Patti, 0ne of the ladies in our weekly restaurant group, had decided that a boat trip was a good idea, as her daughter was visiting with her 11 month old son, so we collected a couple of other lady friends on our way down and boarded at 10 a.m. for a trip up the coast, lunch on board and a couple of swims. The sea is in fact warmer than Pat & Bryan’s pool at the moment, so that was quite enjoyable.

A good day out and young Nathan really enjoyed himself and have to say was as good as gold all day long. He never stops smiling and seems to enjoy everything .

Joan just loves being out on boats and in the sun.

He has this sort of smug smile on his face all day.

See told you it wasn’t cold.

 

Yasmin, a friend of ours, who grows and sells plants at The Bamboo Market brought round two lovely cacti today. we had been explaining to her about a cactus plant we had at the old house, growing in an old wheelbarrow. She said that she thought that she had some at home and then called us to say, I am bringing them to you today as they will start to flower tonight and the flowers will be gone again in 24 hours. True to form they appeared, flowered and are quite magnificent. we will have to wait a few months before any more flowers appear.

Lovely flowers which are only short lived.

No church for us today. Joan’s knee is all swollen up again so we decided that sitting there on those small chairs with no space, was not a good idea,

Chance to look at the weekend paper and see what is being reported. The first headline that springs out is “Turkey optimistic about island solution” Now that strikes me as something that wants a hell of a lot of negotiation. The Greek Cypriots and the Turkish Cypriots do not get on too well it would seem and because there are more Greeks in the South, how long before they are running the whole, which is what they always wanted. Secondly, why would this side want to saddle itself with the debt incurred in the South and maybe being part of the Euro, seems strange to me.

Another headline reads “Water used to cut fatalities”. The idea seems to be to put 50 polyethylene barriers, filled with water, at junctions and fronting the ends of central reservations, to cushion motorists in the event of a collision. Obviously a good idea, tested elsewhere, but why not go back to the drawing board and try education at drivng school time and make the test much more rigorous?

Big problems looming at government level with a possible vote of No confidence in the current government parties, so maybe we will see another general election soon.

Two British women tried to smuggle 623 packs of cigarettes and 300 packs of tobacco, bought here in the North, out through Larnaca airport to the UK. They were caught and fined 2,000 euros, plus I assume the goods were confiscated. They could have made 8,000 euros profit in UK. Oh dear should have maybe gone out through Ercan as they are slightly less observant there, or maybe not tried smuggling anyway.

Finally it appears that nurses are openly smoking around the government hospitals here. Regulations prohibit this of course, but nobody seems to apply the rules or fines which are possible. The ministry has been made aware on previous occasions but seems to prefer to ignore the matter. Oh dear, whatever next?

Having exhausted the newspaper this week we decided to go down to Silver Rocks for a late lunch, guess what we met up with Tony and Humaz there so after a nice lunch we ended up sitting out on our terrace for the rest of the afternoon, enjoying the glorious weather, good company and a little Raki.

Well I made it back, complete with my suitcase this time, which was a great relief as I had to pack Joan’s new laptop in the hold luggage as it would not fit into my hand baggage.

Have to say that the late night flight out of Amsterdam was good because it allowed me to do some last minute shopping and make one more visit to the hospital. On the downside, arriving in to Istanbul at 3 A.M. and having to wait for a 6 A.M. flight on to Cyprus was not very nice. There was one coffee bar open which was a great relief but unfortunately the flight was also 30 minutes late arriving to add to the misery. Anyway, Joan was there to meet me and I took to my bed for a couple of hours just so that I could stay awake until the evening. Joan had decided that an early night was essential so had planned for us to go to The Lodge for a plate of lamb chops with salad and a bottle of local red. Hit the pillow at around 9.30 and slept right through for 12 hours, even the cat jumping on the bed didn’t disturb me.

This week has been sort of catch up. You would not believe how quickly the weeds have grown even those just seeded in the gravel. It seems that we have had a few heavy downpours whilst I have been away and then some warm sunshine, ideal growing conditions. Anyway an extra strong mix in the spray machine should fix them.

On Thursday night the gang had organised to go to The Acmenya restaurant in Alsancak, a nice group of 10 of us, which pleased Ali the owner immensely.

Friday evening Joan had organised to go to a Lady’s night at The Black Olive, arranged before she knew my return date. She enjoys these evenings with many of her friends who also go to the keep fit classes. I was left to enjoy a dinner on my own, lovely.

Saturday morning already and need to go to the local market to visit the book store, got through lots of my books whilst I was in Holland. Before we went, I was getting the breakfast table sorted out on the upstairs terrace, when I spotted this 2 meter black snake hurrying across the gravel and going down into the ravine. Managed to get this pic for you.

These snakes are not dangerous but at full size get to 2.5 meters. You can see the head curled round on this one.

Cold wet and quite horrible is all we have had since our day out at the Keukenhof Park, so very glad we did it on that day. We all three commented on the considerable number of Japanese visitors we saw there, all walking round with their I-Pads and fancy cameras. As many of these people are just brought in for special pre booked visits, if their visit was organised for one of the last few days they must have got very wet and cold.

As my main reason for being over here is to give Co some support, the weather is not too important. What is important is the considerable improvement in Co’s condition since I arrived. He has put on weight and is coping with his daily physio treatment. As I only have two more days here now I feel that the whole trip has been good, but am looking forward to getting home again, even if it’s only for some warmth. If all goes well I could be back here in early July, after Joan and I get back from South Africa.

Today I went with Kitty and Malou to the Keukenhof Park. If any of you have not been to this fantastic flower park, which is only open from the last week of March until the last week of May every year, then I would seriously advise you to make the effort if you are in Europe. This place has got to at least equal the Chelsea Flower show and is laid out in a huge park where there are more tulips than you have ever seen in your life. I will put some of the pictures taken here below so that you can see for yourself.

Just beautiful.

Whole blocks of colour.

Planted to look like a river.

Tulips in multi colours in a flower bed with Hyacinths.

All the same colour range but different shades.

This lake had 5 pairs of quite friendly swans.

All the spring blossom was also out which added to the beauty of the whole.

Some tulips had so many petals that they looked more like chrysanthemums.

Enough tulips. We walked around the park for about 3 hours and then had a small snack before going into some of the speciality tents. It’s only fair that I also show you a couple of picks of my companions, Kitty and her daughter Malou.

I think the discussion was, “shall we have a hot dog or a sandwich with warm ham”

The decision was a sandwich with warm ham, so that the duck in this pond could have some bread.

A couple more pics that you just have to see.

In this pavilion there were orchids of every colour. Just beautiful.

This one was the most stunning colour. Just could not resist a close up shot.

 

I do like to go down to the seaside. I was invited out with Kitty and Malou to go to Noordwijk on sea for a day on the beach.  We left at around 9 o’clock together with Malou’s friend Laura. A quick stop at the supermarket for some drinks and snacks. It was a beautiful sunny day and my regret was that I had not packed any shorts and other beach things but still managed to come away with a a nice red face.

On the way there we had to drive past the tulip fields near the Keukenhoff display park and if this weather holds I will go there this week because it is many years since I visited and the opportunity to take photos are endless.

Some of these tulip fields are quite glorious.

When we got down to the beach area we carried a couple of folding chairs for Kitty and myself so we settled down in the sunshine and the girls went off wandering. Eventually they came back having found the shops and declared that they had found a couple of very nice summer tops that they fancied, so guess that we are going to have to head off that way before we go home. Meantime here are a few beach pics for you.

Les Girl’s enjoying the sunshine.

A very posh looking Beach restaurant.

Kitty and the girls looking for shells along the waterline.

Around 2 o’clock we put the stuff back in the car and walked in to town along the shore road. It was actually getting quite busy around by now and after much trying on etc in the shop that they had found in the morning, the girl’s were able to come away with matching tops and shorts. Lucky for me there was a very convenient seat outside the shop in the sunshine. We rounded the trip off with a portion of chips each before heading off home.

After getting some dinner I went and collected Kitty and we went to see Co in the hospital. He had other visitors during the afternoon and the physio had been working him hard during the morning. He is improving more by the day and he clearly has an end date in his head which has got him more positive.

Joan has sent me a scanned cutting from last weeks paper which is an article about the very narrow decision by the government in the south to agree the bailout package. The package was passed by just two votes and means that one bank will be closed down after absorbing the major losses and the other large bank will be using depositors money to cover Euro losses. This means losses of up to 60% of uninsured depositors money, hundreds of personal accounts will be effected and so far I have not heard anything about how people will re repaid in the future. There were big demonstrations outside the parliament building calling the members thieves and demanding that Greek Cyprus gets out of the Euro.

The weather here is still quite sunny and warm. Have spent the weekend setting up Joan’s new laptop which I have bought for her. It hasWindows 8 as an operating system, not sure about that but it will be interesting. Got things like Skype working OK and have set up her Word and Excell programs. One of the reasons for buying this is because her very old Dell laptop is apart from being very slow is rapidly running out of memory. I know I could have bought more memory and upgraded for a lot less money, but this is nice and feel sure she will be happy with the extras that she gets with it.

Got my washing done and outside in the sunshine so went for a walk along the pathway. In weather like this one can only say it is nice to be back. There follows a number of pics which I feel you would like to see just to agree with me that this is a lovely place to be at this time of the year, pity it gets so B….. cold in winter.

This heron must have been standing in the tall grass at the waters edge and wanted to get away when I came past.

This footpath and cycle path runs all the way at the back of the village form one end to another.

Anybody fancy living here. If you wanted a house on the other side of the road then it’s price would be three times higher.

People have their own small boats moored at the bottom of the garden.

This is the village road and maybe a good reason to have a cycle track at the back of the houses.

Have made a decision to come back to Cyprus next Monday as the prices after the holiday period drop lots. Unfortunately the Monday flight means I will be arriving in Istanbul airport at 3.00 a.m. and leaving again at 5.30 for the onward connection, just have to get Joan out of bed nice and early to collect me.

Joan has been out again with the gang, this time to The Blue Door restaurant in Alsancak.

Looks like most of the gang were there.

Apparently they had a really nice meal and a great evening out. Not a restaurant that I have ever been to, so guess I will have to try it when I get back. Joan said that she had a meal that was lamb and beef with tomato, served on a metal plate which was perched on a bucket of hot coals. Sounds a different way to keep food hot.

As the weather here has still been nice I have been going out walking, which is great here as it is very flat. There is a path which goes across the lake and I went across there this morning. It is possible to go right across but I turned back after a couple of miles as I had spent lots of time taking pics which I now show you below.

Nieuwkoop Lake in early May 2013

Joan and I really miss this life on all the lakes and rivers throughout Holland.

What to do on a nice day when you have retired.

All along the pathway there is an abundance of wild flowers.

This lift bridge is half way across the lake and there to allow high things through.

If they need to move equipment around on the lake, they just use a floating platform with a boat to tow it.

It was so nice to be able to walk around and see all these things on such a warm day. Later I went to visit Co and found him quite cheerful as the Physio had been to see him and suggested that he could be out of there by the end of June, so guess it has given him a target to aim for. I said that we get back from our South Africa holiday around then so could come back over and stay with him for a couple of weeks to give him some support, he thought that to be a brilliant idea. We will have to see as they are saying because he lives alone he will need some early support.

Nice warm sunny day here in Holland but clearly Joan has had a very warm day yesterday back in Cyprus. She went off with a number of friends on her first boat trip of the summer season and sent me this picture just so that I don’t forget what the weather can be like there.

Clearly sent to make me just slightly jealous of the weather missed.

Co had lots of visitors today, especially from Nijmegan. Henny, his wife who died 18 months ago, would have been celebrating a birthday today, so some of her family came especially over to see him. I waited until the evening to go to visit and clearly he was upset and said things like “I really miss her lots”. Maybe all the immediate family coming to visit was a bit too much for him and just serves to remind him that as and when he does go home, he will be alone again. Whilst I was there the young lady who is his immediate neighbour here also came to visit and that cheered him up a little.