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.
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