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.

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.

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!