and Joe slept in his carrycot across 2 chairs in the restaurant. The premises are located right by the shore and we had an excellent table in the courtyard overlooking the clear sea, lit by the moonlight.

I have been taking Debi and Joe with me on a Thursday to meet with my "Ladies from church". It has been a nice for her to have a break from 75% of her boys! Jeff and Andy went to the Quiz night last week, but didn't win. We have had a few trips out in the late afternoon to cool down and benefit from the air-con in the car. One such trip was to Bellapais Abbey where the boys had a great adventure, saying it looked like Hogwarts! We also took a trip out along the coast towards the "pan-handle" and visited The Eagle's Nest for a drink.

The highlight of last week was the start of the well-drilling. Permission had been obtained from the relevant Government Department and on Wednesday Torgaug arrived with a team of men and removed part of our garden wall to make access for the drilling machinery.

There was no progress on the well on Thursday and on Friday we took the children to Sunset Beach Club which has swimming pools and other things to amuse them. On the way back, we called to see Torgaug to ask when drilling was to start, to be told it had been going on for some hours.

When we got home, a huge drilling machine was there (along with our neighbours who had come over to watch the proceedings).

The noisy drilling went on all afternoon yet the children still managed to have their afternoon nap. Mid afternoon another vehicle arrived carrying the concrete liner sections.

These were unloaded and stacked in the front garden.

By evening a hole 70ft deep and 3ft wide had been drilled, but no water yet as they had struck rock!

The whole proceedings had been observed by the Water Diviner, who sat looking very confident throughout. Although Jeff frequently went to talk to him for assurance that the water was definitely there.

According to the Diviner, they need to drill through 10ft of rock and there will be a plentiful supply of water underneath. We will see.

The proceedings came to a standstill at 7pm and everyone knocked off for the weekend.

During the weekend we were a source of interest for many passers by. Several of the locals enquiring whether we had obtained permission to sink the well. This rather dumbfounded me, as if we could hope to secretly employ a huge machine like this with all the accompanying noise without being noticed.

2006-08-15T05:31:00.000+01:00

Monday, 7th August
We knew it was going to be tough and it was! An early start from Kent at 5.30am and once Andy had dropped us off at Terminal 1 we met the first hurdle. Getting 4 tiny tots into the airport with 6 pieces of luggage and a buggy was pretty stressful. We quickly found where we could get rid of the luggage and there was a relatively small queue, however we had a problem with the buggy. Debi had hoped to hang onto it up to the aircraft doors, thereby being able to contain the youngest two. Unfortunately, because of it's size and the type of luggage shoots used at Heathrow, we had to check it in. Debi has a special container for it and once it was packed up we had to take it to a separate area to be checked in as special luggage. We decided to go through to Departures straight away and the boys quite enjoyed the formalities of ex-ray machines etc as they had there own little back packs containing their toys. A drink and a little breakfast later and it was time to go to the Boarding Lounge where we learnt the flight was delayed! The boys were very good, although confining Ross was impossible, so we did a lot of wandering around the lounge.

We had good seats on the plane but not the promised Sky Cot. We had 3 seats in the centre and one across the aisle. I apologised in advance to the young man in the seat next to me and warned him it might not be a very restful flight for him. Tom and Josh were extremely good throughout the flight, getting very excited when the plane eventually took off and when they got there own meals (lots of little containers to open). Ross was a different story. As soon as it was time to confined him in a seat belt on Debi's lap he screamed and screamed and screamed! This seemed to coincide with the time little Joe needed a feed and he screamed too! Bet we were popular with the surrounding passengers. The BA staff were extremely kind and considerate, once Joe had been fed he went off to sleep in a little carry cot Debi had brought with us, albeit on the floor. Ross on the other hand was like a slippery eel and would not stay still, introducing himself to the surrounding passengers. It seemed a long 4 and a half hours but our luggage arrived quickly at the other end and Jeff was there to meet us with cold drinks and take us to Karsiyaka.

The boys hadn't been indoors for many minutes before they wanted to strip off and get into the pool.

That was to be the start of many hours of fun and a feeling of "glad to be home" for me.

The following days were spent playing with the boys and shopping with Debi and getting little Joe acclimatised along with everyone else.

2006-08-14T07:49:00.000+01:00

I know I have said before that the time goes by so quickly here, well since the family arrived the days are positively whizzing by. I have eventually found a few minutes where I can catch up with our news.

Thursday 3 Aug
I was still in UK and as I had an eye check-up at the Ultralase Clinic in Tottenham Court Road, I spent the afternoon and evening up in London. I had lunch with two of my friends from the ABF, catching up on their news. Later in the afternoon I went across to Tottenham Court Road, took one look at Oxford Street and decided that wasn't for me, so I spent some time in the British Museum before going on to my appointment. All was well with my eyes, the optician was pleased with the healing process and I was soon on my way to Victoria to meet my friend HB from SSAFA Central Office. We decided to wander into St James's Park as it was such a lovely evening. We went into an open-air restaurant/bar in the park and spent a pleasant evening sinking a couple of bottles of Rose wine, watching the ducks on the lake and catching up with each other's news.

Friday, 4 August was a lovely day as Debi, Andrew and the boys all returned from their break at Centre Park. They were all pleased to see me as I was to see them and they spent most of the afternoon telling me what they had done with their cousins. They had been swimming, bouncing, cycling and much more. They gave me a lovely gift of a wind chime made with a blue humming bird on the top. Come evening I met up with some of my girlfriends at The Ship and Traders; Roni Brill, Angie and Stella joined Debi and me (and Joe came too). It was good to see them all again and hear of Roni's family, Angie's potential house purchase and Stella's week with her family.

Saturday, 5 August I spent sending myself a parcel (wonder how long it will take to reach me?) and doing some last minute shopping and packing. Late afternoon I went to see Roni and Mike who had just returned from a holiday in Canada. They had spent 3 weeks there and had a wonderful time. Roni's brother and wife are staying at their house for a few weeks, and it was good to see them also.

On Sunday it was time to do some serious suitcase packing ready for our flight on Monday morning. I knew I would be over my baggage allowance but I hoped that with so many children travelling with me and their allowance being fairly generous, I would get away with it. I also spoke to Aunty Betty about her trip out to us in September. She was thrilled with all the arrangements. I also told her about this Blog in the hope that she might be able to see some of it, either at Kath's or Dereth's house. We all had a reasonably early night as we were to be up at 5.30am. We knew it was going to be a fairly stressful day but could not believe just how stressful it turned out to be.

2006-08-02T22:44:00.000+01:00

We had an uneventful run over the border and down to Larnaca airport on Saturday and as Jeff wanted to call into one of the large stores in south Nicosia he didn't hang around to see me off.
The airport was extremely busy, not only with holidaymakers but refugees from Lebanon. The first evidence of this was the sight of British soldiers outside the airport building, helping people who had arrived by coach, to collect their luggage and then usher them through a special entrance for their onward journeys. Inside the building were numerous Red Cross stands offering water and a packed lunch for these travellers and Aid workers were rushing about shepherding people to and fro.
As I was fairly early and had already checked in On-line at home, as soon as I'd got rid of my case I escaped the melee and went upstairs for a cold drink. Eventually I went through to the Departure lounge, did a little shopping and awaited the call to board the plane. I have never seen so many planes on the apron as there were that afternoon. Planes from a variety of countries, I suppose there to collect their unfortunate citizens escaping from Lebanon.
Our departure was delayed for half an hour but I found myself sitting next to an elderly Scottish lady who was travelling alone. Her home was near Paphos and she had lived in Cyprus for about 15 years, sadly her husband had died a few months previously but she was content to carry on living there. She'd had a very interesting life, her husband had been a chartered accountant and had worked a lot in the Middle East, Far East and Carribean, she and their children accompanying him. Our conversation certainly made it an interesting flight.

Lovely to see Andrew at Heathrow and eventually Debi when we got to Chatham. The boys were all in bed, though I did get to have a little cuddle with Joe when he woke for a feed later on. He's delightful and has a great deal of brown hair.

On Sunday morning I was woken by Joshua and Tom leaping on the bed to give me big hugs. That was definitely worth coming all this way for! It was lovely spending time with them and to see how Ross had changed, he's losing his baby fat but not his baby curls. He has masses of them and the cheekiest grin you could imagine.

Of course I had lots more cuddles with Joe too.

In the afternoon we all went to the park, the boys on their bikes, including Daddy and Ross, while we "girls" pushed the Buggy. Tom can ride his two-wheeler very well, but insists on the stabilsers being left on. While in the park he was persuaded to have a go on Josh's bike that doesn't have the stabilisers and you will see from the picture how well he does - however, he is not convinced.

Monday morning I went off to have my hair cut and coloured and would you believe it, just as I was about to leave the hairdressers the heavens opened and the rain stair-rodded down. So much for the UK heatwave! At lunchtime, Debi and Andy loaded the car with luggage, got the boys on board and went off to Centre Parks for a few days to join Andy's mum, brother and sister and their families, so now I have the house to myself.

I started doing some sorting out and packing of the things we'd left behind. It was quite pleasant pottering and discovering things that I had forgotten. We don't have a TV yet in Cyprus and although I havn't missed it I did indulge myself this evening by watching all the Soaps!

Tuesday was another cloudy, blustery day. Just before lunch Debi's neighbour, Cara, gave me a lift to Hempstead Valley shopping centre where I enjoyed a few hours browsing around the shops. Then back to Debi's for a bit more sorting.

Wednesday was a really grey, cloudy day today, which was rather a shame as I had been invited down to Canterbury cricket ground to watch Kent V Hampshire while eating a rather splendid lunch as a guest of the Buffs Association. I don't know the first thing about cricket but I did meet some very nice people.

2006-07-29T00:57:00.000+01:00

I'm trying to catch up with my Blog today as later this afternoon I am going to UK for a few days.

Saturday, 22 July
We did some shopping this morning in preparation for our first BBQ for the neighbours tomorrow. In the heat of the day, after lunch, I chose to stay indoors and began sorting out the books into some kind of chronological order. Very satisfying. Late afternoon Jeff decided to tackle erecting a B & Q gazebo we had brought out with us. He did pretty well, but I had a slight problem when asked to help him to move it into position as I could only just reach the overhead bar! Anyway we ended the day having successfully erected the frame.

Sunday, 23 July
Most of the day was spent in preparation for our BBQ. Our guests were due to arrive at 5pm. Creating sufficient shade with our sun umbrellas was our biggest problem. Eventually we plan to build a permenant shade area near the lounge door which will make sitting out there in the afternoon more comfortable.
I had marinated some olives and feta cheese in olive oil and herbs earlier in the week and roasted and tossed some nuts in a cayenne mixture. These would provide nibbles while everyone was assembling. Gazpacho Soup was to start the meal, not only is this so refreshing in this heat, but cheap and easy to do with the prolific amount of tomatoes and cucumbers we have. We made a variety of salad dishes, dips, pitta bread and we marinated chicken, lamb and tuna to cook on the BBQ.
On our recent visit to the south we had found a bottle of Pimms and our guests were greeted with a cool glass full of fruit, lemonade and Pimms. Patrick and Mary, Averil and Peter and Les and Jo were our guest and I forgot to take any pictures! All of us agreed that we do not eat as much here as we did in UK, so we never got around to serving the tuna - and we had plenty of leftovers. Everyone found room for dessert as I'd prepared stuffed peaches with mascarpone cream. We had a really good afternoon and we look forward to when they can come again.

Monday, 24 July

It was a big clear up first thing and then Jeff went into Girne to do some admin which was the start of a "bad" day for him. The Bank failed to produced the promised Bank Cards, money that a friend should have transferred hadn't arrived, the local car insurance office wasn't open and he forgot to pick up a battery for his watch! I think he took his frustration out on getting the roof on the gazebo, because the next time I looked out it was finished.

Julie and Bob, a couple we had met through the Quiz Nights, came round for a "sundowner". They do not live far away and had just installed the same Internet system as ours and got himself a Skype phone. I persuaded them to have some supper with us as I had all the tuna left from yesterday's BBQ. We had a really good evening together. They are about 7/8 years younger than us and decided to come over to Northern Cyprus when Bob was made redundant from his job at British Aerospace.

Tuesday, 25 July
Jeff decided to start proceedings towards getting our Temporary Residency permits today. He had to find our local Mukhtar and get his permission to stay in his town. I'd already done this when I was over last year sorting out the importation of our furniture.
We had invited Barbara and Michael to have lunch with us in order that they could see where we lived and what we lived in! No fuss this time, ham and tomatoe sarnies in the garden. The day was very still, hot and humid. Although we started in the garden it was not long before we moved indoors where it was a little cooler. We had a good time together and just as we were relaxing after they had left - the power went off! Now we have a generator this shouldn't be a problem but we had loaned it to Les and Jo because they had moved into their house a couple of weeks ago but they have no water or electricity connected. Their builder had provided them with a generator only for it to be stolen when they were away from the house one night! So we felt sorry for them and had loaned them ours while a replacement was sorted out. As it happened, the power was only off for a few hours and we spent plenty of time swimming in the pool as we could do little else.

Wednesday, 26 July
Jeff collected his permission from the Mukhtar and later in the morning we went into Girne for the market and then called into the Police Station to start the immigration procedure. However, we were too late as the office only opens until 12 noon. The Police Officer did tell Jeff what he needed to bring with him next time.

That afternoon we decided just where we would locate the lovely decorative tile that we were given by Roni and Mike, Jen and Ron on our 60th birthday. We have put it outside in an area where we spend most of our time sitting. The power went off again this afternoon, but did come back on again before it went dark.
If its Wednesday then it must be Quiz Night at the Chiswick. Michael and Barbara joined us this week but they didn't help us improve our score. Never mind, it is great fun, not to be taken seriously.

Thursday, 27 July
After breakfast we did a quick tidy round and set off for Girne to tackle the next stage in the Temporary Residency procedure. We started at the Police Station where we presented our Passports plus copies, Mukhtar's permission plus copies, copies of Contract of Sale for the bungalow and a bank statement but they still needed additional copies of the Contract of Sale and the bank statement. We were despatched off to a Clinic where we had blood taken from us along with a total of 500 YTL (£160), then on to a hospital to have chest xrays, to a photographers for passport photographs and enroute we got the extra photocopies they needed. Back to the Police with the receipt to show we had done this, oops! They needed a copy of this too, back to the photocopy shop and finally the Post Office for 6 x 1YTL stamps each to go onto the official documents. We just managed to get back to the Police Station with all these before the clock struck 12! We now have to wait 5/6 weeks before we go on to do the next stage in Lefkosa (Nicosia).
On the way home we called at the Kervan Cafe where I joined the Ladies group for half an hour's chat and Jeff cooled down with a cold drink.
Later that afternoon we went up to Babel Garden Centre to find some plants and soil for some planters we had bought over in the south last week and spent the cool of the evening doing a bit of gardening.

Friday, 28 July
Friday morning the British Residents Society meets at the Pegasus Bar, it is both a social gathering and they have a small market of books, clothes, veg and CDs and DVDs. The main purpose of the organisation is to assist Brits to assimilate into Cypriot society, to ensure rules and regulations are abided by and help those who encounter problems. We went along this morning in order to sign up as members. It may be that my SSAFA connections could be useful to them.
There is an American Car Wash located conveniently next door, so while we were signing up we left the car in the Car Wash where for 20 YTL (£6.50) the car is hand cleaned immaculately and thoroughly both inside and out. Money well spent in this heat.
On the way back we called in at the Friday Market located in the grounds of Carpenters Restaurant. There are a few Craft Stalls, home made produce, books, clothes and a pie maker. We stocked up on pies and I ordered a name plaque for the bungalow. A very talented lady paints designs on tiles and I have asked that we have one made showing a toy soldier in a sentry box. So the bungalow will be known as The Sentry Box - the reason being that as we are the first building on the lane and all visiting vehicles have to pass our gates, Jeff seldom misses any of the comings and goings. Considering our background we thought the name not only amusing but appropriate.
We have been experiencing some high winds during the last couple of days, which is lovely when it is so hot, but this afternoon the winds became so strong we couldn't put the umbrellas up and as evening came, black clouds began to build up. If we had been in UK we would have been certain to get rain. Although Jeff gathered up all the cushions from the chairs it blew itself out and nothing happened, but it was very strange.
Late evening we joined friends (the boat crowd) down at the Cabin for a drink or three. There was only our group there, so the wind must have driven the tourists inside!

Saturday, 29 July
Later today Jeff will be taking me to Larnaca for a late afternoon flight to Heathrow. I am so looking forward to seeing all the Kelseys again, but particularly little Joe. I am so excited at the prospect of bringing them all back here with me in a week's time (Andy will join them about a week later). Much as I am looking forward to seeing them along with my dear friends, the fact that this is now my home is making me want to stay here too. Once I get on that plane I shall be ok, but I feel as though I am a bit in denial about the journey at the moment.
So a few chores to do now and then I really must start packing.

2006-07-25T15:25:00.000+01:00

Not only have we been busy over the last 10 days but we have been enjoying ourselves too. We are really enjoying being retired! But I know you want to hear what we have been up to so I will make this post a little diary issue.

Sunday 16 July was where I left off and after the morning service we decided to have lunch at Sirinyali, a small fish restaurant near to home. It is located in a little cove, there is no beach to speak of but we enjoyed the sea breeze to keep us cool. Although it has new owners now, we both enjoyed a couple of meze dishes to start and then a delicious plate each of calamari and salad, washed down with some cool white wine. A little doze when we got home rounded the afternoon off nicely.

We had noticed an unusual white bird sitting in the trees on a couple of previous evenings, but on Sunday evening it flew closer and sat on our electric cables. It was then we discovered it was a cockatoo! I had to come indoors to conceal my laughter when Jeff went out with a handful of nuts to try and tice it down! No idea where it belongs, but we have seen it in the neighbourhood since.

Monday 17 July
A day for chores around the house, and we had our garden railing finished. They made a good job of them and didn't throw the black paint about either.

Now the garden has been cleared of all the weeds, we have been gathering a few ideas together as to what we would like to do with all this space. We had a visit from one Garden Centre, but the quote we were given was extremely high. Another person had been recommended to us, so we invited him, Torgaug from the Chiswick Restaurant came to talk to us. Jeff got on with him very well, he appeared to know his subject and we learnt that his family have a farm over the mountain and he has been working with plants most of his life. His ideas were very acceptable and he went away saying he would work out the cost and organise a Diviner to come and tell us whether it is feasible to sink a well in the garden. Water is quite an issue out here, some areas have not had any mains water for 2 or 3 days, but Karsiyaka water is on every day albeit they switch it off for 3 or 4 hour periods. We are able to manage because we have a 2 ton water tank. Were we to have our own water supply for such things as topping up the pool and watering the garden we would be so much more independent.

It has become really hot again, fairly constant temperatures of 35Âº and from 2pm until around 5pm the heat seems really intense, infact even the local workmen have taken to wearing hats!

Tuesday
18 July
I finished making the curtains and tie-backs for the blue room and enjoyed organising the various craft projects I had brought with me. We are still waiting to hear from Alev (carpenter) to see how well he is getting on with making a wardrobe for this room.

The bookcase and wardrobe for the twin room were delivered late that afternoon. The Karsiyaka carpenter has made a really good job of these. The bookcase is in pine and looks very attractive filled with our books. We have put it in the hallway as there is so much empty space there.

We joined Barbara and Michael for a drink at the Cabin during the evening.

Wednesday 19 July
We set off fairly early this morning in order to visit Girne Weekly Market. We were to entertain some of our neighbours at the weekend and I needed copious quantities of various vegetables and salad items. It is a wonderful sight to see dozens of stalls loaded with all kinds of produce, some of them very unfamiliar. Everything is so fresh and exceedingly cheap. I'll try and remember to take my camera with me next time we go and show you how good it is.
We then went over to the south to buy an additional bookcase for the study to take my Egyptology books and some files. We had a good browse around the DIY shop and needless to say, we did come out with a few other things too! We then set off to try and locate a Marks & Spencer store. We found one but it was only a small branch and the one we were looking for was reputed to be a really big store. We got fresh directions but got a bit lost trying to find our way from a dual carriageway under the road and up again. We decided to give up and go to one of the hypermarkets we know of where we could get some lunch and a cold drink - we were melting. Those of you working in London will know what it's like trying to get around a city in this heat! Yuk! Anyway we have a general idea of where it is, so we will search again on our next trip. Loaded with goodies from the hypermarket we headed home and into the pool to cool off.

That evening we went to The Chiswick for the weekly Quiz Night. We are supposed to be teams of no more than 4 people, but there is usually a crowd of us so we sort of make two teams (and then confer!). We still only came second however!

Thursday 20 July
This morning Torgaug arrived with the Diviner and he really did wander the garden with two sticks in his hands. (Sorry, didn't get a photograph). Anyway with a big smile on his face he reported that we have 3 underground streams, two of which converge in one corner of our plot, "I am 100% certain you will find much water there." So that will be where the well will go.

Torgaug also gave Jeff a sensible quote for the garden work and he is to take on the responsibility for obtaining the legal 'Permissions' etc, for sinking the well and bringing the men and equipment in to do it. Interesting times ahead!
After this excitement I went and joined the Ladies Group at the Kervan Restaurant. Although the bay is very beautiful, there was not a whisp of a breeze, so it was good to be just sitting doing nothing.

Today is a very important day in the history of Northern Cyprus. It is known as Peace and Freedom Day and marks the date when mainland Turkey came to the assistance of the Turkish Cypriots in 1974. It is commemorated with parades and speeches in Lefkosa and Girne and the highlight is a performance by the Turkish Airforce's Red Stars over the harbour. They are equally as good as the Red Arrows.

In the evening we joined Barbara and Michael for a meal at The Saffron restaurant in Lapta. It is a relatively new place, (it opened last summer when it was called Cote d'Azur). The decor is very modern and the table settings very elegant, with nice linen and glassware. There is an extensive menu which meant a lot of reading to be done, which is difficult when nattering. Anyway after much deliberations we all finally chose our dinner, Jeff and I starting with a plate of delicious Whitebait each, then Jeff had a selection of lamb chops and fresh vegetables and I had Pork in a Madeira sauce. It was a lovely evening and the service was most attentive. We decided to call into The Cabin on the way home for a nightcap - bad mistake! There was the most awful kareoke evening taking place which just took the edge off a nice occasion.

Friday 21 July
This was to be a really lazy day. Frank and Joan had invited us to join them on a boat trip, they have visitors from Holland staying with them at the moment and a day on a boat was a good way of entertaining them. We set sail about 10am, but were somewhat delayed leaving the harbour as our anchor had become fouled up with one from another boat. Our party consisted of Frank, Joan, their visitors Ari, Samantha and Michael, Barbara and Michael, George and Susan, Pat and Brian and ourselves.

Once out at sea we had a lovely breeze and the captain decided to head west along the coast. As we all lived in that direction it was interesting to spot familiar places from a very unfamiliar viewpoint.

Our first anchorage was in a lovely bay near the Green Coast holiday resort. The water was warm and clear, we had a great time.

We were called back on board when lunch was ready. Loads of chicken, fresh tuna and a variety of salads to enjoy.

During the afternoon we sailed on towards Lapta and anchored just of Camelot Beach. Jeff and I had not been there before and it looked an ideal place for us to take the boys when they join us in a few weeks. It has a lovely sandy beach with plenty of umbrellas and loungers and once in the water it looks to be shallow for quite some distance out.

Around 4pm we headed back towards Girne harbour and all agreed that it had been a wonderful day and we must look for an excuse to do it again next month.

That evening we went Line Dancing!!!!!! I know you can't believe it but how it came about was our friends Brian and Renee (Brian from the Italy to Turkey ferry) were returning to UK on Saturday and we said we would spend their last evening with them. Renee likes to Line Dance and Brian goes to watch! They had discovered that Line Dancing was held on a Friday evening at the Acmenya, one of the local restaurants in Alsancak, so that is where we went. Well Renee, at age 74, looked to be the only one enjoying herself, the other participants were taking it very seriously. Anyway we had a pleasant evening in good company and they may be out again in October.

2006-07-16T16:33:00.000+01:00

Last Monday we had planned a domestic day, but no sooner had we got started than we had a power cut! So the washing had to wait a day as it was off until 5pm. However, it gave us chance to decide where we would put some of our pictures and each day the place looks more like home.

Tuesday was spent up in Lefkosa/Nicosia. We started at the main Police Station this time to get an "In and Out" form for me. The office was very busy and as it looked as though I would have a lengthy wait Jeff went off to visit a place that had been recommended to him to see about buying a generator for the house. He was successful and found what he wanted, having arranged to have it delivered home on Wednesday. I was still waiting - it wasn't too much longer before my name was called, "In and Out" form handed over and off we went to Customs to get them to make me legal for driving the car in N Cyprus. The young lady who was so helpful last week was just leaving for her lunch when we got there. This time we were dealt with by a gentleman who was ok but didn't have the same friendly manner. Anyway, this is how efficient the office procedure is: hand over documents - copies of passport, importation certificate, insurance and driving licence. He writes in a ledger, also enters info onto a computer, then asks that we go around the back of the building to another office to obtain a photocopy of my licence and bring it back to him. Once this was done he stamped the appropriate form and we were done, but it is a classic example of the shortage of resources and one photocopier has to serve many offices.

We then went through the border into Nicosia, to a shop that had been recommended where we may find flat pack desks for the computer and my sewing things. Found the shop and had a great time mooching around. Picked up one or two "useful" things and then we found the furniture, exactly what we wanted and at a reasonable price. Took us ages to make up our minds about which style of computer desk we wanted, there were so many to choose from but the desk/table for my sewing things was very easy.

Unfortunately, once we had these on board and a swivel chair we hadn't time to look around the rest of the shop. Jeff had previously arranged to see his carpenter in Karşiyaka at 4pm and we needed to get back. No trouble at the border and we saw the carpenter who wanted to check on some measurements as he is making a large bookcase for us and a wardrobe for "the boys" bedroom.
That evening Jeff and I joined Barbara and Michael and Sandy and John at the Cabin for a drink. Sandy was in full flow as always, so it wasn't until she'd gone that I was able to have a conversation with Barbara, who is much more my sort of person.

On Wednesday, Jeff started putting the flat packs together, my sewing table being the first. This is because until his carpenter delivers the bookcase we cannot do much in the study for the piles of book boxes there. Anyway it meant that I was able to get my sewing machine out, get it up and running after it being in hibernation for so long and start making curtains for my "Blue Room". I bought some beautiful blue sari material from ebay a while ago and it is going to make lovely voile curtains for that room.

Earlier in the day I had had a call from Rene (wife of Brian who we had met on the boat from Italy to Turkey with his friend Bob).

She invited us to join them at a Quiz Night at the Chiswick Restaurant just down the road. We went along and had a fun night, quite a few were there and it was pleasant sitting in the garden, so we will probably go again. Met a nice couple, Julie and Bob, who live not far from us. They had decided to up sticks from UK when he was given redundancy, knowing nothing about the island, but seemed to be making a go of it.

Since the rain last week, the weather has been less humid and we have had a nice breeze blowing each afternoon, which has made it much pleasanter when doing various jobs around the place. We've even had little white puffy clouds in the sky and the temperatures average around 28º to 30º.

On Thursday morning I joined a group of ladies from church at the Kervan Restaurant, Kervansary for a get together and a natter. It was nice to meet new people and learn a little about them. The setting is lovely as the garden of the restaurant overlooks a small beach and bay and along the coast to 5-Mile beach (or Escape Beach as it is known now). Whilst we residents enjoyed the breeze I'd told you about, I'm not sure the small groups of holiday makers on the beach did. Although still very warm, the wind was making the sea quite rough. Afterwards I visited The Curtain Shop as they had made and extra blind for me to fit on the kitchen door and it was now ready.

When I first arranged for them to make the curtains for my lounge and kitchen I had declined to have one on the door which is half glass, thinking it would be nice to let the sunshine in! Not until you live here do you realise that at these temperatures you spend your time keeping the sunshine out!

On Friday workmen arrived to fit a railing and a couple of gates to divide the pool area from the lower garden. This will stop little boys from falling off the edge too! Although not quite finished we are pleased with the result.

That evening we joined Michael and Barbara again at the Cabin and spent a really nice evening together.

Saturday, after some domestic chores we did a little shopping. On the way out we remembered to take the key to our Post Box with us. This is located in the village square and wowee!... we had mail. So thank you to Roni and Mike, Stella and Rod for the Welcome to Your New Home cards, they were a great surprise. Completed 2 curtains in the afternoon and we had a lazy evening in, literally sitting by the pool gazing at the stars. Call us old softees!

2006-07-10T18:35:00.000+01:00

On Saturday morning we decided to tackle, what we call our 'Blue Room'. It had been piled with boxes of winter clothes and my sewing and craft things. So once they were moved out of the way it was a case of getting the cement off the windows and shutters. Much scrubbing and cleaning later we now have a lovely room ready for our visitors.

Just a question of waiting for Alev to make me a wardrobe! Stella and I organised this when we were here a year last February! First I had to track him down. Although he is the brother-in-law of our builder, Mehmet, they have had a falling out and no longer communicate with each other. Sandie and Steph had told me where his factory was and despite Jeff and I visiting it on several occasions, the elusive Alev was not there. However, on our last visit one of his workmen was there and we obtained Alev's phone number. I rang him and he arranged to come to the house to discuss the project. True to his word he turned up, agreed our original arrangement and hopefully will have it made for us by the end of the month (and tweaked a few of his other jobs in the house).

By the time we'd had lunch we were pretty well exhausted, so it was a few dips in the pool and a book for the afternoon. It's a tough life hey!

After Sunday Service we took to the mountain to get some cool breezes. This time towards St Hilarion, but not to visit the castle but to take the mountain road that runs all along the ridge and comes down over Karsiyaka. About 25 kms all told but the views are simply breathtaking.

Just before we made our descent we decided to investigate a small restaurant. It was in a lovely spot and the smell of pine and the breeze encouraged us to stay. They only did simple food in the clay ovens or bbq, but we had a lovely lunch. Just as we were leaving some of our neighbours arrived, so we lingered a little longer. Back down the mountain to the heat and a swim!

2006-07-09T21:42:00.000+01:00

On Thursday every where felt much fresher and less humid. We had errands to do in Girne and jobs around home.

Les and Joe have been renting the bungalow next door to us while their bungalow was finished. They are a great couple who are following their dream on a really strict budget and if anything could go wrong it has happened to them. Having sold their home in UK they have been living out here for some while in rented accommodation. They have been supplementing their income with various cleaning and maintenance jobs and doing it very successfully. Since we arrived, they have been our neighbours and we have been made aware of their difficult dealings with their English Estate Agent. Having paid all that their contract requested, said "gentleman" requested a further £4K in extras which they were not expecting! Having dealt with that they have accepted the keys to their bungalow knowing they will have no electricity or mains water for some time! The Agent provided a generator which they duly secured to the walls of the house as best they could (Chains, padlocks, etc) and within 36hrs it had been stolen! This all happened 24 hours before they were going back to UK for a short break, hoping to come back and move in, so unlucky! We took them out for a meal at the Silver Grill to cheer them up before they left.

On Friday we decided to tackle the problem of our car importation document that had been given to us at the port for an initial 4 weeks. We knew we were entitled to more than this and while I was at Girne market on Wednesday, Jeff had gone into the nearby Police Station to enquire how to extend it. "Go back to the port and see the Chief man" was the answer - "you should get 4 months"! Jeff was sceptical, but we would try.
Girne Port chief man said we should go and talk to Customs in Lefkosa (Nicosa). I vaguely remembered where they were from my importation of furniture experiences last year. We found them and what's more, a very helpful lady Customs Officer. But it seems that whatever transaction you are trying to achieve it is necessary to go to the main Police Station first for what is known as the "In and Out Form". A record of all your comings and goings in Northern Cyprus. OK, so we eventually found the Police Station, very helpful - yes, this office, that form, oh yes you need a 4 YTL stamp from the Post Office, no sorry, we don't have them here. Off we go again, searching for a Post Office, not too difficult as it turned out and we bought several, cos' you never know. Back to the Police, complete the request and then back to Customs. !............. yes, they can extend the authorisation period for up to 1 year if we like, but Boss man is not in till next week to sign the form and did Jeff have authority for me! NO, we thought we were just getting an extension of importation but it turned out to be authority to drive the car in NC!! So it seems that early next week we need to get an "in an out" form for me and then back to nice lady in customs and hopefully legality to drive for a year!

2006-07-09T14:20:00.000+01:00

Monday, 3rd July and the start of another hot week. Our Builder's foreman arrived first thing with a couple of his men to attack an unsatisfactory patch of plastering on the wall of the bungalow. Boy did they attack it! Plaster was being ripped off with great force, particularly after Jeff offered one of the guys the use of his bolster chisel and hammer! Remember I said I had completed cleaning the patio last week - ah well, it is all for the good of the house in the long run.

Tuesday the guys returned to re-plaster the wall and we hope that the painting will be done before not too long as it is not a pretty sight at the moment.

We are making good progress in getting the place ship-shape. Not only has the wall been started, but gates were fitted last week, the pool filled, some electrical work done and the weeds disappeared. Jeff and I have been hanging pictures and doing more unpacking on a daily basis and No 7 Bozkurt Sokak is looking more and more like home.

Tuesday night we met our friends at The Cabin again. This was to provide some support for Roger, who makes a few extra pennies by singing and playing his electric keyboard at one or two venues. He is jolly good too, playing nice easy to listen to music and a lot of old standards.

We had been aware of some interesting cloud formations that had been collecting on top of the mountains each afternoon over the last couple of days. It looked as though it might rain, but as we spent most of our time watching the clouds from the comfort of our pool (28º!) we thought it highly unlikely.

On Wednesday afternoon, things became a little more dramatic. It seriously did look as though it might rain, and we could hear thunder rumbling up in the mountains. So fascinating did it become that we were taking pictures of the storm clouds (do you think we have been away from UK too long already?).

Then, despite the sun still shining on us, huge drops of rain began to fall. Daffy duck didn't know what to do! It was a most dramatic storm, one lightening strike knocking out our electricity! There were torrents of water crashing down on us but it didn't last too long. Apparently this is only the 13th time in 25 years that it has rained in July in this part of Cyprus. It was particularly severe in Nicosia, with trees being brought down and other calamities.

2006-07-09T13:29:00.000+01:00

Well now that I've included photos of our journey here, what has been happening in Karsiyaka.

On Thursday, 29th June Jeff and Ahmed completed clearing the garden area of weeds and they have certainly done a great job between them. After having had a coffee with us and given Jeff instructions on how to tackle any weeds in the meantime, Ahmed left us saying he would be away for a month because he has his own olive grove of 400 trees to tend. Before leaving he told us that he did not have to work because he had a pension from UK and a pension from the government here, but it was good for ones marriage to be out of the house for a while (and so say all of us)!

We went over to the "dark side" (southern Cyprus) in the afternoon and encountered no difficulty in doing so. We visited a couple of large supermarkets which helped in stocking us up with some of the basics we are used to having. Ahmed had asked whether we could find any Worcester Sauce for him at some point and we were able to bring him some from there.

On Friday evening we met up with a few friends at a bar called The Cabin in Lapta. Barbara and Michael were there, neighbours of Frank and Joan, plus another couple, Roger and Jill who had been on the boat trip with us.
All the local tradesmen were lamenting the lack of tourists: the cause seems to be a mix of no direct flights into the north putting people off, no cheap flights to the north and Greek propaganda hitting European newspapers. I hope, for the locals sake, that more people discover how lovely this part of the island is, but from a selfish point of view - well, it is nice for us that it is quiet!

We spent Saturday morning cleaning the patio area around the pool. It is such a large area that I have been doing it in sections, first thing in the morning while it is in the shade and I finally completed it on Saturday. Then Jeff suggested we had a drive to Guzelyurt (Morphou) were they hold a weekly market. It is approximately 18kms from our house but the road goes through part of the main citrus orchards, although much reduced compared to when we first came to the island. The problem has been two-fold: the lack of water (they used to be irrigated from sources in Troodos that are not available any more) and they have nowhere to export the fruit to since N Cyprus is not recognised by any country of significance other than Turkey who have plenty of their own. We eventually found the market and there was fruit and veg in great abundance at very little cost. We stocked up with what we could, had a cold beer and drove back for lunch.

Temperatures seem to be a fairly constant 30ºC and we have a thermometer in our pool attached to a little yellow duck (Daffy) which reads almost a permanent 28º. You can imagine that during the afternoons we do a lot of swimming and sitting in the shade to keep cool. Last Saturday, when it came to evening I felt so exhausted I couldn't bring myself to cook, so suggested we went out to one of the taverna type restaurants nearby. We decided to visit Ali at the Silver Grill - there were only two other people there - our friends Joan and Barbara! They were gossiping over a G and T while the menfolk were elsewhere watching the football. We decided to join up and it wasn't long before the men arrived, full of doom and gloom because of England's loss on penalties! Anyway it didn't spoil our evening and we had a jolly good time.

After church on Sunday, we decided to take a ride west out of Girne. We have a favourite spot just beyond Bacheli, where there was a little basic bar/restaurant perched on the edge of the cliffs, called the Eagle's Nest. We have often sat there watching the sea birds swoop and dive and return to their nests in the cliffs and the amazing view was such that you could look all down the coast towards Karsiyaka. The journey out took us past the new golf course, that has still to be completed, but confident speculators have filled the surrounding countryside with masses of housing. It will be interesting to see how much of it sells in the present climate.

The Eagle's Nest is well beyond all this development and we were pleased to see that it looked just the same. We settled down to a refreshing drink and then Jeff went to look at their menu (a blackboard)! He was horrified to discover how much they had put up their prices. They were charging "Girne harbour front" prices without the ambience or the comfort they offer. Being a good Yorkshire man, we did not stay for lunch!

We turned back towards Girne and decided to head for the mountains instead. We had often used a very simple restaurant at the top of the Five Finger mountain pass called the Besparnak. It was still there with the same charming people, but they had expanded their premises but not prices, thank goodness. We had a lovely fresh kebab lunch, with copious salads, enjoying the fresh breeze as well as the good food.

2006-07-07T17:48:00.000+01:00

What a day 16 June turned out to be with not only our arrival in N Cyprus but baby Joe's arrival back in Kent. His arrival was far quicker than ours. We had one of the slowest ferry journeys ever experienced but it was a welcome sight to see the mountain range come into view. Here are the first shots we took of our arrival back on the island.

Home at last!

2006-07-06T15:17:00.000+01:00

We arrived in Turkey very early in the morning on Tuesday 13th June. The boat docked in Cesme, a port not far from Izmir and the following photographs are of our journey through Turkey. We drove inland at first, more or less in a straight line from Izmir until we were just north of Konya, where we turned south to visit Lake Beysehir and then head for the south coast.

Central Turkey is just so beautiful. It was very tempting to stop every few miles as we made our way south to take yet another photograph, however, here are just a few to give you a taste.

Almost home!

2006-07-06T14:18:00.000+01:00

...
The next group of pictures were taken while we were staying in Roseto degli Abruzzi where the most genial Franco was our host. It was Franco who told us of the fascinating places we visited.

Inside the fortress everything was on such a huge scale. It was built on 3 levels, had reasonable accommodation for animals and men, 3 parade grounds of considerable proportions and it commanded the valleys on all sides. We could see for miles around.

We found this lovely ceiling in a little church located just inside the entrance to the fortress. It was beautifully decorated throughout.

Remember that on the night of the 10th June we left the shores of Europe and sailed into Asia. This next photograph shows our "cruise ship", taken as we were loading.

....

2006-07-04T22:40:00.000+01:00

We are now able to show you pictures from our 2nd week of travelling. The whole time was spent in Italy, and what a great time we had.

2006-07-04T17:45:00.000+01:00

We have been having a few problems with our Broadband connection but it seems to be OK now, so how about a few photographs.

Here are some of the first week of our trip - UK to Rome.

If you have difficulty reading the text, just click on the photograph to enlarge it.

2006-06-28T09:40:00.000+01:00

We failed to avoid the World Cup match last Sunday - The Aphrodite bar/restaurant had brought a TV in just for the occasion and we arrived just as the match was ending to be greeted by Caroline as long lost cousins. Anyway the football fans soon dispersed and we had a very pleasant meal there and a natter with Steve and Caroline at the bar in the garden afterwards.

On Monday, Jeff's little old gardener man came again. His name is Ahmed, he's 60 and is completely deaf, but shouts at us in very good English. He certainly knows his trees, he pruned our young olive tree so that it now actually looks like an olive tree and not the poor neglected thing it was. Ahmed is full of wisdom and sound advice and has taken Jeff under his wing. Between them, albeit Ahmed doing the lion share, they cleared loads of rubbish from the garden again, it is beginning to look so much better, even without any plants.

The pool filling also started on Monday. A neighbour named Gargarin has an all sorts business supplying hard core, top soil, machinery and water. He has a couple of battered old tankers and one of them arrived at 9am to start filling the pool - this was the first of what was to be 9 tanker loads, taking over 2 days to complete.

On Tuesday he brought a big saw and joined Ahmed in pruning the carob tree into shape. It is now totally transformed, what previously looked like a huge bush is now a handsome tree. Ahmed said that a tree is like a man, if he doesn't shave he gets a big bushy beard, once shaved a man looks much smarter, it's the same with the tree. The carob now creates wonderful pools of shade in the garden, so much so we were driven into building a hammock we had bought from B & Q last summer and shipped out with our goods and chattles. This took most of the afternoon but now provides a very comfy place for 40 winks after lunch!

Ahmed words of wisdom today to Jeff - it is good to sometimes walk alone then your thoughts do not get interrupted.

Mehmet's pool men came and commissioned pool - all in working order, chemicals in and in 2 hours from now we can swim (2pm). That was the plan - but we had arranged to meet the proprietor of a pool cleaning and maintenance firm at our house at 5pm, so it was necessary to go off and do a bit of shopping. If we are quick we could swim before he comes. This didn't happen either! No sooner had I put my swimming costume on than Veli arrived.

Veli is an East End boy whose father was Cypriot. He is a builder by trade and decided to move out here 4 years ago when people were first beginning to show an interest in property in N Cyprus. He still has a building business but has now added the Pool Maintenance business too (and I don't doubt he has fingers in other pies too). Boy, could he talk, he told us of his garden, his well, his building projects and much, much more! His wife/partner was with him, Carol and she could hardly get a word in. His maintenance team were in the area and came and checked the pool chemicals. It was decided that more were needed and duly added. This meant that we couldn't swim until about 8pm!

We eventually got into the pool at around 10pm after our supper had settled and we enjoyed a deliciously refreshing swim.

2006-06-25T16:46:00.000+01:00

Great news from UK yesterday. Debi phoned to say that she had just brought baby Joe home from hospital. He is progressing well, almost regained his birth weight and he has passed all the pediatric tests. Needless to say, the boys are so excited to have their new brother home and Andrew is mightily relieved to have both him and Debi home.

Early yesterday morning, Jeff decided to clear a few more of the weeds and rubble from around the garden while the day was relatively cool. He decided that a bonfire would be a good way of disposing of them. It had not been lit many minutes before a neighbour, Graham, came up the road to tell him that you couldn't just light fires here because of the danger of it spreading to the surrounding dry vegetation and it was necessary to get permission from the Police first or pay a heavy fine! Ooops! He sympathised with Jeff though, he has lived here for some years and knew the difficulties of trying to establish a garden, so he offered to send his gardener up to us as he now only worked 3 days a week for him. Sure enough, later on, a little old man appeared. He spoke reasonable English and said yes he could see our problems and he would come back today and start tackling the problem for 40 YTL per day (about £11). How could we resist.

Yesterday our builder Mehmet, sent some of his men around to us to start cleaning our swimming pool, ready for filling, great news. Mehmet later appeared himself with his foreman to check that we were happy with things. Apart from filling the pool and fitting some extra railings to the edge of a patio we just had one complaint. An area of plaster on one of the outside walls had seriously cracked and it was obvious would start to fall off before long. No argument once he was shown it and agreed that his men would tackle it on Monday. He also said the water would go into our pool on Sunday, but it is now evening and there is still an empty hole. The manyana attitude prevails out here so we are sure it will happen in the next day or two, inshallah.

This morning we left the house early as we were joining a group of friends for a day out on a boat and decided we'd have time to go to the 8am Communion first, so we didn't see whether little old man had appeared until we got back in the late afternoon. Sure enough, he had made good inroads into clearing the garden, so we will see what happens tomorrow.

The boat trip was brilliant. There were 16 of us, most of whom we had met before. We sailed east out of Girne harbour, later to anchor off Turtle Beach. It really is a beach where the turtles come ashore and a team of student biologists come every year from one of the UK universities (Bristol I think) to monitor the activity. It was lovely swimming in the sea, the water was warm and so buoyant. The crew made a delicious salad lunch with grilled chicken and lovely fresh tuna that the Captain had caught the day before. A lazy couple of drinks and then we began to sail back towards Girne, stopping at Diana beach for another swim. What a great way to spend a day.

Now while the majority of the ex-pats are watching England play Ecuador, we are going to a bar that we know doesn't have TV to have our supper.

2006-06-22T15:38:00.000+01:00

We have spent the week cleaning and unpacking, organising gates for the house (no, they don't come as part of the deal), shopping for wardrobes, loungers and sun umbrellas and getting to know the neighbours. We have also found some very quaffable wine at a modest cost too - about £1 a litre.

We have also caught up with the two men from Manchester who we met on the Italy/Turkey ferry. They had hoped to catch the N Cyprus ferry the same day we had landed at Cesme. Unfortunately they were 20 minutes too late for the ticket office, despite the fact that the boat didn't sail for a further 4 hours. It meant that their wives arrived in Cyprus before they did as they flew in from Manchester the following day. The guys had the same runaround as we did on arriving in Girne, infact Brian had to go around part of the system twice as he had a motorscooter in the back of his car! He has a very nice house, back more towards the foot of the mountains than we are, but the extra height gives him some very nice views.

We spent over 2 hours in the HSBC bank, Girne this morning in order to open a local bank account. Everything takes so long because despite being computerised the systems they operate are bureaucratic.

Good news from the Kelseys today. Baby Joe is making good progress and is out of his incubator and Debi is able to start feeding him. The other boys may well be having their new brother at home before too long.

2006-06-19T09:55:00.000+01:00

16 June 2006 wıll be a very memorable day for our famıly. Not only dıd we arrıve ın Northern Cyprus but our latest grandson, Joe was born.

He was only 5lb 7ozs and hıs arrıval was not antıcıpated for a couple of weeks, but he obvıously dıdn't want to mıss any of the excıtement. He ıs beıng looked after ın the ıntensıve care unıt at the hospıtal for the tıme beıng as he ıs experıencıng some breathıng dıffıcultıes, but we feel sure ıt ıs only a matter of days and he wıll be ok. Obvıously ıt ıs a dıffıcult tıme for Debı and Andy and our thoughts and prayers have been wıth them over thıs weekend.

What of our arrıval though, the ferry, as expected, was old, uncared for and not very comfortable. Also as expected there was a bıt of a performance gettıng on board down to all the varıous offıces that had to see our varıous papers and add theır stamps, but thıs was mıld ın comparıson to what we experıenced on arrıvıng at Kyrenıa. We were on deck at 7am watchıng the coast get nearer and eventually docked at 8am on a glorıous sunny mornıng, wıth not a cloud ın the sky. Two hours later we fınally drove through the port gates, Jeff had to vısıt 4 dıfferent offıces, some twıce and some 3 tımes (must get your papers stamped ın the correct order by the partıcular offıcer!). What a performance!

It was two very excıted people who drove along the coast road that mornıng to Karşiyaka and even more excıted when we fınally opened the front door and arrıved home! (No he dıdn't carry me over the threshold!)

Sınce arrıvıng we have been unpackıng and cleanıng and meetıng some more of our neıghbours. Two couples are on the ısland at the moment who we have not met before. Ian and Carol who have a bungalow behınd ours and Lee and Tracy who have one next-door but one to us. They are both usıng them as holıday homes for the tıme beıng and we have never managed to meet up before, so ıt has been great to say hello at last.

Yestday we went to church and became proper members of the congregatıon ınstead of vısıtors and today we have been ınto Kyrenıa to start sortıng out local bank account and pay a £2 electrıcıty bıll. Hopefully we wıll have the pool people out ın the next few days to clean and fıll our pool, but ın the meantıme we are usıng Sandıe and Steph's pool, nextdoor.

2006-06-15T17:21:00.000+01:00

What an amazıng day we have had.

We left Beyşehır quıte early. Glorıous mornıng as we drove through countrysıde rıch ın wheat fıelds and olıve trees - then we began to clımb ınto the mountaıns. The road twısted and clımbed and took us through some amazıng canyons and mountaıns. Hard drıvıng but well worth ıt - we feel as though we have been soaked ın Turkey's beauty today. Almost every bend ın the road revealed somethıng more beautıful than the last.

We drove around one partıcular bend, hıgh up ın the mountaıns and wondered what we could see ın the road. We stopped to dıscover a large tortoıse slowly ploddıng hıs way across. He must have been quıte some age as he was the largest tortoıse we have seen - about 15/18 ınches long. Jeff moved hım out of danger and we went on our way.

We lunched ın a small mountaın town on chıcken doner and a sort of pıtta. Along wıth a glass of Pepsı each ıt cost 1 pound 25p for both of us! We do lıke to lıve well. After drıvıng through more wonderful countrysıde, ın the maın on good roads we arrıved ın Taşuçu at 6pm and Jeff organısed our tıckets for tonıght's ferry.

Wouldn't you belıeve that whıle we were organısıng tıckets, we met another UK couple from Wındermere headıng for Karşıyaka - they only set off last Saturday though! Some drıve.

Whıle havıng a beer a few mınutes ago I was watchıng a famıly of storks that had chosen to nest on top of a clock tower near the harbour. There were 2 young ın the nest and mum was ferryıng back and forth wıth food for them. Earlıer ın the trıp we spotted one that had made a nest on top of a telegraph pole!

The next tıme I wrıte we wıll have slept ın our own beds once more and we hope that ıt wıll not be too long before we can ınsert some photos onto the Blog.

2006-06-14T18:23:00.000+01:00

Managed to vısıt the museum ın Uşak yesterday afternoon. Some very nıce pıeces of jewellery from a Lycıan tomb fınd.

After a short rest we went out for what turned out to be great evenıng's entertaınment. Dıdn't start too well as we found ourselves ın a 'dry' restaurant (we've sınce dıscovered that the majorıty of them are here). Anyway whether ıt was my smıle or Jeff's wınk at the waıter he sent a mınıon along the street to buy us a beer to go wıth our meal. It was a very Turkısh meal wıth the maın part beıng a rather spıcy kebab but there were several unusual accompanıements - some we lıked and some we dıdn't. After we felt ın need of some more alcohol before turnıng ın for the nıght and returned to a bar we had found earlıer ın the day. We hadn't been seated for many mınutes before a gentleman came to see ıf he could speak German to us. but we declıned as we were tıred and dıdn't want to make our braıns work that hard. However we were hardly ınto the 3rd sıp of our drınks when a lady approached usıng her lıttle Englısh to fınd out where we were from and how long we were stayıng. She was joıned by a 2nd lady and they went on to ınterrogate us. ,They had lıttle Englısh and we have even less Turkısh but I had the presence of mınd to put a sheet of Englısh/Turkısh phrases ınto my bag so between us - by poıntıng to the sheet and drawıng dıagrams we spent quıte a hılarıous hour wıth them.

Thıs mornıng we set off for Beyşehır, the 3rd largest lake ın Turkey and one that we had vısıted 20 years ago and had very fond memorıes of. Beautıful scenery, great weather and a very enjoyable drıve. We found a nıce roadsıde restaurant for lunch where they looked after us very well - no problems wıth beer here. Late thıs afternoon, after drıvıng down one sıde of the lake we arrıved ın the town of Beyşehır and trıed to fınd where we had stayed before wıthout success. Over the years the town has grown and our lıttle lakesıde restaurant had been swallowed up somewhere. Anyway we have a bed for the nıght, albeıt not the the standard we have become used to, but the sheets are clean and the plumbıng works, so we wıll be ok.

Tomorrow we hope to reach Tuşuçu but as we have not pre-booked the ferry we may or may not saıl for Gırne at mıdnıght tomorrow - anythıng could happen.

A text message from Andrew thıs mornıng told us that Debı had gone ınto hospıtal as part of her waters had broken. Thıs has happened before partıcularly wıth Tom, so ıt just means that babıes arrıval ıs gettıng closer. We spoke to Debı thıs mornıng and she ıs fıne and ıs antıcıpatıng beıng sent home from hospıtal and baby to arrıve ın about 10 days tıme.

2006-06-13T12:49:00.000+01:00

Back on terra fırma after our crossıng from Italy to Turkey. Gettıng through the boat formalıtıes was not as manıc as we thought ıt mıght be and although we had to ask for a change of cabın after a fırst nıght wıth very lıttle sleep (cabın located above the propellors!) once thıs was sorted and we had a new cabın up ın the bow we were very comfortable for the rest of the tıme at sea. The boat was not too busy so thıngs lıke restaurants and bars were not too crowded.

We were able to relax and catch up wıth some readıng on the fırst day, but on the 2nd evenıng we met up wıth two men travellıng from Manchester - to guess where - Karşıyaka. Brıan has a house not far from ours and he had a frıend wıth hım to share the drıvıng. Both theır wıves were flyıng out to Cyprus to joın them later thıs week. Brıan and Bob were hopıng to do the journey ın 7 days (ıncludıng the 3 on the boat), not quıte the way we were doıng ıt. They were great company so ıt put pay to our relaxed readıng the followıng day as the sun was shınıng and we were all on the sun deck sharıng a few tales along wıth a few beers!

Thıs mornıng saw us wıth a very early start - up at 6am for a cup of tea and collectıng our thıngs together before the boat docked at 7am ın Çeşme. There was a bıt of queuıng on shore to complete formalıtıes but by 8am we were on the road out of the port and headıng for Uşak about 150 mıles due east. Nıce journey, not too busy and we have found a lovely hotel mentıoned on my 'Specıal Places to Stay ın Turkey' book. It ıs ın the centre of the large town of Uşak and has been made from a restored 18th century warehous. We have just consumed a lovely lunch of spıt roast chıcken, salad and delıcıous bread all washed down wıth a beer for a fıver for the 2 of us!

Questıon for all the boys: Sam, Josh, Wılls, Tom and Ross: what was ıt lıke to go campıng? Dıd you get to stay up late?

Questıon for Sam: We've been wonderıng now that you have lost your front teeth can you stıll suck up spaghettı?

Questıon for Josh: Are you stıll followıng where we are on your map.

2006-06-10T15:42:00.000+01:00

Thursday 8 June

After a modest breakfast we set off to find a particular hotel in a seaside town called Roseta degli Abruzzi. We had been using a book of Italy's Hotels de Logis and each one had been excellent. The Hotel del Lido here was the only one in the book for this area, so after the previous day's experience in finding what we wanted we decided to plump for this one and check in for a couple of days.

This is where we met Franco, the hotel owner. What a man, he could talk for Italy. Although alteration work was still taking place on the hotel he made us so welcome and was so proud of his half completed establishment. He could not do enough for us and he spoke excellent English, so we immediately felt very comfortable. We had a nice room with a large patio next to the garden (and not too far from the sea one way and the railway line the other - you cannot win them all!). As his dining room and kitchens were not completed he served our breakfast on our patio - what silver service for breakfast! It was great.

There was nothing remarkable about Roseta d A, it has long sandy beaches, all geared up for hundreds of sunbathers but it was still off season so we were able to wander unimpeded. We sorted our clothes out first and gave them a good airing (the bags were getting a bit smelly!). Then we had a lazy lunch of calamari at a beach cafe and spent the afternoon catching some rays of sunshine. We ate extremely well that evening in a fish restaurant where the first course was a series of fish dishes, small portions similar to a meze, they included octopus salad, fresh anchovies, oysters and prawns. Second course was an assortement of small fish and squid deep fried - a beautiful meal.

Our friend Franco recommended that we explore the interior of Abbruzzo a little and with his advice we headed for a small hilltop town that overlooked Roseta d A. It was only small but very old, and walking down its narrow streets we would turn a corner to be confronted by the most wonderful views, some down to the sea and others over the hills and others to the Gran Sasso mountains with snow covered tops. From there we went to a town called Teramo. Again an ancient centre, beautiful piazzas and lovely old buildings. We could have spent much more time there but on Franco's agenda was a visit to Citaveli de Tronto. This we could not have missed. Dominating the countryside for miles around is this huge fortress on top of the hill and the old medieval town tumbling down the sides. We have never seen such a huge fortress and still very much intact (after some resturation of course). It contained 3 huge plazas for the parading of the troops, accommodation for men and horses still intact but most striking was the size and the area it commanded. Well when we got back to Roseta it was "thank you Franco" for giving us the information for such a great day. On this little taster we know there is much more to explore in Abbruzzo so if you are looking for somewhere different for a holiday, think of this area, maybe even combine it with Florence. We can assure you of a great welcome.

The best was yet to come though. Jeff and I were getting a bit "fished out" food-wise, so we went on a serious search for some red meat - and it was not easy to find. We didn't want to drive and many of the smarter restaurants doing local food were just out of town, however we spotted a sign for a restaurant at the back of the town. I wrote what we had in a little note book I carry, because I would not have been able to remember it all. Here goes: First complimentary aperitifs of Spumanti and Tomato Bruschetta.

We shared the started which consisted of little portions of:
Apple Slices on Cheese
Tomatoe sliced with soft cheese
Ham rolled around grapefruit
Rice Mixture
Bressano ham
Tomatoe and sieved egg on bruschetta
Proscuittio wrapped around nectarine
Sweet grated carrot
Potato, cheese and ham slices
Ricotta & herbs
Courgette wrapped around soft cheese
Flagelot beans on bruschetta
Spinach with grapefruit
all served with the most delicious olive bread.

Our main course was the most delicious entrecote steak with a mixed salad
and all this was washed down with some gorgeous red wine at EU4 per carafe!
No we didn't have room for pudding..............

2006-06-10T15:30:00.000+01:00

It is now Saturday 10th June and we have just arrived in Ancona. We experienced a few problems with the Internet Cafe in Roseta degli Abruzzi where we have recently been staying. It had erratic opening hours, so as a consequence we were rather frustrated over making our postings.

Anyway, to continue our story from Mattinata. The next morning, after picking up supplies from the local supermercator we went inland and up, through the most wonderful countryside of forest and mountains to the tip of Italy's spur, a town called Vieste. A pretty port and old world town. Mixed day of showers and sunshine found us driving up the east coast, past mile after mile of golden sands on our right and to our left snow-capped mountains, it was a really great drive.

We were aiming for anywhere along the coast that took our fancy, but it seemed that hotels were few and hard to find. Although the coast was geared up for holidaymakers. They either took their own accommodation with them (loads of campsites) or else rented an apartment - of which there were hundreds. Eventually, as the evening was drawing in and we had travelled for quite some time, in desperation we saw a sign for a hotel off the beaten track upon a hillside and checked in for the night there. The hotel was small but friendly and the views in all directions were fabulous. We were given a simple but adequate dinner there, with what has now become the norm - a carafe of wine and after an hour with our books we were soon off to bed.

2006-06-10T15:21:00.000+01:00

We have been away from the Internet facilities for a few days so while this could be a mamouth entry, I will break it down into sections to make it more manageable.

Saturday 3 June

After completing the laundry on the first day in Sorrento, as the sun was shining we decided to explore the coast a little more. To save any further driving we took the local bus to Positano on the recommendation of an American couple we met in our hotel. This proved to be great fun as the bus twisted and turned along the cliff-side. The driver was taking no prisoners, so all oncoming traffic scattered out of his way. Positano is a small village built up the cliffside from a tiny port and beach below. It is really pretty to see all the white-washed houses tumbling down the hillside. We meandered downhill in the sunshine and wandered about before taking the shorter and less steep circuit out of the village back up to the main road and the bus back to Sorrento. By the time the bus arrived there was a bus load and a half waiting to board it. The driver was a real star and did his best to get everyone on, encouraging everyone to squash up and apart from his knee I believe every other space on the bus was occupied. Then it was foot down and away back to Sorrento - quite an experience!

That evening we dined in the hotel which was located like an eagles nest high up on the cliffs looking out over the Gulf of Naples and down onto Sorrento below. We could not have imagined a more delightful place to be.

On Sunday, the 4th June we decided to have a cultural day and visit the sites of Ercolanum and Pompeii.

We took the hotel shuttle bus into Sorrento and then caught the local train, first to Ercolanum. The day started well with the sun shining on us and as we had made an early start there were not too many people at the site. We really enjoyed wandering the narrow streets and exploring the villas of the wealthy who had lived in that area. Many of the buildings were pretty well intact and there were mosaics and wall paintings intact in many of them (of course the best bits were in the museums). On the way out of the site we bumped into a local parade - Italy down the ages were represented. The parade was led by a centurion in his chariot, then Byzantine Italy, 19 century Italy and then down through the 20th century with flappers, post WW2, and 60s. Jeff managed to catch the eye of a medieval lady in a carriage and she gave him a carnation!

After a bite to eat we caught the train again, just a couple of stops down the line and we were in Pompeii. The enormity of the site was quite mind blowing, plus the fact that there is still much more to be discovered. Everything was on a much bigger scale here, making it less intimate. There were huge temples to Appollo, the forum area and surrounding shops being interesting and we found 2 open air theatres plus a huge amphitheatre (not quite Coliseum size). During the afternoon the weather changed and mount Vesuvius disappeared from view beneath thunder clouds - we had obviously chosen the wrong gods to favour. We had to shelter from the rain for a while but there was a convenient arch or two nearby.

It was two weary people who got off the train in Sorrento and it decided to rain again so in our dash for the hotel bus we got very wet - but it had been a good day and we had all evening to enjoy our view, even if the clouds did roll around Vesuvius across the bay.

Monday 5th June

Monday morning dawned bright and clear and we had a lazy breakfast before packing up again and set off around the Sorrento peninsuar towards Salerno. The whole of that coastline is so pretty. We went through Positano again, a quick coffee stop in Amalfi and through, above and around numerous other little cliffside villages.

Salerno was a great disappointment. A bit scruffy, busy, industrial port, so we headed further south, keeping to the coast road to another historical site I had read about - Paestum. This turned out to be wonderful. We found a hotel immediately opposite the entrance and arrived early enough for Jeff to have a swim in the pool (I paddled - it was a bit chilly for me). Then it was across the road to the site of 3 most wonderful Greek temples, probably more complete than the Acropolis. Obviously a site not known to many outside Italy and although it is cared for, not a lot of money had been spent on it (unlike Pompeii). It was magical wandering around it in the late afternoon sunshine with only a few people about. We were glad we had made the effort to come that little bit further south.

The next morning we retraced our journey to Salerno and then across Italy from west to east. This journey took us through a range of mountains and then across a vast wheatland plain. It took about 3 hours and we decided to make a slight detour and visit a castle I had read about.

Castelo del Monte was interesting for the fact that everything about it was 8-sided. The body of the castle was built in an octagone shape and there were 8 octagonal towers on each corner and all the internal rooms were octagonal too. It was built around the time of the Crusaders and had been occupied until around the 17 century when it fell into neglect. The Italian Government have been instrumental in restoring it in recent years and now it stands magnificent on a hill overlooking the countryside for many miles around.

Then we drove to Trani on the coast - another town with a large cathedral unusually built right on the side of the port. It had an interesting old centre to the town and it rained there too! We drove up the coast to the area on the map that looks like the spur on the boot of Italy - the Gargano National Park. Here we stayed in a small town call Mattinata in a hotel called The Veranda, that overlooked the sea.

2006-06-03T11:05:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, 2nd June was the Day of the Republic of Italy. We had originally planned to visit the Colliseum but thought we would check with the garage staff where Jeff had left the car, that we could collect it around 1pm and make our departure from Rome then. That was when we discovered the garage would be closed after 10am until that evening as everyone was going to the National Day parade. This was to take place just in front of the Colliseum! A rapid change of plan was called for. We decided to load the car there and forego the visit to the Colliseum. This worked to our advantage because all the roads were so quiet, we were able to leave Rome without any stress.

Once on the autostrade we were heading for Naples. To start with it was an easy journey and we decided to make a break and visit the site of the battle of Monte Cassino. This is where we first met traffic jams. These were not for the battle site and British War Cemetary but because Monte Cassino is in a most beautiful valley and local Italians were taking advantage of the holiday and were visiting the abbey at the top of the mountain. We went to the Military Cemetery, which was very similar to others around the world, except that this has Monte Cassino as it's backdrop. What amazed us most was the number of Commonwealth soldiers who are buried there. We spotted some from India, Pakistan, Canada, S Africa, N Zealand, Cyprus etc. So many of the old regiments I have been dealing with over the years were also represented there.

Moving further south using the main roads and autostrade we eventually reached the Gulf of Naples. Due to a misunderstanding by both of us on how the road system was on the peninsular, we travelled cross country, down little lanes and villages until we reached Sorrento. A popular holiday spot with many hotels, we had booked one that described itself as being located 5kms above the town of Sorrento with uninterrupted views of Vesuvius and the Bay. They offered a shuttle bus service to town and this gave Jeff peace of mind regarding the car being interferred with. We found a sign pointing us onto the winding cliff side road and drove up and up and up until we were almost in the cloud base - oh yes, I forgot to mention that as soon as we hit Naples and that most beautiful of coast lines, the heavens opened and we were in the middle of a terrific thunderstorm!

Eventually we found our Hotel Il Nido. It is in a most fabulous location. From our room and the restaurant we can see the whole of the Bay and we look directly across to Vesuvius. We woke this morning to gloriious sunshine and the view from Capri all the way around to Sorrento below us are simply breathtaking. Well worth the effort of finding this hotel. We have come into town on the shuttle bus and while I write this Jeff is watching his smalls go around in a Laundromat. Then we are off to explore a bit of the coast.

2006-06-01T19:14:00.000+01:00

Today is the 1st June and this is Rome .. makes you think of sunshine and heat doesn't it. Well after leaving our hotel at 8am and taking the Metro to the Vatican City, we joined a very long queue for the Museum. Before we reached the ticket office we had to resort to buying an umbrella from a street trader. It threw it down. We had seen the weather forecast promising rain, but hey, this is Rome and its summer.

Anyway it didn't spoil our day, we spent the whole morning and more in the museum, it has so many wonderful things to see and not only are there wonderful artefacts, but the rooms and the buildings themselves are fantastic. Those of you who have been will know that the circuit around the museum ends by taking you to the Cistene Chapel, which is a whole breath-taking experience in itself. The whole experience was worth every minute of the queuing and the soaking we got. It will be an experience we will remember for ever.

After a short respite with a glass of vino blanco we ventured on again to St Peter's Square, where we joined yet another queue to enter St Peter's Basilica. We were behind a group of English catholics from Coventry which was amusing. The Basilica is just awesome and despite all the tour groups being conducted around, we plugged ourselves into our audio guides and lost ourselves in the enormity and splendour of the many wonderful things inside. What an age it must have been to have lived through when Michealangelo and his contempories were alive, so much talent existed. One of the surprising things we found was the grave of the last of the Stuarts - the famous Pretender and his wife have their memorials there.

All in all it was a trip of nearly 9 hours duration and do our feet know it! Fortunately there is a convenient bar just opposite our hotel where we could refresh the inner man at least. We had intended to be back sufficiently early to start downloading some pictures but alas this was not the case - maybe tomorrow.

2006-05-31T19:34:00.000+01:00

We have seriously travelled around Rome today, both by bus and foot! We started on an open top hop-on and hop-off tour bus, did the circuit of all the sights and then decided where we would start our explorations. While we were on the bus we were taken to St Peter's Square and were in time to see the Pope giving and audience to the crowds there.

We got off the bus in the northern part of the ancient city and then explored numerous churches, basilicas and squares, including the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon and the famous Tivil Fountain and many many more besides. We were able to compare the difference between the column of Marcus Aurelian and that of Trajan (a bit like Rameses II and Seti). We saw some of the archelogical remains of Augustus, but despite all this there is still much more to see.

Tomorrow we plan to visit the Vatican City, but tonight my feet are sore and I want to relax!

2006-05-30T19:38:00.000+01:00

Tuesday today, and we head for Rome. First along the coastal road and we found a nice spot by the sea to have our picnic. The sea was rough enough to have surfed on I think. After lunch we took a deep breath and hit the autostrade again and attacked Rome.

We knew it was going to be fraught but based on past experience, it was nowhere near as difficult as finding your way through Paris!! Yes, of course, we got lost. But from hitting the ring road to finding our hotel took us only about an hour, and as our hotel is in the centre of Rome we feel it was a pretty good achievement. The car is now safely locked away in a subterranean garage, so Jeff can relax and enjoy sightseeing now.

We plan to go on a Rome by bus trip tomorrow to get our bearings and then we will have a better idea of what we will want to see in more detail. We did manage to visit the Santa Maria Maggiore this afternoon and a basilica near the Plazza del Republica that has intrigued us, but we cannot find too much information about it. As soon as we are able to publish some photographs we will and you will see why it was so intriguing.

2006-05-30T19:22:00.000+01:00

What a find the house we stayed at in Longeville. Mary and Greig made us feel so welcome, it was just like staying with old friends. There were amazing views to be enjoyed from the house and garden across the Ardennes - it was a really lovely spot.

After having a lovely meal at a Lakeside restaurant on Saturday evening, a truly fitting farewell to France, we took our leave about 10am and headed through the Alps (and I do mean through as there were countless tunnels). The longest one that took us to the Italian border was the Frejus Tunnel - we think about 22Kms long! The sun shone all the way I am pleased to say.

we stopped for a picnic lunch en route, enjoying views of snow-capped mountains. However, all did not go well when we reached the coast. We arrived in Savona around 4pm and planned to drive along the coastal road till we found some accommodation. We had hardly gone half a mile when we came to a grinding halt. Not overly suspicious at first as the traffic was heavy but when we had only completed half a mile an hour later we knew we were in trouble. Seemingly there had been a very serious accident somewhere in the area and the whole of the coast was grid-locked! We ended up being stuck in that jam for nearly 3 hours before we found a way out. On the lighter side, as we were crawling along past the docks we saw this huge cruise liner loading. It was the largest boat I had ever seen and its name "Costa Fortuna". No I havn't made it up.

We did find a really nice hotel at the end of all this that turned out to be part of a group call Logis d'Italia, so we are now on the look out for more of them. We met another English couple staying at the hotel, Chris and Susan from South Wales. They were both disabled, Susan in a wheelchair, but were about to go on board HMS Nelson for a week's sailing as part of the crew. They had travelled to Genoa by train and were quite an intrepid pair as nothing seemed to daunt them.

The next day, Monday was much more enjoyable. We meandered along the coastal road around the Porto Fino area. It is such a beautiful coastline and again the sun shone. After lunch we hit the autostrade and travelled down past Pisa to a little coastal resort called Orbotello. Found another Logis d'Italia and had a pleasant evening there.

2006-05-27T17:08:00.001+01:00

It is now Day 3 of our trip. We had a wet run to Bayeux on Thursday, both from our tears at saying goodbye and the weather.

Stayed in a lovely old manor house owned by a retired Col & his wife; they were charming & we were soon swapping war stories.

Yesterday we visited the old town of Bayeux and went into the cathedral, first started by the Normans around the same time as William was doing his conquering. We then had to see the famous tapestry which was quite amazing. The rest of the day was spent driving to Bourges in central France. We arrived in time to visit their cathedral, located on a hill in the centre of the old medieval city. We were both so impressed by the quality & quantity of the beautiful stained glass windows there.

A mere Etap hotel was our bed for last night, but now, Saturday, we are not far from Grenoble staying in a lovely old house perched on a hillside overlooking the Rhone valley; A view of Mount Blanc is possible from the garden!

More news soon.

2006-05-24T15:49:00.000+01:00

Where have the weeks gone? I was so full of good intentions of publishin monthly reports but I did not reckon with how many other things we were trying to fit into our lives.

Since Christmas we have been to a friend's wedding in the Luxor Hotel, Las Vegas in February - a story in itself that we will save for another day. We visited most of the hotels on the Strip, they are like Disneyland for adults!! I think The Venetian and The Wynn were my favourites but they were all pretty amazing and I have never seen so many slot machines and gaming tables in one place - it was mind blowing. We did manage a trip to the Grand Canyon which was the highlight of the week. We travelled by small plane, helicopter, boat and bus - so we saw this amazing spectacle from every angle.

Two days back from Las Vegas and we made a very quick visit to Stoke-on-Trent where my cousins had arranged a surprise birthday lunch for my Aunty Betty, who was celebrating her 80th Birthday - and was on extremely good form. It was a superb occasion and we were glad to have made the effort even though we were off to NC the next morning!

This was just to be a short visit over to North Cyprus (NC) to check on some of the final snagging on the bungalow and fit one or two items and do a little unpacking prior to our final move out there. We were overwhelmed by the size of the weeds that had grown in the spring sunshine. While we were wondering how to tackle it our local shepherd came down the lane with his flock, so we invited them in! Well, they ate some of the weeds, trampled on a few more and dropped smelly poo all over my nice new block paving! Nice idea - not to be repeated!! We finally solved the problem by employing two young men from a nearby garden centre and for Â£35 they cleared the lot beautifully, leaving us time to get on with other things.

Aunty B (left)

Tackling the weeds!

2006-05-24T15:08:00.000+01:00

While working we had a company car, so we had to go shopping for a car for ourselves. I left the choice of model etc to Jeff and he has chosen a Kia Sedona - plenty of space for luggage and very, very comfortable. However, the deal he took with our local supplier was to buy a pre-registered vehicle,(a saving of a few thousand £s). Tinted windows were a pre-requisite, however, there was no colour choice, so now we have The Hearse! Yes, black, tinted windows and quite large.

Once we were retired we spent a few days at the beginning of this month visiting relatives in the Midlands and North of England. This was a great opportunity to test The Hearse - it is like driving two armchairs - we are well pleased with it. My sister and brother-in-law were first on the list, they live on the edge of the Peak District National Park, near Chatsworth. Who should be passing through Chatsworth at the same time were our future neighbours in NC, Sandie and Steph. They had just got back from NC and were spending a few days in their motorcaravan, so it was great catching up with things in Karsiyaka.

Jeff's brother was next on our itinerary and while we were there Jeff was able to renew his acquaintance with hiniecece, Michelle, whom he had not seen for about 30 years. Then it was over the 'border' from Yorkshire to Lancashire where we spent some time with his sister, Jean in Burnley. Turning south again it was time to visit Stoke-on-Trent, my home town, to give big hugs to my Aunty Betty. She was very excited when I explained how she might visit us in NC. (She feels uncertain coping with airports on her own, so we have an opportunity in Sep/Oct for her to travel out with me and return with Ian and family at the end of their holiday). It will be a good time for her temperature-wise too.

Our round-robin trip culminated with an overnight stay with 2 of our dearest friends, Maureen and Frank Roberts. They have been friends since school days and we have the kind of friendship that although there have been huge gaps over the years when we have not seen each other, the minute we meet the threads soon pick up again. We had a great time with them and look forward to seeing them again in the sunshine.

2006-05-24T14:11:00.000+01:00

We were ready to finish work when the time came and completed the 'winding down' period with a satisfying sense of achievement of jobs well done. We have been wined and dined as is appropriate, infact the whole retirement process was very liquid! Lovely presents from everyone and very many hugs forcing that tear out of my eye that I promised wouldn't happen and now 'D' Day (Departure) is approaching fast.

2006-05-24T12:04:00.000+01:00

Which way?

This last weekend has been farewell to family and friends. Our son, Ian, Sharon and his boys, Sam and Wills came up from Wiltshire and we all joined up with Debi, Andrew and their boys, Joshua, Tom and Ross for a lovely weekend together. On Sunday, despite the English weather, we joined about 16 of our friends for lunch at a nearby pub which overlooked the marina. What should have been a lovely setting was lashed with wind and rain, but despite this it was a happy occasion.

Since then there has been frantic packing going on in the Lloyd household. Jeff has been doing a bit of fretting about how he is to get everything in the car, while I have been saying he should just concentrate on heavy and awkward things, anything else could be put into a suitcase on future trips.

We are booked on the 12.15pm ferry out of Dover tomorrow, 25th May, sail to Calais and then turn right. We have planned our first stop to be Bayeux as neither of us have seen the famous tapestry. Then we will head south through France, into Italy where we will spend some time in the Eternal City, then down to the Amalfi coast, taking in Pompeii and/or Heracleum before crossing to the east coast and exploring the Puglia region. We have a dead-line of 10th June to be in Ancona to catch the midnight ferry to Cesme in Turkey. This journey will take 3 nights on board and the boat will sail through the Corinth Canal which is why we have chosen it. It only sails once a week, so it's pretty important we are there on time. Once in Turkey, we shall drive due east for about 300 miles before turning south. As we have no dead-lines from there on we will stop and start as the fancy takes us. We are planning to visit the area of Turkey's 3rd largest lake - Beysehir. We first visited this area some 20 years ago when we spent a holiday in a hired motorcaravan. No doubt we will see some changes on the way.

I guess we shall be arriving in Girne (Kyrenia) around the 17th June. Meanwhile, we shall endeavour to update this Blog as we go on our travels.

2005-12-06T20:25:00.000+01:00

December 2005

A & J

Where has this year gone?! It has been quite a year for us, to say the least. We have continued to enjoy the excitement of visits to our bungalow in N Cyprus which was completed earlier this year. However, our hopes of spending a summer holiday there were not to be as we’ve had to wait a long time for electricity and water to be connected.

Jeff and I celebrated our 60th birthdays this year and as a treat to ourselves we went on a wonderful trip to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands. However, before we could make our escape our children had other plans. Debi and Ian, after much planning and conniving, managed to spring a surprise party on us. It was a superb occasion, people were there from every aspect of our lives: immediate family of course and other relatives from all round the country, army and civilian friends, old and new neighbours, work colleagues past and present, people we had not seen for quite some time making it a fabulous evening which spilled over into the rest of the weekend.

As for our South American adventure we spent two weeks visiting cities and towns, rain forests, volcanoes and lush, beautiful countryside throughout Ecuador and then a further week cruising the Islands. We saw so many amazing sights and took so many photographs I have produced a separate section just to give you a flavour of all we saw. We crossed the Equator several times during our travels and experienced every kind of climate. Part of our trip included a 3-day stay in the rainforest. We had travelled by coach over pretty rough terrain to get into the area and then go by canoe to reach our lodgings. Although there was no electricity, our stay was quite comfortable. We were issued with wellies and oil lamps on arrival! (We really needed the wellies as underfoot was very squelchy!). It was here I celebrated my birthday and even had a cake with candles!

Over last winter Jeff and I took the decision that our house in NC was too nice to just enjoy for occasional holidays and after spending time doing a few calculations we agreed that if we worked until Spring 2006 we could afford to take early retirement and move out there fairly permanently. So the first stage of this plan was to sell our bungalow in Kent. We put it on the market at the beginning of February and were lucky enough to sell within a week. Debi offered us a temporary home with her, so once we returned from South America it was a busy time spent packing up our home. Not the easiest of tasks as we had to decide whether things were going to NC, Debi’s or ‘the tip’! Meanwhile we had to apply for planning permission to have a conservatory built onto Debi’s house, this was to become our dining room, we also converted part of her garage to become our bedroom, the utility room to a kitchen and then decorated it all. We couldn’t have accomplished all this were it not for all the help Debi’s husband, Andrew gave us. The great move took place in early July and it was a strange feeling watching the container lorry swallow up most of our home and send it on its way to Cyprus. Unfortunately, not everything was ready for us at Debi’s house but it was not a problem thanks to some great friends who helped out, one couple let us use their house while they were away, another stored some of our kit and by the end of the July we were comfortably installed in our new home. It is cosy but adequate in the short term and we get to see 3 of our grandsons every day.

August saw us welcoming the container down our very dusty lane in N Cyprus, and we were soon reunited with our things in our home in the sun. Most of it is stored in our garage until we are there and can unpack properly but it has now became more difficult to close the door and return to UK.

In the midst of all the house-moving we received an invitation to one of Her Majesty’s Garden Parties. It was a sunny July day, albeit a bit blustery, which caused the ladies a few problems with their hats. Not only were the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh present but Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall along many other Royals. As well as being able to Royal watch and do some frock spotting we had a delicious afternoon tea, and chance to wander in the grounds. We now have a few more special memories to take away with us, it was truly a lovely occasion.

At work, the Army Benevolent Fund were involved in the 60th anniversary celebrations of the end of WWII in St James’s Park. We had a stand along with many other Service Charities and met many WWII veterans and a few of the great and the good such as Camilla and General Sir Mike Jackson. Sadly, the latter end of this week was marred by the horrendous bombing of the Tube and on the bus.

Unfortunately we have not been able to see very much of our son Ian and his family in Edinburgh this year, but the good news is they moved back to Wiltshire just a few weeks ago, much easier to visit. This change has come about as Ian has been promoted onto the Board of Directors at Lloyds TSB and his job has changed. We are very proud of him. At the first opportunity I went down to see them. The boys are great and they have a lovely home just outside Salisbury. We have a lot of catching up to do before we leave UK.

Throughout the year Jeff has been coaching his successor and I mine. We are both counting the days until 30 April when we retire. Our plan then is to drive overland, making a holiday of our journey out to N Cyprus. No doubt we shall be spending part of the Christmas holidays planning our route. We anticipate arriving in N Cyprus in June. Initially we expect the family will be joining us for the school holidays, but we shall look forward to having visits from our friends too.

This time last year Ross, grandson number 5 had just arrived. Well, he is doing fine, a really big boy now and a great time-waster in the nicest possible way, as they all are. He is just taking his first steps and probably has the loudest voice of them all!

Preparations for Christmas are well underway and we shall be spending it in Wiltshire with the whole family together - it should prove to be lively.

2005-11-27T15:37:00.000+01:00

In September 2003 Jeff and I made a decision to buy a home in the sun. Northern Cyprus is the place we chose. We felt that politically things were changing for the better, the climate is good, the scenery beautiful, the Cypriots charming and there is an English C of E church in Girne (Kyrenia) where we have been made very welcome. The pace of life is still very gentle and relaxed and there were plenty of ex-pats living there enjoying a good life.
Trips out there in recent years had refreshed our memories of 30 years ago, yes, there have been changes but the Cyprus we knew was still there, unlike in the south where tourism has been allowed to develop uncontrolled and spoilt some special places. We decided to purchase some land, west of Kyrenia and have a bungalow built on it. When completed it will have 4 double bedrooms to accommodate all the family plus a swimming pool and gardens. Olive trees surround the site and there will be 5 other bungalows adjacent to us. From the roof top terrace we will be able to see mountains behind us and the sea 600 yards away.

Our bungalow