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.