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Our
adventures in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus continue....
  
Things change so quickly. This morning we awoke to bright sun and temperatures of 20 degrees (that's 68 in old money), so to celebrate we had the full English breakfast out on the terrace. The sky was wonderfully clear and blue and the view of the mountains as clear as a summer's day. We never cease to get surprised by this island and more importantly are learning to enjoy all these things.
See I told you things change. Last night we had a thunderstorm and every time there are a few lightening flashes the lights go out. We had two periods of no electricity, varying from a short 10 minutes to a gap of almost two hours in candlelight.Today was different. The power went off around 5 a.m., came on again at 9 a.m. for about 10 minutes and then went off again for the rest of the day. We do have a gas hob and matches so can do something to eat, but around 8 o'clock Joan and I got fed up and went down to Kyrenia to eat. Mustapha at the Yenihan restaurant had power and hot food and we were able to joke about the "This is Cyprus" saying that is generally used to cover these situations. Mustapha, bless him, sent us on our way with a brandy on the house and a candle to light our way.
Today we had arranged with Bri and Lil to go over to the other side for some shopping. If you have a residency permit then it is possible to get a day pass and travel through to the British Base, over the border in Famagusta. This was our first venture and Bri and Lil were our guides. We had a tremendous day out and Joan and I were getting excited over things like packs of Weetabix on special offer, pork chops and sausages. Many things were available that you just cannot get here in the north, like the Xmas turkey, which is now safely tucked away in the freezer. So great fun and a big stock of things in the cupboards until the next time and to top it off we all had lunch sitting outside in the sun before coming home. See, told you the weather changes quickly.
Well now there is hope for the telephone link. Today the contractors moved in to dig big trenches all down the road. Road closed, park in the field again. Thank goodness we bought a 4 wheel drive vehicle. The trenches need to be 1 meter deep and then have a sand layer, under and over the plastic pipe. So the sand lorry came down the road, dumped his sand, then slipped off the edge into mud. So there they were, stuck again and there was about 2 hours of pushing and pulling by the JCB needed, to get him out.The trench and pipe laying is to take until the end of the week and then providing that the work is acceptable to the telecoms department, then cables can be pulled through and we can get hooked up to the real world. We are all sitting here, fingers crossed, hoping for Xmas, but it is getting very close.
We had contracted with Ali, at Greenside Garden Centre, to do the basic work on the garden. So today two guys turned up, christened Bill and Ben, by Joan and I, to start leveling off prior to the sand and gravel layers. The sand delivery, for what is basically the underfelt to the plastic membrane, was 200 cubic meters. Bill and Ben have to shift it all, with, one wheelbarrow, two shovels and a garden rake. Once the gravel layer has been put down, then we get hedges and some fruit trees in the initial contract, after that Joan and I can plant all the other planned shrubs and plants. We just didn't fancy spreading a total of 500 cubic meters of sand and gravel.
We brought some jigsaw puzzles over from U.K., among them was a 3D puzzle with 1000 pieces. It has kept us amused for quite a few nights now, but the end result was really great.
On Friday 6th December, the end of Bayram over here, we had gone to Mustapha's restaurant with Brian and Lil. As Mustapha had abstained completely for 1 month, out came the bottle of Famous Grouse. It seemed a great idea, at the time, to accept Mustapha's offer to accompany him and some friends, hunting.At 4.15 a.m. today, the idea seemed less appealing and to cap it all it was raining., but we were committed. We stopped off, first at the restaurant, to collect the food for a late brunch, a few beers and a bottle of something to keep us all warm. We then drove out to the beginning of the Karpas peninsula, about 35 miles; there we met Mustapha's friends with the dogs and guns.The hunting proper started at 7 o'clock, Brian and I followed Mustapha, and one other hunter with two enthusiastic dogs, for over 3 hours. By this time the rain had eased and despite the fact that they only bagged one grouse and missed one rabbit, we both agreed that it was enjoyable. Good exercise, an early morning walk.After the hunting - walk- a BBQ fire was lit in the shelter of an abandoned building. Mustapha had packed in chicken kebabs, lamb kebabs, sausages, pitta bread, cheese and an abundance of liquid nourishment. Believe me it was delicious and we were all pretty hungry by this time. We washed the food down with a few beers and then followed up with some Famous Grouse. Then we had a target practice session and I actually managed to hit one of my two beer bottles.Despite our initial apprehension, Brian and I agreed that it had been a most enjoyable day and to cap it all off, Lil had made a big beef stew and herb dumplings for dinner. Great day, great friends and that makes it so very enjoyable here.
Joan and I went out to the animal rescue centre today and acquired an 18 month old tabby cat. Pictures to follow when she settles in a little.
We had been warned that it does sometimes rain here. This was something else, 20 hours of driving downpour. Apparently Lapta had the highest rainfall, a total of 8.5 inches over the period and as all four houses in our lane, are on a slope, the water flows down hill from the top of the road and through each garden. Unknown to us, we had created a dam between the walls, the pool terrace and our driveway, so we actually ended up with a second swimming pool. This in itself would not be so bad, but the problem was, that due to the excessive rain the dirty garden water flooded over the terrace and into the pool. Luckily for us the pool has still not been filled yet so no harm done, but there was more than a meter of water in the deep end. If this had happened after the pool had been brought into service, then we would have had a serious problem.
We resolved to speak to Darryl a.s.a.p. so that they can lay a pipe under the driveway before we get any more serious rainfall.
The cat has settled in very quickly and considering she had spent the first 18 months of her life in a rescue kennel she has really made herself at home. Due to the tabby markings we have named her "Tiggy", - seemed logical to us.
We were really amazed this evening. Joan and I were watching a T.V. program on National Geographic about big cats, suddenly she sat up on the settee between us, watched for a little while and then went over to try to see them off. We had always thought that a cats eyesight did not allow it to see a T.V. screen, but clearly this is not true.
Mark and Hayran Unwin had e-mailed us and asked us to attend the nativity play at their primary school, Sunny Lane. They had set this school up, once their estate agency had become established, as they felt that there was a need to teach the English curriculum in addition to the Turkish lessons, for the future benefit of the children. The school only opened this year, but already it has begun to be established and they hope that now the full licence is in place, to be able to expand gradually. A great idea and we are sure that expats with school age children will be very happy with the school and its standards,
The nativity play was a great success, always when children are involved they have so much enthusiasm that you are guaranteed a great entertainment. The mulled wine and mince pies served afterwards was also greatly appreciated.
Joan and I had arranged dinner for Brian and Lil and ourselves tonight, knowing that the Robins' family were coming over for Xmas, to their house next door and this was likely to be the last peace and quiet over Xmas.
All good plans and other sayings spring to mind. The electricity went off twice during the late afternoon, early evening, great when you have a leg of lamb in the oven.
Eventually we got dinner and had just settled down to an evening of quiet drinks and chestnuts over the open fire, when the entire nest of Robins appeared, an hour and a half early and ready to party. So at 2 a.m. we all realised that this was a prelude to a fun Xmas.
Xmas eve, but it feels quite strange. I suppose in time we will get used to the lack of street and shop decorations and the general feeling that there is no last minute panic shopping. Xmas as such, has no meaning to the people here and the 24th/25th December are just normal working days.
Derek and Sandra of "Lardy-Da's" tearooms had arranged a Xmas eve party for some of their friends and family, so with Brian and Lil, the Robin's family from next door, we armed ourselves with a little booze and took two cars down to Kyrenia and eventually two taxi's back. A great night was had by all. Derek and Sandra had laid on a super spread and included games such as pass the parcel, music and a sing along session. Brian gave us a rendition of some of Elvis's popular favourites, Mick Robins had brought along his guitar to add to the sing along. Eventually we floated into Taxi's around 3 a.m. and all considered the evening to have been a great success. Thank you all at Lardy-Da's.
Now if you recall, I said that today was a normal working day for the local people. Well at 9.00 a.m., two of Darryl's men turned up with a cement cutter and a kango hammer. Now we were extremely pleased that Darryl had responded to our flooding problem, by arranging for a pipe to be laid under the drive, but after 5 hours sleep, too much gin and not enough tonic, a kango hammer did not go down too well, right outside the bedroom window.
But at least Santa had been which was some consolation and the hot coffee started the day off well.
Joan and I had decided that the day belonged to us in our new home, so we ate at leisure and drank in moderation. Tiggy thought that this adventure with a large turkey might be something she might like to repeat in the future.
Lil had said that if we were all fed up towards the end of the evening we should go over for a drink. Now you can't really turn down an invitation like that, so once again we all ended up drinking and playing Taboo until the early hours. At least we don't have to get up early tomorrow.
Brian's birthday, so we had another excuse for a party, not that we ever really needed an excuse. Brian thought that just he and Lil were going out to dinner, so it was quite a surprise for him to find us all on the doorstep at 8 o'clock, complete with the food and drink. Lil had been keeping the whole thing under wraps by hiding some of the food at our house. One thing about inviting the neighbours, you can turn the music up loud and not get complaints.
Looks like we are going to close the old year with a new road surface down the lane. Trucks full of gravel and a road roller appeared today. Now this is a great end of year present, because the lane has been getting really bad as a result of the trench digging and all the rain we have had.
Might even give the car a new year present of a bucket of soap and water. Not before time really, but the up till now it would have been a real waste of time.
Our good friends, Ertugral and Ayse had invited us around to their home to celebrate the New Year. Ayse had prepared a superb dinner and then we watched some local television to get an accurate time on the year change. Strange really, very similar programs to those in U.K., apart from the language that is.
During the evening, grandson Ertugral Jnr turned up to help with the celebrations. At 18 months old, he is in to everything and needs watching every moment of the day.
We popped the champagne at midnight to celebrate the start of our first new year in Northern Cyprus.
Just after midnight, Ertugral went out onto the balcony and was confronted by a strange sight. In the night sky there was a complete circle of what appeared to be small white lights, it just looked like we were being invaded from some place in outer space. It was quite some time before we realised that there was a Turkish naval vessel, moored outside the harbour and that they were probably projecting lights into the sky as some form of New Year celebration. They sure had us thinking for a while.
Joan and I left around 2 a.m. and it took us almost 1 hour to get through the centre of Kyrenia. The roads were packed and people were just wandering around, looking at the tree lights and decorations that had been put up by the council. In other areas, cars were pouring out of the big hotels with casinos and special functions for the evening, so in the end we eventually got home around 3.30 a.m., had a large brandy apiece before bed. A very pleasant first new year in our new home.
FINALLY, A VERY HAPPY AND HEALTHY NEW YEAR TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND READERS OF OUR WEBSITE. SEE YOU AGAIN IN JANUARY 2003.
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